To Review or Not to Review

[Kimberly718]

We recently had guests who brought their two sons, 2-years old. One of the boys got sick and was vomiting. Instead of using a couple of towels and a garbage can they used every sheet, towels, duvet, down comforter, extra blankets, throw pillows, bathroom rug and couch throws which created 10 loads of laundry. In the midst of everything they lost or threw out the TV remote. I explained that there would be an additional linen fee of $85 and the $30 for the remote. They claimed they all got sick from something in my place. We use the strictest Covid cleaning protocol which means all linens and surfaces are disinfected, even our non washable items like cloth upholstery is steamed and sprayed with a natural disinfectant. They submitted their review but I don't want to provide them a review as mine would not be favorable and I don't want theirs to potentially damage my 5-star rating. If I don't review them will theirs remain unposted? And if a guest posts an unfair review that could be damaging, are we able to contest it? Should I tell my past guest that I am refraining from posting an unfavorable review? 

[Sarah977]

@Kimberly718  That is not how reviews work. All reviews are published regardless of whether both parties submit a review or not. You can't avoid a bad review by failing to leave one yourself.

Of course you need to leave an honest review for these disrespectful people. Failure to review your guests is a disservice to other hosts- would you not wish to be warned about guests like this? 

You have the option to respond to a review. Or if you are lucky, they will say something in the review which violates review policy and have grounds for removal.

[Mark116]

@Kimberly718   I'm not sure about an additional linen fee unless this is posted on your listing Airbnb may not enforce payment of this, they may not enforce it even if it is posted.  After having a set of guests who each person used an extra blanket and comforter and then attempted to stuff everything back in different linen bags causing us to have to wash almost everything in the closet...we posted a notice that if guests want any linens extra/different they should contact the hosts.

As for reviews, there is no way a host can prevent a guest from leaving a review.  The end.  If you don't review their review will post after 14 days, so you should absolutely leave a review of them..professional, unemotional, recounting the basic facts...that they lost the TV remote and that extensive additional cleaning and sanitizing was required after their stay.  I wouldn't get into the why of the child being sick, etc.  it's not a useful detail.  If they were poor at communicating you could add that as well.

Why would you tell theses guests you aren't leaving a review?  They can only change their review for the 1st 48 hours and you would be running a risk that Airbnb would interpret this as a type of quid pro quo which is prohibited and will get you in trouble.

Hosts have different strategies for dealing with guests who cause damages.  Some leave extra nice final message and then do an honest review ASAP, in the hopes the guest will also leave a positive review sooner rather than later..eg.. the purpose is to get the review done before asking for damages.  A lot of hosts don't ask for $$ for small things due to the high chance of a retaliatory review, and then wait as long as possible to leave a negative review, eg. with the idea the bad guest will forget about the review until its too late.

It is very hard to get Airbnb to remove a review and they won't do it unless you can convince them it fits their listed categories for removal.  

[Kimberly718]

thank you that is helpful. We will in the future leave a review first and request they cover extra fees after. Airbnb does specify that if damages or loss is incurred such as the remote and the ruined sheet set that we seek out guests to cover costs first before making a claim. I had a reduced cleaning fee for short term guests at the time of that booking as we typically only have a couple of loads of laundry but when I found the place in such a terrible state I reached out as we had a guest checking in only hours later and had to get extra hands on deck to get the place ready. Anyway, good feedback thank you.