Dealing with Picky Guests

[StephenandChelsey0]

My question is, how do you deal with picky guests?

We had a guest recently who seemed fine from her reviews and our initial conversation before booking. When she showed up though she was VERY sensitive to any fragrances or scents. She never mentioned this prior to staying, but complained about it the whole time and left us a poor review afterwards.

She acted like just because her and her husband don't use any scented products that everyone else should be the same. We don't use any crazy scented products, just normal laundry detergent from Costco and one candle by the entryway of our house. On top of this, she was very non-tech-savvy and had a hard time with anything tech related. We have a keypad to get in with detailed instructions, a Nest thermostat with detailed instructions and Google Chromecast. She had a hard time with all three things.

I'm kicking myself because I left her a fine review. Not overly nice, but just a "thank you, and she followed our house rules" type of review, but wish I was more honest about my feedback so I could warn other guests that she will most likely continue this spree of negative reviews based on her picky personal preferences.

Do you have any tips to help spot and avoid people like this in the future? We tried to be overly nice during her stay, bending over backwards to help her with the tech, remove any scented items and even helped her fix her glasses when a screw came loose...but no luck.

[Tania-and-Andrew0]

Hello, I'm sorry to read about this guest. Sadly I have been in the same situation. I know it's frustrating to be super nice to people and in the end having a bad review or a "not-excellent" one. Always being kind and trying to spend at least one evening with the guests to get personal feedback is a plus that help with these issues. For future guests I recommend that you ALWAYS leave an honest review. It is really important, if other hosts had given her an honest review you might've declined her request and avoided this situation. Do not take this personally and make sure your home is also fit for those that are not tech-savvy. Learn as much as you can from this experience and remember you can actually leave a reply under her review. She will not be notified about this. Just make sure your reply is short and does not seem personal so it does not deter other guests.

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

Challenging one - because it might come across as picky to give her a negative review. Only suggestion I can make is that you can leave a public response to her review - think carefully about what you want to say, perhaps along the following lines: we did our best to accommodate this guest's very exacting requirements during her stay - it may be that she is more suited to 5* hotel accommodation and amenenties than a shared family home.

[Allison2]

Ugh, fussy people raise my blood pressure!

In my rules I ask people to let me know if they have any special requirements (allergies, fragrance sensitivities) BEFORE booking with me.

That doesn't get rid of fussy guests, but it helps a bit. Some people are just going to be grumpy and dissatisfied about everything, but sometimes you can pick up on dissatisfiers that other people just don't voice. Take anything of substance to heart & see what you can do to fix it, then just chalk it up to "you can't please everyone" and move on.

However you respond, keep it brief and professional, as @Gerry-And-Rashid0 suggested.

[Maggie77]

I totally agree that you can't please everyone. Thanks for the reminder. I'm dealing with my first super picky guest. It's not easy. But I've had some awesome guests too!

[Sandra126]

My last accommodation was in the middle of an almond grove and I had someone book who was intensely allergic to almonds and wanted to make sure there were no almonds around.

Booked, stayed, survived. The world is made up of all sorts of people, and experiences fade as new people arrive. When you encounter people who might not be the kind you easily get along with, think ''kindness and compassion'' and just be nice.

[Ash-and-Dasha0]

I took a peek at your "bad review" it's not bad at all. It is a positive review. You handled it well that some people may find regular detergent smell overwhelming, when others won't. I have bleach smell sometimes in the bathroom or lingering from sheets. Some guests noted that it reminds them of a hospital others said it's a smell of cleanliness. So you just get used to picky guests and don't get bothered by things like minor criticism of your house. Even major criticism should be brushed off 🙂 We had guests who cancelled because the house was a disaster (Amazon packages in the living room, light in the fridge not working, and blah blah blah), mind you we've been super hosts for over a year. So just smile and carry on. You got a very cute listing and lots of positive reviews, that's something to take pride in. 

[Eric-And-Lisa0]

I am worried I  had an inquiry from a picky guest.  Or several inquiries from the guest I’m getting next week. I tried to deter them from booking with us because they ask questions about noise in our area. We are typically in a very quiet area where live on occasion there are dogs barking across the river and I did let them know this. Because I rent out a motorhome and travel trailer they were even being picky about how much noise their neighbors are allowed to make.  They are requiring us to run it like a campground and want to catch quiet time at 10 o’clock . Both motorhome and travel trailer are powered by electricity and not a running generator so that’s not a problem.  From their inquiries I’m afraid they might be nitpicking at everything. I am nervous about hosting them just because we have had nothing but 5 star reviews and over the top reviews. Our property is lush and beautiful but coming down our road the some neighbors have an eyesore of a mess. I do state this on my listing.  Actually live right smack in the middle of town but once you cross our gates you wouldn’t know it you feel like you’re in another world . Anybody have any tips on making a great first impression on picky guests?  So far we are waiting for our July assessment but we have overall rating of 5.0 our response rate is 100% we had zero cancellations we posted 14 trips and the only thing that I have low is my trips reviewed at 75 and that’s because one was a return guest I guess they didn’t think they had to put another review and it counts against us and then a few that didn’t know how to do the Reviews. As a matter of fact the last person that stayed with us messaged me to let me know she was having trouble and didn’t know how to do it she later On met up with someone and ask them to help her.  Wish Airbnb would send them a text link for them to click on for their reviews it might make it So much easier for some of our guests who are not totally computer savvy.

[Ute42]

Hi @Eric-And-Lisa0 ,

You ask, how You can make a great first impression on picky guests?

The answer is, You can never make such people happy. Avoid such guests like the pleague.

Write to them: Neighbours are loud, dogs are barking, messy area, can't guaranty for electricity,  unreliable cellphone signal, construction work will soon be starting around Your place and so on. Try to make them cancel from their side.

I'm not on Instant book but on booking inquiry with 48hrs grace period. I opted in for that as soon as it was available. If someone sends a booking inquiry i write a message back that contains all kind of informations knowing they are not reading my listing description anyway.

The last centence of this message is:

This place is no good choice to picky people.

.

[Eric-And-Lisa0]

Thank you, I pray all goes well with their stay. Hopefully the way the write and ask questions just sounds picky ....fingers crossed.

[Sally318]

Thank you for sharing this experience. I had a fussy couple they made false statement about my property and asked full refund after living 2 days. They threatened me to put bad reviews. It’s so frustrated.

[Huma0 · Accepted solution]

For anyone dealing with a similar situation, read this: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/A-Narrow-Escape/m-p/881786#M217165

I agree with @Ute42 , unless you are really desperate for bookings, try to avoid these overly picky guests as far as possible. Sometimes you don't see any red flags and only find out after the guests arrive that they are a pain in the backside, but when the red flags are there in a booking enquiry or request? AVOID, AVOID, AVOID!! Some people are not happy in their own lives and therefore will not be happy in your place no matter how lovely it is and no matter how kind you are to them.

[Ute42]

.

@Huma0  

I've been using the phrase

• this place is no good choice for picky people

for the past 3 years. In these 3 years only 2 guests decided not to book my place because of this phrase. And I'm glad they didn't.

In these 3 years I've hosted apprx. 120 stays and only 2 guests out of 120 did not book. So using this phrase has almost no negative impact on my renting business but the phrase filters out the few bad apples. Use that sentence even if You're desperate for bookings. You won't regred it.

[Huma0]

@Ute42 

That sounds like a good strategy. Unfortunately, some people are picky without realising they are. The guest I mentioned in the above thread certainly didn't think she was. She asked me how I could judge her based on one review. Actually, I was not judging her on one review, I was judging her on all the reviews she had left for other hosts, as there wasn't a single one that didn't complain about numerous stupid things (usually all clear from the listings).

Reading your potential guest's reviews for former hosts is a really good way to spot some of these people. However, the very useful AirReview App seems to have become super glitchy now and doesn't work half the time, which is a shame.

[Nanxing0]

I have dealed with some guests like this. I wouldn't call these guests "picky" though. I've seen picky guests who imagine themselves to be living in clean room and can't tolerate even a small piece of dust. Those who can't understand any clear instructions should be defined as "retarded" to me (no offense, just discussing the reality). What I would do to them is to give them a link to the user's manual and ask them to read it, instead of teaching them how to operate (unless you are a licensed school teacher who knows how to teach kids to learn). Those people are just like those school kids that need special attention -- if you never learnt specifically how to teach, you would never know how to get those people understand instructions.

Again, don't get me wrong. I'm not blaming anyone to be "retarded". There are some people in this world who just cannot understand instructions like most others and we just have to work with it.