Hello everyone!
Welcome to the Community Center! I'm @Bhu...
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Hello everyone!
Welcome to the Community Center! I'm @Bhumika , one of the Community Managers for our English Community Ce...
Latest reply
This place is magical at least to us; every little detail in this home has been forethought for guests, the decor is the perfect balance of understated and whimsical. Rules are strict, but the Cabin is incredibly well maintained and I suspect that those clear boundaries are a reflection of the care and love Lisseth & Jeremiah pour into their property. Can't wait to come back in summer!
December 2021
Their Review:
Mary and her family were by far the worst guests we have ever hosted. Not only did they not follow any of our house rules, they also asked for a 45 minute extension on their check out at 11 o’clock when our cleaner was already in the driveway. Once we declined this request, Mary proceeded to take a shower. We had new guests checking in at 4 PM and she took over an hour to get out of the house. She left her trash unsorted and in the garage, bacon grease all over the kitchen and killed our plants by leaving them in the open window in the middle of the winter. We would never host them again and never recommend to any host who respects their home.
I've read that review over 100 times to try to make sense of it, but there simply isn't any making sense of it, specially the bit of "Not only did they not follow any of our house rules" I Think that's the worse lie on there, we were at that moment an exhausted couple with two babies, and the rules are the following:
These are the videos of me showing my family the place, where you can clearly see that there are just two tiny potted plants in the entire house, one in front of the downstairs bathroom mirror on top of the sink and another in the window sill in front of the kitchen sink, both Snake Plants that were alive and well when we left.
VIDEO
VIDEO
As I mentioned, I personally think that all the rules should be stated up front. Under the house rules on the listing, the host mentions, "A rental agreement may be provided with more specific rules and information." I am guessing that he did not want to include a lengthy list of rules here because he wanted to keep it brief. The rules stated on my listing are pretty detailed, but many hosts worry that guests will not read them if you do this and that it's better to keep it brief so that they at least read the most important rules before booking.
What I would do if I was him is send this rental agreement with the more specific rules and info to the guest via the message system so that they have the option to read them ahead of arrival, rather than just in the house manual. In fact, I would do this asap so that they can cancel within the 48 hour penalty free period should they not be happy with my rules.
BTW I ask all guests to confirm they have read and agree to the full house rules before booking and I will not accept a reservation until they have done so. If they instant book, I will cancel the reservation if they fail to do so after being prompted a few times. I feel this goes an awfully long way to avoiding misunderstandings.
Having said that, as a guest, you could see on the listing that there was some sort of 'rental contract' with more specific rules. In your place I would definitely have asked the host to see these BEFORE I booked. I don't want to agree to a set of rules without knowing what they are. What if, like you, I felt unable to follow them, either due to time constraints or because they were unclear?
So, if you do change your mind and decide to continue as a guest on the platform, make sure you read everything on the listing and especially in the house rules thoroughly before booking and ask questions about anything that is not spelt out.
@Mary4772 Airbnb will only remove reviews that violate their review policies. They won't remove reviews simply because a user says the other party was lying. I can assure you it is far more common for guests to leave fabricated issue reviews than hosts, and hosts cannot get those reviews removed. Airbnb has no way of knowing which party is telling the truth- it's one person's word against the other's.
One of the problems here is that you booked with property managers who have over 60 listings. These type of listings have a reputation for doing a lot of things that are upsetting to guests, from not returning cash security deposits, even when the guests have left the place clean and tidy with no damages, cancelling reservations last minute, etc.
It is much safer to book with a small-time, hands-on host than these corporate run listings, most of which don't ever meet the guests and establish no personal connection. They rely on the cleaners report, for example. If the cleaner says the place smells like smoke, the "host" assumes you smoked inside. The thing is, a place can be left smelling like smoke even if you restrict your smoking to outside, because the smell of the smoke enters on the guest's clothing, hair, etc.
As an aside, having raised 3 kids myself, I understand the challenges of getting out the door on time when you have kids. You get the toddler all bundled up in their snowsuit and strapped into their car seat, and they say, "I have to poo." 🙂
As a parent, you just have to plan for those events and start getting ready an hour before you would if you were childless.
You can leave a response to that review. It can make things clear to future hosts reading your reviews and responses. Hosts don't take every review they read as the gospel truth. We know other hosts can be wrong or dishonest or overly critical. A well-written guest response can win over future hosts.
Keep responses as brief and concise as possible (unlike your post here 🙂 )- basic facts, leave out all the details and storylines, don't come across as defensive (accept responsibility for legit issues over which you had control, like the late check-out, don't put forth excuses) or aggressive. Just state simply what you feel is fair and unfair criticism, and very basically why. Your audience for your response is future hosts, not the host who reviewed you, so don't address them in the response- "just the facts , ma'am".
Reviews are only removed by Airbnb when violating their content policy.
There is no such violation in the review.
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2673/airbnbs-review-policy
It seems to me the host wrote the review when being upset regarding the check-out issue.
Your other reviews are fine. Maybe let it go and continue using Airbnb.
Thanks 🙂
@Mary4772 I never looked at your review page before giving you advice on how to write a response, and see you already left one. Far too long and detailed and shouldn't be directed at the host. Oh well, hopefully you never get an unfair review again, and if you do, you can write a response more consicely.
The thing is, when reviews or responses are too long winded, they tend not to be read by those you are trying to make things clear to. Readers just gloss over them, whereas brevity will encourage a read.
I am afraid you’re not going to like my response and you may think it’s a bit harsh, so feel free to ignore it… but I can’t help but comment on your thread.
It’s not so much the host’s review (which is bad, I’ll admit), but your response to it and your post here which would totally put me off hosting you. There’s a great deal of entitlement and petty childish behaviour going on there, e.g. being glad they had to sort out your trash mess, or “good on them *slow clap* It gave me some peace to see they had a couple of terrible reviews in the beggining of their career”
Let’s break it down:
And again, “did not realize I needed to ask you for permission to take a shower. It was Christmas morning and we got a little off schedule opening presents with our girls 1 and 2 years old”. Not the host’s problem and really demonstrates an entitled attitude. Also, no you don’t need permission to take a shower in your own place, but when you decide to check out late without permission, don’t just assume you can then take a shower unless you know you are going to be out ON TIME. The place is yours until the stated check out time, which you agreed to upon booking. After that, no, you don’t get to shower there and take your time and leave the cleaner waiting.
I could go on and on, but this post is already far too long. Please stop and look outside yourself. I know you think because you have small children that the world owes you a favour but most of the world’s population have children. It doesn’t make you special. You chose to have children and therefore you need to manage your time accordingly, not make it other people’s problem.
I think most of you overlook that I actually state that I was ok with the Host leaving a bad review deal is he embellished quite a lot to justify it. I don't understand the entitlement bit, I was not being entitiled, nor do I believe the world owes me anything because I have children I was late for check out, and I did not sort the trash nor put away the dishes because I was late to check out.
The host left me a terrible review where none of what he says is true, you can choose to believe what you want to believe.
I've found some of what some of you have posted helpful, some is just unnecessary, kinda like what I've learned here, I should just keep to the facts, but since im not that kind of person, I just wont be using airbnb further.
Thank you for taking the time to write this, it's not as harsh as you think it came off, because it's what you think from what you can gather from the little whinning blurb that I wrote, and I'm ok with that. I'm just not ok with the lying the hosts had to serve in order to justify such a horrible review.
I was terribly stressed to be late, and was very concsious of how me being late could affect the whole logistics behind preparing the airbnb for the next guests, I was apologizing profusely, I don't get the whole entitelment deal most of you are using as a crutch: As I remember it I had already showered and was changing when the cleaner came in as you can read in the post.
My Extense Whine leaves alot to the imagination I'm guessing, I'm happy that as a host you are forthcoming with all the rules, though you might not know, it is very helpful for mothers so we can plan ahead. I honestly don't know if I could have pulled it out either way. Between an entire day out with the girls visiting the sights, making dinner and all that entails, wrapping the presents and doing the suitcases and pre packing the lunch boxes and picking out their outfits organizing the house, doing all the dishes, pre making breakfast, I went to bed at 4:00ish am and I still did not make it out on time the next morning. I do not have the practice or skills to do any of what I did quickly due to the context of my regular life, that's why things take me longer, or why I seem to be making "excuses for myself"
I do not normally do any of the hard work having a child in the States would entail I mostly just enjoy time with my daughters and my hobbies, probablly a romanticizied version of parenthood, with a live in nannie a cleaner and cook.
I don't wish to gain sympathy, I was just writting about what happend to me from how I felt and what occured from my vantage point. It's odd to be scrutinized by what seems to be all Hosts that like to read into who I am, instead of what occured. It's a strange phenomenon, that of pushing a nerve on someone that I never saw, spoke to directly or even heard their voice and where our communication was very positive from the beginning until the end of my stay.
I can be quite childish, and as you can picture I'm honestly flailing my arms and legs in a fit at the end of the conversation, it's an incredible tantrum just like a child would do when they are not heard, wronged or simply don't get their way. I'm not petty, I was just wronged, and I've always had a thing for truth and hate injustices it's one of the things I like the most about myself, but it definitely does not serve me in this sort of plataform, hence my retirement.
Thanks again.
@Mary4772 Your entire post really seems like you are making excuses for yourself. You didn't see the other rules, that's on you. You checked out 45 minutes late, that is also on you, and it doesn't appear you bothered to notify the host you were running late. You say there was no information about how to sort the trash, but since you failed to read the house rules or pay attention to the check out time, I am not much convinced this wasn't another over sight on your part. It would seem a very odd 'lie' for the host to make up about the plants....
Having young children doesn't exempt you from the things you agreed to when you booked or from knowing what it is that you agreed to in the first place. Lastly, you don't appear to spare a thought of the stress you put other people under on Christmas day..the cleaner, the hosts and possibly the guests arriving later that day who may or may not have been able to check in on time due to your actions.
Yeah, I did think of the cleaner, apologized profusely and did everything I could do given my timeframe and I was quite thourough when I read the Rules when I booked, yet there were extra rules that were in the house manual. I just did not know how to sort trash, and there wasnt clear instructions as how to do it. The cleaner was in the house by 11:10- 11:15 am she knocked and came in and started cleaning right away.
I honestly don't see how that's entitiled, but ok.
I thought it was an incredibly odd lie too. If I send you the video evidence I sent the Airbnb Rep maybe you would start to lean towards not doubting every word I write as much. I did not expect support on this thread, It's very obvious that it's mostly conformed by hosts, yet I was not looking for support or sympathy, regardless I think it's a bit of an overreach given the facts I've stated that me checking out 45 minutes late on Christmas morning during a snowstorm while the cleaner was cleaning and was telling us to not stress out while she cleaned because I was freaking out and apologizing like crazy that I did not care. Next guests checked in fine, I read their review, I'm one of those creepy guests that lingers on your profile when you lie on a review to me.
I did Notify Jeremiah I was running late, I dunno man, I knew what I agreed to, I just did not know my host had a temper. I know I have a temper, but I'm generally quite patient with stupidity, not so much with malice.
@Mary4772 Your response to the host review is more telling about this whole story than your post or their review. I would not host you based on that response, not on one apparent “outlier’ among good reviews.
I honestly do not understand what you mean, they have fantastic reviews the house was beautiful everything was incredibly well taken care of, it was advertised correctly, our communication was good that's not what is being discussed. What is being discussed is that they seemed to have gotten mad and simply decided to lie on their review to me.
I wish they would change it to the truth, or even erase it.
You're reading into who you think I am vs what I'm saying happened and decided to judge through a nearsighted lens, maybe you just read over it on only really read my response.
But that's ok, I would not host me either if that's all I read, I'd be like NEXT.
hahahah
Ah wait I get it, ok, ok I'd change my response to something less Irate and lengthy, but I'm honestly not lying about not using Airbnb anymore so I don't know if it would be worth it.
Do you think bad reviews on airbnb will affect peoples Social Credit any time soon? Id maybe get my ducks in a row if that's the case.
@Mary4772 Yep, your response to that review basically reinforced the entitled attitude the host made clear in his review.
Opening presents with your children is not an excuse to check out an hour late, and if it would have taken you 30 minutes to put away the clean dishes (which sounds patently absurd), you must have not washed a dish for your entire trip until check out morning.
If you had that many dishes to wash and put away, seems like you would have gotten that out of the way the night before, so you'd only have a few breakfast dishes to wash. Considering you had presents to open in the morning and all. Not to mention deciding to have a one hour shower at check-out time, expecting the cleaners to try to start cleaning around you.
And addressing the host as "Dude or dudette"?
A one hour shower? Where'd you read that from? I found your first comment super helpful , now it just seems like youre trying to get at me?