guests who do not follow house rules, host suggests may be more comfortable with another property...

[Thomas192]

........week later guest calls airbnb (i’d already called airbnb twice to lodge complaint of breaking rules daily) to be relocated bcuz she was tired of being reminded she needs to follow the rules.

so, she relocated and airbnb did not debit any remaining nights of unused booking which was surprising as they did with another problem guest a year earlier.  a couple weeks later i was surprised by the airbnb message asking me to rate this guest so i could then read hers? 

my question for the community is Why does Airbnb allow reviews when they must realize the reason for the early check out is due to guest not following rules and leaving food n trash all around back yard and kitchen half empty beers all across kitchen counters empties to capacity in trash bins inside my home.

my listing description and rules r clear what is expected. i explain shared home stays are not the hotel experience no daily maid service and host is not their maid. i make s mess, i clean it up, guest and guests nightly friends entertained in backyard patio make a mess guest cleans up.

she needed reminding as i mentioned, almost daily.  so i suggested possibility of a relo if problem persists but prefaced with telling her politely that i thought she was s sweet person, my job is to see that my guests are happy but their are rules they do need to abide by. if they didn’t read listing or rules she should read them and let me know if i can expect compliance or would she prefer to relocate elsewhere.  

i guess she must’ve thought i’d accept lip service and not be concerned she had not intended to really comply bcuz that lasted all of one night then back to disregard for rules.

i would like to hear the opinions on this and whether or not u feel its fair to allow reviews be written when they know neither host nor guest will be giving anything close to 5 stars.

for guests with no plans to use Airbnb again in the near future they could care less they get a three star four star review but for us hosts it’s our livelihood and the new request to book come to a screeching halt aftet recriving my first ever 2 star review bashing Everything, home and host. now this was same person who told me on at least 4 occasions during her stay that she was enjoying her stay and didn’t need anything, everything was great.  sure it was bcuz she did as she pleased every day without apology. oh and her car leaked a lot of oil all over street in front of house and driveway. broken speinkler heads from her or her guests step on them. just not a guest who understood responsibility as a guest at all. she was truly a stereotypical entitled millennia.

i was also a Superhost before this guest  arrived. her 2 stars with the dozen other reviews of mostly 5 star with maybe 2 fours has dropped my rating way below the 4.8 requirement now.

i should add my city restricts short term stays. so  the lack of reviews also created huge disparity between hosts able to take 1 or 2 day bookings and those forced at 28 day mins.

i am finally writing about this because as you might imagine - booking requests thru airbnb are now non-existent. and if airbnb won’t consider removal of our mutual reviews i will probly have to rethink platforms priority going forward in 2020.  

i just don’t see the value to future potential guests in a terrible review from any guest who is defiant with a hosts HR’s.

please share your feeling on this issue, i would love to hear from my peers who may have similar or same issue?

thanks!

TJ

[Jeff158]

@Thomas192 

The guest stayed 7 days out of a 5 week booking, left unhappy and then expressed her opinion, perfectly acceptable as is your response which could have been shorter and more professional. Its impossible to get along with every guest Thomas and friction pops up every now and again for all of us, keep your fingers crossed you don't get another awkward one for a long time.

The review process does have its faults but stopping people leaving reviews when unhappy isn't the answer.

Do you know your listings are not live on the website and could be why you're not getting bookings, contact customer service and ask them to check it out.

[John1080]

@Jeff158, The problem here is that the guest was habitually violating the host’s rules and then left a negative review after being asked to follow the rules she agreed to before booking. This can and should be seen as a retaliatory review and should be taken down imo. 

@Jeff158, I would call Airbnb until they agree to take it down. 

[Jeff158]

@John1080  there are 2 sides to every tale.

Every negative review in the world is retaliating for some thing they didn't get or weren't happy with, if we don't allow them, there is no point having a review system.

[John1080]

@Jeff158, I understand and sympathize with your point of view, agreeing mostly. 

However, when reviews are retaliatory in nature, they can be taken down and are from time to time. 

Since @Thomas192 states that he had called Airbnb twice before to lodge complaints, there is documented evidence that this guest was breaking the rules. 

I view this example as a classic case of a retaliatory review. 

[Sarah977]

@Jeff158  Sorry, but that's like saying that if someone leaves bad review for a low-priced car, simply because they are comparing it to a Hummer, that's a valid review and okay.

Of course if a guest finds that a place isn't clean or that the appliances don't work properly, that will result in a negative review that should, by all means, stand. 

But that's a totally different scenario from a guest trashing a listing because the guest refused to comply with house rules and were called out on it.

Negative reviews aren't the issue- some are completely valid and deserved. It's negative reviews which are written out of retaliation and contain falsehoods that shouldn't be allowed to stand. There's no point in a review system which is full of dishonest reviews.

[Ange2]

@Jeff158    "Every negative review in the world is retaliating for some thing they didn't get or weren't happy with,"

Where there is smoke there is fire. True, but what is the source of the fire?  The "some thing they didn't get or weren't happy with"  may well have little to nothing to do with the listing, the restaurant, the whatever and may have all to do with the guest's character, level of entitlement and inability to shoulder responsibility for their own choices. The listing may well be a false target for something of their own making they refuse to address. A projection of their own lack and flaws.  It does happen and more frequently than imagined, one just has to look on the internet to see how prevalent this kind of behavior has become rising to the level of being a vicious (enjoyable) gladiator sport for some.

I care less and less about retaliatory written reviews, I can always respond to them. What I do care about is the punitive star ratings that accompany them.  A host should not be penalized for a guest's bad behavior or dishonesty, that takes being one's "brother's keeper" to insane heights.  The blame game. Pass the buck.

[Mike-And-Helen0]

@Thomas192 her review was quite moderate I think.

I don't think it qualifies as a revenge review and I wonder if 5 weeks was a bit long for a booking in your own home.

Mentioning her age in your response comes over as, well, not someone who is tolerant of young people.