HI Iam David from London and i received a similar email from airbnb, the star review system is flawed, we agree with you as we have many bad experiences with our own guests, we receive them in person, show them around and check on them regulary via email, txt or whatsapp however there is no way to please them, we have a professional cleaner everyday but they expect me to go clean the toilet every single time they use it, some guest are really nasty and leave common areas a disgrace, mostly the bathroom and then the next person to use it blame me saying that everything is dirty. (we have several room at our flat that we offer)
The frustrating thing is that they only mention it when they place a review and not when i ask them if everythingis ok, some ask for money back, others insult and are aggressive , another ones show hate to other races they see, living in London with its multiculturalism seems not to be a place for many ppl that are not used to it, even myself felt discriminated by one guest that will not speak with me when he sees me and just ignore me and speak anyone else over my head, very disturbing and at the end i receive bad star reviews, however the written review says all was ok.
Airbnb needs to listen to the hosts more, just now a guest that is leaving told me that my listing says i would give her 2 rooms when clearly states only one, now she expects something in return. Typical guests that know that airbnb will beleive anything, its very tiring and hope that in the future airbnb better its policy to take an stand for the host that opens their house to total strangers , some with serious issues in their life that cant control and makes host life a nightmare, when i can contact airbnb, they asked me for proof, how can i proof what guest tells me or their behaviour? so i asked them, should i install a camera and record everything? their answer was, "im sure you already do" .. i was seriously disspointed on hearing that..... i dont call airbnb anymore when i have problems with guests, there is no point, the system is design just to leave the host alone and deal with the problems and receive bad reviews for trying to be fair with guests asking them to be respectful of the house.
Guests from all over the world have different points of views and expectations, you can not please everyone, i wish they place a video section on the listing so we can place a short video of the our place for everyone to see it before they arrive and to explain the rules to them, we host expect guests to look after the place and at least clean after themselves, however reality is that they expect better service than a hotel and if not up to their personal standards they leave little stars reviews.
We understand you completely, airbnb loose many good hosts because of unfair reviews and ratings, there is no way to make new guests understand that places are different, especially London where we love the old and vintage, diversity and muticulturalism, when most travellers are after this there are a group that expect the host home theirs and the host to be their free concierce service.
David
