@Anonymous wrote:
I stand by the opinion that the reviews of others are not necessarily the best tool in making a reasoned judgment on whether to accept a guest.
@Anonymous I agree. While a long list of glowing reviews is usually an indicator that a guest is going to be fine, it's no guarantee. Some of my least favourite guests of all time had this:
1. The most unpleasant, rude, demanding, hyper-critical, hysterical and unhinged couple that made my life hell for eight days had 25 good reviews. Yep, 25. What I hadn't bothered to do was read the reviews they have left for hosts. There were definitely some red flags there. I also hadn't taken into account that all their other reviews were for short (one or two night) stays and many for whole listings so those hosts were lucky enough not to have live with these insane people.
2. My weirdest guest (see: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Condom-Girl-AKA-My-Weirdest-Guest/m-p/1223607#M294344) had several positive reviews but broke several house rules and was so crazy and aggressive that I had to evict her. Something I should have picked up but thought nothing of at the time was that almost all of her reviews were from male hosts she had stayed with, that mentioned that she was good looking or "cute", which only struck me as a red flag after my experience with her.
A lot of hosts are too generous/generic with their reviews, especially those hosts who have little dealing with the guests. Funnily enough, after I left a less than positive review for the couple above, their next host left a review that simply said 'okay', which was a contrast to the nice comments she had left for all of her other guests. Sadly it seems like some hosts are reluctant to leave a negative review unless someone else has.