Why an Airbnb host, who traveled as a guest, would leave us such outrageous review?!

[NY-Blue-House0]

Today I saw a new review from a recent guest, who is also a Super Host in her hometown, left us this LONG message:

"My adult son and I stayed for three nights in September. The apartment is clean and accurately described. It is approximately a 10 minute walk to subway stations which offer both local and express trains, so quick access to Manhattan. A supermarket is very close by. The noise from the host’s apartment above is quite intrusive, particularly in the evening, thumping footsteps and scraping chairs which, during my stay, carried on until 10pm. My first night the interior pane of the double windows was fixed in an open position so all the street noise, including trash collection at midnight, was highly audible in the front bedroom. It was as if you were sleeping outside so I had little to no sleep and texted the host. After a long day out, I didn’t discover the top of the windows had been closed until the following morning as the bottom halves of the windows had been left wide open and the billowing blinds were down. So for my second night I ended up sleeping on the couch, which is not nearly as comfortable as the bed, so I could have a door between me and the street noise. The third night, with the windows closed, the room was comfortable. While the windows were fixed in an open position the a/c struggled to reach a comfortable temperature. This again was fixed once eventually the windows were closed. The three recommendations that the hosts make in their guidebook, Bakerie, Boeuf & Bun, and Basil sound great. Unfortunately, they were all closed throughout my three night stay due to Jewish Sukkot holidays. I would have appreciated a heads up as I didn’t discover this until fairly lengthy walks to each of the businesses. I would not call this a great neighborhood. There is a lot of litter, and I was nearly mown down by about six off-road quad bikes, which were having a race down Schenectady Ave, two of which mounted the sidewalk. It was quite terrifying, and happened mid evening while I was walking back from a subway station. I would recommend Daughter for coffee, and Saraghina for dining, both of which were not affected by religious holidays."

-- WHY did she write so much that has nothing to do with the apt itself?!

PS.

Not to mention, she paid only $120/ night for 2 bedrooms in NYC much less than her listing in Winston-Salem.

Also, this is a townhouse, we live upstairs. We list we live upstairs as well. Not like we are making noise all the time, we also have a life! Gosh!

[Sarah977]

@NY-Blue-House0  Strange as it may seem, other hosts are not any different from the array of non-host guests you may get, and many hosts have reported that other hosts are the worst guests they've ever had. That hasn't been my experience- my host-guests have been really sweet, but maybe because they were all simple home-share hosts like me.

This woman comes across as an unadaptable fusspot who expects some sort of perfection and expects to be catered to. And it's like she thinks she's some perfect host with a perfect home that nothing else will ever measure up to.

She books a place in Brooklyn and expects there not be traffic noise if the windows are open? Expects Jewish establishments to be open on Jewish holidays? Oy vey.

I never understand people who complain that they couldn't sleep because there was noise. Have they never heard of earplugs? I never travel without them, provide them for guests, and most of my guests say they have their own.

Your review response to her was perfect!

P.S. You don't have to quote a review here- users only have to click on each other's profile photos here to get each other's profile page and we can see your listings and reviews. So you can just say, "Hey guys, take a look at the review XX just left me."

[NY-Blue-House0]

Hi Sarah,

Thank you for taking the time to write this back to me. I feel so much better!

Her long review made me dizzy... but I started wondering why I got myself into this?

I have a full-time job already. This is just a side job. But is hard work really worth It? Should I close the Airbnb for my stupid pride? Money is good, but sometimes reading those unreasonable reviews is really not healthy. I also take the feedback too seriously, so I usually need few days to come over this bad feeling. Airbnb rating system is just not fair to the host. This problem has been called out so many times and so many years, but has Airbnb done something to improve it? Maybe not too long I will quit...

This is the first time I posted here. Thank you for letting me know how the site works.

PS. When you said "Your review response to her was perfect!" I was like... what? how did she know about my response to the guest?!?!  hahahaha...

I saw your listing. It looks beautiful and magical!

All the best!
Thank you again.

[Sarah977]

@NY-Blue-House0  It's almost always the PITA guests who post these endless detailed reviews of every single thing that they experienced during their stays. It seems like the type of person who finds fault with everything and isn't self-sufficient or adaptable is also the type who thinks that everyone needs to be informed about and would be interested in  how miserable they were, in excruciating detail. I guess because life is all about them.

The funny thing is, most guests won't even bother to slog through reading a review like that. When they see it's novelette length, they'll move on to the brief reviews that tell  them what they actually want to know- was it clean, did everything work, was the bed comfy, were the hosts nice.

Try not to take reviews personally- every business that deals with the general public has to put up with this stuff. And these days, people are asked to review everything from their hair cut to the place they had their tires rotated, to the cafe where they had a coffee and a piece of pie. Everyone's a critic now. It's outta hand.

Google "Actual complaints received by the Thomas Cook Travel Agency". It's unreal and hilarious.

If hosting is emotionally draining, though, by all means don't do it. Some extra income, when you already have a decent job, isn't worth it if it stresses you out. 

I've been lucky- I have just a private room in my home for only 1 guest at a time, and it's somewhat  unique for the area, so I've gotten lovely guests who are a good fit for me and my listing. And because I also have another job, I'm really easygoing about it. I don't knock myself out- I leave a day between bookings, so I'm not rushing trying to clean and prepare, I have a minimum 3 night stay, so no one day changeovers, my guests tend to book for a week or two, so once they're settled in, there's not much for me to do until they check-out.  And I live here, and share my kitchen with them, (been closed to bookings since March 2020 because of that due to Covid) so it's more like some long lost cousin I've never met is staying. And I've met really cool people from all over the world.

I don't know that I'd be able to happily run an entire place listing. Guests seem to be more respectful and less judgmental when they are actually living in the host's home. 

[Amanda660]

Your response is perfect 🙌 

I had a guy comment in a review once that he wished the beds were bigger as he was 6’5” and his girlfriend was 6’3”.  They were doubles when he booked and doubles when he arrived.   🙃

[Mark116]

@NY-Blue-House0  I wouldn't worry about that review.  Anyone who reads that is going to think this person was 'off'...complaining about not being able to open and close windows, and then admitting you were able to figure it out eventually....mostly is a red flag for other hosts not to host this person.  It is always disappointed to see other hosts behave this way though.

[Elisabeth33]

I unfortunately cringe every time I get a booking from an Airbnb host. :@).  Seriously, not every guest who is also a host tends to be a bad guest, but many are.    They tend to want to compare their property, services , location etc etc etc to my place and not in a nice way.  Don’t take it personally ( unfortunately, I have a hard time not taking it personally). You and everyone else who reads such a ridiculous review, can see that this person should never leave the comfort of her own house. 

[Ann72]

@NY-Blue-House0  What a ridiculous review.  Thank you for posting it here and saving me the trouble of clicking through.  If I were a potential guest reading that I would think, "What a hick.  She shouldn't visit New York."  It's clear all her problems were her own.

I agree with @Amanda660 and @Sarah977 that your response to her was perfect.  How many times have I wanted to say, "I'm not your travel agent" or "Don't they have Google where you live?"  You found the ideal place to express that.  This guest is like so many guests this year, a little more needy and whiny than in previous years.

It's really hard not to take these things to heart, but eventually, 3 days will go to 2 days and then to an hour.  I don't even plot intricate revenge scenarios for guests like this anymore!  🙂  Oh and when I get a guest like that, I just raise the price and get more bookings.  By the time you're paying your property taxes you've forgotten all about it.

[Sarah977]

You'd think a person would be embarrassed to announce to the world that it took them 2 days to figure out how to open and close windows.

[Mark116]

@Sarah977  And in their own country no less.  Also, this person seemed to think she was imparting new information to the world that the AC doesn't work very well when the windows are OPEN?? 

[NY-Blue-House0]

Hi guys!

Thank you everyone for the support, and I have good news to share:

Airbnb just removed this review!

I did a deep research and found an article in 2019 on Airbnb site.

They actually listed few specific examples of what type of reviews are not allowed to write.

"Reviews that are irrelevant : This policy covers situations where a review contains information that’s irrelevant to you as a host or your listing—and isn’t useful to future guests."

Also, " issues outside of your control"

For example:

• A guest leaves you a bad review because they were frustrated by public transit in your city
• A guest leaves a review about the type of people in your neighborhood

Therefore, I listed one by one to prove this guest's review that was exactly violating Airbnb policy.

It seems I can't make a link of the article, but if you google those keywords I typed here. You can find it.

[Sarah977]

@NY-Blue-House0 Wow, congratulations!

[Brian2036]

@NY-Blue-House0 

Congratulations indeed!

Also thumbs up to CS for getting one right within a reasonable time frame!