Review of Guest Who Hosts as Well.

[Rhonda301]

We just had a guest who left with an undisclosed guest. She wasn’t the problem she was actually nice and followed the rules. However the fee paying guest who held the reservation is a host.  This what she did. She removed the curtain rods from the walls, which is hard for they were professional installed, tore off two of the brackets off the wall, removed the curtains, hung our blankets over all the windows and damaged the rods in the process. I took pictures but I haven’t reported her yet. She just left today. My problem: she is our second reservation and I don’t want to leave a bad review but she isn’t someone I would want to come back. She is a friend of our neighbor as well. She also didn’t come clean to the damage until the last minute, blocked us from going inside to let us inside to see it before she left. She also used other minor issues, salt and pepper not to her liking and she couldn’t find the cutting board which was suspended over the sink to lead into the damage she caused. We got it fixed because my hubby is a professional

So how do I review her so others know in advance without getting in trouble with Airbnb. I guess I can respectfully try to review or let it go since it was easily fixed by my husband?

as a host I didn’t anticipate this knowing she knows our neighbor.  

[Helen744]

@Rhonda301 So sorry that your second reservation should have brought this on you.Firstly text the guest and simply ask why the curtain rods were removed as it caused damage.also send through the house rules and tell her that you were aware that she had another guest but that all guests must provide id and read the house rules in future. Do this thru the Airbnb app. Also send a small request for a reparation fee. Ask your partner how much that would be for a stranger , which she is. then mark on your review that you would not host her again. She will not see this nor will anyone else . also you have a space for notes on the guest . Put in here reasons for not hosting this guest again . This will remind you in the future why you do not want to host this person again. As for the review keep it simple .Mark down the stars where you think appropriate but be prepared for a revenge review unless you can sort this situation out quickly with the guest. time is of the essence here as they say. Act  quickly  H

[Rhonda301]

We will thank you. I have in house rules about undisclosed guests. She apologized when I asked her about the guest when she asked for the guest to check out later in the day even though I didn’t know she had a guest. She said she had made two reservations adding the guest to one not mine then cancelled the other one.   But she also bent the rod my guy had to straighten it out.  I will review now and we added a rule that if you are a sleeper who needs really dark room I ordered individually wrapped sleeping masks. She claimed she is a sleeper who need absolute silence and darken roomed. My pictures clearly show the set up with the curtains.  As a host she should have known better oh well thanks for your response. 

[Huma0]

@Rhonda301 

Sorry this happened to you so early in your hosting experience. However, you don't 'get into trouble' with Airbnb for leaving an honest and accurate review. Also, the guest will not be able too see your review before they post theirs (or until 14 days after check out if they don't write a review for you). The whole point of the review system is to help other users, so please leave an honest review!

The only thing you need to be careful about is to follow Airbnb's review and content policies, which you can read here:

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/2673/airbnbs-review-policy

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/546/airbnbs-content-policy

The guest can leave a response to your review, but that will show on their profile, not yours, so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

What your guest did was totally unacceptable. Firstly, she brought an unregistered guest (I assume this is against your house rules and, if not, you need to specify that). 

Secondly, ripping curtain rods off your walls is really not okay. It doesn't matter that your husband is a professional and was able to fix it, it's still bizarre and inappropriate behaviour. I would have been very unhappy about it.

You could write something like this:

"X brought an undisclosed guest with them, which is clearly a violation of Airbnb policy. In addition, for some reason, she removed the curtain rods from the walls, tore off two of the brackets, removed the curtains, hung our blankets over all the windows and damaged the rods in the process. She also didn’t come clean to the damage until the last minute and blocked us from going inside to prevent us seeing it before she left. There were some minor issues in addition to the undisclosed guest and damage she caused. I would not host this guest again, nor recommend them to other hosts."

[Rhonda301]

She blamed us for placing the screws into the drywall which it was not it was in wood frame which my husband stated to her she told him he was wrong so he stopped talking. We tried to be as gracious as possible.   I will take your suggestions review and make it my own thank you for the suggestion and the links. Very helpful. 

[Huma0]

@Rhonda301 

I am not sure how long this guest stayed with you, but regardless of how the curtains rods were installed, it's simply not okay to rip them out without discussing it with you first and getting your agreement (even that would still be weird). It sounds like she had 'issues'. Don't put that in your review though! 

With negative reviews, it is always best to keep it factual and emotionally neutral, which it seems to me that you are perfectly capable of as you seem very calm about it all. Just state the facts. If there was something nice to say about her as well (e.g. left the place clean) you can also include that to show that you are balanced in your reviews of guests.

[Rhonda301]

I appreciate that suggestion to balance it. She did leave it clean and washed and ran the dishwasher placing her towels and bedding in the laundry room. I do think the undisclosed guest issues was an accident not on purpose. So I wouldn’t bring that up. Thank you!!

[Z-2]

@Rhonda301 if I were you, I will take different way. First, I will ask her why she did the curtains thing, not by blaming her, but by trying to find a better solution for the curtains. Normally I will say since she is a host and might be I can learn something from her. Trust her first. I believe she won’t move it for no reason, not confront her. Since the review is so important to you at this time, confronts her make things worse. Also it’s not big damage to me. So I will just eat it. Also because she is a friend of your neighbor, I don’t want to get the relationship bad. So first, I will try to make her happy and give me a good review. If she did write the review first, if I will just write a good thing of her if you can find one, such as cleaning good if it’s true. But check not host again if you do feel bad after her explanation. I don’t want get into any trouble at beginning especially she is a friend of neighbor.

[Rhonda301]

Yes I don’t want to get into it with the neighbor  either. She told us it’s because she needs a very dark room to sleep in with absolute silence. We spoke in person as she wanted to meet us but did so outside the house on the front porch. She removed 4 rods and hung up our blankets on the windows. All the rods were loose and we just remodeled this house the added etc were very tight including the screws that hold the rods in their brackets. They were loose and on one wall ripped off the wall on the floor below. There is no reason.  I will write a balanced review. Thank you. 

[Z-2]

@Rhonda301 The reason is “she needs a very dark room to sleep”. She definitely should not do that without asking you first and she is not good guest. But for the reason of “you don’t want bad review” and “neighbor”, I will try to make her happy by saying “might be i should consider make a darker curtains for bedroom…” and also give her looks nice review (anything not mention is bad) but deduct the rating and “not host again”.

[Rhonda301]

Thanks for the suggestions. I appreciate it. 

[Rhonda301]

She waited until she was checking out and blocked our entry to the house before she left. I am not blaming her I told her many times before she checked in to ask us for any all assistance as we live on the farm. This is a second home on the working farm.  She knew this yet didn’t ask for help with the light level in the home until 30 minute is prior to leaving in her car. 

[Mark116]

@Rhonda301  You should blame her?!  She damaged your home by doing something completely inappropriate and bizarre.  I have only known of drug users who put up blankets over windows to ensure no one can see what they're doing.  If she needed 'absolute darkness' then she should have booked a place with blackout shades.  Since she knows  your neighbor, and that sounds like she also may be a local, I would go easy in the review.

'XX stayed with us for YY days, she left the unit clean and tidy but she had some trouble following our house rules.  If you want to add more details add.... around extra guests and attempted to make some unwelcome modifications to the window treatments.  Future hosts may want to do an in-person check in and check out to ensure a smooth stay.

Something like that.

[Helen56]

@Rhonda301 I hope so much that you will leave an honest review.  I don't want this person staying in my house!  We hosts need to help each other avoid guests who damage our homes.

Your review should be based on what you wrote above:

1 sentence saying something positive.

1 sentence about the extra guest.

Then what you wrote above:  She removed the curtain rods from the walls, which is hard for they were professional installed, tore off two of the brackets off the wall, removed the curtains, hung our blankets over all the windows and damaged the rods in the process. 

That would be all that is required to warn hosts away from this guest - unless they happen to have blackout curtains.  It is factual, non-judgmental, calm and you will seem like a nice person! 

[Rhonda301]

Thank you so much. I will do this exactly like you said. Also I have on the lair g I do not have blackout curtains in the room she was in. The house has two masters one up and one down. Downstairs there are curtains with liners and they have tie backs that allow them to be closed.  She allowed her unauthorized guest to stay in that room.  

please I must have told her 5 times or more to ask for anything we live next door on a farm. My husband would have come over and provided a way that darkened the room without cord or curtain changes. 

thank you for your response. It is most appreciated.