How to review a Guest who was unable to come

[Helen427]

Hi Fellow ABB CC users.

I had a guest who was due to come & stay for a night last week & msgd me on the morning due to a Health matter with her husband she was unable to.

I msgd her back & said I'd honor her booking & she is welcome to come & stay another time to compensate for it as she had genuine reasons.

It wasn't a cancellation as it was to late to do so.

How should we navigate the unknown star ratings for cleanliness etc?

As there's the possibility she may review me as well, which may or may not impact on my overall ratings if she doesn't give a higher rating for the unknown.

Her communication was excellent from the start & she has only had 1 other review 

Thoughts & suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[Mohammed134]

It would be best to not review at all given she has not stayed she cannot review the place I will however say it’s best to always cancel the booking if it’s mutually agreed upon to keep things consistent for your listing both the host and guest 🙂

[Helen427]

@Mohammed134 

The guest can indeed review even though she never came to stay.

It's about maintaining balance and fostering a good working relationship.

The circumstances were beyond her control.

I'd prefer to err on the side of caution and also like to foster a good working relationship and have "goodwill and good faith" between my guests and myself.

I'm aware she is highly likely to be wanting to have accommodation here in Auckland in future as her work brings her to my location which is in part why I have offered her the right to have another night.

It's also easier to have a guest know they can send an enquiry and block off a date in future.

Neither of us choose to cancel as you suggest & why would we?

It reflects on my future potential bookings to not review her & she by all accounts was very pleasant in all her communications.

Sometimes we must place ourselves in others shoes.

All the best

[Alice595]

@Helen427  I had a similar situation three month ago. The guest was supposed to check in but she messaged me that she could not come because of something with her co-worker. She said she would come on the second day. But she was not able to come either. She booked for two nights.

I did not know how to review her and I did not leave her a review. But she left me a review. And her review was very good and gave me 5 stars all cross. I asked her why she could rate me without staying. She relied that my communication with her was very prompt and polite. She would imagine that she would have gotten a very good stay would she have stayed. 

[Sarah977]

@Helen427  I've never had a guest book and not come, but if I did, I'd message them and tell them that since they cancelled day-of check-in, that they will get a prompt from Airbnb to review, as will you. But that since neither of us can really comment on anything but the communication and since you can't just skip a review page and go on to the next, that I don't see any reason to leave a review for them and wonder if they are in agreement? From what you say about this guest's good communication, I think she'd likely find that reasonable and agree.

It really is such a silly predicament Airbnb puts hosts in.

[Emilia42]

@Helen427 With this 'new-ish' review process/format you cannot skip on categories for star ratings. So you are going to have to indicate a star rating for this guest on cleanliness and house rules before you can move on to the next page....  even though you have no experience with either. I believe the same goes for the guest rating you. If you are on good terms with her I would message her and ask if you can both mutually agree to skip the review progress since you cannot honestly rate each other on these categories. If she writes you a review anyway I would say something along the lines of "XX was unable to stay with me due to some unfortunate last minute circumstances. However, her communication from the start was excellent, very cordial and thorough. I welcome her to reinstate her reservation the next time she is traveling to my area."

[Helen427]

@Emilia42 @Sarah977 @Mohammed134 @Alice595 

Maybe it's just my legal background that I do my best to view things in a balanced manner & in this case in fairness, I'd tend to give the benefit of the doubt, as I'd reasonably expect the same from her.

We did msg each other after she msgd about the unfortunate situation that arose.

[Helen427]

Update.

We both wrote each other a review above board  (there has been no msging btwn each other what to write as can be checked by ABB Admin if necessary) and funnily enough both of us mentioned similar things about each other's communication & been unable to stay.

We both gave each other the benefit of the doubt re Star Ratings - 5 stars all around!

We now both have our good reputations to honor to others within the ABB community:)

Thanks folks for your input into our situation.

Be nice, kind  & try to understand another person's situations who you are interacting with & unforeseen situations that may arise within one's communications prior to check in as one never knows the positive outcomes with Reviews even when people for whatever reason are unable to come and we have Review Rights with.

Happy Guests make for Happy Hosts & vice versa.

All the best

Central To All Home & Location, Auckland, NZ