Guest not understanding how to rate

[Karen1027]

This is the most frustrating situation ever. I hosted a guest - he arrived into a spotless unit, no complaints, happy. He spent 2 nights with his friend. I was beyond shocked to see his rating on cleanliness when our average is fantastic. He rated us 2 stars for cleanliness!!!! The worst ever. It turns out he says the spoons were not clean and the beds were not made. Not understanding this we finally assumed that what he meant is that he used the spoons and expected them to be serviced and cleaned, and he slept in the beds and expected them to be made up in the morning. Nowhere on our listing does it state that our units are serviced. We expect our guests to keep them tidy and neat. We dont charge a cleaning fee. I think it is absolutely ridiculous that this expectancy from the guest has been lumbered onto a cleanliness rating and of course has now brought us right down in the overall average which has been 4.8 for a long time. I have contacted Airbnb about this and the consultant has advised that it has been forwarded to a team who can attend to it. I am most unimpressed. Gave him a scathing public response advising him that he left the unit in a dirty condition stinking of KFC chicken and chicken skin and bones on the floor and that we are not happy to host him again. When a guest is asked to rate CLEANLINESS does it not relate to "cleanliness of the unit" when they check in? It surely does not include cleaning up after them? 

[Lawrene0]

Oh but, @Karen1027 , although infuriating, that sort of thing happens to all of us. The problem is that on her profile she has your lovely  "easy guests to host" review, and on your profile you have her lovely "the place is very cool and quiet" followed by your long rant about filth and stinking chicken. It is off-putting for your prospective guests and does nothing to her. 

It is your future guests who are addressed in public replies to reviews. Be careful writing them. 

[Karen1027]

Lawrene I understand where you are coming from, thankyou for your "interest". HE actually, not SHE. Yes unfortunately I reviewed too quickly before checking the apartment properly, but have just realised that the low cleanliness rating revolved around the used items not being serviced, such as the spoons which were used and the bed that was already slept in. But unfortunately the way he  mentioned it could be construed as if he checked into an unmade bed and dirty spoons. Obviously we take this seriously. To the best of my knowledge a "cleanliness" rating is based on the cleanliness of the accommodation not the fact that it is not serviced, this is what I am trying to ascertain and confirm by posting this onto the community site. I am looking for support and suggestions from hosts who have suffered the same ordeal.  I do not mean to "rant" as you refer to it,  I do believe that it will benefit other hosts by having this public response out there. This is one of the reasons I posted this. Does nothing to her?  This post will be visable to other hosts who will view this on his reviews when he books elsewhere. It can serve as a warning to other hosts.  Thankyou for your concern I am glad to hear it happens to "all of us" ):):)

[Emiel1]

@Karen1027 

There is no mentioning in the review about cleanliness, it is you who is bringing this private communication between you and the guest to the public on your(!) profile. It does nothing to the guest and it only is damaging your business. Sorry for having a two stars rating on cleanliness (it sometimes happens, if it's true or not) , but now you make things even worser ! I agree with @Lawrene0 , this response is not a jewel in your profile.

Best regards,

Emiel

[Karen1027]

Thankyou for your feedback Emiel.  There was no private communication between the guest and myself - all the communication is through Airbnb. Too bad it is posted now and not removeable so if it will damage my business I hope it will help other hosts to be careful of this guest. I am assuming he expected us to be like a hotel. 

[Emilia42]

@Karen1027 -

Unfortunately, the guest who gave you this low rating will never see your response. Future hosts of this problematic guest will never see your response. @Emiel1 and @Lawrene are simply pointing out that the only people who will read your response are prospective guests who now know that you may or may not have an issue with cleanliness. They would have never known otherwise. The Airbnb review system is not perfect in the least bit but the people here are trying to show you how to play it to your advantage.

[Karen1027]

Thankyou very much for you input and advice Emilia. It is very  much appreciated. 

[Angie47]

This happens to me quite often and I might say a big challenge up to this day still for me and my team. Unfortunately there is not much that you can do except to do your best with your next upcoming guests and service them well so that they'll leave you perfect ratings to put your high ratings back (it takes time though).

[Karen1027]

Thankyou for responding Angie. I agree we always need to stay on top of our game. 

[Ton11 · Accepted solution]

Hello Lawrene,

I fully understand your frustration. Unfortunately, if the content of the review does not violate the Content Policy of Airbnb (https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/546/what-is-airbnb-s-content-policy) nor contains discriminatory comments, there is nothing that can be done.

It is important to write a response to the review, not only to express your disagreement with the guest, but, more importantly, so that future potential guests can read your response and valid defence.

Airbnb is not a hotel and should not be considered as such, although many guests do not realize this. In your response you can educate the guest about this.

I hope this helps a bit.

Rgds,

[Karen1027]

Thankyou Ton I  very much appreciate your feedback - exactly the feedback I was hoping to receive. I am happy to hear that you agree with the fact that I responded to this guest because it is indeed important for other hosts to see what I have advised in my response. I cannot actually understand why it would harm my business quite frankly, but even if it does, I will be happy to know if it helps other hosts. Airbnb has now confirmed that the rating for cleanliness is based on "cleanliness upon check-in" and not servicing a room if there is nothing in the listing about it. My question is now answered and it is fact that the guest expected us to service his unit and clean up his mess, and because we did not do this, the next morning his spoons were dirty and his bed was unmade, and therefore he decided to rate us 2 out of 5 for cleanliness because of this. As far as I am concerned it is inaccurate rating. We have other listings which have very good high ratings so it is not as if we don't know what is going on. Thankyou very  much for your advice Ton it has helped tremendously. Thankyou and kind regards Karen

[Lisa723]

@Karen1027 your response to a guest's review is NOT shown to other prospective hosts of that guest, nor to the guest himself. The ONLY people who will see it are your future prospective guests.

Now this is what your prospective guests see on your listing:

Also, the cleanliness rating does not impact your overall star rating.  Only the guest's overall star rating impacts that.

So you have effectively aired your own dirty laundry, so to speak, and nothing more. Unfortunately, it is a common misunderstanding.

None of this is to downplay your frustration. This kind of guest happens to all of us eventually and it is extremely annoying.

[Karen1027]

Thankyou for this information Lisa I appreciate your feedback. Oh dear!! It seems like I have a lot to learn. 

[Karen1027]

Do you recommend that we do not leave public responses?

[Lisa723]

@Karen1027 you might be able to get CS to take down your response, if you explain that you didn't realize it would be public. There's really no need to take down the review itself as it doesn't contain anything negative.