Advice on a guest review

[Alexandra316]

So I had a guest stay last night. They had 10 reviews, with an average of 4 1/2 stars. All of the written reviews looked fine. They booked for 2 people.  Communication was good, and they asked for early check in, which I had no issue accomodating: we don't charge extra for it. 

They arrived at 1:30 pm, while we were cutting the grass. They had trouble with the door lock, so my husband went over to help them. When he went over, he noticed that there were actually 4 people. We charge $10 for each additional guest after 2. They told him that they weren't intending to stay, just stopping by for a visit, and we gave them the benefit of the doubt. The extra people had their own car with a local licence plate, so it seemed feasible. 

Fast forward to this morning. We spent the night at our cottage, so our cleaners were scheduled to clean for us today. When she and her assistant arrived at 11 am, they found that the guests were still on site. I contacted the guest immediately, but they didn't end up leaving until 12 noon, a full hour after our check out time. Of course, all 4 people had also stayed the night. They didn't apologise, just sent me a note saying they had left.

I was mad, based on the lying and the late check out.They said that their friends only decided to stay after the wedding, but that obviously wasn't the case, as they were on site with them when they checked in. I've never sent a request for money before, but I sent them a request for the extra people, as well as a portion of the extra charges from the cleaners for the waiting time, for a total of $40. They did pay it immediately and sent an apology: "Sorry for the inconvenience."

So how do I review these people now? They did pay the extra without argument, but they were also dishonest and would not have paid for the extra people had I not called them on it. I'm at a total loss of what to say here. 

And yeah... I know that I've possibly opened myself up to a bad review. I'm okay with that. I was friendly and professional throughout, but I am not letting guests get away with stuff like this. 

[Victoria567]

First of all phone air bnb locally ASAP and explain your situation.

I left a copy of a recent review for @ Jennifer to read on the thread .

[Salvador25]

hello Victoria, i just had a negative experience with  guest, i want to protect myself against his possible negative reviews. I contacted the guest the day prior to the check out, and he didnt answer messages or calls to arrange check out time. 

The day of the check out, as i have listed on my profile the check out time is at 11 am, i went to the apartment at 12 pm because he never answered back. I knocked on the door for a while, after 20 minutes no one answered i supposed he had left, so i came in  and the guest was very drunk, naked on the floor. i immediately left. I tried knocking on the door a few more times but he never woke up. After another 30 minutes i opened the door again because i got worried something was wrong; he then woke up and started saying racial slurs against me since im mexican, and he kicked me out of the apartment and was still screaming a lot of rude names. The apartment was a total wreck, towels used for cleaning food apparently, linens with blue stains that probably wont wash off.

Its been 3 hours of late check out, ruinning my cleaning time frame for the next guest, and i think he is going to rate me very low and give a negative review since he kept screaming that. How can i protect myself and my super host status? im deeply worried, thanks for your help

[Letti0]

@Salvador25  You need to call AirBnB IMMEDIATELY. Get all this on the record also type up the incident in the AirBnB messaging system. I would say call the police if he's still there, but it seems that does no good in most of Mexico. Make sure to take photo's of every thing, so you can document damage. 

AirBnB Mexico +52 55 41 70 43 33

[Victoria567]

Hi@Salvador

As Letti has given you great advice as usual,to phone your local air bnb number and explain your situation and how to get back reimbursed for the damages.

I had a £200 bill last year after a group of Chinese guests, I at that time was unaware I could claim off the guests, but these guests were such trouble I was just glad to get them out and get my water supply reinstated ASAP for my next guests.

I DID leave them an honest review stated what happened during their stay, and did NOT recommend them .

I could not give 2 hoots or even lose a seconds sleep over a guests negative review as YOU have a right to honestly reply to such a negative review.

I have only ever written 2 negative reviews in 3 seasons of hosting.

One review this September for a guest from Utah, and the other review last year for my guests who caused me the water problems.

Remember my friend, the majority of guests are lovely, it’s few rogue guests who really do cause you anguish.

If you are honest in writing your review or you get a negative review you MUST use your right to justify your side of events in a factual manner.

Good luck and I really am sorry that something rotten like this has happened to you.

Take care.

[Victoria567]

Posted Re: Trouble Writing TRUE reviews of Guests? on Hosting.
39m ago

[Letti0]

@Alexandra316  I would give them a 1* in both house rules and communication. Don't know how clean they were but to make my point at least a 3* or less in cleanliness so they can no longer instant book anyone. Unfortunenately you can't say they lied to you the review could be pulled. I would say something like: XXXX overstayed the check out time and brought extra guests not noted on the reservation. I would not welcome them back.  

[Alexandra316]

@Letti0I didn't realize that people can't instant book with anyone anymore if they get 3 stars or less for cleanliness: good to know. Their cleanliness was fine, but that's a good tool.

There was obviously at least 1 host who gave them fewer than 5 stars previously, but didn't comment on the reasons for that in their review. I really hate that.  

[Letti0]

@Alexandra316  They need to have over 3* in at least one category to continue to instant book. One host gave ta guest a 5* on communication, but 1* in the two other categories, so they instant booked me. If she had give them a 3* in communication they would not have been able to instant book and I would have seen the star ratings and got rid of them easier than after they booked.  Although if you do not have instant booking turned on you do not see the star ratings until after they book, which really stinks that AirBnB does this to hosts. 

[Alexandra316]

@Letti0But is it an average of all of their reviews, or can one bad review make that happen?

[Letti0]

@Alexandra316  One bad review does it. They can have 20 - 5* and one review with 3*'s or less and they loss the privilege of instant booking.  Though many when they find they can no longer instant book anything do just go ahead and open new accounts. Though I have heard that if AirBnB figures that out they will close your account and cancel the booking you've made under the new account. That's some of those failed verifications you hear about, not all but some of them. 

[Alexandra316]

@Letti0That's good. I gave someone a bad review last week and it's good to know that it will actually make a difference. 

[Victoria567]

Hi @Alexandra0

One less chocolate teapot......as a fellow host I sincerely thank you.

[Kelly149]

@Letti0your info is usually spot on, but this doesn't jive with what I've seen...

a 3* mark keeps a guest from being able to book again with the Host who gave the low * but I don't think it impacts anything else.

One Thumbs Up is enough to qualify to IB with a host who has "good reviews required" and I don't think it matters if there is another Thumbs Down thrown in as well.

Stars exist as a data point for IB hosts (but aren't shown to non-IB hosts), but the only things that "counts" for whether or not the guest has a "good" review is the Thumbs Up.

[Letti0]

@Kelly149  This information came from two different customer service reps one was a supervisor and I had dealt with her twice before and she is very knowledgeable on facts vs. myths. She is the one that stated 3* on all three categories with a thumbs down will prevent a guest from instant booking with anyone, not just the host giving the ratings (a single 3* will block a guest from booking with a host again) and thumbs down. 2 - 1*'s with a 4* or 5* they can still instant book with a  2% - 2.33%  total overall star and a thumbs down. She also said 3 - 3* or less ratings with a thumbs down, they will remove the guest from the platform as it's now costing them money to let this guest stay on the platform more times than not. This is also documented by other hosts having this same information being given to them here and on other forums like Reddit and Airbnb Hosts Forum. Do they always do it, my guess is the way their programming works most of the time they may get some or most, but not all and guests can always setup new accounts to get around this. There was an anonymous AirBnB cs rep releasing information on Reditt that AirBnB doesn't tell guests or hosts I can't remember from when it was a long while ago at least a year or more since I saw it and this was one of the topics he touched on. I may do some digging to pull up more documentation on this subject from other hosts.