Unreasonable Guests

Marianne51
Level 2
New Mexico, US

Unreasonable Guests

Wow, my first unreasobable guests and it hurts. I have a cute older home with pool and garage and nice amenities. I charge less than one room at a hotel and have a superhost co-host since I'm an out of state owner of this cute Floria bungalow.  I am new to hosting and my place is often booked through other sources. But had 3 Airbnb guests give 5 stars. The recent 2 ladies did not communicate to my welcoming messages and then a few days after their arrival, sent a terse "list" of problems stating "and that's just what we found so far". A few complaints were for amenities I speficially did not have listed, others, their own errors like they couldn't find the volume on the TV remote. Each complaint was delivered as though I was a bad child who needed punishment for erring. Most were for items they didn't even care about such as a 4th stove burner which we showed them did work and then they said "well we weren't going to cook anyway". I felt battered in a no-win situation as even solutions were scoffed at. I suggested twice to let them out of their booking and return their $$. I reminded them that a single room in winter at a florida hotel costs more than my 3/2 1500 sf house with pool, garage in the historic district. I asked for Airbnb to intervene when they claimed there were fleas biting (only one of them). The guest a week prior gave us a 5 star rating and NONE of the problems these guests had including no complaints about fleas. But we immediately bombed the entire house, re-cleaned, tested for fleas (none of course) and got no positive resolve from them ...they just went on to more issues. Of course after all our trouble they left us 2 stars. There goes my superhost rating. I cannot honestly believe they were so unkind. Each room has my attentive loving care.... I washed floors by hand, every possible item they may need was available: soaps, paper products, pool/excursion items, 6 rooms of nice furnishings, electric garage opener, washer/dryer. I bought a 55" 4k Ultra Hi def TV so one in living room and bedroom. I have 4 streaming services including live TV. 

 

2 stars. wow. makes me not want to host anymore.

9 Replies 9
Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

Hi @Marianne51 ,

There they are, the guests which are never satisfied, whatever you do. Such guests show up at almost every host, sooner or later. So you had them now, all next ones will be better. Offcourse you feel disappointed, but tomorrow new guests will give you 5 stars again. I read you review on the guests profile, so we are all warned.

I read their review, only says: "Pool relaxing. Location quiet. Needs some TLC."

BTW What is TLC ? (Google says it's a TV-channel...)

Best regards, Emiel

Haha Thanks Emiel! Tender Loving Care.... it's not so much their comments but the "2 stars" that hurts!  ;o(  I realy appreciate your kind support and wise counsel.  

@Emiel1 TLC stands for tender loving care.

Pete28
Level 10
Seattle, WA

You are always within your rights to just ask guests to leave and refund. The 'flea' problem would have been an ideal moment to show them the door 🙂

 

Typically the guests realize that last minute hotels cost a lot, and they behave, and also know that they will get a bad review so generally don't write one themselves. But clearly not always...

 

The need for superhost rating based on 80% avg over the year is not worth the mental anguish. If you avg the star rating of local hotels, I think only one in Seattle would make superhost.

Thx Pete! Yea I guess I wasn't forceful enough when I actually got Airbnb to intervene and only "suggested" to the guest that if they weren't happy they should leave.  I did not insist and Airbnb said 6 days later the guest did not want to leave. I guess it's so much more fun to stay and torture your host!  hehe

@Marianne51 your observation is probably quite correct.

When these ladies planned this vacation, they probably mentally pictured some relaxing days of sitting by the pool, enjoying the warmth, and torturing their host.

I can imagine them bringing some pre-written complaints, just so they could be rolling as soon as they touched down....

 

(Separate tip I have heard: keep the host response short, and there is no need to bring up complaints that the guest does not mention in *their* review. For instance, the guest's review does not mention the 4th burner, the bugs, and the bites. If your portion had not mentioned these issues, they would not be in anyone's mind.)

 

I hope it is a long, long time before you have guests this unpleasant again! (Ideally never.)

I am sure the great reviews from your normal guests will soon bury this person's review under an avalanche of 5-star ratings.

 

 

Thank you!  I appreciate your supportive words!

@Marianne51

 

You will get weird guests, just a question of time, now whether you forcibly want them gone or just grit your teeth is of course only something you can decide.

 

The one thing I would mention is your response to their review. They wrote a one liner which very quickly will disappear/be ignored by new prosepctive guests, your reply made it much more visible. Your place to make such comments was on your own review whichI see you did.

 

As has been mentioned many time being a SuperHost is not biggie, my busiest time was when AirBnB mistakenly removed mine and I did not notice. Most guests I have had seem to be clueless what it means, if anything.

David

Gotcha  ... it's the dern 2 star thang. Guess it was insult to injury and I should get a thicker skin. Thx for your good advice.