Would you be nervous about getting a review from this guest?

[Suzanne302]

I hope I'm wrong, but I have a bad feeling. Guest has instant booked, and sent a short message including all the info I ask for. She is bringing her dog but did not add the dog to the reservation and I charge a $10 pet fee. I sent an alteration request, with a polite note, adding the dog to the reservation. I hate asking guests for more money, but, my fee is my fee and I need to make sure it's collected. (no response to the alteration request yet)

She has one 5-star review as a guest and THIS is how she reviewed the host:

"The townhouse is in a great neighborhood. Quiet and convenient to stores and restaurants. It was clean and the kitchen had mostly everything we needed.

I didn't appreciate being messaged by K*** on the 2nd day regarding my "HUGE" 50lb dog being out on the deck for less than a couple of minutes at midday and barking at a passing dog. I also did not like having the cleaning crew arriving at 10:10 on the morning of our departure while we were packing up to leave."

The host responded that check-out time is 10am so already, we have a guest complaining when SHE was the one who disregarded check-out time. I'm not worried about the dog, I'm worried this "type" of guest is going to get pissy about me requesting the pet fee (even though it's stated in my listing) and then, I predict her screwing up my 5-stars. Not that it matters, but it's like having a brand new car and you're so careful not to get it dinged. That first ding you get hurts!

In my former listing, I had over 100 5 star reviews, and my ONLY 4 star review came from someone just. like. this. I can smell it. But I hope I'm wrong.

[Suzanne302]

@Anonymous @Gordon0 @Kelly149 @Richard531 

UPDATE: The guest has come and gone! I treated her like I would any other guest and poured on the charm. I still don't know if this will translate into a 5 star review (or any review at all) but based on the message I received last night and the one I got this morning, no matter what the review, I know I did my job and did it well.

Either my spidey sense was off on this one, or I'm REALLY good at what I do, lol! (that's a joke, I don't want to sound arrogant)

I'm glad I didn't cancel this guest. And I hope this serves as a lesson to me in the future if I sense potential difficult guest to just "do what I do" and if a guest doesn't appreciate it, that's on them. In this case, I think she did appreciate it and I love being able to make guests happy.

[Richard531]

So glad to hear that this sounds like it worked out! 

I've had this experience a handful of times too.  Something about a guest irks me.  But then we do our thing and knock 'em dead.  Sometimes it's just their lack of grace when booking a home and they never intended to fire any warning shots.

If you get a review,  I'd be absolutely shocked if it weren't a well-deserved across-the-board 5-star review.