Current Renter was belligerent, and then apologized

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Dawn690
Level 2
Ellicott City, MD

Current Renter was belligerent, and then apologized

Hi - I'm a new host and am on my way to being a super-host next month - unless I get a bad review or something.  I have a renter in for 3 nights who was very upset upon move-in that I don't supply linens (I live 500 miles away and haven't found a housecleaning service that will do that yet).  It's clear in the Airbnb site and I also send a welcome email 3 days before each renter goes in.   He was very angry and at the end of the tirade said that he wasn't in a place with internet service (in the east coast of the US) and didn't get my messages and said that he didn't think he should clean the place due to the $65 cleaning fee (fyi - I pay $100).   I handled well enough for him to calm down and apologize - he admitted he sees it now on the Airbnb site.  I didn't hear from him at check out this morning.  I'm worried it'll be a very bad review, as he clearly isn't responsible in the way he interacts with other (in fact, a bit ugly).   If I don't write a review for him, it says that I can't read his review.   Does this also mean that if he writes a review and I don't write one for him, that his won't be published?   I'm just trying to figure this out.   Thanks for your help in advance!   Dawn

 

 

1 Best Answer
Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Dawn690  All reviews are published, regardless of whether both parties leave one and you should pretty much always leave a review and always an honest one. 

 

If only one party leaves a review, it will appear 14 days after check-out. If both review, they are published as soon as both are submitted.

 

Be factual. If the guest was good in some ways, mention that, but also the issues. You don't need to go into great detail. In this case, regarding his anger, I would say something like "Things got off to a bit of a rocky start with XX, as he hadn't thoroughly read the listing information, nor my pre-arrival messages, so he expressed anger about things that had already been explained, but to his credit, when I pointed him to the info, he read it and apologized."

 

It is not a good idea to base your review on how you anticipate a guest reviewing. Sometimes hosts are certain the guest will leave a bad review, only to find they left a nice one, or assume a great review because the guests had no complaints and even said they enjoyed their stay, only to have a complaining review appear.

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3 Replies 3
Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Dawn690  All reviews are published, regardless of whether both parties leave one and you should pretty much always leave a review and always an honest one. 

 

If only one party leaves a review, it will appear 14 days after check-out. If both review, they are published as soon as both are submitted.

 

Be factual. If the guest was good in some ways, mention that, but also the issues. You don't need to go into great detail. In this case, regarding his anger, I would say something like "Things got off to a bit of a rocky start with XX, as he hadn't thoroughly read the listing information, nor my pre-arrival messages, so he expressed anger about things that had already been explained, but to his credit, when I pointed him to the info, he read it and apologized."

 

It is not a good idea to base your review on how you anticipate a guest reviewing. Sometimes hosts are certain the guest will leave a bad review, only to find they left a nice one, or assume a great review because the guests had no complaints and even said they enjoyed their stay, only to have a complaining review appear.

I had a guest who made an abusively  negative comment about my  bumper sticker. I over heard her comment, but no need to engage as it is her right to express herself.  No judgement here. 
Her review was short and factual, but she lowered my star rating on communication.  So amusing as we had great communication.  😄

Brian2036
Level 10
Arkansas, United States

@Dawn690 

 

If he doesn’t have internet access then maybe he won’t write a review.

 

I have to wonder how he booked through Airbnb without using the internet though.