Hello everyone,
I hope you’re all doing well and enjoying ...
Latest reply
Hello everyone,
I hope you’re all doing well and enjoying a great hosting season!
Today, I have some great news to share ...
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 Perhaps your shower was not an hour long, that wasn't the point. At check-out time you were not ready to leave . Instead, you decided you needed to have a shower and change your clothes when the cleaners had arrived on time to start their job, and because you let them in and said they could start, and apologized profusely, you think this was perfectly okay. It isn't. Cleaners cannot do their job in the way they are accustomed to doing it if the guests have not yet left. Not to mention them feeling uncomfortable with the situation- most cleaners would.
If you are unable to properly manage your time with children because you are used to having a nanny, a housekeeper, and a cook, and expect to be given special consideration because of that, that is exactly the definition of an entitled attitude.
I raised three daughters as a single mom. I had no nannies, housekeepers or cooks. And I arrived and left everywhere on time.
You are a privileged person- your life is easier than most of the world's population. I hope you appreciate and acknowledge that. Your privilege, however, does not require others to cater to your inexperience and inability to look after your own family while respecting others at the same time.
I was already showered when the cleaner arrived, not that that matters at all because anything I say at this point will be harshly scrutinized, since I've made a mess of this by mentioning details of my life. I dare to say though, I'm priveleged and I am very very aware of that, but I'm not entitiled and I don't need to accept people lying about things I did not do to be humble and deserving. It seems like once again as mentioned earlier in the thread this seems to have turned to a persecution of my character and why I deserved that bad review, instead of the how to deal with the details enclosed in the review that are far from the truth.
About you being a single mom of three and being punctual, I commend you, It must have been an uphill battle that you staggered into and turned into a well oiled machine, not dumped into on a christmas vacation. And c'mon you must have been late at least once, not one tardy? Not one missed appointment?, heck I missed an appointment today to tour a preschool 8 minutes from my house and will have to rechedule even with my nanny Austria here, my kid freaked out because she did not want to wear the trousers I picked for her to school. I guess time managment is not my thing.
I was respectful, When was I disrespectful? Oh Well....
I think I'm done here.
As @Sarah977 says,
@Sarah977 wrote:Cleaners cannot do their job in the way they are accustomed to doing it if the guests have not yet left. Not to mention them feeling uncomfortable with the situation- most cleaners would.
When a guest checks out late and I have another checking in that day, I have to crack on with the cleaning immediately. Even if they leave at 11am, which is my check out time, it doesn't give me that long to get the job done if the next guest is arriving at 3pm. So, when they check out late without prior permission, it's more than annoying. I will wait a while as it is an uncomfortable situation to be cleaning around a guest, but there comes a point where I just have to crack on with it.
The guest may feel that they are not in the way, but they are very much in the way, especially if they are still packing, using bathrooms or the kitchen. I think it's pretty rude for them not to get going when they can see I am busy preparing for the next guest. If I had cleaners booked in to do the turnover, then it would make me furious, quite frankly. My cleaners are far too polite to tell guests they are in the way, but that doesn't mean that they are okay with it either.
So, while 'worst guests ever' seems a bit over-the-top, the late check out combined with leaving the trash unsorted in the garage and the other points, maybe were enough for the host to view you as their worst guest. I've certainly had guests do much, much worse things, but perhaps that is not this host's experience.
I was not expecting absolutely anything, you're building up a scenario that you did not witness which is hard to do, I understand you find my response disrespectful, but you can Imagine how angry I was when I read the LIES this host posted to justify his review. Read my reply to Huma0.
I'm not trying to look good, I just want the truth to be told. I checked out late by 45 minutes, I could not put away the dishes and I did not know how to sort out the trash and dumped them in the garage instead of taking it out.
I did NOT kill their plants, I did not break any of their Rules and I did NOT leave the Kitchen COVERED in bacon grease hahahahahahah. WOWWWWW.
This is ludicrous, I hardly take myself too seriously, nor I'm I this entitiled little ninnie.
I just used to take great pride in my reviews, and was very careful and considerate with every property I visited.
Further confirms I will not be using this plataform in all of our interests, hosts that will not need to host and deal with THE WORST GUEST EVER (I've read horror stories here)but mostly for myself.
I'll just tryout Home Exchange seems to be more reciprocal and a better leveraged digital ecosystem.
@Mary4772 FYI reviews and responses cannot be "changed" once they are published.
And if you were unfamiliar with how to separate garbage from recycling, that was something you should have asked the host for clarification on. Separating your garbage is not something a guest does on check-out morning. You do it all the time for the length of your stay.
I did not know how to, I've learned my lesson, Ok Sarah Thanks.
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.
Definitely the most helpful and insightful comment.
Will consider this seriously 🙂
As a host who has endured many bad guests, I can say its Airbnb's review system that leads to this sort of thing. If there is anything that goes the least bit wrong, it becomes a "get them before they get me" situation where both parties have incentive to exaggerate. Reviews and ratings are everything on Airbnb, so the platform has a responsibility to provide a fair and level playing field. Anything less is malfeasence. Demand that Airbnb reform the review process!
What would the new review system look like,? I feel there has to be some sort of
credibility or evidence based system for claims like "they killed our plants" or "they broke all our Rules". We've recently stayed at some Airbnb's using my husband's account and I've taken the habit of recording and taking pictures of everything when we arrive and when we leave due to the horrid experience of having my reputation slandered on this platform and not wanting the same thing to happen to him.
It could continue with point based for things that are more subjective.
But should preamble with an emotional intelligence check point so users are not clouded by anxiousness or out of proportion anger before they submit a review.
My interest in this platform has been hindered for sure, I no longer get a kick from using it, I'm more cautious and extremely nit picky reading descriptions and looking for suspicious details or over the top rules. I don't do reviews anymore. My husband tells me to write the reviews for him but It's a hard pass for me.
Maybe some changes are needed for the wellbeing of both Guests and Hosts.
Best to you,
@Mary4772 I think being Christmas Day was part of the issue . No one would want to hurry little childrens Christmas mornings . Cleaners have families . Did you say Merry christmas . Why would it be a good thing for them to be sitting in the snow waiting to clean a house on Christmas day ?. What about those turning up on Christmas day ? I imagine that the host will never have someone leave and someone arrive on Christmas day again . Boxing day maybe H
I did, I said Merry Christmas and left her a thank you note.
In my first couple of years of hosting, I had guests checking in on Christmas Day. It was a disaster for a number of reasons and I decided it was absolutely not worth it so I always block out Xmas Day for check ins now. I don't mind if they want to check out on Xmas Day, but I don't want to stress with new people coming. Also, Xmas Day is just about the only day of the year when my cleaners are not available.
My experience has been that the majority of guests who book over the Xmas/New Year period are just AWFUL. I don't know why. Maybe stress levels are just higher at that time? Maybe expectations are higher?
Plus it is cold here, there is no public transport and taxis charge double (none of the guests seem to realise this until I tell them) and the supermarkets are closed, so the guests are usually miserable before they even step through the door. They will leave poor reviews no matter how much you go out of your way for them.