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.

[Gillian235]

Thankyou so much Helen! I’ll reword and write my response today. Just when I was pulling myself together I got an air generated email from air bnb to tell me my star rating at just 3 stars because I only habe had 2 guests stay meant I was at risk of being paused. 

[Helen3]

Don't worry @Gillian235  my first horrible guest gave me a one star rating and lied about my lovely brand new apartment. Within the first quarter I gain superhost status and have retained it every quarter since four years later.

Just enjoy having your forthcoming guest and I am sure you will get a great review from them.

By the way just checking why do you think the guest mentioned lack of lighting in your block - are there ever any problems with electricity where you live?

[Gillian235]

Thanks Helen. I wondered this as well - there is lots of lighting surrounding the unit and the unit next door as well as the street that lights the whole place up. I went in to check this Friday night and it looks like a globe had blown in the stairwell lighting at the top of the second flight of stairs. We had left our entry light on anyway which gives out strong light too.

[Mark116]

@Gillian235   That woman is not a nice person, making it doubly hilarious that her own profile makes her sound like the Mother Teresa of traveling, someone who is super mellow, when all her review show she is a mean nitpicker.

Your response is too long, too much detail.  Remember, it is for future guests, not really for her.

I would say something along the lines of that you are sorry your beach front condo wasn't to her liking, and that you suspect she mistook beach campers for 'the homeless' since in your experience you've never encountered any homeless or vagrants in this area.  I would, if you have it, list what time she send her message to you and say that you were sleeping and replied to her at 5:30 a.m. but that if she requires 24 hour concierge type service she may be better suited to a hotel environment.  I would keep the sentence about the listing not being managed  but is your home.

[Gillian235]

Thanks so much Mark. I’ll make the adjustments and post today. I guess I was being naive-  I’m still in a bit of shock that someone would behave like this.

[Kelly149]

@Gillian235 1. Guests who have lots of great reviews might be great guests or they might be this type that doesn't complain in person and then skewers a Host. Looking at what kind of reviews they typically leave is a MUST. If I'd seen her reviews before she came I would have either cancelled her stay or been on very high alert for any issues

2. You aren't truly responding to HER, you are clarifing this review for Future Guests. I'd say something VERY short. "Unfortunately we did not find out what kind of guest Kandy truly is until this review posted. We look forward to hosting many more pleasant guests in the future and we are always working toward guests having lovely stays with us. Please message if I can answer any questions for you and we look forward to hosting kind, honest, adventurous travelers in the future!"

don't justify her nonsense with a play by play response

3. If it were me, I'd add some of the "downside" items to your photos. You've described many things that there aren't photos of: kitchen, narrow stairs, small parking space, old building... People are bad at imagining things and your interior photos are sooooo lovely. Maybe if she'd had photos of some of the rough spots then she would have gone elsewhere and that would have been to your benefit.

4. And if guests book and then start asking for things you don't have (and don't need), I wouldn't be offering to appease them, I'd be looking at recommending they go elsewhere.

IMO

[Gillian235]

This is really great advice Kelly. Thankyou. Ill make some adjustments today. Do you hAve any views on my bookings that are coming up? I’m really nervous about my guest coming tomorrow. 

[Kelly149]

@Gillian235 if you have the ability to smoothly interact with the guest then I would go ahead and tell them that you just had a difficult guest experience, that they told you all was well and then left you a surprise terrible review, if they seem kind you can even tell them how damaging this is to your ability to continue to host and then tell them that you really want them to be happy and that you'd rather hear if they have issues than be blidsided. I'd keep that up, as you're able, until you're up to 5-10 reviews and the averages start to even out for you.

And then carry on... you have plenty to learn, but the real problem here was that grumpy guest. Go ahead and use the opportunity to make your listing and your hosting better.

And... if it were me I'd go into the message thread and Report this guest. She's crummy

[East-Village0]

I have read this conversation chain with interest. I have been hosting long before AirBnB surfaced and I can say one thing- Do not 'hit back' or make accusatory comments in your response. Keep it pleasant and answer each complaint objectively. It doesn't hurt to thank the guest for their input. Walking the high road will pay back! Good Luck!

[Gillian235]

Thankyou so much for responding! A week in I’m feeling much better and took the advice of someone earlier in the thread who gave me a good reply which I’ve posted. I’ve got a lovely guest in our unit this week so fingers crossed I start to get some good reviews. It was a bit of a sting from air bnb who sent me an email to say my listing was at risk of being paused because of my low overall rating (from my 2 reviews), but I have to trust that this will change with time 🙂

[Helen3]

That was me @Gillian235  🙂

And the Airbnb emails are automated, so don't worry about it. 

[Gillian235]

Thanks again @Helen3  - just realised I need to tag in my replies on here. I’ll remember the help you gave me for many years to come and hopefully one day I will be able to do that for someone else who is new and overwhelmed!

[Helen3]

Ah thanks @Gillian235 that means a lot.

[Sean433]

@Gillian235 

What saddens me the most is that this guest is actually a host of multiple properties. She of all people should understand what she did was evil. Honestly, she deserves the same as a host as what she did to you. I would book her home just to do the same to her for her to understand that you can't just attempt to destroy someones livelihood like that. Although this won't fix your problem, it will give her a taste of her own medicine.

[Gillian235]

For a minute there I’d be lying if I didn’t say this thought crossed my mind @Sean433 ! I felt confused and then because she was a host I searched deeply thinking maybe there was some truth and that my little place wasn’t as amazing as I thought. Thank goodness for this community thread who showed me some of her reviews of other places and came to my aid. I don’t want to waste my time on someone like this. She’s clearly in some kind of pain to behave like that. Imagine a life where all you do is spread hate? Not a very happy life at all