Not sure if I should mention smoke/smoking smell in review

[Jennifer1351]

Hi, I posted a few days ago about this. Still unsure what to do for review. 

Guests left a really strong smoke smell which took days and lots of work to get rid of. I don't know if someone smoked or just had a super strong odor that got onto everything. I feel conflicted whether to leave this in a review.  They were good guests other than that. They have only other  good reviews (a lot from European stays which may be more tolerant of smoking, I don't know?)

I have to leave a review today, if I'm going to. I feel somewhat uncomfortable since they were nice and appreciative guests. But the smoke issue was bad, fortunately I didn't  have guests until 3-4 days later, but I was still worried about the lingering smell at that point even after all the cleaning.

Any thoughts on what to say in a review?

[Jennifer1351]

Thanks @Pete69 @Robin4 @Helen427 @Fred13 . I'm still trying to figure out if they/he smoked. I'd think the smoke detector would have gone off - unless he was sitting next to the window (there's a comfy love seat next to a window in the bedroom which had the overwhelming smell). I don't know, but I'm going to mention the smoke smell. One thing I have always have a concern about with negative reviews is retaliation from someone just knowing your name, address, etc. Not a retalitory review, just some weird person would try to get back at me - am I being paranoid here? And I do feel a little bad when I seemed to have a nice connection with people and then I have to deal with giving them a negative review which will be there 'forever' on Airbnb....

Thanks @Robin4 for all the info and for the link about the smoke alarm! Great to know about that. 

I've always had no smoking anywhere on the property in my rules. I have gotten a couple smokers, one was kind of bad and it was only one night, and another guy I was aware he was smoking across the street, but I seriously could not tell a smoker had been there! So there are ways to minimize this if someone cares. Going to also probably put up a no smoking sigh in the space.

[Jennifer1351]

Okay, I finally did it. I left the review and mentioned the smoke smell in a factual way and left other nice comments overall. I even added "maybe the upper level space allows odors to linger?" to try to buffer it a bit, because the wife did tell me a couple times how much they enjoyed their stay. But still people need to be aware and responsible when they come into a clean, very nice space. (And I looked the guy up, he's a business professor - not some clueless person). 

[Jennifer1351]

Bizarre.....guest messaged me and now claims no on smokes in their family! She's adament. I've had over 120 guests, I know when there is a strong smoke odor. I've only had one or two people with serious smoke odors lingering behind.  I posted twice about this. Took days to remove odor. How do I make sense of this now??? How in the he11 is there a lingering smoke smell even with opening windows, cleaning for days, and it took a few days to remove odor? Can someone carry in second hand smoke in that intensely? Humans are so strange sometimes. Crap. I should have dug through the trash to try to find butts....

[Jennifer1351]

Guest messaged and claims no one smokes! Have had 120 guests and two smoker odor concerns that I recall. Can second hand smoke be brought in and leave an intense smell that much?? It was a five day stay, but took days to remove and had windows open and cleaned everything, left vinegar and baking soda, air cleaners out to try to get rid of smell, had air purifier going and still took days to dissipate? I mean I posted twice here on this.  How do I make sense of this?? She's adamant no one smokes. 

[Sarah977]

@Jennifer1351  Second hand smoke on people's clothing or hair can indeed smell pretty strong. I wonder if they all went out one night to some indoor place where people were smoking? if it got on all their clothes, and those clothes were laying around for days, it's possible.

It's a dilemma of a situation, for sure, since she's adamant that none of her party smokes. Maybe one of them is a closet smoker?

[Jennifer1351]

@Sarah977 It's possible, I've had lots of guests who go out and about and bring back some degree of smoke odor. But it usually dissipates, and I've not experienced anything this strong. And I did actually notice the odor from the vents from the beginning of their stay ( I rent out the upper level of my house). Something isn't quite right. Even if they weren't smoking (maybe it was vaping?? or from going out), you would have to be aware of this odor and she could have said something about the lingering odor to let me know they weren't smoking (said something during the stay). I always appreciate when guests give me a heads up about an issue, and I often am much less concerned if they let me know about something. I don't know, maybe like Helen said it could be vaping or something like that....

[Helen427]

@Jennifer1351, it's probably Vapes or imitation tobacco, those who use them tend to be very hard natured in saying  they are not "smoking" hence perhaps the attitude about smoking you have received.

There's also other new smokeless types of products that industry are manufacturing to make money to replace the decline in sales of smokes as we knew them....

It pays to keep an eye on those things.

 It's often the professional types who use them...

[Jennifer1351]

@Helen427  Thank you for the information. She seemed to imply she didn't know where it could have come from, except a restaurant (or to imply that maybe I was imagining things). I mean, I know when there is an intense odor. Really, they just brought that in from a restaurant (and there aren't a lot of people in restaurants these days to have such a smoke odor to carry back, I'd think). I can usually get odors out by opening windows over night, but this didn't work. I had lots of odor things going to work on removing this smell. Sounds like maybe vaping. So weird, and sad, because I liked them (kind of, but actually not when you deny reality.)

[Christine615]

I have a strict no smoking policy. I don't want the smell, or have to be exposed to the nicotine. I have had two lovely guests who smoked but didn't tell me. One smoked on the porch and put out their butts in my flower pot (who does that?), one hid the butts in cans of beer. I discovered it when I was clearing the recycling bin (which has a sign saying only clean materials should be put in the bin. I discovered half empty beer cans and went to dump them in the sink and all the butts came out.

I wrote that the couples were lovely, and that communication was good, but unfortunately, there was smoking on the property despite our posted no-smoking policy and we regret we are unable to host them again.

We now have a white board that greets our guests by name and at the bottom it clearly says "NO SMOKING ON THE PREMISES."

[Fred13]

@Jennifer1351 Just a thought, we had such a strong smell once and then stared looking around, and sure enough 'someone' had used a can as an ashtray and put it on a shelf and forgot about it. My Mrs. is like one of those 'drug dogs' and would not stop looking till she found it!