Call for more attention to composing guest reviews!!!

[Huaai0]

Hi all,

Although I have seen posts providing tips about composing and evaluating guest reviews here and there on the forum, I still would like to start a thread to call for more attention to composing guest reviews!

The reason is because I have seen too many positive guest reviews, some of which may not truthfully reflect the guest's personlaity, lifestyle, manners and behaviours. General and vague reviews may mislead other hosts, let alone inaccurate reviews.

- Everyone has an issue in some sense. Instead of saying he or she is a joy to host, you should identify what strikes you most about this guest's personality, lifestyle, manners and behaviours. For example, if this guest is super friendly, clean and tidy, but tends to take over your kitchen by cooking too much, this can be a non- issue to some hosts, but can be an issue to some others. So, it would be great if you could state it in your review for the sake of other hosts. 

- If the guest is not terrible and not wonderful either, it is more important to be as descriptive as possible, because we want to know who is going to enter our open house! Many guests I guess would fall into this category and we gotta be more careful about what we put in the review. 

- Be specific in your review so we can determine if we can handle this guest's issue or not. For example, I see that one of my guests' revious review indicates this group is "diasppointing." How? In what areas? As a matter of fact, when I'm hosting him, he IS disappointing! I only regret 1) that I did not track his previous reviews further 2) did not ask the previous host to elaborate what about his guest disappointed him. 

Truly important.

[Momi0]

@Kiersi0  He sent you an INQUIRY?  Or a Booking request?  I just posted a big helpful article in this thread.  When you have a few minutes, give it a read and see if that helps you.

But good on you for sticking to your rules!!!!!!  

I just had a guests break a rule in our home and I gave her one friendly reminder about that rule. She apologized and never did it again.  Would I give her a 5 Star rating review...?  Absolutely not.  But 4 Stars...yes.  A 5 Star guests would never have sprayed that horrendous bottle of Vanilla Spice body musk in our home in the first place....we had to endure that gross smell throughout our 1600 square foot house for 3 days because it went into everything including our rugs!  My husband was so irritated as we really hate strong smells.  And now I have to bleach my white duvet comforter cover again today even though I just did it 24 hours earlier. (it sunk into the fabric of my duvet cover)

And my review will say, "This guests was new to Airbnb and stayed with us for 3 nights.  Communication was pretty good before and during. She kept a tidy neat bedroom and bathroom.  We took her out to eat on Night 1 and enjoyed getting to know her and hearing about her new business.  She was pretty quiet upon her late returns back to the house every night and followed all of our house rules after needing only one friendly reminder on Day 2 about a particular rule to which she apologized for. Checked out and left the private room and bathroom in same condition. She left a  small note expressing her gratitude to us for her stay. She would be a good guests for any hosts. 

[Momi0]

@Zed0   Please do not take what others write on the CC as being "100% true".   Don't let yourself get all worked up but take comfort in knowing all can be settled if a host takes the time to read ALL of the  helpful articles on the ABB website addressing each concern.  

You are absolutely totally in control of your listing and who stays in your home.  You have the right to decline as well.  Hopefully what I write here will be read and help others to understand why ABB does what they do with regards to declines.

1.  It is completely unrealistic to think that every hosts would accept every request and ABB knows this.

2.  Therefore, the decline factor is like this....lets say over the 90 day period of ABB's evaluation, you get 15 booking requests (remember an inquiry is NOT a booking request), and you for whatever reason, decide to decline 10 out of those 15 requests, then that's a problem.  IF a host continues to decline more then 50% of their BOOKING requests, then of course ABB will move your listing further down the rankings because they want listings to be given priority who actually take bookings.  If you don't give Pre-Approval to an INQUIRY, that's not part of the declining factor.  All you have to do is respond to the potential guests with a message, and that counts towards your response time.  

3.  Be sure to learn the difference between an INQUIRY and a BOOKING REQUEST.

4.  Each hosts needs to ask themselves why are they declining so much.  

5.  If the POTENTIAL guests is not doing what you need in order to accept their booking, then request it one more time in good faith.  IF they don't honor that request, then thank them for choosing you, but convey its not the right fit and advise them to look elsewhere.  Not everyone is going to be the right fit especially those hosts like me who actually host IN OUR HOME.   (I just love the backlash opinions I get from other hosts who haven't a clue what its like to host IN their home because they rent above, or in their backyard, or down the street, or in another city or  in another country but never across the hallway) 

6.  Figure out what you need from each guests in order to take their booking so you are not declining all the time.  Check out my House Rules...this will help you understand what I expect from every potential guests and their booking request.  Its helped me a great deal since I started hosting back in 2015.  Been hosting now for 2 years today.  🙂

7.  Definitely learn what is allowable by ABB (meaning no 3rd party bookings) and read other terms/conditions. 

8. If a host is declining too much, then perhaps they are not meant for hosting. 

9.  Definitely use the HELP center feature on the ABB website to learn more about hosting.  (including about DECLINES)

10.  Have Fun!  

Oh and one more thing.....a year ago, I received a booking request from a young Chinese lady who wanted to book MY HOME for mother and aunt who spoke NO ENGLISH whatsoever...but she wanted them to stay in OUR private room....I continuously asked her over and over again why was she violating ABB terms to try and book a 3rd party booking after she kept writing me back and forth asking me to take the booking....so I decided to teach her a lesson by sending her a Special Offer of $999,999 per night.  Within minutes she got the hint and removed her BOOKING request, therefore I didn't have to decline.  But I can tell you that I Flagged her account to ABB for violating ABB's policy on 3rd party bookings bc she told me she has done this twice before for her relatives.  ABB contacted me and thanked me for not accepting her booking requests and they had reached out to the guests to tell her that she has been warned.  Bet she won't forget me.  LOL

[Kenneth12]

Mahalo @Momi0,  $999,999 was funny.  

[Melanie189]

@Momi0 thank you so much for the information! This makes me feel much more in control in not having to accommodate someone who has had issues in the past. I really appreciate your insight!

[Momi0]

@Melanie189  @Zed0   Sorry for the late reply.  For some reason I don't recall getting your replies back sent to my email inbox.  That's so odd because I am usually very good about seeing these and responding.  You're BOTH so very welcome!  I am really glad I could help!  We all go through things and how we handle it can sometimes help another host.  

Speaking of going through something, I want to share with the group that I had the unfortunate experience of ending (altering) a reservation early and having some guests removed from my home early!  They broke so many rules and were actually very inconsiderate to me and my family that I was literally losing my mind.  The final straw happened last night as I was working in my office around 9:30pm and heard a scream.  The guests (mother) had spilled an entire hamburger all over my ABB private room carpet trying to take it out of her purse to eat it.  (House Rule #4, NO FOOD AND NO EATING IN OUR ABB ROOM),  this was the 2nd time she had violated this rule.  So, I  had to stop working, clean up the mess, and yes, ketchup got into my tan color carpet, which took almost an hour to clean, and finally settled down to work again, when I heard the mother and daughter screaming at each other.  My young daughter was asleep and had her FIRST day of school the next morning, got woken up by their screaming.  That was it. I WAS DONE!  I immediately told the guests that I needed to speak with them, (the mother speaks no English at all) and the daughter understands enough but I still have to use Korean translator.   I informed them that enough is enough and they would be leaving in the morning.  I called AIRBNB, they spoke with the guests and informed the guests that it was my right as a host to end the stay early based on all the reports I had been sending in (along with pics) for the last 3 days and their violations would no longer be acceptable and they needed to leave.  Guests was shocked.  Did the guests leave quietly the next morning at check out time as asked?  Nope!!!  They decided to get up at 6am, make as much noise as they could, slam doors, yell to each other from bedroom to the bathroom as if it was Noon, waking up my entire family and then proceeded to YELL MY NAME 5x's to get my attention to check them  out. I was mortified.  Who does this????  Did they leave my home in the condition it was given?  Nope....they actually broke my toilet seat by 6:28 am and I recorded it which upset them even more.  They say they are not paying, but they will be paying as I filed the claim 6 mins after they walked out the door.  Did the pain of hosting them stop there?  Nope, the daughter who can write English decides she is going to write harassing and threatening messages on the ABB site to me....not only did I call my case manager and report them, I used the new BLOCK feature to stop her from her continued harassment.   Worked beautifully. 

My reason for sharing this with you is because many hosts think they have to host a guest who is breaking rules.  When in fact, NO you don't.  It does help if you can document the rules violation to ABB as soon as you discover it, or you write to the guests ABB account what was discussed that day regarding the rule they broke so its recorded that you went to the guests to discuss it.  Like how I took photos of their bras & panties, yes, I said PANTIES, hanging in my garden area where we all eat,  because they were handwashing all of their clothes every morning in the shower even though I told them to stop and use the wash machine instead.  (They started this nonsense within ONE hour of getting off the plane from Korea at my home) During the  house tour, I told them this outdoor line is for bikinis, beach towels and wet clothes that  might have gotten wet at the beach, but definitely NOT BRAS and PANTIES that my poor husband is forced to look at for 24 hours until they removed it.  They did this for 3 days so I took pics and sent them in.  And ABB could see in the message thread on their account that I wrote saying to please discontinue washing your clothes in our shower that its using excessive water and the hot water is needed for our showers too.  Didn't help that they took showers at 10pm at night and 7am the very next morning every day.....EVERY DAY FOR 3 DAYS!!  My House Manual clearly states no excessive showers as we have a water shortage in Hawaii and to please be mindful that there are 3 other people in my family who need to take showers in our home.  They didn't care about my family one bit.  We were a hotel to them, not a family home.  They did what they wanted, when they wanted and how they wanted it, so therefore, they found themselves being asked to leave our home early.  My husband and daughter were relieved.  Its never a good situation when the guests interfere with your family making them miserable and now I am burdened with the guilt for even taking this booking in the first place even though there were MANY RED FLAGS during the booking process.  Lesson learned. 

Interesting note:  I wrote about this SAME guests on the CC here  (on another post thread about writing honest reviews) just 48 hours after their check after feeling very frustrated.  This is the same guests who accused me of giving her cancer which could kill her because I served a plate of french toast that had a TINY TINY corner of the bread slightly darker brown then the rest of the bread.  I AM NOT JOKING.  It was the FIRST morning of breakfast being served and this is what was told to me at the breakfast table.  I was IN SHOCK.  I took a photo and sent it to ABB that same morning.  After that, I didn't cook for them at all,  Only served muffins and fruit.  FIrst time in 2 years of hosting and cooking breakfast did I get that insulting nonsense said to me.  Every other guests has written that I serve AMAZING BREAKFASTS!  (yes it brougt to me to tears too).  

I continued hosting them with forgiveness when they would apologize for breaking another rule, with extra patience and understanding being that they were from another country, and how do they repay that kindness and patience?  They ignored the House Rules and broke a toilet seat that was only 3 months ago.  Yes, I have the receipt.   They were just awful!!  They make me wanna stop hosting.  And yes, my honest review will state that "This guests stay was terminated early due to the many house rules being broken.  This guest is much better suited for a hotel where they can wash all the clothes they want in the shower because the hotel charges $380 a night for these things. My listing is only $87 a night. I would not host this guests again."

There is no need for any hosts to read between the lines in my reviews. 

Seriously.

[David126]

Great post @Momi0

I see so many posts from Hosts on here who fail to realise that they are running a business and some business is simply not worth having.

[Huaai0]

@David126@Momi0

Yes, with great guests it is a fantastic business. But with those bad guests, it can be a nightmare. That's wht we call MORE ATTETNTION to guest review so we can screen out guests we want to reject upon inquiry. 

[David126]

Very few of my Guests have much or any of an ABB history.

[Momi0]

@David126   Thank you very much David.  Appreciate it so much knowing that my being an "open book" host on the CC might help another host understand that our home is our home and this IS business.  I was going to refund her that 4th night since they were asked by Airbnb to leave, but after seeing the damage to the toilet seat, and the enormous water/electricity usage on my meter for their 3 nights, I have decided to give a partial refund.  Airbnb says I don't have to do that, but I will.  How much I don't yet, because what is the price for aggravating me for 3 nights, making me clean up several of their messes, and interuppting my work so many times I lost count?  They were one of those guests that said my name so many times that I wanted to wear my Beats Headphones and listen to Rock music while working from home. I have never hosted a guests who took 3 hours to get ready in the morning after eating my 8:00am breakfast....NOT ONE OTHER GUESTS!

Oh and for the record, my name was said wrong every. single. **bleep**. time.  But guess who said THEIR difficult Korean names correctly every. single. **bleep**. time?!  ------------>  yep, me, Momi, the one with the easy name.   MOE MEE.....its not that hard. 

Again, thanks for the public support David.  And for reading my post.  

[Huaai0]

@Momi0

Aloha, Momi,

You were doing great and I see you as a role model! I have been upset by some fellow hosts who kiss their guests' ass just for their $$$. No! My undisturbed life is the priority and I don't care about their money! If guests are great, and I earn this meagre income happily. If they are not, then get out of my house and I don't need your money!

[Zed0]

What a nightmare @Momi0!!
I feel I have been very lucky with just food in the rooms (not allowed) water from the shower through my ceiling (No idea how she managed it) burnt pans, loud phone calls all evening, loud sex with stranger brought back late at night in a single room, used condom in waste paper bin, hook broken off bathroom door and very poor communication about arrival times.
Mostly my guests are lovely : )
Z

[Zed0]

Thanks @Momi0 for so much useful info.
Great story about the Chinese person.  Brilliant way to deal with it!

I have only declined once so far and done the messaging to a request response as you explain, to one man who seemed odd to say the least.

I am not good at reading through all the pre-titled "suggested answers"  on help pages.  Being dyslexic it makes my eyes very tired reading through so much info.  I much prefer to phone a human being.

I seem to be doing just fine so far.  I only think we need our star ratings visible to all and some way of getting reviews to be more accurate.  Reading between the lines or noticing the lack of them is the best way at the moment.

I don't have twitter, so this is the only way to find things out.  I could try facebook next time, thanks : )

I did get a call form Airbnb once and had the chance to discuss the fact that the cleaning fee is only added once regardless of the length of stay.  As i have had some who stay a few weeks & also months, just £6 for the entire stay, cleaning the bathroom & kitchen daily, changing & clenaing bed linen, towels etc etc.  is suggestion was to include my clenaing cost in the offer that I make for long term guests.  So, my discount is now not so generous.

Z

[Huma0]

If that is true, it is so unfair. I've had to decline requests for a number of reasons totally out of my control, e.g. the 16-year-olds who want to come on their own (why have they even got their own account when they are under 18?) or people wanting to bring children or pets when my listing clearly states no children or pets.

Others have misread and think they are getting the whole house to themselves for the price of a room, an ensuite or something similar.

Then there are the people who are actually asking for different dates in their message than in their request, or expecting two people to stay when booking for one, or asking for a massive discount. The most common ones I get along these lines are the people who want to stay a couple of nights every week on a long-term basis but have no way of putting this in their booking request. That is no good for me as I would lose longer bookings on a regular basis, and these people almost always ask for a discount on top!

I am sure other hosts have similar requests. Why on earth should we be penalised for guests requesting something that is clearly stated as not possible in the listing?!!

[Huaai0]

@Huma0

Hi Huma,

I'm having a similar situation today. This guy wanted to book one of my rooms and would like his girlfriend to spend a few nights with him, but he didn't want to book for two adults. Honestly, I was tired of sending msgs back and forth, and I simply asked him to search other options such as the entire place listings or hotels. I can't host people who are needy and egotistical with unrealistic needs and expectations. 

[Momi0]

@Huaai0   Regarding this cheap guy who wanted to bring his girlfriend but didn't want to pay the 2 adults cost.  Here's an idea.....

Dear Mr Cheapskate:

I received your request to have your girlfriend come to stay with you for a few days in my home but you would prefer not to pay the 2nd guest extra person fee that is clearly written on my listing.  Therefore, if you can promise to the following conditions, I would consider letting her come be a guests in my home at no extra cost.

1. Have her bring her own sheets.

2.Have her bring her own laundry soap to wash her clothes.

3.  Have her bring her own water to drink, bathe and wash her hands with. 

4. Have her bring her own generator to supply the extra electricity she will be using as an extra person in my home.

5.  Have her bring her own soap, shampoo, toilet paper, and towel to bathe with.

6. Have her bring her own kleenex should she need to blow her nose.

7.  Have her bring her own pillow and pillow case.

8. Have her bring her own coffee, sugar, creamer, milk

9.  Have her bring her own dishwashing liquid to wash any dishes she might be using.

10. Oh and one more, Have her bring her own dishes to use to drink coffee and eat with.

IF complying with these conditions is too difficult, feel free to pay the extra person fee by altering your request to reflect the number of guests from 1 to 2.  I am quite sure your girlfiend is worth the $15 extra per night.  IF not, a hotel is your other option where they too request to know the exact number of guests per room for $400 a night.  (plus $27 for parking, $30 for resort fee, $29 in taxes.)

@Huaai0    Hope this made you laugh.  That was my only intent.  Humor is needed on this CC!!!  Good for you for sticking to your guns on this idiot!!!  He is lucky he got you and not me with that request.