Cowardly guests who hide behind their review

[Brian68]

I'm pretty much done with guests, who if they have a problem during their stay decide to say nothing and then moan about it in the review after.

Why is that?

It's very simple actually, the guest thinks if they request or complain about something during their stay that it will influence your review of them.

As a host,  I rarely hear from my guests and I do check in on them very occasionally to make sure they have arrived safe.

No news is good news they say, absolutely not!

For all intents and purposes you have been led to believe that there were no problems, issues or complaints?

Basically I feel like I am flying blind and 99% of the time give the guest 5 stars only to find out and to be fair, mostly private feedback that there have been issues.

I just feel that that reviews should be subject to more scrutinisation and changeable by Airbnb if the guest has failed at any time during their stay to message you about it on the app or via email and then gone on to make it public in a review.

I'm happy to listen to guests concerns or if there are issues and would not discriminate ( I already had to change a water heater out for someone who had no hot water for 24 hrs, no problem at all).

But DON'T keep quiet and then blub about it afterwards, because you are the worst kind of guests.

[Mike340]

@Brian68

We live in a world now of social media ...of  "opinion" ...all these people want their "opinions" heard on the big screen, the world stage ....gives them a sense of power, of importance ...the idea that they can bring you down over the dust on your coffee table and such like .....sad state of affairs I am afraid.

Whislt we all know that these comments say more about them than you ...the "achilles heel" is of course review scores and reviews...that AirBnb as you say..tends to just ignore ...much has been said on this forum on the subject.  

[Brian68]

@Mike477

Sad but true, I am still lucky in the sense that the overwhelming majority of my guests are great and do write honest, grateful reviews.

I and I hope we all rely on human nature seeing through the occasional bad review when reviewing ourselves as just being the typical sour lemon you will find on any site 

[Eilish--Elizabeth-0]

I have enjoyed reading these comments and had a laugh too. People are funny! I allowed two young men to check in at 10am instead of 3pm. I then gave them a lift to City centre. They had a great time arriving back 3 a.m. I provided them with two huge frys the next morning and gave them a lift to the bus station Re their flight home.  As they were young I overlooked that one didn’t flush the toilet while the other used MY towel in the bathroom after his shower instead of their own in their bedroom.   In their review( not public) they said I was a bit far outa the city but there’s always public transport! AND that my towels and linens weren’t fresh!!!. They had used my bath towel and their bath sheet was brand new and their bed linen was new out of the packet.🤣. You just have to laugh although I was ragin at the time.

[Brian68]

@Eilish0,

Lol, you never know what to expect

[Eilish--Elizabeth-0]

I forgot to mention that I had chosen their bed linen especially for them as it had landmarks from their country on it and I thought they would be tickled pink as there was a jack russel dog with sunglasses on in front of each landmark ( I have a Jack Russel who looks the same). Brian in Dubie your very funny you shud be on the stage. The lady with the big description is right no one wants to read a dirge, I have a bit of a dirge myself lol. 

[Bruna-and-Siana0]

I hear you. We usually ask after the first night (via message or personally ) if everything was fine in the room and if there is anything we can do to make their stay better. Usually, no complains, it's always all great.

After check-out, we ask for any feedback. Again, no complains and no feedback on how to improve and provide a better experience to our guests.

As you say, the feedback comes later in the review. Most of things could be quickly fixed if guest communicated them! We had guests complaining about room temperature (there is an electric heather but some guest don't see it), no toilet paper (what if you check the bathroom cabinet?), noise from outside (there are earplugs in the room for people sensitive to noise!), etc. 

[Fred13]

It is like they enjoy more a 'got cha moment'  more than being cooperative along the way.

[Brian68]

Absolutely Bruna,

Apparently a Cockerel about a mile away from them was really noisy, I don't know which part of Thailand, Jungle, tropical Island they forgot to interpretate.

No problem I will just take the 12 gauge out, have a word with the local land owner and blow its head off haha.

You are right about checking in with them, "Yes everything is great" and then boom!

Moan moan moan moan.

[Bruna-and-Siana0]

@Brian68 My favourite is when they complain about location. We clearly describe where our apartment is and what is around. We still get sometimes 3* and 4* in location.

We are in a safe residential neighboor, close to highways, airport and with lot of stuff nearby. If guest complain about our location, cannot imagine what ratings you might get in the Thailand Jungle. 

[Jean84]

Hi yes this is ny favourite too, when the location and distance from the city center (in my case ) is quite clearly stated before they book , its like all complaints , we can't please evryone and I think when they can't find fault sometimes they pick on something like locaion, I once had a woman who had me running to her with allsorts every half hour and I really went out of my way to see she had everything and in her review she said she was disppointed because the rooms were all aligned along a corridor ( itis a guest house with 5 rooms) and the Jam wasn't home made ......

[Doris6]

I had one complain because the street was too narrow and gravel.  I describe it as a "country lane", with photos showing the road leading to the lake...showing very well kept gravel and it is not to narrow, two cars can pass ..maybe not two large trucks, but 2 vehicles can pass. That was their only complaint but they had to mention it as if it made any difference. No problems with cleanliness, no problems with the dock, comfort or anything else. Petty.

[Sarah977]

I think maybe we need to start approaching this in a little different manner. Just as many of us now try to fit in a bit of an education conversation re how the rating system works for hosts, "Is everything okay? "Have you found everything you need?" "Let me know if you need anything", may be too mlld. If we said something like "It's really important for me, as a host, to make sure you're comfortable and that you feel free to ask if you need anything, or can't figure out how something works. I'd much rather you ask me for help when you need it, than feel like you were lacking anything after the fact, so please don't be shy about letting me know."  I don't know if it would make any difference to those types, but it might.

There are some people who don't want to be seen as a "bother" in the moment, but can't resist complaining about what they were lacking in a review. The fact that they gave you no opportunity to address something when you could have, somehow doesn't compute. Unwilling to take any responsibility for their own unneccesary discomfort.

[Bruna-and-Siana0]

We actually do that. When we give them the "welcome tour," we make sure they know our goal is to provide a 5* experience and we are always available via AirBnB message (or in person if we are in the apartment). We also have a note that says something similar to what you said.

However I think some guests are still too shy to communicate certain issues. Sometimes it's also a cultural thing. It's understandable but if they are too shy to communicate it during they stay, why then penalize us in the rating or review?! 

[Fred13]

Same. I tell them point blank - "Do not hesitate to ask about whatever you need or comes up, don't be shy". (Of course, with a 6-mile ocean between us, they can't get too demanding :).

[Sarah977]

@Bruna-and-Siana0   It's easy for a shy person to be bold when sitting in front of a computer 🙂