Quick phrases for guest reviews - Cleanliness

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

Fellow hosts - I struggle with writing an effective phrase for guest reviews that indicate that they were dirtier than normal.  

You know, the guest who leaves soap and shampoo all over the bathtub, huge globs of toothpaste in the sink or makeup smears on the counter, hair everywhere, extra garbage to pick up, the hair dryer, iron and ironing board left for the host to put away, sheets or towels that had stains to be treated but weren't ruined (a skidmark or makeup), and maybe missed the toilet a little or left you some extra cleaning to do in the bowl.  Stuff that can be taken care of but will cost you an extra half hour or hour of cleaning to get it all sorted.  

Do you have a short, effective sentence that you use in a guest's review that indicates that they were a little dirtier than normal?  

[Julie_Mike0]

I haven't had to include this in a review (yet), but what about something like, "The space was left in a state that required additional cleaning compared to prior guests". I feel it gives a basis for comparison for what "normal" is to us hosts.

[Denise214]

I had absolute pigs three weeks ago and struggled with how to review them to indicate that without absolutely trashing them. In the end I stated things factually and gave them three stars for Cleanliness, figuring three stars is the equivalent of one to a savvy host.

"They could have turned off the TV, thrown away the trash on the counters, put used dishes in the sink, disposed of beverage containers, wiped up the sticky spills on the floors and counters, and rinsed the acids they threw into the copper sink, which stripped the patina."

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

@Denise214

Eveyone's idea of cleanlinesss is different and you should expect to have people who leave the place spotless and those who are (in your opinion) a bit messier than your standard. Whatever you say just ensure that you are not the one who seems 'petty' in your review as it can affect bookings. Personally it sounds like you had guests who were at the lower end of your expectations but not awful. You could mention it to them in private feedback that they run the risk of getting negative reviews

[Emily140]

@Gerry-And-Rashid0  And indeed this raises an important point--the one of being, or appearing to be, petty. 

I too struggled with my first review of a guest who stressed me out (over leaving a dog in my cabin which I hadn't realized was happening until 6-7 hours passed and I decided to go in and make sure everything ok--triggering all manner of conflicting issues for me:  now I'm invading their space, the dog who was super friendly earlier is stressed and barking at me but obviously needs to get out to pee, and uh-oh is that seriously a big juicy meaty bone sitting right on the bedroom carpet?  Now what to do, take care of dog and let it all go, be happy, leave bone knowing you already have to have the carpet cleaned, don't give away that you were in there... keep the peace, or .... wait, this is stressful and what if I wasn't home to check, this is not ok, they need to know that you can't leave a dog in someone's house that long.  And all I needed was knowledge of the plan and I would have helped them. Like, "Hey, Emily, are you going to be here this afternoon, since the dogs are getting along so well, would you be ok with opening the door for Larry, then we could stay longer at the concert, we'd be so grateful..."  Then I could also have let them know that the cabin gets hot and the pup would have overheated in there without either the A/C running for him or me coming in to open all the windows and run the ceiling fan for 20mins or so to cool it down early evening...

I WAS worried about nearly everything when I wrote my review.  So I just stated the facts; nice people, friendly, and particularly nice easygoing little dog, but I was surprised when I realized he was left in the cabin alone for extended ..... and explained (perhaps way too much, frankly).

Another host helped me understand that, after my review, the guest then "ghosted out," meaning she abandoned that profile and theoretically starts another one "so their next host is none the wiser." 

Hence, frankly, we hosts need "code." 

And we need to be clear and not punitive unless the people are truly pigs who caused real damage.  For example in my case, they were not respectful (Qho leaves a real meat bone on someone's bedroom carpet and takes off for 9-10 hours, and doesn't even use the old sheet I put in there when dogs stay..??) but even so, in my review I told them I would host them again as long as we had a good clear plan for the dog.  My goal is to educate from the host perspective and improve outcomes for myself and others.  They could have responded with "sorry for the stress, we should have told you, we thought we would be back sooner, but next time we'll have a Plan B - thanks again."  Perhaps I am naive...

This seems an excellent thread to address writing effective reviews for negative outcomes that can be easily corrected with feedback.  And not simply cause either AirBnb to delete the review, or the user to abandon the profile and start over.

No solutions coming to mind yet.  Looking forward to advice of others with good experience to share.

Thank you

Emily

[Frank-And-Monique0]

@Emily140 This whole thing about guests being able to Ghost out bugs me.  Here we are putting ourselves out there for all to see.  Our good and maybe not so good reviews, which is always the Guests problem.... We had guests arm the alarm before going to bed to "stay" mode and someone opened a window and the alarm went off.  Now the police are coming out etc.... a few times during the night...UGH right??  We tried to explain it was due to them leaving the window open but of course they argued... we let it go.  Now time for their review.  UGH again... but they left a rave review....   

Then we just had a guest complain about a neighbors dog howling all night and thought they shouldn't have to deal with that for the price they paid blah blah,  Because I'm responsible for all the Noise in the world... Sorry I'm venting right now.. we're new to the airbnb thing (since May)  I'm still not sure if it's for me.  I guess we still have to see what the Average is of what we consider  "good" guests is.  

The bottom line is we will not make everyone happy all the time.  But in reply to what you said, I think it's terrible that a guest can Ghost or that airbnb can delete.. this is our home and our business and it should ALL be at OUR DISCRETION.  

Thank you for listening........

[Jim166]

Well said!

[Leila34]

I agree about the fact that cleanliness is a vague concept relative to host's expectation as well as guest's expectation. Therefore clear expectations and communication are important. By reading check out instructions one day before departure they might be more mindful about complying to house rules.  I started putting my check out instructions the night before departure. I hope this will give me better results. 

[George591]

Maybe not. I send mine out the night before and it’s obvious that most don’t read my check out instructions. 

[Melodie-And-John0]

Well said @Gerry-And-Rashid0 , opinions and judgements are far more subjective than we're able to navigate safely often an d we are in business of renting not rating.  

@Alice-and-Jeff0 , I think I differentiate between messy and dirty.  "Messy" that cleans up without remnants of the stay after a normal cleaning is not fun but isnt going to get dinged on review but"dirty" that requires me to pull out the carpet cleaner, and or remove stains from my walls and furniture gets a whammy that is equal to their offense not but not my anger.

We get lots of pre college visits and more than once ive had messy guests that turned into excellent multi returning guests.  If I had banged them in the review even once for being messy, they likely would have gone elsewhere.  Some folks would be fine with that but we are in the business of making money not enemies.  Be gentle if possible, firm if necessary and pray all your guests are more like Mary Poppins than the Simpsons!  Stay well, JR

[Jose722]

Perfect phrase to describe a no so clean guest, I used this to rate my latest check out as they left dishes everywhere with food still in the plates. Dirt all over the unit and a toilet with a not too nice suprise. 

[Emily140]

Back to the original question with respect to cleanliness, I am beginning to think I should include a one-page "Check Out Procedure" in my cabin to share what is expected.  Unless that is already part of the AirBnb communication with the guest.  In other words:

Do the dishes?

Take out the trash?

Strip the bed?

Hang wet towels?

Turn off the heat/AC?

Turn off lights

Turn off ceiling fan

Place all food items in refrigerator (to keep out critter temptations in event host not able to clean up right away)

?

If we don't specify, it's hard to say what is appropriate.

I have some guests who do dishes and put the poorly-washed dishes in the wooden drainer, which is gross, causing me to scrub the dish drainer as well as re-wash all the dishes.  For those people, I'd rather they just left dirty dishes rinsed, stacked in the sink. And I'm hopefully they didn't "put any washed dishes away."

Does anyone know if there's an AirBnb standard cleanup expectation? 

[Lina81]

I so don't know what to write on my last guest's review. Totally nice guy, but I had to HIRE help to clean the house. It was awful. Crusts in fridge, oven (unsavable bottom, even after a 2.5 hour treatment)... not to mention bathroom sink, wc and floor. The help I hired asked me if this person had done it on purpose, as if to take a revenge on me for something. But no, he was all friendly and nice and we totally got / get along. A bird's nest fell into the balcony a week ago, and he never bothered with it, causing my downstairs neighbor to put up a fuss about the "sticky stuff" that leaked down.

I fear maybe he is short-sighted or has issues seeing properly and won't talk about it? Funny thing is, I just read ALL his past reviews and other hosts actually complimented his cleansiness. I know I lost an almost pristine wood kitchen top to the stains his sticky food and the unwiped liquids left, which won't go away. I was so upset about that that I told him I couldn't even factor it in, which I promised I wouldn't. But the filth and the stained walls... I came here to ask Airbnb how to handle this... I don't want to ruin his reviews, and yet I can't believe I haven't been warned about this in time so I could have considered the losses.... I'm truly strapped for an answer

[Emily140]

@Lina81Since he has many positive reviews, you need/want to carefully craft yours to warn other hosts who are more particular and have more pristine spaces--i.e., are clean freaks like you and me (and I mean that in the best possible way).  Don't go overboard or you risk looking like a petty, ranting lunatic.  Honestly, I read one of my own reviews a few weeks later and see the risk....

I am starting to think of this response:  "I maintain a particularly clean space and I do expect guests to leave it as they found it.  I don't mind rinsed dishes stacked in the sink, a few towels on the floor, or trash left bundled and ready to go out, but this guest did leave me with extended cleaning work which could have been avoided by the guest wiping down surfaces as they were used rather than allowing permanent stains to set in to my pristine kitchen counter and walls."

Is that still going too far?  Probably.  Remember, the guest can just drop their profile and start another one....  Then you have no voice.

[Lina81]

Thanks Emily,

Thank you for your time.

I'm still wondering...

Your considerations make sense and your suggestion does, as well. I may just end up writing what you suggest.

I guess the review process requires some serious diplomacy when we're left picking up the broken parts... I still can't quite get over it, though.

But I will.