How to review a "not so great"guest

Answered!
Lisa1485
Level 3
Guildford, United Kingdom

How to review a "not so great"guest

Hi, we are newish to hosting. So far our guests have all been great. We’ve had the usual, give us 5* for everything then a 4* overall trick that seems quite common, and one guest who wanted a rural village (which we are) to test the commute and then gave a 4 star rating for location! 

 

However, the guest that has left today has me in a bit of a quandary, so i’d appreciate a little input from you all.

 

She messaged me before booking as she was going to a birthday lunch at a venue located 5 mins walk from our house. She asked if she could smoke, I pointed out that our listing clearly states no smokers or vaping on the premises or grounds (I also pointed out I have health issues which made this a necessity). 

 

She didn’t book. Then a couple of weeks later she did book, clearly she hadn’t found anywhere else so convenient! 

 

She booked for one person, but her previous messages had stated two. I sent her an email asking her to confirm how many people. We don’t surcharge for a +1, so for us it wasn’t an issue, but it could be for others.

 

I asked what time she anticipated arriving, as I was out much of the day, and my husband needed to collect me later, so there would be no one home for around 45 minutes between 6 & 6.45pm. She said she’d be there at 4pm. 

 

She rolled up at 6.20pm, having at no point told us she was going to be late, my husband had hung around, but that left me waiting standing around in freezing cold and rain.

 

She was falling over drunk and promptly collapsed on the bed. Her partner didn’t introduce himself, just shut the bedroom door in my husbands face. My husband then had to leave them there, while he collected me. 

 

The partner was outside smoking when we got back, in the grounds, where there was already a pile of cigarette butts. The house stank of smoke and alcohol when we got inside. We spent the night worried whether she was going to end up coating the room and bathroom in vomit. We close off our area of the house overnight, yet they came through into our area in the early hours of the morning. 

 

Neither of them took shoes off, we have original pine stripped floors and are a shoes off house, something we make clear on our listing, and we provide guests with travel slippers for their stay. They left mud marks on the rugs, floors & bedding. 

 

The following morning, they both totally ignored my husband and I; we are happy to either interact with guests or leave them alone, but a good morning doesn’t hurt anyone? We spoke to them and were totally blanked. We never even found out her partners name. 

 

We felt very uncomfortable in our own home, like we were a nuisance to them, despite us staying out of their way. When they left, the literally just walked out the door, no goodbye nothing. They then proceeded to smoke on our drive, stub out their butts and leave them. 

 

They did however leave the room tidy, which is frankly the only good thing I can say about them.

 

How do I review her?? Any tips gratefully received!! 

1 Best Answer
Kath9
Level 10
Albany, Australia

Wow, I think everyone is being way too kind here - these guests sound terrible! @Lisa1485, as @Rebecca0 said, please please review them honestly to warn other hosts. I would write something along the lines of:

 

While X and her partner left the room tidy, I cannot recommend them to other hosts. Communication was very poor regarding number of guests and arrival time. Additionally, numerous house rules were broken, including smoking and littering of cigarette butts on the property, excessive drinking, entering 'no guest access' areas in the early hours of the morning and leaving mud marks on the floors, rugs and bedding. They were also rude and uncommunicative and made us feel uncomfortable in our own home.

 

Cleanliness: 3 (mud marks)

Communication: 1 (failing to update you on arrival time, no introduction of boyfriend, not engaging in conversation and failing to say goodbye)

House rules: 1

 

Thumbs down!

 

View Best Answer in original post

57 Replies 57

@Giedre-and-Andre0  that reminds me of a bagel advert on TV here in the UK, with this strong NY woman working behind the counter in a NY bagel shop saying firmly to a customer "look at the prices before you order!" and not taking any messing around :)))

@Paul1255 Hmmmmm.... A authentic line would be more likely:

"look at the   f*#"ing   prices before you order!" 😉

Greetings, Andre (but I will tell my wife) :-0

@Giedre-and-Andre0 could easily be a guy, it was just a woman in the ad! Love the expletive aahahaha 

Linda1226
Level 2
New York, NY

I agree with being as honest as possible. I just had a guest who requested for additional lock to be added to the bedroom in my private home. She had a fear of break ins. While I understand being diplomatic is the best. Diplomacy doesn’t really translate into “this is a troubled guest” and beware. 

Be honest in your reviews, and if they tracked dirt or mud in then mention it. Stick to the facts and behaviors vs. thoughts or feelings. 

Message was private

Hugh0
Level 10
Sydney, Australia

I would leave them a review that would make them as welcome to hosts as toxic waste

 

I am sick of rude transactional guests who ignore our few and simple rules.

 

Courtesy costs nothing. 

I had smokers come into our family home and while they did smoke at first on the premise, I explained that  we had issues with smoking ( health) and could not allow it. I have since changed my posting to say.  We are not able to accomodate smokers. Unfortuantly even if some people smoke outside, it is still on their clothes, on them and while the best of intentions to smoke outside help, you can sometimes still smell it.  Now of course many people smoke, however we have the right to not have them in our house.   Since then I haven't had issues with smoking,  We also have a "please take shoes off" at door and a few other minor ones.   Perosnally I think we have to allow people to enjoy their vacations trips, etc but there is also common courtesy and if someone is rip roaring drunk to stay in someone's home.. maybe they should splurge and get a hotel..  I am sorry you had to deal with that, I personally think you should write an honest review.  If people don't then it could happen to the next person.  I know guests are very specific to review us on things we can't control like locations( even if we say where we are) or some other things..  just my (late) 2 cents.  

@Lisa1485 I think the last draft of your review is everything I'd need to know if I received a request from a guest like this, and I hope the matter feels resolved for you now.

 

One interesting topic this thread brings up is on the propriety of mentioning alcohol or drug-related intoxication in a review. Personally, I would strongly discourage mention of anything the guests did in private, which you didn't directly witness. No matter how obvious the cause of their behavior appears to be, the important thing to focus on is the resulting behavior itself and the effect it had on your experience of hosting them. 

 

So for example, if a guest coming home at night is aggressive, rude, and/or destructive, stating those fact is all the info other hosts need. It's not necessary to add that they were drunk. Similarly, if they left behind a vomit-covered bathroom, there's no need to publish an account of what likely made them sick.

 

Lisa1485
Level 3
Guildford, United Kingdom

@Anonymous thanks Andrew, thats a very valid point. 

Rebecca0
Level 10
Edinburgh, United Kingdom

@Lisa1485 Andrew is full of wise words 😉   He used to be the moderator of the most popular group on the old airbnb hosting community forum.  Back in those old Wild West days (!) he was not only a saviour in times of trouble but also a fantastic wit.   I hope you don't mind me saying this @Anonymous 

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Rebecca0 I heartily agree. @Anonymous's  posts are the voice of calm, well-thought-out, experienced and articulate reason. I always enjoy reading them.

Rebecca0
Level 10
Edinburgh, United Kingdom

You're not too bad yourself either @Sarah977, seeing as I'm dishing out compliments  ha ha 🙂

@Rebecca0 Thank you. I'm not nearly that experienced as an Airbnb host (2 years), but at 69 I've dealt with a lot of people and situations in my life, and done property management and rented out my own previous house in Canada on a long-term lease to several different folks, so I've more or less seen it all.