Troublesome check in

[Jacqueline809]

Hello All, first time on here so please be gentle! Had guests book a couple of weeks ago to book for one night ( tonight) . Messaged them at time of booking to ask for an eta so I could be there to give them the keys. Heard nothing until I messaged them yesterday when they said they would be there around 7pm. I arrived at 6.30pm, opened up, and received a voicemail and a message from them to say they had arrived at 6.15 pm and they were cold, hungry, tired and they could not gain access and to phone them ASAP, which I did. Their phone call was at 6.32pm, I phoned them at 6.39pm.To be greeted rudely by the woman stating the key was not by the door, and why was I not there? I replied that when I had messaged them I had SPECIFICALLY asked for an ETA and they had said about7pm. I am sorry, but 6.15pm is not 7pm! She was SO rude! Then she said they were looking for somewhere else so I said thats fine, I quite understand, and I could only apologise. Then she backtracked and asked if they could collect the key later as they were at least 30 mins away. I said that would be fine.. 5 mins later ad I was getting into my car, they drew up to the house! I have just left them to it.. I am so annoyed! I only started last year but am now a superhost, with 35 excellent reviews, and then this pair come along. Anyway rant over, thank you for listening x

[Anonymous]

@Jacqueline809  You did the best anyone could for these awful, useless people, and by no means did you owe them an apology. Fortunately it's only a one night booking and you'll soon be rid of them.

[Jacqueline809]

Thank you very much for your comment Andrew, am still upset about it today but as you say its only for the one night, so, deep breath and onward and upward! X

[Scott-and-Mary-Ellen0]

Welcome to Airbnb, Jacqueline! Hopefully from here it gets better.  

[Jacqueline809]

Thank you very much guys for your comment, its much appreciated x

[Linda108]

Just because you are a SH and have had over 30 great guests, it does not protect you from the general public, right @Jacqueline809 .  I also have had so many great guest experiences, I am still super annoyed by inconsiderate or just plain ignorant guests 😛  Come here to rant anytime 😄

[Jacqueline809]

Thank you for your comment Linda,I always try my best to make sure my guests have a good experience at my property, and will always go that extra mile to try to accomodate them, but I guess you can’t please everybody. It was just how she was SO rude, really, was like a personal attack! Guess I am just going to have to grow a thicker skin🙄x

[Kelly149]

@Jacqueline809 how about a thicker skin and a really poor review...

and perhaps consider that guests don't always realize what happens on our side of the transaction... "Great, I will be at the place to welcome you at 7pm. See you then!"

[Yadira22]

@Jacqueline809 

I am so sorry. I have had this so many times that I simply outsourced the check in element as my patience could not take it.

The worse was meant to come at 12 noon, she arrived 8am the next day. Apparently her uber was delayed by 5 hours (even though I know her sister picked her up and you could walk from the airport in that time) and then as it was my fathers birthday we postponed dinner again until we agreed to meet her at 9pm and when I was about to leave early she emailed to say she had a migraine... she requested a one night refund as she felt it was my fault despite asking her several times if this is fine or not and trying to work around her etc. Finally when reviewing she said made out I was this terrible witch (change w for another letter) who left her waiting in the cold without data and no where to go... completely homeless. So her family had to safe her from it... and marked me down in everything including cleanliness. Honestly, some people only see themselves as the victim. 

Some people will be in the wrong, know it and still look for someone to blame... you did everything absolutely fine. So as someone said so nicely on another post- fix your crown and move on...

And please call them out on their entitled behaviour, but maybe wait for the last moment to review or after they do it, as to avoid a poor review yourself. 

[Jacqueline809]

Thank you for your comment Yadira.  I have thought about them all day, but I have adjusted my crown and shall act accordingly. I did wonder about a review though. Theirs will be shown even if I don’t write one. 

[Yadira22]

@Jacqueline809 Yes. All reviews will become public once both sides have submitted theirs or 14 days after check out - whichever comes first. 

note: to tag someone so they will see @ their name- otherwise they will probably not see it. 🙂

[Linda108]

When you get an email prompt to post a review, the process is described.  I hope you are not considering not writing a review.  Your feedback is so needed by the host community.  Thick skin comes from just knowing your are a good host and since most of your guest agree with that assessment, hey go with that!!

[Jacqueline809]

@Linda108  I have thought about not writing a review, maybe they won’t write one for me. They had 2 okay reviews, so maybe I just caught them on a bad day. She said she was an airbnb host herself, so I wonder what she would have done if one of her guests had verbally laid into her as she did to me? Put down the phone probably. Thats another thing, do you be honest and upfront on a review, or do you sort of skirt around it? Thoughts are welcome x

[Linda108]

@Jacqueline809   One thing about this forum is we are all very willing to give input about potential reviews.  You could post a potential review and we could help you tweak the wording to reflect the best, professional hosting.  You also might get a review from the guest that you want to respond to and use the same feedback process.

In general, the review needs to be honest and short. No need to go into great detail just acknowledge that communication with the guest around changing check in plans was problematic.

[Kit45]

Please do write a fair and factual review.

We also greet guests in person and hand over the key.  We always explain to the guests why we need to get their flight information or ETA so we can wait for them in front of the condo main entrance.  We usually be there 30 min to 45 min before their ETA.

Unfortunately, one of our guests did not give us their EAT so he arrived before us.  We apologized and he was pleasant to us, but he gave us a four star for check in.  Sigh!

I had another guest who arrived later than her ETA.  She apologized to us for being quite late and felt bad we had to wait for her outside the building.  I told her it's okay, no worries.

I think most people/guests are decent so don't let this bad experience discourage you being a great host!

Cheers

Kit