Review grace period for guest response

[Lezlee0]

Does anyone know if the guest is given extra time to write a review if one is done by the host last minute?   Checkout time for my guests is 11:00 am.   I had a really bad and vindictive guest.  He hasn't written a review yet and I'm worried if he sees I've written one he will do the same as he knows what he did.  It was my plan to write one just before the 14 day cut off time at 10:55 am.   The problem is that I tried this with a terrible guest that smoked in my unit and left it a huge mess.  We posted it at 10:55 am and it stated she now had 5 hours to review me.   11:00 am has always been the cut off time where other reviews start to pop up if the 14 day period has ended which started happening for the reviews left by others that checked out the same day and time she did.   Does anyone know why it automatically gives the guest an additional 5 hours to write a review?   I'm wondering if they make sure the guest has time to see you've written one so they can do so even if it exceeds the normal cut off time.

[Sarah977]

@Lezlee0  I have read here on the forum that the 14 days starts from the exact time you get the notification to review. If guests are given an extra 5 hours, that's the first time I've ever heard of such a thing. Maybe look back at the first email notification and see if the time corresponds.

[Sandra856]

Hi @Lezlee0 🙂

When using the App and if you press the red "write review button" (when it is possible to leave a review after the guest has checked out) you will get to the first review page (see picture). It will show days left and when there is less than 1 day left it will show hours left. So you can see exactly how much time you got.

Best, Sandra 

[Lezlee0]

I can't find anything on the subject but it happened.  It proceeded to give me the hours and minutes of how long they had to write a review.   Checkout was at 11:00 am and it kept counting down until 4:00 pm.   The other reviews popped up.  I was hoping someone else had this experience because I've not waited until the last minute to post until then.    I took screenshots to bring up with Airbnb but obviously it's not the time to do so given their current overwhelming crisis.

I just checked the email and it stated I had until March 12th to write a review.  The above happened on March 12th.  Check out time is 11:00 am.    

I know how to check to see how many days it states to the above illustration wasn't relevant to my question.  My question is if anyone has had this happen to them.  Maybe someone could wait until 5 minutes before the deadline to write a review for someone that hasn't written you a review and see if that happens to you.  

[Sarah977]

@Lezlee0  What we are trying to tell you is that the 14 days doesn't necessarily start from check-out time, but from when you first get the notification to leave a review for the guest. Look at the time you received that notification, not what it said about how long the countdown was for the guest.- was it 11AM or 4PM?

[Lezlee0]

Ahh...okay!  I'll look for that now.  Would the notification have come through my email?

[Lezlee0]

You're right!  This was so helpful @Sarah977 .  The email came at 3:05 pm then daylight savings happened making it 4:05 pm.  That's exactly when it counted down which was not even on the right hour so that was confusing as well.  This has answered my question!

[Sarah977]

@Lezlee0  Glad that cleared it up for you. So next time you have to leave a last minute review (although hopefully you don't get anymore guests you have to call out for bad behavior) don't go by your check-out time, but actually look at the review notification email. I know I had one lag once by about 2 days after the guest checked out.

[Lezlee0]

@Sarah977   I certainly will.  I had double-checked with the senior case manager that had to call and coach them to leave as they were refusing to do so until it was time to catch their flight.   I told him my plan about the last-minute review and asked if the 14-day cut off time was exactly 14 days after the checkout time and he told me "yes" which was incorrect.     I'm glad you had the correct answer!

Are you saying yours lagged about 2 days longer than the 14 day period?

[Sarah977]

@Lezlee0  No, I didn't receive the first notification to review until 2 days after the guest checked out, whereas I usually receive them soon after check-out. I never paid attention to when it ran out, because I reviewed the guest right away after I got the notification.

Yes, unfortunately you always have to double-check what CS reps tell you- they are often wrong. But it probably is supposed to start from check-out time, it's just that it often doesn't. Lots of tech glitches on Airbnb.

[Lezlee0]

@Sarah977  That's good to know it can vary when the email is sent to review them.  I agree with lots of glitches and incorrect information from Airbnb.  It's just hard to double-check the information or get answers on their site.  This forum is very helpful as it seems people like you know more than their employees as I'm sure they have a huge learning curve when they begin working there.   I've had their wrong information really foul me up so I wish if they weren't 100 percent certain they'd either say "I don't know" or research prior to answering.

Thanks again for your help and have a good night:)

[Tommy150]

The few times I've "waited til the last minute" -- my review has literally posted within 15m or so, so there was no delay.  Was probably a glitch.

The review period also seriously needs to be CUT way back.  14-Days is absurd.  It should be 48-72 hours max... That's plenty of time for the host to have checked the property and plenty of time for the guest to carve out 2 minutes if they want to leave a review.

If we could get reviews posted quicker and not leave them open, it would leave hosts in a lot better position to be able to claim damages without retaliation!