"Honest Review"- what would you want to hear?

[Lenore22]

Hello fellow hosts!

As I sit here ready to write an "accurate review" for our most recent guests, I'm struggling with how to write an "accurate review" for the benefit of future hosts that doesn't reflect poorly on the guests, because really, they were great. We would host them again.  They were new to the platform, so they might have some learning to do- and hopefully I helped in that process, but I would also like to support the process so that moving forward they are matched with stays that are a good fit for them.  For myself, I would be happy to host these guests again. While they didn't follow the rules to the letter, they did follow to my satisfaction once we clarified.  They communicated their plans well & honestly and left the place clean & in good shape.

This was a group of mature friends looking to get away from the city to enjoy nature. Before approving their reservation, I mentioned that our listing is in a residential neighborhood that expects quiet from 10pm and will quickly call the police if a group is noisy (even 5-6 friends laughing over beers in the backyard has had a visit by the police at 10:10pm).  We offer flexible cancellations and recommend a number of listings closer to the center of town where neighbors are less worried by noise or listings in remote areas where no one cares. They acknowledged and assured me this would be a good fit.

Ours is also a "no smoking anything anywhere on the premises" listing...  and our policy is that no one other than registered guests should be in the listing during quiet hours. The first night, they had a number of guests visit until the wee hours (about 4am)- these guests didn't actually stay the night & they had their own accommodations. They also smoked on the balcony & patio, but they discarded of their ashes/butts appropriately and didn't leave any smell of any kind of smoke.  I reminded them of our quiet hours, that our neighbors likely wouldn't put up with a second night of noise from the patio & that only registered guests should be there.  The second night, everything was quiet and they didn't have visitors after quiet hours.

For our part, I felt like we reached an understanding with these guests and we'd be happy to host them again. As I said, they took good care of the property and once they fully understood what our rules meant to us, they followed them,  but I also know some hosts who would charge them for smoking on their patio and possibly evict them for having any visitors stop by at all.  How could I put this in a neutral way that would help hosts determine if this would be a good fit or not, while encouraging these guests to continue to use airbnb & reflect our generally positive impression of them?

thanks for your input,

Lenore

[Colleen253]

@Lenore22 Sorry Lenore, to my mind rules are rules. Broken rules are broken rules. I would not consider these people good guests, regardless of how clean they left your place. You were clear and direct with them about what they needed to know and be aware of, before they broke your rules. I would absolutely want to know that these guests have zero regard for rules, especially important ones like no smoking and extra guests. I’m sure you can find a neutral way to say that. Go ahead and extol the virtues you are sure they have. I wouldn’t care a lick about that, but would be very interested to read what’s important to me in your review. 

And thank you for your honesty!

[Sarah977]

@Lenore22  These guests were no way what I would call "great". They either failed to read the house rules, or decided they could be ignored, neither of which is okay.

"Guests were new to Airbnb and apparently did not read the house rules. Several rules were broken their first night, which resulted in disturbance to the neighbors (no wild  party, just loudness after quiet hours, with unregistered visitors) . 

When I spoke to them about the violations, they were polite and no such things happened again. Other than that, they were friendly and respectful and left the space in good shape, so I would be happy to host them again, trusting that the failure to inform themselves of house rules was a newbie oversight that won't happen in the future."

[Colleen253]

@Sarah977 That's great, except @Lenore22 said she addressed some things with them before she accepted their booking, so newbie oversight perhaps doesn't apply here. This seems more blatant disregard. 

[Sarah977]

@Colleen253  Ah, I missed that part. So they did just do as they pleased, blatantly ignoring what the host had told them when they booked. So the second night, they just complied because she called them out on the behavior or had no plan to have a get together the second night anyway.

@Lenore22  Why would you consider these to be great guests? They blatantly defied what you had discussed with them when they booked. They disrespected you, your home, and the neighbors. If this is your idea of great guests you'd welcome back, I wouldn't trust any of the  reviews you leave for guests.

[Linda108]

@Lenore22   There is definitely a time for a more hard line approach to your review as suggested by @Sarah977 and @Colleen253 .  But you are a seasoned host and something is telling you to not blow these guests out of the water.  Most of us advocate to trust your gut feeling usually when it comes to negative guest or potential guest behavior.  I wonder if we could look at your post in such a way, i.e., trust your gut feeling.  An honest review can identify flaws of rule following while appreciating the more positive aspects.  You seem to believe that given time and experience along with honest feedback these guests  will be valued guests. If you spell out the transgressions in your review the next host can make their own decisions.  I think the concern is that a review that is too positive might set up another host.  In addition to the public review and since you believe they can and do use feedback, I would suggest to write a private message and explain your review and offer suggestions for future stays.  

[Laura2592]

@Lenore22 I don't think these were great guests but with the guests I often get they would only be mildly annoying 😉. My review would say something like :

"So and so and their group were overall pleasant guests we would have back. Future hosts may want to clarify rules on visitors and quiet hours if those are a concern. We were able to check in with this group on some of our house rules and they were responsive. Left our place very well cared for. We thank them for staying with us."

Up to you how to rate but these folks would get low ratings for communication and house rules for me. The above review would give me a heads up that this group wouldn't be terrible overall but that they think it's fine to push boundaries.  I honestly don't love that type of guest but lately that's all that seems to be out there. 

[Lenore22]

@Laura2592 You have magical review wording.  Thank you!  

What you said is exactly what I was thinking- for the right type of hosts, these guests are fine and pay well and they leave your house in good condition.  But for some, they would be a nightmare. Thank you for sharing your gift of words!

[Laura2592]

@Lenore22 we have had guests who were fine overall but irritating in the experience.  No major damage done but not necessarily people I'd recommend.  It's sort of an 'all is well that ends well'. Would I have them back? Ehhhh....maybe, depending.  Will they be great for others? Maybe, depending. These aren't the 5 star guests but solidly 3s or below in certain categories.  More hands off hosts may disagree and more hands on may want to avoid them.