Guests leaving negative feedback after messing up the place

Florian239
Level 2
Wellington, New Zealand

Guests leaving negative feedback after messing up the place

Hi there,

We just recently had guests who have caused extensive damage to the home and 

we had to involve AirBNB and get them to pay us for the damage that they had caused as they first refused to do so.

They have left a very negative star rating which is impacting on our superhost status from when it will be next reviewed. 

I have tried twice to talk to Airbnb about this but all they say is they will not remove the review as reviews show a range of 

what people think about our home and they did not violate the rules by leaving a negative feedback. 

I feel so saddend and sick to the bones about the fact that they left our house in shambles and we had to clean the carpet,

buy new sheets etc and they the get to say our house wasn't clean, our communication was bad etc. 

We have never had a bad rating like this before and we always got 5 Stars for cleanliness and my wife prides herself with that, too. 

We are even thinking of stopping doing Airbnb even though we love most of our guests but we just don't feel supported.

Has anyone had this experience and can anyone tell me what they did to resolve this or how to cope with it better?

Also we had a few guests lately not leaving reviews so the percentage is going down for left reviews. 

We have found if we "preassure" guests to leave one they might leave a 4 Star... 

Any ideas on that?

And we have had a few guests leave a negative feedback on check-in as they can't come up the drive but it says so in different spots in our listing... 

We even write it to people when they request and still some of them come up the drive and then get like oh well but it is very steep... 

Our listings name is Steep As... 

Why do guests sometimes refuse to obey the house rules?

Cheers,

Flroian

26 Replies 26
Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

@Florian239

 

 

You stiil have your superhost status and you have all five star reviews so I am confused as to what you are referring to.

 

Also you a raising issues in your response to guests which they are mentioning in the private part of their review therefore raising negatives about your listings which guests wouldn;t have been aware of otherwise.

 

Please read the reviews carefully to understand which are public and which are private before responding . If you do need to respond please keep your response as short as possible.

 

Leaving extremely long responses to guest reviews just makes your comments stand out more.

Florian239
Level 2
Wellington, New Zealand

Yes we still have it atm but won't for the next turn if the review Nick left won't change. 

No we had four 4 star reviews. 

Not all if them are 5 stars. 

I am well aware of private and public reviews. We have had some public reviews that needed clarification. 

Mand we had 4 star reviews with a great public review but things in the private which we felt needed addressing, too.

I can't agree less re shortening the response. 

I think that it is our home and I have the right to let people know what they are in for before they book. 

I have had great feedback from recent guests on ihr public responses we were told they were really clarifying things more. 

I think a lot of hosts are afraid of giving honest reviews which is sad! We needed up with guests 2 times now that had great reviews and the just messed up our space! 

So sad! 

I think hosts have a responsibility towards each other. 

 

What I am saying and upset about is why does Airbnb allow someone who caused extensive damage to a a property which has all been documented leave a negative review and let them get away with that?! 

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Ok sorry I thought you were posting looking for advice from experienced hosts.

 

Absolutely hosts should leave an honest reviews.

 

You could have done this in your initial review,  without shooting yourself in the foot by responding publicly to private comments, when you responded to their review.

 

Airbnb will let a guest review stand as long as it meets their T&Cs for reviews.

Florian239
Level 2
Wellington, New Zealand

We are hosts for a year now so no roocky anymore. 

I don't think I shot myself in the foot at all. We are constantly booked so don't think it has deterred anyone. 

In some cases for example a set of uk students they had disobeyed our house rules twice and we talked to them and thought we had it sorted. We went out of our way to help them get to the airport and all so we honestly thought we were all good and as they had apologised we gave them 5* but they decided on 4* because they explained to us that it had tainted their whole stay that we had "told them off". I found this behaviour very rude! Similar thing happened with a family not keeping to the rules and now we give very honest reviews regardless if something seemed resolved or not. And we give honest answers to reviews. 

@Florian239 The thing is that when you reply to a review the guests won't know. They won't get a notification that you replied. So it is only upcoming/potentiel guests that will actually read your replies. 

When I stayed at a ace the other day I got a message of what the host had replied... Mate they change it? 

Anyway for me it's important to let new guests now what they are in for. So when someone says something about a cook top that I will answer to that so that there are no surprises with the next guest. Same with the driveway etc. 

@Florian239 You did? Okay, that is great to know! It should also be like that! But it hasn't been like that earlier. It is diffenitely something to put in a new thread so people know. Thanks for sharing!

Gordon0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Florian239 While I'm sure this will make no difference to the way you carry out your business, I would give you/your listing a very wide berth on the basis of how you respond to reviews. Your answer to Deepali's (fairly vanilla) review was way over the top. This casts a shadow on you, not Deepali. 

Florian239
Level 2
Wellington, New Zealand

Hello Gordon, and that is fair enough and you don't have to stay with us by any means. Deepali stayed with us over Christmas and we gave in and let them stay with 3 kids instead of 2 and we set up a Christmas tree and had presents waiting for the kids.

Deepali asked me before arrival about the stove top and we said no there is none explained everything. First thing she asked when she is here why can't they come up the driveway, why do we not have a stove top etc etc. we were quite in shock about that amount of rudeness. And the. She mentions is again in the Fedback. We do not want a cook top for good reasons and her bringing hers up and wanting to start cook anyway is just not on. 

I feel it was a good response and I would respond the same way in a heartbeat. 

Hi again @Florian239 

I just wanted to make sure I understand what you are saying because it doesn't look like you have stayed anywhere since august 2018? 

You can always ask Airbnb support. I thought we had received an email last time about a response to our review as guests. We sometimes use my account sometimes my partners. I don't know why you would look at my account in this way. I have found a few of the replies on here very creepy. Like investigating on my listing an all. Very strange. I did ask a question and other than discussion about my replies to reviews nothing much has come from it. I just think that if a lot of hosts together would bring this to the attention of Airbnb, that their star rating is not working the way it is that they then might change it. There are other platforms, too that work very well for renting out a space short term. 

@Florian239 I just wanted to be sure that what you say is correct. It is quite a common thing that hosts are not aware that when they reply to a review the guests won't know. So if that has changed then it is a big thing. And yes of course people do check out each others listings. I don't see anything strange about that. 

John1080
Level 10
Westcliffe, CO

@Florian239, this is the situation we all dread, but which I feel many of us are going to encounter at least once. Potential guests can see that you have very good ratings otherwise, so you'll bounce back, I'm sure. 

 

As for the fact that they damaged the home and now they're leaving a bad review, I know that must be frustrating, but there's nothing you can do about it now. Just be diligent in your screening and know that your next guests will most likely be good guests, as most are. 

 

Good luck to you! 

Mark116
Level 10
Jersey City, NJ

@Florian239  Is this the guest who mentioned the cooktop?   If so, you gave them a great review, or maybe its another guest you are referring to.