Lost my super host status that I held three times in a row because of one bad review

Lost my super host status that I held three times in a row because of one bad review

Really really pissed.I have been a super host for 3 times running and I lost it in a mere second for a stupid comment by a low life. 

 

This guy already had my instincts going , I knew he was going to be give me trouble and I was not wrong.

He already was short and ill tempered when I was introducing the place and his replies to me was rude and quite honestly, I thought was an **bleep**. I tried telling him about the area we were in and he refused to listen. They asked if they could leave their luggages behind till 8pm. I said sorry but better not as I had social plans and can not promise to be home in time. Mind you there was no attempt to inform this prior. They had 3 weeks. I even had to ask them twice what time they were coming in, they got the times wrong the first time.

 

He got annoyed because I asked rubbish to be thrown out when they check out due to past problems with former guests who have left over 40 bottle of beer and nappies and food with holes in the plastics. I had this all stated out in my terms and conditions so if he had read it , it wouldn't be a problem if he chose not to stay.

 

When he got back to the apartment  not long later, this guy had issues with the wifi and was the first to have such a problem. Instead of working with my instructions how to get on, he made demands to get my own private access. I did not agree to this and tried to give him instructions how to get on the wifi. I did a test run with my own device to make sure it works and even checked the router.

 

There was no issues with the wifi.

 

Instead this guy responds to me saying he has travelled around the world , no offense so he knows better and that I probably don't have an ipad or imac to have the compatible devices and that my devices have already saved the passwords. I was annoyed, he was full of assumptions and refused to even listen how to get to step one of my instructions. I do own an ipad and imac and none of them uses that guest network as I have my own. The bull**bleep** story he tells himself because he couldn't figure out how to use the wifi.

 

I even showed screenshots step by step. He refused to do even one. I said I am happy to come by and help him, . He got home, and it works. I figured the lazy liar just had to reset his own devices. 

 

He stayed only 2 days but his feedback claims the apartment was filthy and I was the most arrogant demanding host that refused to give service or help and that I did not apologise.

 

I lost my superhost status as a result.

 

This is left me fuming because I knew already he was going to be an annoying demanding **bleep**. 

 

I take pictures before they check in , so I know the state of the apartment was clean. Making comments like place isn't clean annoys the hell out of me and are lies.

 

I am so pissed because he claims I was demanding with my requests and they didn't know how anything works in the apartment. They made zero moves to ask other than the wifi and for a guy that claims who has travelled around the world can't figure out a washing machine. I had guests who couldn't speak english and knew how to use the wifi and use the washing machine.

 

All I ask from guests is not to damage and steal things and throw rubbish and communicate to me of any problems or questions. This seems to piss this guy off that I have a set of terms and conditions. Coming from a seasoned host I had make things clear to people because I have things damaged and stolen and even a guest that was peddling drugs from my apartment so yes, I am **bleep** serious about the terms and condition because we have to makes sure we don't disturb other residential neighbours as the laws about airbnb in apartment buildings are getting strict.

 

 For a guy that travels alot around the world and stayed in alot of airbnb places. I am suprised with his level of incompentence to be able to work anything out. He sounds like an idiot only his profession states he is an academic, if he only knew that I had worked in that sector too and I know none of them to be like him. 

 

The guy really needs to stop bragging about having the experience of travelling around the world when he can't even connect to the wifi or use the laundry  and yes my laundry had the labels - detergent and presoak. He actually says he needed an inventory of what was in the apartment. All he needed do was look around. It is pretty straight forward. He claims he had to play hide and seek. Apparently with himself because I don't know what idiot person has this many issues like he did. I have has zero guests before him with that  same complaints as he has and more so ,each guests were happy to throw out the rubbish. Never a complaint about that request.

 

This is the first time I have had a lazy idiot bugger of a guest. For someone who has travelled alot, I suggest he starts learning how to read because it seems he doesn't know how to read it in my terms and condition. Can't even organise how to check out. Never assume your host's times is always available , and when you don't make any gesture to plan your time, don't expect a host to give you theirs. 

 

Serioulsy, check out is at 10am, don't expect someone to let you stay and leave their bags till 8pm , I paid for my time if my plane leaves late. I have never ask a host to do that and always check everything before hand and never booked a place I am not happy with their terms and conditions and yes I have travelled around the world but I have never used that as an excuse for my arrogance. 

 

If you think I am calm typing this no I am not, as I am sick of people who wants customer service but complain about things coming out of their ass. If it was really that bad he would have been able to complain to airbnb by my supposedly dirty apartment with pictures. But no, there was nothing, just a **bleep**ty bull**bleep** comment that now has ruined my superhost status. I wrote to airbnb and I am advocating for a change in this type of behaviour by **bleep** guests. Especially when it is untrue and coming from a **bleep** of a guest.

 

 

 

37 Replies 37
Thao24
Level 1
Arlington, VA

I had almost the same problem.  I haven’t lost my super host yet but Airbnb automatic deduct the refund 20% from my account without my permission for a guy who made unreasonable complain to stay at my home with the noise from outside.  Airbnb asked me to violate the rule as of the fail in listing the noise from the construction outside.  I would move to other site to list my place.  Please advise!

@Thao24 I see you are also a super host. You can always argue your side but have proof and present logical reasons. Some things are beyond our control and we always hope guests will be understanding. The ones that are assholes and just trying to squeeze money. Fight back and stand your ground. 

 

I once fully refunded a guest despite being their fault and regretted that deeply. 

 

I also once called airbnb to retify a situation but got penalised and the airbnb lady actually started verbally abusing me. Nevertheless I got my penalty gone and lady end up apologising. 

 

Just saying. Not all guests and hosts can get it right. We aren’t professionals but good hosts try their best and with crappy guests like this. There is a way to stand your ground. 

 

 

Thanks Dionne for your advise.  I leant that I should not communicate with Airbnb for my hosnest to share with them about the issue with guest unless the guest raised the issue.  This was not a big amount of money automatic deducted from my account  but I don’t like the idea of giving money back to such kind of **bleep** guest.  I will file a claim.

Thanks gain!

Jeff158
Level 10
Caernarfon, United Kingdom

What makes you think you've lost superhost @Dionne2 

If your stats are now below the standard required, you have until the next assesment in July to get them back up, as far as i'm aware you only get superhost removed immediately for cancellations.

We all get a bad one every now and again, mine was a 1star a while ago.

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@Jeff158 I checked on my host status and it seems that I have. It shows differently when I respond here maybe a glitch. 

 

Wow a 1 star that would not make me happy. 

 

May I ask what complaints did they have to score you so low. For a one im my book it has to be downright sewer dirty, description doesn’t match at all, hosts were rude or sending bad vibes or no show or very late, in a dangerous area, noisy, appliances broken or not available.  

 

 

 

Jeff158
Level 10
Caernarfon, United Kingdom

@Dionne2  My 1star guest booked my min of 7n at Easter, stayed 3n of the bank holiday and just left without a word. I then start to get messages about how dirty the place was, its not as described and I wasn't a proper host, she wanted a refund for the 4n not stayed. I don't think she ever intended to stay 7n, my place was disgusting, I didn't know folks could make so much mess in 3 nights, she even left kids soiled jimmy jams in the bed.

She didn't get a penny out of me and she deleted her account as I gave her a terrible review on her profile.

I was professional in my responses to her accusations and customer service were brilliant.

 

Jody79
Level 10
Chicago, IL

@Dionne2 Hi Dionne, I'm so sorry you had to deal with a guest such as this individual.  I do wish you would have written an honest review of him as I suspect other hosts did the same as you and chose not to write a review at all rather than a negative one.  As such, only good reviews will show up when he books with others.  That of course is not to say that a negative review will stand as he could just open up another account.  I had that happen with a guest that threw an unauthorized party at our place.  The guy just deleted his account and opened up another one so my warning review was effectively null and void. 😞

@Jody79 

 

The thing is I have had guests who were grumpy before but we got along well and all issues were communicated to me. I’ve experienced a guest who lashed back aggressively after I wrote a honest but not so good review. I had to block him. 

 

And honestly a grumpy guest is not a deal breaker compared to drug dealer guest or a guests that steals things which both I had. 

 

So I was shocked with the amount of things this guy was complaining about. If he commented about the wifi I would understand because he raised that with me. But he went to saying it was dirty, he didn’t know how to use the laundry, he found me unfriendly and arrogant, he didn’t like the fact he had to throw rubbish , he was annoyed he couldn’t leave his luggage behind etc etc. 

 

All the while bragging repeatedly to me that he has been travelling all over and stayed in many homes. 

 

He actually wrote such a text to me. 

 

Well Ill take this as a lesson and be more pedantic in my feedback and you are right I got the feeling he had done this alot and he is the only guest I have come across that can’t seem to do or organise anything. And I had guests who used google translate to communicate to me and understood more than he did. 

 

Im sorry about your situation but I think you can report that account too and bring that up to airbnb personally. 

 

I am strict here as it is an apartment building and I had one guest been told off by a fellow neighbour because they did not dispose the garage right. And any issues can be brought up by strata that will ban me from doing airbnb. 

Emilia42
Level 10
Orono, ME

@Dionne2, The last Superhost assessment ended on March 31st. According to your profile you made Superhost status for that quarter (January 1st - March 31st.) Your bad review/low rating happened in April. So, you will loose your Superhost status on the NEXT assessment ending on July 1st IF you do not get your score back up to 4.8 by then. Take as many reservations as you can and make sure you get all 5 stars. Good luck!

@Emilia42 Thanks for the tip.  

Linda108
Level 10
La Quinta, CA

Huge amount of energy has been given to this grumpy guest and yet you are so casual about participating in the host community by not choosing to review.  @Dionne2  you saw a lot of good reviews on this guest profile so I would wonder if the two of you were just a bad fit.  Or, other hosts were casual about reporting Mr. Grumpy Pants.  So many hosts get caught off guard when they depend on good reviews.  So many hosts have opted not to review.  A short professional review can allow the next host to at least be prepared.  Prior to the guest review, would you have wanted this guest to reserve again?   If not, an honest review can help us all.  

 

Given the number of reviews you I doubt you will lose SH status.  Also, sparkling clean is how your listing is portrayed so a review that is negative will be discarded by potential guests except for the long, defensive response you posted.  Looks like you just learned a lesson after a streak of great guests 😛  Maybe Mr. Grumpy Pants is the only one you will have 😄

@Linda0

 

Of course from here I won't make that mistake again and write feedbacks. 

 

And no. Definitley not changing the way I handle the response. I am not sorry to that man. I set up those rules because of what has happened to me and what damage guests has done in the past. I had a drug dealing guest who was peddling drugs out of my apartment that I had to cooperate with the special drug team to get them arrested. They did about $8000 worth of damage. Now that was given a HUGE amount of energy considering this was all during the christmas and NYE period plus I had more guests coming. Now that was very stressful.

 

Since then I have a very strict policy to weed out any guests who are disrespectful to do that to my property and as I mentioned , a cranky guest isn't a deal breaker so it did not occur to me that he would be vindictive and vile. Like me there are probably alot of hosts out there , to avoid any back lash , choose not to review, but I hope my experience will support them to do not what I did.

 

PS.

Airbnb looked into my case , and reading in our conversation and seeing nothing to hold onto what he was saying, they sided with me and agreed to my request of getting his feedback removed.

 

Graham-And-Michelle0
Level 9
Auckland, New Zealand

Dionne I absolutely LOVE your response.

It is clear, well composed and reads incredibly honestly.

I applaud your strength of character in posting it.

Such a shame you did not post a review.

best luck with future guests.

cheers

Michelke

@Graham-And-Michelle0 thanks for your support. I take each case as a learning curve and I hope this will provide the same for others making the same mistake.

 

I just hope other hosts realise, sometimes we do certain things to avoid more drama , unfortunately , maybe in my case, not with best outcome for others.

 

To update you on the matter, airbnb has sided with me and remove the guest's comments. There was no proof to what he said and the conversation we had will definitely showed his lack of cooperation and show I was not rude or dismissive but helpful even providing step by step visual aid how to fix the issue.

 

I hope this encourages others not to just take guests' inaccurate feedbacks and just stay quiet on the matter. Sometimes the lies are so out there you got to call out bad behaviour.

 

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Hi @Dionne2 

 

I am sorry you had such a .bad experience with this guest, but your over the top, overly long response (tirade) to him, would be thing that would make me wary of staying with you,  rather than his review, I'm afraid.

 

It would be unlikely that just one bad review would make you lose your superhost status when you have over 90 reviews. And indeed it still shows on your profile (why do you feel you lost it?).

 

I got a one star review when I first started (from a nightmare guest), but still got superhost status and have retained it since.

 

I too join other hosts in being suprised that you didn't leave an initial review for this guest to warn your fellow hosts.