Unusual Review Rating

[Walter171]

I have a guest who rated me Overall at 5 (which I am pleased, of course) but rated Value at 4, Location 4 and communication 4.

This surprised me alot.  A brief history of the booking and stay.

I was contacted via Airbnb platform by the guest.
They wanted to meet me in person urgently as they were (I suspect) being thrown out of their previous accommodation.
Arranged for them to come over and meet me.
Had a very cordial and friendly chat with them in person.
They wanted the room the same night but told them earliest would be the day after.
State the house rules.
They wanted to see the room before booking.
They went up and view the room.
They went back and agreed the room to be ready on the day after.
They subsequently confirm the booking on Airbnb the same night after the meet up.
They came and stayed as agreed and as per booking reservation.
During the course of the stay, the 1st weekend, they broke some glasses but claimed only broke 1 while having drinking.
They wanted to pay for the 1 broken glass.  I let it go.
The room they are staying is within 5 minutes walk to their university.
They never raise any issue about the price/day rate for the stay when we met or before they book.

As I said, very weird indeed.

[Helen3]

Unfortunately some guests are unreasonable.

By the way it's against Airbnb's terms to share contact details with your guest before they have a confirmed booking so I am wondering how you arranged for them to see the room.

Guests should have all the information they need on your Airbnb listing so should have no need for an in person visit to see the room before they book.

[Walter171]

They seems to be a set of desperate students looking for an alternative accommodation via Airbnb and found my listing as such.  I didn't arrange anything except that they guessed it correctly and got to contact me (via Airbnb platform).   I wouldn't have it any other way seeing that I suspected that they may have been made to give up their previous stay and I always insist on using Airbnb platform.

What surprised me is that they gave me a 4 for location, value and communication when they already knew where it is, viewed the room before booking and we met up and I shared with them Airbnb terms and told them the booking has to be on Airbnb platform.

[John5097]

@Walter171 the location and value are subjective. The overall rating is what's important. In this situation its good they gave you a five star overall and lowered value and location instead of overall 4 star rating. I've had a few guest do this as well, or leave a long wish list of things that were all covered in the listing and would have increased the rate. I think more guest will use the rating system as a way to negotiate for lower rates. They may have also contacted customer support to try and get a partial refund and after being declined decided to rate it down thinking customer service might be reading the listing, which of course they don't do but I suspect that's the reason some guest marked me down in a sub category. I've also had family of neighbors who live down the street knock on my door and ask to see the rental, to see if its right for them, and since then have been regular guest always booking through the website. They are the only ones I host on holidays. So wouldn't worry about letting them look at it as that wasn't the problem and sounds like you did everything possible to accomodate them. Your only option would be to ask them to have the review removed but wouldn't worry about a few 4s in a sub category. You could also provide some kind of overview to the review process that says anything below a 5 star is bad but I don't do anything like that.  

[John5097]

Wanted to clarify that I don’t give my address to potential guest want to look at it first. I wouldn’t trust them to be there at appointed time. I was just saying there wasn’t a problem this time and my neighbor happened to be really nice and it was vacant. Generally it’s a red flag anytime guest has unusual request. 

[Colleen253]

@Walter171 Anytime a guest throws up red flags and you open the door to them anyway, you can expect things to go south somehow. It’s what you sign up for. 

On the whole though, it sounds like you didn’t fare too bad with this outcome. I’d be thankful it wasn’t worse. Just sayin.

[Normen0]

Indeed, anytime you do someone a favour or bend your normal rules, you get burned.  The majority of guests are fantastic but those who try to get more or work around the set rules will take advantage.  Clear rules are important. I think people will respect your space more when you stick to them.  

[Walter171]

Thanks all.  Followed the rules and the guests was ok.  They may have had problems with their previous accommodation but gave me a rating of 3 items (locations, value and communcations) which to me they shouldn't have any issues at all.  They chose the location after they have been in the country for sometime already and choose and confirmed that booking after viewing the room and apartment and had properly met up and went through the rules before they finally decided booked the room.