Advice

[Ray214]

So I received a negative review on the basis that I left the premises that I stayed in unclean. To my mind I left the premises in a respectable condition where I  took photos to record this. I also  paid $40aud or 880Thai Baht (which is a good amount of money to clean a small 1 bedroom condo in Thailand)  as    part of Airbnb’s  cleaning fee.

I fell that if Airbnb allows hosts to leave feedback based on petty cleanliness issues  then  Airbnb or the host should have  warned  me about keeping the condo clean before I checked in.   Also wasn't  the  money that I paid  meant   to clean the condo? 

To my credit I didn’t leave the condo in an unliveable condition nor  did  I  trash the place or break anything (photos taken as proof at the time of exit) and again I repeat money was taken from me to clean the condo for petty cleanliness issues  so why is Airbnb allowing such a review to be published? 

There is also a background between me and my host which I wont get into too much  but lets just say that it wouldn't be a surprise if the host deliberately  left me  negative feedback   as airbnb had heard both sides of our stories at the time of check in and they compensated  me for   receiving misleading information from the  host.

 I   did leave the host with positive feedback though inspite experiencing a  few negatives while staying there.

[Helen3]

@Ray214 No the cleaning fee you pay covers costs associated with preparing your room, which depending on the host, will include bedding, towels, shampoo's, soap, household goods, drinks, snacks  etc

It doesn't mean that you should expect to be able to leave your room in a filthy state on departure (not saying this is what happened here).

If the room was a bad as you say in your very long response to the hosts review of you, it would seem extremely strange that you would choose to stay there after initially complaining to Airbnb.

Unfortunately based on your review (rather than the host's) I wouldn't feel comfortable hosting you.

[Ray214]

@Helen3  I only asked for advice. No need to get personal on whether you would feel comfortable on whether you would want to host me or not. **

The reason why I didn't leave at the time was because airbnb requested me to stay and they said they would compensate me.  

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[Helen3]

I provided you with advice @Ray0 although there was  actually no specific question in your initial post.

I was also trying to help you see that your lengthy response/rant to the host was off-putting to other hosts considering hosting you.

In return for me trying to help you all I got was a rather nasty comment  'Seeing your face from your profile picture  doesn't make me want to stay at your place either'.  

This remark, unfortunately for you,  says a lot more about you, than it does about me.

[Susan17]

@Ray214

Nothing personal about Helen's remark, she was simply pointing out that your response, rather than the host's actual review, would deter her from hosting you - as it would, the vast majority of hosts. Most wouldn't turn you down for future bookings based solely on the host's comment, but they certainly will as a result of your response. 

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[Ray214]

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[Susan17]

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[Ray214]

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[Ray214]

Your remark of "I wouldn't want to host you either" was personal and uncalled for. 

[Ray214]

@Helen3 i just spoke with someone at airbnb support and according to him a cleaning fee is meant to cover cleaning costs and not towels , shampoos, soap which I wasn't provided  with anyway. **

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[Sandra856]

@Lizzie Please could you remove this person @Ray214 from the community. **

Best, Sandra

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[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Ray214

I don't know what kind of advice you are looking for but maybe this would help...

cleaning fee is an unfortunate name and people usually misunderstand it. It should be called "turnover fee" or "longer stay discount" or "preparation fee" or something similar.  It is meant to cover the cost of turnover and preparation for the next guest ( laundry service/cleaning service/time spent waiting for the guest / messaging prior arrival etc...) It is not only the cost of cleaning the room AFTER the guest. 

Here on Airbnb it is common to leave the place in the more-or-less same condition as you found it - wash the dishes, leave dirty towels on the towel rack, pick up the garbage, clean the toilet from poo marks, wash the stove... things like this. Of course we don't expect our guests to wipe the floor or dust the place and of course, we clean it thoroughly for the next guest. We have a very tight time window between guests, just a few hours for 2 apartments and whatever our guests do -  helps us a lot and we are grateful.

You and your host obviously had issues but it seems to me she doesn't speak English and used google translate so that's why she listed "sauna" while in fact, it was a "steam room". To be honest - I don't know the difference either 🙂

I don't want to judge who is right and who is wrong but in the future, I would advise you to be less emotional, more factual and shorter in your responses to host's reviews. It will send a better image to your future hosts 🙂

[Ray214]

Thanks Branka and Silvia that was helpful. While most people don't have a good understanding   of English in Thailand everyone else understood my question when I asked them whether their condo had a sauna as I presume they used google to see what it looked  like. But their written English wasn't too bad either.  The host that I stayed with  had even  given me the name of his condo prior to booking and I realised it didn't have a sauna  which I found out on google and I told him  to which his reply was  "no  it does" which prompted me to book.

[Kelly149]

@Sandra856 @Susan17 @Helen3 @Branka-and-Silvia0

I'm guessing youve all already used the Report this User button.

I have 

[Quincy]

Hello @Ray214,

My name is Quincy and I am the Community Manager here. I'm just going to step in here as the conversation appears to be getting very personal. You might have noticed that some comments have been removed here as per our Community Guidelines. Namecalling members is absolutely not acceptable in the Community Center so please consider this a warning. 

Everyone here in the Community Center are fellow hosts, here because they like meeting others and sharing experience and want to support one another. Unlike a dedicated support line, it is far more discussion based unless it literally is one way fits all and so questions to assess more of the situation and then offer suggestions based on this is a logical process, it also gets us to think from other people's viewpoints—which is always a useful thing to have. 

It is important that we all remember though at the moment, what the purpose of the Community Center is and that we don't pass our frustration on to our fellow hosts/community members, we all want to get along here and support each other. I am sure you do too.

Personally, I feel that this conversation has gotten off track, therefore, I have decided to close this topic.

Thanks,

Quincy