Torn about writing a bad review

[Tina26]

I was excited and nervous about my first guest, as I am new to renting.  

I arrived at the house 30 minutes after check out time and they were still there, almost done but still bringing things out. They had contacted me to see if they could check out late but I had someone else coming in that day so I had to decline the request.  I thought it no big deal I can still clean and turn it around for the next guest.  All the laundry had been placed in the laundry room per check out request but as I am pulling out the sheets from the hamper I find vomit, lots of it all in the sheets, along with the mattress protector also (thank goodness for the mattress protector). I cannot understand why someone would leave them in the laundry basket like that, at least rinse them out or put them in the washing machine?  

As we moved on to clean the bathrooms, we found vomit behind the toilets in two of the bathrooms.  I had to bleach and disenfect all the floors in the bathrooms, it was disgusting. There were lots of leftover food in the fridge, food all over the floor, the oven looked like something has exploded, a broken glass, smoking on the back when its is strictly no smoking.

Now in the big picture nothing big was runied, everything cleaned up and all is as good as new so part of me wants to just let it go, remind myself that not everyone has the same standards but I also wonder of I should put it out there so the next person knows.

Thoughts please .........

[Martha77]

Priszcilla,

I understand your upset. It surprises me when we have guest that really take advantage and act like we are making a big deal out what they consider small things. I think they forget that this is someone elses home and not a hotel. I must say, if pets weren't allowed I would have used that as an excuse to ask them to leave for violating rules. I've learned that once you let one rule side than guest think they can get away with everything else. As host we try to be gracious and accomadate our guest but there gets to a point when you have to put your foot down. Its common sense that if your showing up in the middle of the night, keep things down as someone might be sleeping, especially if its not their home. That is just rude. 

I pondered for days how I should phrase the bad review without being mean, and I knew I would come off as mean as I was still upset. One of the forums suggested the star system for reviews: Cleanliness★★★★ Communication★★★ Observance of House Rules★ I've adapted these into all my reviews now. On another forum someone suggested that they write "guest is better suited for a hotel environment..." This seemed to work for my one bad guest who was extreme high maintenance and expected me to clean her room and bathroom everyday. My advice, is be honest with the review. As a host I take these seriously and prefer to know what I'm getting into.

Sorry about your guest. We all eventually have a few bad apples.

Martha

[Priszcilla0]

Thanks @Martha77 !

I appreciate your support. 

yeah I think I will be honest, especially in my private response. 

[Momi0]

@Martha77  Exactly....well said.  This is why I don't tolerate any house rules being broken and will not hesitate to ask the guests to leave all while being on the phone with Airbnb.  Respect is given by me 100% and I expect the same from my guests. Its that simple.  I even created a required process in my listing to prove they have read the House Rules because I was so tired of hearing "sorry Momi, we didn't know this was your rule!" (when I would discover they had broken my clear rules)  - Recently had to evict a couple in February because the wife was screaming at the top of her lungs with vulgar language over us having a cat.  (Airbnb could actually hear her too). I kept one night and refunded the other 2 nights.   (My listing talks about my cat in 3 places...and I have photos).  Yep.....guests STILL dont' read....and seems they can't do the simple kindergarten approach either by looking at clear photos! 

That's the last time I will ever refund a guests who violates my House Rules and has to leave for cat allergies because they booked a home with a loving cat.  And Airbnb says I don't have to.   We will only host guests who actually write back and say..."yes we like cats alot!"   That's part of my new required booking process of 10 Necessary questions to be answered by guests...including Instant Bookings too.   Recently had Airbnb move an Instant booking bc the guests didnt' bother to read that we had a cat.  Only until they received my 10 questions did they realized they had booked a home with cats.  Hard to miss!!!   Duh  🙂

[Raman4]

Hi Momi,

You booking process is something worth adopting. Thank you for sharing. 

Regards,

Raman

[Momi0]

@Priszcilla0 

Hi Priszcilla, my name is Momi, Superhost from Honolulu Hawaii.  My opinion on this comes from having hosted for almost 2 years now (over 200 guests) and have personally stayed in 5 Airbnb places (4 of them were Private rooms) since March 2016.   I host  PRIVATE ROOMS in our 4 bedroom house.  My reviews are funny, honest, to the point, and very helpful to other hosts.  Airbnb has actually told me many times over that they enjoy reading my very thorough honest reviews. (I've also been rated a 5 Star guests by other hosts around the world)

 I actually put the exact Stars IN THE REVIEW....(e.i.  5 Stars for Respect, 4 Stars for Cleaniness, etc...and I always give an explanation as to why they got each star.)  Wish more hosts would do this.   Its annoying when I read a 1 word review.  Tells me alot about that host too.

Not sure as to why Airbnb doesn't allow for hosts to see specific stars for our guests when we rate them but they can see our very specific stars/reviews as host, so I decided to take someone's advice here on the CC back in 2016 and change that by putting the Stars IN THE REVIEW.   One host reached out to me and said they had gotten one of my former 4-5 Star guests and they loved the review I wrote which included all the stars for each category. Made my day!  I even created my own category because I do host IN my home and this is what it is:  "How Much Fun Was This Guests to Be in Our Home?"

One of my biggest pet peeves are hosts choosing to NOT write a honest review.  I have personally read many posts on the Community Center where hosts have admitted to not writing a honest review bc they didn't want to hurt the guests feelings.  Are you kidding me?!?  But its ok to hurt mine?!!?  That's right, when you don't write an honest review, you are hurting the next host who gets them.

I have hosted guests who were suppose to have  3-4 Star review already but the host chose to write nothing and I got their yucky guests.  How did I find that out?  Several guests later admitted to me during their stay that they were not actually new to Airbnb.  "Jaw Drops"

So now, instead of just accepting guests with no reviews, I have now compiled 10 questions that guests must answer, one being "Have you stayed in an Airbnb home before and in what capacity?"  That's been so helpful to me.  If they say yes and there's no review, I ask them why is that?  And how was your experience?"  ( I get answers that make for a quick Acceptanceon the booking, and I have gotten answers that make me say "No Thanks!"

 As many have said already here on this CC thread, there is a way to write an honest reivew without being mean or unprofessional.  I have had to do this quite a few times with guests who blatantly disrespected my home and/or broke major House Rules.  Not only did I contact Airbnb to have them relocated, I wrote an honest review about their stay.  I recently had a couple who was in my opinion a 4 Star guests, and told her exactly why she was a good guests versus a Great guests in PRIVATE feedback.  I wrote the positive stuff as well as this helpful feedback for her and any future hosts in her public review.  

"This guests needed many gentle reminders about House Rules, and it was an eye sore for me to see their unmade messy bed everyday and dirty breakfast dishes left on the garden table as it clearly states in my House Manual that the bed needs to be made and dishes brought to the kitchen (my entire family is expected to do the same).  But I also wrote that it was easy to forgive the unmade bed because they loved up on my pets so much.  I also wrote that her communication could have been better as I was always having to send message reminders about what time they were arriving, etc.  (Its my House Rule #10 that all guests give me their Check In Time)

I wish more hosts would write an honest review...but I don't think everything needs to be written in public. Most constructive criticism can be left for them in private feedback.  Its your discretion and judgement to decide what that is.  And yes, for ALL guests whether they are 5 star or less, I always write private feedback.  Most times, its me saying "Thank you for being a fantastic guests, loved the gift you left for us. You are always welcome to stay with us again."

But here's my question for you.....You have rules, and guests are REQUIRED to adhere to those rules.  If I had a guests show up late at night with friends, making loud noises, and WITH A BUNNY, I would be on the phone with Airbnb immediately and requesting that this guests be relocated immediately for breaking my very clear rules.  I'm very curious as to why you didn't contact Airbnb right away?  

Did the guests offer to reimburse you for those drinks and food? 

Its important to feel comfortable in your own home and I have to be able to trust my guests, but sadly, its been proven that when I am away from my home, (I host in my home), some guests will snoop, take, use, steal, whatever they can when the hosts away).  When I confronted a guests who went into a closet (in my garage) to use our very expensive sunscreen for my daughter, his reply was "Momi, I was just borrowing some bc I needed it."  I said ok...."While you are asleep, I am going to go into your Airbnb room, without asking and borrow some money from your wallet because I need some."  (This was said while I was smiling but firm).

Guess what he did next?  He pulled out his wallet, and paid me $10 for the VERY EXPENSIVE 100 SPF sunscreen that I specially order online ($50) for my daughter who has WHITE sensitive skin.  In his review, I wrote that the guests used some very expensive products that belong to us, but eventually paid us for it when he was confronted for using something he didn't buy himself.   Thats an honest review.   And I also wrote...."I would not host this guests again because I have to be able to trust my guests."

 Airbnb supports hosts 100% (in my case they have), and they would have paid you for the reservation according to your policy and moved that guests to another place that does allow for pets.  Rules should be respected.  And clearly he did not respect your rules.  Please look at this way.....if you don't write an honest review, he is gonna be a PITA for another host.  (I am sure you can figure out what PITA means). hahaha - I would be that host to decline him based on your honest review. So please write it.   Just write the truth.  

But here's some VERY helpful advice....take a few days to breathe....think about it...and write it down on a paper or in Microsoft Word on computer......then after you have seen your actual words, read it, edit it, change it, add to it, whatever, then go to your Airbnb account and write the review.  That's what I do for EVERY CHALLENGING GUESTS!  However for my Super Guests, (5 Star Guests), I write their review the day they check out because its so joyful to write!  Make sense?   Hope I was helpful. 

[Priszcilla0]

@Momi0 you made my night ! Thank you so much for taking the time to write all this useful info.

Unfortunately when I came hom today from home I had another unpleasant surprise from my guest. 

My check-out time is 1pm and it was already 5,15 and all his stuff was still there, plus he used the washer and dryer again to wash all the stuff that belonged to the bunny: mat, pillow and all this left in the dryer with my new throw (that I just bought right before this guest came to make the room prettier). My guess is the bunny must have peed on it or something. Later on when cleaning the room I also found he sprayed with something on the carpet, my guess again, the bunny peed and he mentioned he will leave it in his cage the whole time !!! 

So when I see all this I called him, told him I am very dissapointed and mentioned the check-out time.  He was mad about it, told me he is getting a taxi soon and he is going to pick up his stuff and he's never going to come back and then hung up on me. Like I would want him to come back lol ! At that point he really scared me (going back to the whole he didn't give me a good vibe form the start) so I called my husband who luckily was on his way home beacause I didn't want him to come and for me to be all alone at home. How bad is that to feel threatened in my own home ? 

When he came my husband opened the door for him and told him what he did was not cool to not follow the rules but he was the one who was very rude to us. He quickly picked up all his stuff and left but telling us he is feeling violated and that he doesn't want to hear any of our complaints and that I quote : you know what? You'll write me a bad review and I'll write you a bad review and whatever. You wanna call the cops ? Go ahead and call them. " 

Are you kidding me ??? Like who does he think he is ? He feels violated? Why, how? That I confronted him ? Why would he write me a bad review? Did I not put up with his crap? Made sure he has everything he needs and still I am the bad guy here? How can somebody in their right mind think like that? 

Also, now that I think back when he was talking to my hubby one night he mentioned soemhting about him not having great airbnb experinces. And thinking about this all day at work he said he uses airbnd for more than a year now in his travellings but his account said he is only a member since March 2017. My guess is that he opened a new account and fooled 2 hosts to write him a good review so he can instant book.  

I can't just let this one go, you are right ! A guest like this ruins the airbnd experince for everyone. 

How can I make sure he won't be accepted by anyone else ? 

I am new at this and I don't know how to talk to airbnb about it. Where do I go in the settings to report him? 

Thanks again, 

Priszcilla 

[Priszcilla0]

@Momi0 

I love your 10 question rule. How do you set that up ? 

[Kari8]

Hi Momi

and thank you, loved your post.

How do you set up your 10 question rule?

Kari

[Helga0]

In such cases, best to create proof, by stating the infraction in the message thread and what follows from it. Like he has to pay for late check-out and extra cleaning and hair removal. 

Do that now, in graphic details, what problems it caused and what damages you found on the carpet and about the hair clinging everywhere and causing allergic sneezes. 

Then open a resolution center claim and ask for the damage. After a refusal or no answer for a day, involve airbnb (there was a button from the claim last time I needed that feature). 

From bitter experience I counsel you check the stuff he washed with the bunny things, as they are probably full of hair you will never get off. Claim the cover, you should still have the invoice. 

Take photos of everything before you clean. 

Write a short to middle review with a thjmbs down. No use for conspiracy theories: you can't keep him from booking elsewhere, nor is it your call to do so. But you should give the next host a good base for an informed decision. 

[Alison30]

Momi, Thank you so much for this post!  I have struggled with honest guest reviews, but I will do better after reading this.  I am actually going to save your post to my own Airbnb "resource list" .   I so agree that we as a host community need to be able to rely on one another for honest reviews about our guests, while being kind at the same time. It's critical to our success.  We're all learning here.

Alison  (hope to find myself in Hawaii one of these months!) 

[Alison30]

Momi,

Thank you so much for this post!  I have struggled with honest guest reviews, but I will do better after reading this.  I am actually going to save your post to my own Airbnb "resource list" .   I so agree that we as a host community need to be able to rely on one another for honest reviews about our guests, while being kind and professional.   It's critical to our success.  We're all learning here.

Alison  (hope to find myself in Hawaii one of these months!) 

[Helga0]

As a general rule, I write truthful reviews. If people are only odd, I don't mention it, as guests are due some discretion and we seem all odd to someone. If it's worse than just a bit odd, I ask myself, if it left lasting damage and if it did not, if it was unusually gross. I'd mention both cases, although differently. 

If someone leaves vomit without trying to clean up, I'd mention it in clear detail, as that is very disrespectful. If someone has an uncontrollalble condition (sick, not drunk) and tries to clean up, but leaves traces, I'd mention it a bit more cryptic, like "unusual amount of cleaning" or "unusual cleaning task". 

I'd mention helping themselves to my things (I have done that mildly and the guest answered publicly, making it very clear that she has odd views). I'd probably make a joke to them about eating my food and judge the reaction: if an excuse or recompensation is offered, I'd not mention it. 

If a guest indicates a damage and offers to pay for it, I don't indicate it, but if they try to hide it, I would - in both cases, if it's not very expensive, I would not claim it. 

I never had theft, but that's a thing to mention clearly, after checking with the guest, if they misplaced the item (after guests with kids, it's like hunting for easter eggs to find all knives, scissors and other things a parent might see as dangerous). 

Since I host a lot in a shared room, I started educating people - can't help it 😉 Those last two years were very instructive, how different people are and how strange notions some have, without bad intent. I had some good influence for the duration of the stay, and none of those I asked to change a strange behaviour bore a grudge on review time. If an issue could be solved by talking about it, I don't mention it, but if talking does not help, I do.

[Judy141]

We had much worse experience.

This group of guys from Bakersfield did a lot of damages (broken bed in the Masters bedroom- it was 6 months old) chairs from the dinning room around the bed!!! broken toilet seat, broken lamps, broken laundry basket, we picked up 400 empty bottles of beer from the garden. The whole house was a mess. The neighbors said there was a big party going on with a lot of drunk men and women and the yard was full of broken glass.

Tools dissapeared (knives, BBQ cleaning tools, towels, broken glasses and plates) a total damage of $2,550.

The guy who rent the house said he is not paying anything and we should arrange with AirBnB. Guess what!

AirB&B refused to pay us any compensation! No excuse! Not even the $500 the client had paid as  insurance.

I guess they did not give it back to the client but I am wondering who got it finally! Which pocket this $500 ended up!

So, if you rent your house through AirBnB have in mind that if someone burns it down, you will only receive an" I am so sorry" message from AirBnB.

And if you do not have insurance to cover rentals, your insurance will not cover you.

We also rent our house through VRBO.

We claimed new sheets when we had the same experience with you (vomit all over) and we asked for new ones, we were asked to send them the invoice. We got new sheets, sent them the receipt and in two days we received the money.

[Matthew285]

@Judy141, I know this is a long time later, but I noticed that your wrote:

"AirB&B refused to pay us any compensation! No excuse! Not even the $500 the client had paid as  insurance.

I guess they did not give it back to the client but I am wondering who got it finally! Which pocket this $500 ended up!"

I hope by now you know that with AirBnB any security deposit is NOT paid ahead of time. No one paid a $500 security deposit before traveling, and no one had $500 to give back to anyone or to put in their own pocket.

The security deposit works this way:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/140/how-does-airbnb-handle-security-deposits

[Kristi0]

I am way late with this response since I have just now read it. Being a Superhost and a Guest I think you should be short and sweet but mention you found some suprises etc but don't elaborate. When I read this it takes me back to when my husband and I were on vacation in Santa Barbara and we got food poising at dinner, we were both horribly sick all night and when we checked out we were bearly able to walk to our car and drive home. We were so sick I don't even remember how we left the room. So that being said this same situation could have happened to them. I know its discusting and I would have totally freaked out if I found my Casita left in this state but stuff happens. Extra hugs to you for having to clean it up!