Things that make me nervous: guests that don't read the listing

[Lyndsey2]

We had a guest who walked in and immediately looked for and asked for a microwave (which we don't have), checked the refrigerator for cream (sorry, though I would have stocked it if they'd requested it), asked if there was breakfast available (no), and wondered where the the second car would fit in the driveway (we list one available driveway parking spot - I guess I'll just go park my car in the street then). All of these things are pretty clear in my listing and I've never had this happen before. 

I looked at the guest's profile and realized all of her previous stays were in home-share/private room situations whereas this is a private apartment. Not sure if that makes the difference. But it has certainly put me on edge that I have not met her expectations (even if they weren't based on the listing description). Should I expect a bad review?

I am considering adding a private comment in my review that says, "I was a bit nervous at first when you were looking for ammenities not included in my listing - I hope you were able to feel at home and have a great stay!" Is that too passive-aggressive? I don't want to attack her for it (giving her the benefit of the doubt and keeping fingers crossed for a good review) but I'm thinking about future hosts and want to maybe suggest how she might make future hosts more comfortable.

What do you think?

[Marzena4]

From my experience, @Lyndsey2, I would assume the worst-case scenario. I have often overrated my guests compared to their reviews. However, I have made a huge progress and 100% predicted one of the recent ratings. Practice makes perfect. 😉

[Imogen11]

@Lyndsey2 I wouldn't mention it at all unless you receive a negative review.

If that happens you can write a response that speaks to future guests, not this one. Something like "We provide a lot of information in our listing, including the points above. This may be a good time for us to review our listing to ensure all info is crystal clear. Thank you for the feedback and for choosing to be our guests."

Until you get a negative review, questions are just questions, nothing more.

One thing you can count on with all guests - no-one really reads the full listing. I include myself in that as an Airbnb traveller 🙂 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

Thank you @Imogen11 , I copied and saved your review for future use 🙂

[Anonymous]

@Lyndsey2 I do think it is good practice to take note in the review of guests who *demand* amenities that weren't in your offering, or who arrive with expectations that no reasonable reading of your listing would justify. However, in this case I would probably go quite a bit gentler on the guest, as inquiring about additional features isn't quite the same as demanding them.

It's entirely possible that you'll get a glowing review from the guest, but there are also going to be times like these where you'll have to steel yourself for a hit against something like your Accuracy rating. I wish that guests who downrate a listing's accuracy were made to actually look at the listing again and highlight the specific details that they found to be incorrect, but since they are not, what they're really saying is how the experience stacked up against expectations that might have been pulled straight out of their butts.

[Lyndsey2]

Oh yes, I don't intend to leave anything negative in their review - but I'm thinking about what I send as private feedback.

[Helga0]

If she is still staying, I would send her a nice mail the next day, asking if she is settled in and found everything she needed. I hope you took the time to re-read the listing description to know, what we offer to all guests. If there are small extra things you might need and we could have in our own apartment, please don’t hesitate to ask, we may be able to lend them. 

One thing we did for many years for full apartment rentals: have a printout of the advertisement, rental contract or listing in the info folder. Photos included. 

For the shared room, I only have the house rules standing on a table, but after a spell of guests, who did not even watch the second picture, I may return to that policy.

[Lyndsey2]

That's great advice, thanks!

[Sheila146]

"I wish that guests who downrate a listing's accuracy were made to actually look at the listing again and highlight the specific details that they found to be incorrect, but since they are not"

This is an excellent suggestion, Andrew!  Like many hosts, I have had unfair inaccuracy ratings.  I have given airbnb feedback numerous times that there should be some recourse for hosts to defend themselves on this, but your idea is a really good one.

[Lyndsey2]

And of course the toilet backed up twice due to excessive TP use (new one for us!) and they parked a car diagonally across what would normally be two parking spots in the driveway. Nothing terrible really, but a great example of when lovely people just don't mesh perfectly with a particular listing. 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Lyndsey2

I think I totally get what you are experiencing right now!!!! Henry and I are going thru something similar with a guest!!!!

Turning on an leaving on all the living room and kitchen lights at noon on a bright and sunny day even though the curtains are open and light is flooding into the room and house thru the windows, leaving the bathroom light on all the time, using our plush guest towels as a bath mat, letting the curtain get caught in the window when opening/closing the window, doing teeny tiny loads of laundry every 3~4 days and leaving his clothes and underwear on the drying rack until he runs out of space for his own laundry, asked Henry if he's free saying he's available to "share" dinner but actually does not contribute to dinner in any way while expecting Henry to either pay or cook for him and doesn't even offer to help with setting/clearing the table or the dishes (happened twice and we've been clearly ignoring any hints about meals together since then), took our guest towel (without asking) on a short trip to other areas of Korea and brought it back all smelly and ragged.

Nothing all that terrible.....but all of these things adding up to make it really annoying (especially for Henry).

[Lyndsey2]

@Jessica-and-Henry0 Yes! It's like they've been living on another planet and suddenly get beamed into our homes with no idea how earth works

Ugh, I'm sorry you're dealing with that kind of guest too. The good news is that every time I've had a bad guest, there's been a wonderful one or five after that. My next guest is already sending me messages indicating she has clearly looked over every detail of the listing and even better, has a glowing review by another local host I trust very much. 

How long do you have with your very special guest, Mr. Towel-Ruiner?

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Lyndsey2

LOL!!! We are half-way thru a 4 month stay...... 2 months to go~~

He's our 4th guest, 3rd long term. My listing has been popular among exchange students due to our close proximity to several local universities and all our guests were just soooooo~ polite, nice, and all around a pleasure to host.

After the 1st month, we were able to get a pretty clear picture of the type of person the guest seemed to be and decided we will keep our distance, and keep it professional. I travel a lot for work and am home only on weekends so it's easier for me to shrug things off, but because Henry works from home, not so much. 

Compared to some of the other nightmare guests we hear about, Henry and I cheer each other up thinking, at least he hasn't outright broken any rules and he's not home that much~!!!! (seems busy with classes and hanging with friends)

[Lyndsey2]

@Jessica-and-Henry0

It's almost guilt-inducing to feel so frustrated about a slew of minor infractions when we know how much worse things can be. But sometimes the additive effect seems nearly as stressful.

I don't know how you manage long-term rentals. We have five days as our max, and the apartment is an entirely separated section of our house. 

[Gerard82]

We find very few people read the listing, or the house rules. If they do, they take no notice. As travellers, using Airbnb we always do both. I don't understand why it's so difficult. And yes, they do leave reviews when they haven't read the listing.