Our 2nd review ever and it's devastating - help please

[Gillian235]

I have been so excited to get my unit up on air bnb after months of preparing and now my 2nd guest ever has left a scathing review. Im completely confused. Prior to and during her stay we were sending friendly texts back and forth. She asked if we had a heater (which we didn't as our climate is pretty warm and the unit stays comfortable but offered to bring one) but she came back with they would see how they went and let us know if they needed one. The last day of their 3 nights stay they sent a message saying they were really enjoying their stay and wanted to stay another night. It was sent late at night and I saw it the next morning and responded at 5.30am that we had another booking coming in (which would have been noted on the air bnb calendar too). I never heard back but her scathing review mentions I took 5 hours to respond. Is it normal to have to reply during the night? I never heard anything else after the request for the extra night, I just got the scathing review which mentions homeless people out the front (which we have never seen), noise that we have never heard and lighting issues in the unit complex we didn't know about. I'm not sure what to do here. I've messaged her back, but have yet to hear from her. Can anyone help? I feel devastated and thinking maybe we should pull the listing down and rent it privately instead.

[Helen3]

Hello @Gillian235 

Sorry to hear you have had such an appalling, spiteful guest.  The vast majority of guests are lovely. Please don't cancel your lovely listing.

I would definitely provide a short, factual, calm response that addresses the points she made.

I would also points out your surprise at receiving such a review after the guest had nothing but  praise for your listing during her stay (I would quote one of her comments), so much so that she asked to extend her stay at the last minute.

A request which unfortunately you could not accommodate as this request didn't come in until late the night before she was due to depart when you were already asleep. However as soon as you were up at 5.30 a.m the next morning you let her know that this wasn't possible.

I would say that it appears she decided to leave the unfair and inaccurate review because you were not able to accommodate her last minute request to extend her stay, as you had guests arriving and how sad you are that she chose to do this.

[Gillian235]

Thanks so much Helen. I’ve posted below my response below in this thread  to get some feedback on it before I post it. Can you have a look for me? Also. I feel nervous about my next guest on Monday now. Should I reach out around the review or check that she’s seen the listing description about the location and original building?

[Ann72]

@Gillian235 Just weighing in to add support and sympathy.  @Helen3's advice is spot on.  Over time, that review will disappear in the sea of positive reviews you'll get for your incredible space.  And most prospective guests can read between the lines of a mean-spirited review like that.  Do carry on - your place is amazing and you'll get lots of people who will love it.

[Gillian235]

I wrote a response below but just wanted to make sure you know how grateful I am you took the time to reply to me. I’m in a steep learning curve!

[Alexandra316]

@Gillian235 What a nasty review... she comes across as miserable and mean-spirited, and I do hope prospective guests get the same feeling from it.

Definitely do write a response. Definitely don't cancel your listing. Your place is beautiful, and I'm sure others will love it.

I hate to say this, but I would contemplate not allowing other hosts to book with you. I have had terrible experiences hosting other hosts, and my worst review ever came from a fellow host. Many hosts seem to become hyper-critical a**h*les* when they take off their hosting hat and put on their guest cap. I don't get it: you would think they would be more sympathetic and understanding than the average guest, rather than trying to tear down other hosts.

[Alexandra316]

@Gillian235 I also used the AirReview Chrome add-on to take a look at the reviews this woman has left for other people... they are mostly similarly miserable. I only see one positive review from her: all the others had bellyaching of one sort of another. Maybe consider downloading that plug-in and using it on potential guests.

Here's a sample of some of her other reviews for other hosts:

1

I would not recommend this complex. A huge sprawling complex. Its worse than a hotel. You could be in California or Kauai hard to tell with all the gross sprawling buildings everywhere. It's far from the ocean, it feels like Orange County Californa. Our room was boisterous, the roosters crowing from 1 am - 7 am was ok we live in Hawaii, so that is somewhat normal.... I will say that its the first time I stayed in a Hotel heard a rooster. But roosters don't bother me. What bothered me was the people above us woke up and made crazy amounts of noise I guess they were awake and forgot that other people might not be awake too. This was the noisiest place I ever stayed with the people upstairs to the parking lot you can hear all the cars locking and honking to lock and people who set off their car alarms, which was often since most people are driving rental cars and don't know how to use the alarm system. Add the people smoking in the parking lot with the wind blowing their smoke in our place! Uhg who knew someone could wreck paradise.

2

Location was close enough to everything we needed for our trip. We enjoyed the old local kine decor. Only set back is you can only take a hot shower during certain hours. They have the hot water heater on a timer, stumbling around the back of the house at 10pm to find switch then wait 15 minutes to shower was a bummer. I live on Maui and understand how expensive electricity is, however when you rent nightly and guests pay a good price they should be able to shower when they want. Setting a timer and leaving us with not hot water purpose unacceptable.

3

Host was welcoming upon arrival and communicated well. House and bedding was clean. Over all not a bad stay. Things we did not know before staying that would have been helpful. It is a duplex shared with a two bedroom so you share the outdoor sitting and eating area. Also it is no in Haleiwa its about a 15 minute drive, the location is nice and close to Sunset beach, however it is not in Haleiwa as we expected. Its right on the Highway the road noise is intense and shakes the house when larger trucks pass by. This house is not for a noise sensitive person. Overall for us the situation worked. However the above information would have been helpful information.

[Gillian235]

Alexandra - this post was incredibly helpful. Until this post I had started to doubt my beautiful space. Thankyou.

[Linda108]

@Gillian235   I totally agree with @Helen3  and suggest you use some of her wording in your response.  I don't know if I would go so far as to say don't host hosts, but this particular host appears to believe it is her mission to inform the world about anything she found wanting in a listing.  According to her profile she has quite a number of listings and a huge number of reviews so I can understand ( not agree with) her sense of importance.

Don't be cowed by her inflated sense of self and just respond in a short but professional way.

[Gillian235]

Thankyou so much for reaching out. I’m feeling so ‘green’ about all of this. I’m sure I’ll get a handle on it over time.

[Rosemarie9]

Hi Gillian, your listing is beautiful, I would love to stay there if/when I ever return to Australia. Follow the good advice on here and reply in the most unemotional way you can - harder than it seems. As a point of interest, look at her hosting reviews from guests, as she seems to be projecting her listing faults onto yours as a means of retaliation for not being able to extend her stay. As  Alexandra has stated, some hosts are nightmares, but on the plus side, some of my nicest guests, especially on my larger whole house rental, have been hosts with some amazing properties, who understand how tough it is to host and keep some people happy. It will get better, you just had the bad fortune to get a miserable, entitled so and so, early on. I hope her karma hits soon, she rattled me when I read her reviews of hosts.

[Gillian235]

Thanks so much for your sympathy and encouragement. It’s taken me a day or two to gather myself around this, but feeling better equipped to respond now.

[Gillian235]

I can’t tell each and every one of you how comforting these messages are. Could I get some feedback on my proposed reply:

Dear Kandy,,

I’m so very sorry that we couldn’t accommodate you for your extra night that you requested after messaging me that you were ‘Enjoying your stay’ and would like to ‘Add an extra night’ after 3 nights in our unit. As the Air BNB calendar showed, we had another booking. This request came in late at night when I was asleep. As a new host, I didn’t realise that replying to your message at 5.33am when I woke up would be classed as ‘Host didn’t respond for 5 hours while we were set to check in’ given that the calendar would have shown we were booked. I think you may have misunderstood my immediate message on your suggestion it might be a cold night when I replied I would bring a heater around. I interpreted “Don’t worry about it my husband thinks I’m being too Hawaiian.LOL.” as you making a joke and said that I was ‘wetting myself laughing’. As described in our listing, the building is an original 1965 building on Kirra Hill & the neighbours on my floor are a doctor next door, a writer, a barrister and sponsored surfers downstairs who all love this property like I do. We have never seen homeless people in this area and can only assume some young people set up a tent up in the bushes camping for the night above the beach to surf early in the morning. This is not a listing that is ‘managed’. This is my home that I love in an area where I grew up and want to share with visitors and artists that we work with because it is amazing. It would be very helpful next time instead of sending me friendly messages and telling me my place is ‘charming’, how much you are ‘enjoying it’ and requesting an extra night and that you don’t need a heater, to simply be honest. I’m a host that loves to make people happy.

[Helen427]

hello @Gillian235 that's a great 'Private feedback" response, however do be mindful that if this is your "Public Review" of her it will be read by potential & future Guests.

Best to keep Public Reviews short.

Use related keywords in the searchbox here in CC and you will find other useful tips how to write a review for the said Guest, meanwhile you know as will others, that your listing is accurate and that you are a great Host.

We all have the right of reply to Reviews so maybe hang out & see what she writes as to how to reply to her as well - it will help balance things out for your betterment.

All the best

[Helen3]

Please don't post this @Gillian235  - your suggested response is too long and doesn't get across how horrible this guest is. Don't apologise !  Say something like this.

"We were saddened and surprised to receive your review,  after you told us while you were here that  our place was 'charming' and that you were 'enjoying your stay' so much that you wanted to 'add an extra night'. Not something you would have done if my place was truly as you describe in your review.

"I can only think you left this inaccurate review because you were annoyed that we couldn't accommodate your last minute request to extend your stay.  It is rather disingenuous of you to claim we took five hours to respond to your message, when you know your request came in after midnight (when we were asleep). We replied as soon as we awoke at 5.30 a.m. the next morning to let you know that we couldn't extend your stay, as we had guests checking in that day. A reasonable person would not expect hosts to be responding to messages in the middle of the night.

"There are not homeless people 'living in the bushes' - it was likely to be a group of young people who sometimes camp by the beach (not 15 feet away from my home!). And there is lighting in my apartment block. (also address her complaints about noise here).

"This is my home that I love, in an area where I grew up in and we want to share it with our visitors because it is amazing. I very much look forward to welcoming our guests who I am sure will fall in love with it as much as we have.