Ratings and Law Suits

Judy29
Level 9
Brant, Canada

Ratings and Law Suits

On TV, Toronto News broadcast this last Friday Nov. 10, stated a story about Law Suits over poor accommodation ratings.  "Defamation of Character".  What is going to happen with the rating system on Airbnb who promote not only good but bad ratings.  We are always prompted as hosts and guests to give a star rating.  Apparently if you are not happy with the ratings, you have the right now to sue!

 

I have guests who feel the right to damage, dirty, and be disrespectful with our linens and/or furnishings.  I get really upset picking up garbage, cleaning food off the stove, counters, walls, dirty fingerprints on the door frames and kick marks on the doors.  Lets not forget the splatters of toothpaste on the vanity and mirror etc, etc, etc.  We offer a newly renovated home...new furnishings, carpets, freshly painted walls "corner to corner".  There is no way this house is dirty...not even a single cobweb to be found and we live in a forested area.  Then along comes a 3 star rating..."cleanliness, communication, value???"

 

How about those guests who dont contact you to let you know their estimated time of arrival and then leave a low rating for "communication"  or "arrival" or "accuracy".  I am extremely wordy and made absolutly sure that they are aware of every little detail to make sure it is a "good fit" before accepting a booking.  I live next door and cant be available every minute of the day waiting...and I try to be there to meet and greet.   I leave the door unlocked with the key and note inside for their questionable arrival time; not to mention that the note asks that they call when they do finally arrive! (which they never do)  And they get to sue us for rating them accordingly???

 

To leave a less than acceptable review for these slobs would possibly upset them to think a law suit is feasible!???  Do we as hosts now have to take before and after pictures for every guests that enters to now prove that we offer nothing but the highest standards...just in case??? Or consider a "walk through" with guests arriving just to make sure that they are 100% confident with cleanliness, communication, accurracy.  And Meet and Greet...just doesnt coordinate with their agenda.

 

Com'mon Airbnb...address this issue.  Are you going to be there for us when this issue becomes REAL to deal with?  I have been addressing this issue for the past three years with Airbnb.  I lost my "superhost" because of one low review from guests who "absolutely loved" everything!  She did mention that I was a fabulous host. (so how does that translate to 3* accuracy, 4*communication, 3*cleanliness)  Cant improve what I dont know.  If they leave less than 5*, then there should be a comment to back it up...no comment...no star rating!

 

 

11 Replies 11
Marzena4
Level 10
Kraków, Poland

Nice to see, @Judy29, that I'm not the only one in a pursuit to improve hosts' situation before guests ruin everything: trust, spirit of community and love for hosting.

// "The only person you can trust is yourself"
Oomesh-Kumarsingh0
Level 10
Pamplemousses, Mauritius

@Judy29 I believe that it is time for Airbnb to prevent short terms guests to leave reviews and ratings and put a minimum stay of 5 days in order for them to be allowed on the review list of hosts. For guests staying for less than 5 days they must not be allowed to put any comment and it must be considered as a favor from the host to allow those type of guests to stay on their properties. This is just my opinion but i think it can really help many hosts! 

@Oomesh ... Its not the length of time that can make or break the good/bad review.  Some people just like to push control over reviews.  We had a guest stay eight days who gave me a 3* and stated my floors and carpets "needed cleaning".  These were brand new floors and not a fleck of dust, sand or soil.  When this family left, thinking cleaning all the linens would be helpfull, one family member put ALL the sheets, towels and two large fluffy blankets into TWO wash loads.  Not only did they compromise my appliances...and my linens, but actually thought I would offer these linens as "clean" to the next guests?  It's this kind of review that we should have control over and we dont!  (it was eight (8) loads, that I recleaned!)

@Judy29 I am not saying that guests who will book longer trips cannot put a bad review but from what I have observed on the community is that there are a greater number of hosts who had problems with guests staying for very short terms. Good luck for the future and happy hosting!!! 

Edwin57
Level 10
New York, United States

Different world we live in we do work hard some people care and some people don't care you are not alone i see and hear it all how long must we as Host hold our lips you know what I mean 

respect is do when is do my Dad welcome the guest my Mom Waite upstare to make sure everything runs smooth because my Dad said my policy is respect my house my house will respect you simple the guest seems to love my Dad

Thank you for this.


Airbnb should start tracking the "guests" who leave positive feedback and then send Airbnb private complaints.  And they should be rated the same way we are "i.e. "Superguests."  Why don't we have fields to rate guests on "Cleanliness" and "communication?"   Fair is fair. I have some guests who are fabulous in some areas and not in others.

Also - Airbnb should allow you more time to revise a review if the guest has not yet left one.  Guests should be rated according to different aspects of a stay.

But in the meantime, for criticism, I think the host should be allowed to respond with photos that other users can see.

Nice!

Fay26
Level 2
New Zealand

I totally agree with all you have said Judy.  I am a superhost but recently have had a coupld of 4* ratings and have wondered why as as far as I am concerned everything in the bnb areas is A1.  Anyway its interesting to note that these two guests never replied!! Some of them think that their accommodation etc with airbnb should be of 5 - 6 hotel standard and they forget that we are 1/4 of the price and extremely good value for money!

 

I also get very cross when I have communicated up to the day before they arrive and they say they are going to arrive at approximately a certain time and 5 hours later they arrive and dont even bother to message us.  It happened the other night and we were supposed to go out to an important meeting and had to cancel and we waited and waited and they turned up after 10pm at night and we were in bed and we didnt hear the doorbell.  Some people are so rude.

@Fay26

I TOTALLY feel the same, exact way.  I have a basic space...that is a seperate entrace, little 'kitchenette' and I price is far and below competitive spaces--simply because it's a darn room in my house.  People think I have a round-the-clock staff of people and should furnish my space like the Four Seasons for the price I charge.  I went into hosting with the idea that folks would be grateful for getting a clean, comfy space for so cheap and for the price it's nice.  Yeah--uh....nope. I have mixed feelings towards people's expectations.  My place isn't a dump but it's super 50-50 what type of guest I will get so I feel that I have appropriately priced my space for the type of folks and the treatment the room gets from them.

My take away from this is that Airbnb, so far, has treated my issues fairly.  They are a booking service.  I am glad I can rent out my space so I don't have to get a third part time job.  People are freaking goofy and I am NEVER, EVER going to furnish my space with expensive things or redo anything because regardless people will still find it not good enough or love it and treat it like their own, which isn't always a good thing lol.  Those people who say to charge more or be picky about who you take--uh...doesn't always work depending on what market your space is in (like mine in Las Vegas, which is the total opposite of any rule known to man) and Airbnb wll terminate you if you decline too many, so you can't be super picky. Also, what the heck does Superhost get you?  Higher rankings, nope--I still get booked all the time with or without Superhost status.  Better guests....nope...worst guest I ever had was when I had Superhost.  Better cut of the take....nope, you get the same commission regardless.  Less wait time on the phone if you call in...nope, I call in when I"m not Superhost and still get a rep pretty quickly.

Just do your very best and provide a clean, safe place for travelers.  They can give me 3 stars but if I"m doing my very best...so what I get three stars.  I am renting a room in my house, not a VIP Suite at the Four Seasons. Luckily I will get another guest who will rate me 5 stars and it will lessen the awful 3 star rating from the previous guest.  In the grand scheme of things, it's not a big deal if you are doing the best you can...and who wouldn't do the best they could?  Hosting is not something you're going to do if you don't want to do it, so chances are, all hosts are doing the best they can do.

I also agree with the fact that those people at airbnb called "ambassadors " do absolutely nothing to resolve or remove a bad review left by a guest, I just got one left by the last guest, who was quite friendly, never complained, stay 8 days, not one word about my house being dirty, cobwebs every where according to him, bugs all over, dust all over, none of it true,it was the most bizarre experience I have had with a guest, nothing prepared me for that awful review he left me, he even said how could we have a house on airbnb that is in that condition?? I felt like I was in the twilight zone,  again, not once did he reach out with any issues but left a horrific review instead of giving constructive criticism in a private note,  we would have most definitely addressed any concerns, and now of course airbnb refused to remove it, they do nothing to protect the host reputation,  and that nonsense that we hosts need to leave reviews first in order to read the guest reviews? That to me is backwards,  we should be able to read reviews first and then,  based on that we can leave a reviews for the guest, I was actually nice about my review even though I was not happy how he left the house and I did that because I truly thought his review was going to be a positive one,  is like I was dealing a totally different person,  so weird

Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Claudia2732 By your own admission you didn't leave an honest review for your guest. As a result I am not sure you can complain that your guest's review was not honest.