A reviews that is too good.

[Adam354]

Short:

I have "secret" bonuses that I provide guests, and one guest wrote a very posive review revealing a few of them. What do I do to save myself?

Long:

I do not advertise breakfast, I do no advertise that I provide silk sheets, and do not advertise I provide bottled water, fruit, and much more. All this was a secret bonus for the guest so they can genuinely have a suprisingly positve experinece at my place. Today I had a guest review saying "Adam is definitely one of the best hosts I ever met!!! He is so incredulously thoughtful and hospitable; offering us everything from fruit, breakfast, silk sheets, bottled water for our train ride back to Sydney, just so lovely!!" If anyone reads this I am doomed. I was thinking of replying: "I just started being a host less than 3 weeks ago and still experiment with what to offer the guests, I will serioulsy consider adding those elements to my regular offering. Thank you so much for the kind words, it means a world to me! "

Any comments are welcome.

[Marzena4]

Yes, @Adam354, that kind of clarification sounds good. Besides, what is in the reviews is not a binding offer aka reservation on Airbnb - if some amenities are not listed, guests shouldn't and cannot expect them to be guaranteed.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Adam354

You could write a response to thank them for such a rave review and also mention the fruit, breakfast, bottled water, ride is not officially part of what u provide to all guests on a regular basis which is why these weren't advertised on the listing description but it just so happened u were able to provide extra perks and ur glad the guest enjoyed it all so much. 

Henry and I also state we don't provide meals but many times we ask our guest to join us or to help themselves to the bread or fruit we bought. You can see that our guests talk about foods we shared.... but technically I always make sure guests understand meals are not included. We may ask the guest to join us on occasion but we can't guarantee that any meals will be provided.

Also most of our guests have made the effort to find a way to thank us for meals when we invite them to join us either by offering to pay for their share (when we get food delivered) or cooking something for us later, or offering to take us out and treat us to a meal, or buying fruit or snacks to share 🙂

[Linda108]

 @Adam354  You are offering a very basic private bedroom with a shared bath and you are obviously doing it well given the very positive reviews!  Your description is a bit of a downer in tone as you are trying to align expectation and experience.  That is good but I think you could be more upbeat.  How about something like  "The space is small but well planned for your comfort."  Also you need more pictures depicting the shared space, the entrance and perhaps exterior shots.  Pictures are what people relate to.  If you describe an amenity, have a picture about it.  Also, I think I read you have air conditioning as an amenity but your description is that there is a fan, not an air conditioner?

As to your original question, thank the guest for their enthusiasm, but don't correct their post or back peddle.  I agree that offering additional value than is expected is a good business stance and you will probably play around with several offerings that you will decide later is either good to keep or good to discontinue.  Silk sheets...first time you cannot get a stain out might change your mind about that expenditure.  Bottled water...ensuring the comfort of your guest might be something you keep.  

Hope this helps a little and you will use this forum to continue to improve ad be successful.  Good luck!

[Adam354]

Wow, I never had guests commenting on my listing description, so this is the first time I actually get soneones comments on my listing description (so many things to thing about :). I cerainly need to update my listing description and pictures, also becasue the guest room now has both a fan and an air conditioner. As for the review, I will try not to correct their post or back peddle.

Your comments helped a lot! Thank you.

[Sandra126]

I don't provide anything much, but on occasion I will add something like a bottle of wine, or cake, or nothing. Depends! Sometimes guests will mention it in their review, but soon that review will be overshadowed by the others sitting over it. No drama. I did worry the first time thinking I now had to give wine to everyone. As long as the review is good, it doesn't matter!

Sometimes guests have mentioned things I really want to have as a surprise to new guests, but usually they feel the need to be quiet or just use words such as ''surprises''. Kind of a spoiler but not totally.