Need help writting review for a difficult guest. Want to leave review but don't want backlash

[Jerry-And-Natasha0]

Hello everyone. I am fairly new to hosting on aribnb <6 months and am finally up for superhost this April. I had a terrible guest that used my apartment as a party house for two nights and caused some damage and tons of extra cleaning. While upset at the situation I wrote a review but haven't posted it yet. I am looking for advice on what to include, what to omit, etc that other hosts should know about this guest but without bashing them too badly in fear of backlash. They have already left me a review but as we all know I can't see it until I post mine. I assume it is good as I never spoke with them about the situation at all and gave no inclination that I was upset with their stay. So here is the public review I wrote but have not summited. One stars across the board. Any advice from current or long term superhosts would be appreciated! Thank you in advanced!!

The guest and her 16yo daughter used our apartment for what we can only assume to be an underage drinking birthday party location. Their initial message when requesting to book was to come to town for her daughters sweet 16 birthday, not to have a party. This obviously goes against our house rules for legal reasons (underage drinking) and current state covid19 mandates on gatherings over a certain number. We had complaints from several neighbors due to the amount of noise and people coming in and out of the unit into the early morning hours. This was all strictly against our house rules as we clearly post no parties or large gatherings in our listing's rules. We even had the police arrive due to a hit and run vehicle being parked at our location from someone in the group. Valerie had booked our unit for 2 guests and based on the blanket, pillow, and towel usage there were clearly several people that stayed. They disrespectfully left the unit smelling of marijuana and stale beer. Every surface was sticky with beer, booze, and/or mixers of some type. The floor was equally sticky in several places throughout the unit. It appeared as if they played beer pong on our dining table as we found several ping pong balls around and the table itself was scratched and covered in dried beer. They left clear packing tape on our walls from putting up some mural and peeled the paint from another location from taking this tape off. We are thankful that other more expensive amenities were still in working order and not damaged during this stay. Lastly, they did damage our front door so the smart lock deadbolt could no longer lock properly leaving our unit unlocked when they finally left almost 2 hours after their scheduled checkout time. Due to the damage of the door we had to decline another booking so we could get it repaired. No communication at all after check in or check out and now we know why. We hate having to leave a negative review but in this case we felt it was necessary. Hosts beware as we will never host this guest again.

[Trude0]

So sorry for your very negative experience! It must have been a nightmare.

Even though I understand that writing the review probably helped you get rid of some frustration right after it happened, I would suggest you write a shorter version to actually post - omitting a few things. As you can probably not prove underaged drinking and the marihuana use, and the alleged hit and run car did not belong to your booking guest, maybe leave those out? Mentioning that more expensive items were NOT broken perhaps does not add much.

Focus on listing facts: breaking of house rules, noise until morning, damages, extra cleaning needed, unauthorized guests, not following covid-restrictions and bad/nonexistent communication.

Even a shorter, less detailed review would certainly make other hosts steer away from this guest. And omitting comments about things you cannot prove (even though you’re probably right about them), would probably reduce risk that the guest can get Airbnb to remove your review. (I’ve heard that they sometimes do, but don’t know how often). 

Hope you can avoid guests like this in the future!

[Jerry-And-Natasha0]

Thank you for the reply!  Great advice!!

[Sarah977]

@Jerry-And-Natasha0  If you haven't read Airbnb's review policies, make sure to do that. Direct mention of drugs, bodily fluids, sexual activity, speculation about a guest's motives or mental state, or mentioning Airbnb's involvement in a dispute, are all grounds for a review to be removed. Hosts learn how to get a message across without violating the review guidelines. Like "Ruined linens", rather than "Sheets covered in blood".

[Dale711]

@Jerry-And-Natasha0 

As @Trude0 , absolutely taken a right point! 

“ Focus on listing facts: breaking of house rules” 

   “Even a shorter, less detailed review would certainly make other hosts steer away from this guest”

Happy Hosting 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Jerry-And-Natasha0 Your final response is perfect to warn other hosts. Bizarre though that the guest thought she would be welcome back!

[Jerry-And-Natasha0]

@Mike-And-Jane0  Thank you!  I hope no one here has to deal with people like this but I know many already have. 

[Kelly251]

As hosts our selves, appreciate the fact that you are doing your best to warn other hosts about inappropriate behaviour about this guest. I find more often than not hosts are “ tip toeing “ around guests to ensure a quality rating. We need to stand together! Let’s take a stand against these “entitled” guests.

Thank you!

[Laura2592]

I would say something like:

"So and so was polite and communicative during the booking process. There were a number of difficulties with house rules to include extra guests, noise and additional clean up. We would recommend this guest to hosts who allow events in their space."

That gets the point across. And then rate below 3 stars and do not recommend so you will no longer be an option to book.

I had a recent experience where a guest brought more people than I allow and left the place a mess that took several extra hours of cleaning. I wrote a very neutral review which mentioned the lack of attention to house rules only but the guest still sent me an angry confrontational email after the review period ended, threatening to lower her star rating on the review she left for me (she can't.) I sent a polite response with pictures of the various issues of the space and have ignored her further. Be ready fo the backlash no matter what you write. Some guests are very triggered if you are in any way honest because they believe they did you a favor by booking your space. 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Jerry-And-Natasha0 

Great advice from other hosts...... agree that the review should be based on FACTS. 

This is how I would tweak the review based on your draft - The initial communication from the guests prior to and immediately after booking seemed fine and was okay. Unfortunately, there was no communication at all after check in or check out. During/After their stay we received complaints from several neighbors about noise and a lot of people coming in and out (the booking was for 2 guests) until the early morning hours which is a clear violation of our house rules. When we entered to clean, the unit smelled terrible and every surface including several areas of the floor was sticky. We found several ping pong balls and the table was scratched. Clear packing tape was left on some of our walls and paint was peeled off on other walls. We also found our front door damaged so the smart lock deadbolt could no longer lock properly. The guests left almost 2 hours after their scheduled checkout time and due to damage to the door, plus all the extra cleaning, laundry and repairs to furniture & walls that was required we had to decline another booking. We hate having to leave this review but felt it was necessary. Based on our experience we would not recommend these guests to other hosts and we would never accept them back as guests into our home ever again. 

[Andrea-and-Glenn0]

Agreed with @Trude0 and others that the message/review should be short and to the point. 

Best advice we we ever got was don’t accept guests with no reviews and run away fast from any potential booking that sounds like a third party booking. 

[Jerry-And-Natasha0]

Thank you all for such great advice and input.  I really appreciate all the help.  This community is great and thankfully I found it before posting anything I would regret.  Here is the final review I ended up posting in addition to the 1 stars across the board:

"Valerie and her group broke many house rules, caused a disturbance in the neighborhood, left a stickiness on all surfaces and floors, and created an abundance of extra cleaning and damages. We cannot recommend."

I cannot take credit for this review as it was almost exactly like ones suggested to me on this fantastic forum.  I do find it funny that this guest thought we would want them back after their good review or not.

A big thank you again to all of you who shared your input and advice.  I will be sure to make this community a regular daily visit.  It is full of amazing people and tons of knowledge.  Everyone have a fantastic day!!

[Alexandra316]

@Jerry-And-Natasha0 Love your review! Straightforward and no guessing for future hosts: no sugar coating. Refereshing!

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

"Valerie and her group broke many house rules, caused a disturbance in the neighborhood, left a stickiness on all surfaces and floors, and created an abundance of extra cleaning and damages. We cannot recommend."

Perfect 🙂