Mediocre Guest -- What would you do?

[Kelly149]

Anyone want to offer their thoughts:

Guest IBs my place:

    ~ hasn't read my house rules

    ~doesn't have a complete profile

    ~didn't answer the "pre-booking questions"

    ~has one prior stay: Review is 3*cleanliness, 5* communication, 3* house rules

             (the host who wrote that review no longer has an active listing so I can't ask them what happened and the text review is "nice person who communicated well")

I've already left a phone message and an ABB msg with the guest.

While I wait to hear back from this guest, what would you do in my shoes??

[Sarah977]

@Kelly149  Yet when they arrive, having failed to answer any of the host's queries re ETA, they will be furious if you aren't there to meet them or take 10 minutes to arrive after receiving their message.

[Helen350]

@Kelly149 @Linda108 @Sarah977 I'm currently hosting a one-night newbie,  no photo, no profile, 'verified' just by phone no., who arrived apologizing/making excuses (depending on interpretation!) for why he did not respond to my 2 messages re ETA. With the 2nd message I included some gentle education about ETAs being an Airbnb 'thing'. He said the phone no. airbnb gave him looked like a landline. - So? - I said it was usual to use the messaging facility on the site/app & he said he couldn't cos it told him to LOG IN! (using fb, or email) SO?!

- This was after his very first line about going to the wrong house (elderly doddery neighbour!) DESPITE there being two photos of the  outside of the house on the listing description, & despite there being a large house number on the door... Offered his hospital staff i.d. but wouldn't tell me what his profession was. Seems to want to be incognito, tut, tut.

[Sarah977]

@Helen350  I sure hope his hospital staff status doesn't include the job of administering medication 🙂 He sounds rather challenged, to say the least.

[Helen350]

@Sarah977 Google search suggests 'pharmacist'!!!  (About 6 men with his Polish name in this country, most living too far south to be here 1 night, others in non-health professions. A pharmacist of his name lives 2 hours away = chief suspect!) 🙂 

2* communication ("just 1 night between shifts.") 5* cleanliness, 5* house rules (unless I dock a star for bothering neighbours?- I won't.)

[Helen350]

Well, @Sarah977 , his review shows he WAS maddeningly challenged..... Thankfully he gave 5* overall, (maybe thanks to my "5 stars are always appreciated... 4.7.. blah blah" note pinned to the exit?) BUT, - 4* for communication cos HE 'could not log in'!!! - Grrr...!!! - 4* for accuracy cos HE went to the wrong house!! (Despite photo of front/outside on listing, & despite fact that Airbnb issue correct house number.) 4* for check in cos "difficult to find"! - HIS fault, not mine! He thoroughly deserved his 2* communication from me, glad I didn't waiver! COMMUNICATIVE guests PHONE if not sure they're in the right place! - So 3 lots of 4 stars for 3 issues which were nothing to do with me & entirely HIS bumbling! - He was an older guest! Give me the young tech savvy ones any time!

[Sarah977]

@Helen350  Oh dear. How can guests manage to think that the review they leave for the host and the accomodation is a general trip report on how their travels went? I've been blessed to be surrounded mainly by logical people who don't have a issue with "getting it" most of my life. I'm astounded at how many guests (thankfully not the ones I get) seem so challenged as far as their comprehension of how to make their lives work smoothly or what a review is supposed to be about. I get the same thing with my upholstery clients sometimes. I explain to them that I don't use a smart phone, and if they need to send a diagram or photo, they need to email it to me, but then they still try to send me photos through the phone, call me 2 days later, asking if I got the photo. Or they say "I'll Whatapps you", as if everyone on the planet uses Whatsapp.

Read, folks. Listen. Amazing how that makes things go smoother.

[Helen350]

@Sarah977 With you on the smart phone/Whatsapp, I don't have them either! 

[Larry339]

Those are all huge red flags @Kelly149 I would contact the guest to cancel or contact Airbnb to cancel the booking. They already have a sub-standard rating and are not communicating with you.

If anything goes wrong you will be blaming yourself for ignoring the glaring flags.

[Trevor243]

I find this all quite strange .... very few of our AirBnB guests have previous reviews .... of those that do, their one or two previous reviews have been many years ago .... on HomeAway, some guests have "recommended by partners" but nothing more and others say "New Traveller" .... on Booking.com and TripAdvisor, we see nothing of the guest's previous travel history .... the vast majority of guests from all platforms are good .... of the handful of "difficult" guests, most have been from AirBnB ..... of course, if a guest gets bad reviews, they can join AirBnB again with a new profile ..... maybe the lack of guest reviews is a UK thing???

[Sarah977]

@Trevor243 Most of my guests have had quite a few reviews- I tend to get guests who've used Airbnb quite a bit. However, I also don't use IB, so maybe new users tend to only look at listings that they can IB?

[Trevor243]

@Sarah977What sort of area is your property in? Are your guests normally on holiday or travelling for work?

[Sarah977]

@Trevor243  Beach town holiday. But my place is also in the countryside, a bit out-of-town. 20 minute walk to town and the beach. So I market towards, and attract the type of folks who tend to be outdoorsy, artistic types who have no issue with a 20 minute walk, want to enjoy the tropical climate and do some beach time, but appreciate a quiet place to come home to at the end of the day, or just hang out reading, writing, doing yoga, etc. They aren't interested in the nighttime party/bar scene and are glad to be removed from the hustle and bustle of a tourist town while still being close enough to shop, go out to any one of the hundreds of restaurants and cafes, take some surf lessons or a whale-watching tour.

I know many hosts espouse the view that low prices attract low quality guests, and that may be true in some places, but my listing is budget-traveler priced and I get the best guests.

I also only host solo travellers, who I find tend to be quite self-sufficient and non-demanding. Because they travel alone, they are accustommed to figuring things out for themselves and generally have well-developed social and communication skills, which are nice qualities in home-share guests.

[Trevor243]

@Sarah977Our places are beach one side, countryside the other, edge of town etc. The UK has some 67 million people, but only 2 million people per year visit the Isle of Wight. Some of these are return visitors. Millions of Brits travel abroad these days - Spain, France and Greece are favourites.

Many of our guests like to bring dogs, spend time walking, visiting pubs and tourist attractions - many pubs, cafes and tourist attractions here are dog friendly. There's something here for everyone - except snow and ice, although we will get a new ice rink soon too. We have properties ranging from budget to luxury - the luxury properties get booked faster and at a much higher price.

I'm guessing that AirBnB is "newer" for travellers here in the UK than in some other parts of the world, or that AirBnB is less popular here than booking direct with the bigger holiday companies.

[Delwyn3]

@Kelly149 I would have cancelled.    So much wrong.  I don't use IB but I thought this was how it worked.   If you don't like the rating (which only those using IB get to see) and they don't following rules by answering questions then you can cancel without penalty. So I don't understand the need for the button you mention above?  As @Colleen253 said red flags usually mean you are better off not spending any time and effort on the booking.

[Kelly149]

@Delwyn3  Theoretically you should be allowed to cancel an IB that seems problematic. But in reality a host has to convince CS. And they don’t necessarily have the same concern that hosts have.