Need help/advice with review on a fellow host

[Christine615]

Okay my wonderful fellow hosts, this time I need some advice.

I'm perplexed about how to write this but I want to be honest so let me explain the situation and would love some "suggestions."

I don't allow last minute instant book reservations. It's our guest home and we're sometimes using it, but I also have Covid-19 buffers in place and if I'm on deadline it's hard to juggle my schedule since we clean our own place.

I got a 10:30pm request to book for the next day. The guest asked if she and her family could check in at 11am because their son needed to be put down for a nap at 12pm. I explained that no, we couldn't accommodate that on our schedule and declined the reservation.

At 7am we received a message from another guest (male) which said "we are so excited to be staying at your place this weekend." That's it. It's a same day check-in which I normally don't allow but we had time to get it ready by 3pm. I check and this guest had 7 five-star reviews, one as a host, six as a guest. I didn't make the connection that this guest was the spouse of the person who tried to book the night before because Airbnb HIDES all the information except first names. We approved the request and sent check-in information for 3pm. Then got a request for an early check-in. That's when we noticed that the guest's spouse's name in one of his reviews and was the same as the woman who tried to check the night before. So I explained that I his wife had already asked that question and that the answer was no. He seemed to be appreciative and very polite but it should have sent up red flags. (Again - new host? They two listings but only one review).

I was able to restock supplies and make sure everything would be ready and sent a note that we could allow them to check-in anytime after 12 noon if that would help. They said it would - then showed up at 11:50am. Sigh.

At check-out, my daughter/co-host called to say they had not followed house rules. Our Easter egg in the greeting is to put the towels in the laundry hamper near the washer.  If they don't do that, we know they didn't read the house rules. Honestly, its been the best indicator. Otherwise, we don't ask for much (cleaning fee is just $50). We ask that they return our home they way they found it, wash and put dishes away, bag their trash and put the dirty towels in the hamper. That's it. We strip the beds and do the rest while cleaning.

So we arrived to find dirty dishes in the sink (not scraped or rinsed), a fridge full of food including our plates filled with half-eaten portions, and a trash can overflowing for a 4-night stay. Also, we have a handwritten note explaining how to operate the television, DVD, and Google Fiber. That was ripped in half.

It's not earth shattering. But now I'm wondering if all those 5-star reviews are from hosts who don't write honest reviews because they're scared of getting a bad one.

The driving time from their city to mine is more than 8 hours. It is possible they were flying (with child and an older woman who was not identified as nanny or family member). But the timing of the request and Airbnb's annoying habit of hiding last names made this complicated (and wondering why we were the only vacancy they set their heart on.) Mostly annoyed that a fellow host (even a new one) didn't bother to read the check-out rules and left us with extra work after asking for favors up front.

So - am I just being grouchy, or am I right to think someone who has hosted at least one would know better?

I'm tired. Let's play "Write Christine's guest review for her."

Lol! (Hugs and love in advance)

.

[Sarah977]

@Brian2036  Sure, I'd accept a guest if I had a vacancy, who might have arrived at one of those bad listings where the guest found they couldn't get in, or it was the wrong address, and the host didn't respond to their messages or calls, or it was unacceptably filthy and they turned around and left. But I would need some solid proof of that, or at least coommunication from the guest that I found believable.

[Anonymous]

@Brian2036 @Sarah977 This exact thing happened to me, back in the days when Airbnb had in-house customer service. It was the strangest (and not coincidentally, the last) experience I ever had with renting out an Entire Home. The guests were apparently "street artists" who painted something on a wall in the living room, crudely attempted to whitewash over it, let 4 white towels drenched in blue paint, and covered every floor in the house with thousands of plastic airsoft pellets.

When Airbnb sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

[Kelly149]

@Christine615 These people KNOW they're being reviewed, so dont feel bad about it.

1. early arrival... people tend to think this is no big deal, I'm not annoyed

2. didn't read rules... well, ABB helps make this fairly impossible... the time to find out if someone has read the rules is BEFORE they arrive, not when you're cleaning up after them

3. made a mess... ok, fine, there are consequences

4. last minute guests, for so many reasons, just usually aren't worth it

The review I'd leave "last minute booking with several extra requests and most of our basic housekeeping requirements disregarded, not guests I'd recommend for spaces without commercial cleaning crews" 1*, 1*, 1*, thumbs down

[Christine615]

I love this private host board. You are all the best for my mood. I'm going to use a combination of the advice here and keep it short and sweet but accurate.  I wish more hosts would stop gushing over inexperienced and or inconsiderate guests.

[Sarah977]

@Christine615  I've had quite a few inexperienced guests. There were a few things they didn't understand about Airbnbs, but that didn't prevent them from being respectful and leaving their space clean and tidy.

Being inexperienced isn't an excuse for bad behavior.

[Christine615]

Okay - so here's what I wrote.


"While we are always pleased to welcome a fellow host to our home, we note that the family used a second profile to book our apartment after a late night request to book the next day with an 11am check-in was declined. Their stay was uneventful but our house rules and check-out instructions were not followed and the apartment, particularly the kitchen, was returned in less than optimal condition. We thank Mike and Rachel for staying with us but feel our listing is probably not the best fit for their needs in the future.."

Thanks for the help with the wording. I tried to extrapolate from all the suggestions to write something objective but not hurtful.

[Brian2036]

@Christine615 

That says everything I need to know.

Thanks for putting so much thought and restraint into it. We need more of that.