Is anyone seeing lower stars from guests?

[Inna22]

I have been getting crushed by poor reviews. Guests are just not happy. Typical compliant is either something along the lines of "thin trash bags and toilet paper made me feel unwelcome" (both are from Costco) or there is a train behind the house, I could not sleep (yes, there is, mentioned in the listing and marked as potential for noise). The train did not bother 300 previous guests but now is mentioned by every other person (accompanied by a one or two star rating). It would be very convenient to say that people are just not happy these days and only strange people travel in groups and rent big houses downtown Chicago these days. However I do not want to be the person who always thinks "it is them, not me". Is anyone seeing a similar trend?

[Mark116]

@Sarah977  I'm glad someone else didn't get it, but if you go all way into the listing, so you are only seeing the 13 reviews for the listing as she has it now, it's 'Alex'...I guess she must be a co host because the reviews and responses are from Alex not Inna. 

[Mark116]

@Inna22  I have a couple of suggestions:  just call the basement the basement, at least once or twice, 'lower level' is not going to register with a lot of people and they won't pay attention to the height of the windows in the photos.  I would also put up a diagram of how the house is laid out, then no one can complain.  I would also, in the photo of the parking put in a caption 'Space for 3 cars, XXX, borders on the X train'...the train tracks are visible in the photo but again, if you mention it, you are more protected.  Not sure about what the last crazy guest was talking about, but if you do have furniture blocking the balcony, I'd re-arrange that, and possibly take your max down to 14 or even 12.....but you would know better about how often you are really seeing 16 people in the house.

[Inna22]

@Mark116 thank you- I will change it to basement 

[Sarah977]

Thanks, I found it. @Mark116

[Simon2782]

I got a once-and-only bad review from a fella who complained vociferously about noise. He arrived with a story of how many times he'd moved looking for a quiet place. He had two positive (extremely brief) reviews... in fact I, too, gave him a brief positive review after his first booking.  My home is in a nice quiet area. The room is beside a shared kitchen and laundry from which, naturally, some sound can be heard. One night at 9pm he came out of the room and angrily castigated another householder for using the kitchen. Another night he texted me complaining about the washing machine being on at 8:30pm. The space is not advertised as self-contained, the pictures and description give a clear idea that although the room is private, the common areas are nearby and shared. He clearly had exceptional needs. His bad review knocked my listing down and it took some time to recover it's status. Despite his review NOONE else complained about noise in their reviews and all reviews were positive.
I'm curious that AirBnB penalized me - the host. Every now and then you get a really difficult customer. It just happens, some people are like that. I've heard the 'customer is always right' slogan before, but AirBnB prides itself in knowing and supporting hosts, so how come management didn't do something to get a bette idea of the situation? I left a polite review of him that I hoped warns other hosts of his special needs: "___ is dependable and prompt. He needs a super quiet place from early evening."

[BenkaandKeith0]

It's hard to blame guests. They will always be from all sorts of walks of life. It's Airbnb to be blamed for with their ridiculous way of ASKING THE QUESTIONS. They had perfect way to improve their questions, but they do not. Because your misery is not theirs. It was years ago they corrected their stupid wording and hence, the Location reviews across the world improved drastically. One of those ridiculous questions: Was your trip up to your expectations? 99.99% of bad guests are bad because they do not bother reading the complete listing. And you can jump out of the window, their expectations will have nothing to do with the reality that we hosts try to implement into our listings. And I can go on and on. Airbnb is deteriorating on every level. So sad to see this platform is being worst every year. Who knows where all the changes are they are so eager to talk about 😞

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Inna22  I can't tell if guests are worst since the pandemic (we closed our calendar in March) but I know one thing - a guest who arrives happy will stay happy and leave 5*. Those who arrive angry and unhappy will stay that way and give lower ratings no matter what we do. I realized that immediately a long time ago, at the very beginning of our hosting journey. (The worst were older couples 60+ and families with wild kids and teenagers. Young couples in love and friends always gave us the best ratings 🙂

Obviously, people are not happy with these pandemic restrictions, there is no fun, maybe they are bored, stay inside, and have too much time to notice every detail which they normally wouldn't.

[Debra300]

@Branka-and-Silvia0,

All of the lower reviews that I have ever received have been from guests who were not happy that I wouldn't allow them to break house rules, regardless of their age.

[Jason1470]

Hi,

I have been an Airbnb member for quite a while now and I am a part of this online community in the capacity of a guest. I was surprised to note that there are not too many guests who want to engage in online discussions and that this community catered mainly to hosts who discussed all issues and the occasional good news stories relating to hosting. After a quick read through this thread, it appears that guests are happy to post negative comments at the drop of a hat and don't seem to care for the repercussions of the review to the host. 

@Simon2782- I feel for you and it seems unfortunate that one negative rating caused you so much grief. The 'Customer is always Right' is not a slogan I would want to be applied to the Airbnb experience as we - the guests, are not customers in that sense of the word, although we pay you for utilizing your space. In the spirit of the original idea, we are invited into the sanctity of your home and are given privileges that would seem too outlandish to people new to the concept. (I am currently sitting on a grand lounge in the living room of a spectacular Airbnb house, surfing the net and watching Netflix in strangers' homes, while my family is fast asleep in the bedroom).

Now I may be having my rose-tinted glasses on, or maybe I have been plain lucky when it comes to selecting hosts, but I have not had a single negative experience to date. I did have one host who was a bit quirky in her demeanor, and who amongst many things wanted me to run the aircon at 24 degrees Celcius when the outside temperature was 23 degrees, but this did not particularly make her a bad host. I got what I asked for in terms of living space and the use of amenities. Did I leave her a negative rating? No, I did not, because as a guest (and a loyal member of this community) I always believe it is my duty to inform all future guests about my own experience and to flag any potential issues of concern. There were no 'flags' in this case and I did have a pleasant stay despite a few minor hiccups. Guest should be mindful that most of the hosts are not expert hoteliers but simple homeowners who are offering their homes to travelers in exchange for a fee.

I am not sure how hosts select the guests (I am presuming that you view our ratings too), but as far as I am concerned, although I prefer hosts with squeaky clean reviews,I would still (and I have in the past) considered booking with hosts who have had the occasional negative review. Such reviews standout like a sore thumb, especially when the rest of the reviews about the particular property has been positive. To me, it is a reflection of the guest and of his attitude towards the very ethos of this sharing model.

To end this post, I would like to add that during my current road trip, I have stayed in three Airbnb houses and have all received five-star ratings and positive reviews.

[Inna22]

@Jason1470 do you want to start a “perfect guest” master class?

[Jason1470]

Hi @Inna22, a 'mindful guest' is a more appropriate aspiration and a lot more relevant for this community which is built on trust, first and foremost. 🙂

[Simon2782]

@Jason1470You're a very thoughtful guest and it's good to see one join this community and offer the other side's experience and perspective. You get it, with regards to AirBnB being a platform for hosting travellers in the privacy of one's home.

I appreciate your empathy. I think Sara is spot on in terms of striking a balance. I don't know what I could have done differently to prevent the fusspot... other than take his scruffy looking profile photo as an indication of his lack of sensibility. It's really hard for AirBNB staff to tell who's the difficult party without having a much more intimate relationship with hosts and guests, and I wouldn't expect that of them. Anyway, the reviews of guests and hosts is the facility to monitor this, so it's what we have to live with.

[Sarah977]

You sound like the kind of guest every host would want to have- you totally get it.

I've often said that hosts and guests need to all cut each other a bit of slack- no one is perfect and being adaptable makes for a much more pleasant experience . When we are dealing with a platform where strangers are staying in other's private homes, nitpicking every little thing makes things really unpleasant. Are guests going on holiday to have a good time, or examine every nook and cranny for something "wrong"?

So maybe for the guest the towels weren't particularly luxurious, or the neighbors were a bit loud one night having a outdoor BBQ, or the hot water heater went on the blink and you didn't have hot water for an hour or two until the host got it working again.

And vice-versa, so the guests left toothpaste smeared all over the bathroom counter, or their kid dropped some Cheezies on the floor that didn't get picked up.

Of course there are legitimate issues that are worth complaining about- no guest wants to find uncomfortable beds or a dirty house and no host wants guests to sneak in more people or damage things, but we have to let the little stuff go for the concept to work.

As for how I select guests, I have never used Instant Book , so I base my acceptance on the guest's communication with me, which you can tell a lot about someone from (a polite, informative initial message from the guest, letting me know a bit about themselves, saying things which make it clear they have read through my listing description well, as opposed to "Is there parking?") and reading any reviews they have.  I'll also sometimes look at the reviews a guest has left for their past hosts to see if they have a history of being complainers. Just as you dismiss an outlier review for a host, I would dismiss one for a guest as long as they had other reviews that made it evident that the host who left the bad review was likely the fusspot. And I've also accepted guests with no reviews, as long as their communication was good, and they've turned out to be lovely guests. I might ask those guests who are new to the platform a few more questions, or make sure they understand the ins and outs of a Airbnb booking. 

Like your experience having had all good stays, I've been lucky to have all good guests. Both parties refraining from being overly picky is a key component, IMO.

@Jason1470

[Simon2782]

@Sara977 that's an excellent approach... AirBnB encourages hosts to accept instant bookings, and I can understand why guests like to have that certainty, but if AirBnB is staying true to its original purpose of making use of wasted space in private homes, then I think a quick responding host should be just as good as instant booking, to allow hosts the chance to vet guests. @Jason1470 I had instant booking on but switched it off since COVID because people want to self-isolate which is inappropriate at my place, if they read the ad properly... I had a few such inquiries. I find it difficult to vet guests as well as Sara appears to do...

[Sarah977]

Since I've never used IB, I'm just quite used to exchanging messages with guests to make sure we're both on the same page.

Also I only list a private room/bath in my home for solo guests, so it's not like they can throw a party, sneak in extra people or a dog, or anything like that- I don't have to be as on guard as many other hosts.

The nature of my listing is also conducive to getting booking requests from guests who are a good fit for me and my place. Most tend to be seasoned travelers, who have had a plethora of different experiences in places they've stayed before- they aren't fussy princes and princesses who go on holiday to look for faults. And I haven't taken bookings since March due to COVID (guests normally share my kitchen with me) so I haven't had to put up with the lower quality of guests that hosts are reporting lately.

So I think I've had a easier time as far as vetting guests than a lot of hosts who face more challenges due to the location, the reason people are booking, that their listing caters to larger numbers of guests, plus all the COVID mess, etc.

@Simon2782