Does it ever hurt to ask?

[Inna22]

I have a guest who has been asking for lots of things I don't and can't offer. I hate saying no to guests. It sets off the wrong tone before they even move in. I have offered her full refund since this is clearly not a good match.

She is now on the second round of asking for same things but with a slightly different angle. When I point it out "I know we have gone over this and I am sorry if I did not make it clear..." she replies "I know we did but never hurts to ask". Well, it does hurt! It hurts my brain to come up with endless PC responses, it hurts me emotionally because I am bracing for a negative review and it hurts my hands to keep typing my answers

[Kelly149]

@Robin4 i get it, if a host is careful enough to go and look at the review he left you, and sees the response back from you, then that host will be warned that this guy is a secret 3* giver. But, also, every single guest looking at your profile will also see that somebody thought you were 3*, even though they'd never have known that from your overall numbers. You didn't fuss and flip out about it, which is good, but I'd maybe left it alone all together bc I think the potential harm to you is greater than the potential comeuppance to him. But that is splitting hairs, just a thought.

[Inna22]

@Kelly149 just like you I was surprised that a host as experienced as @Robin4 mentioned the three stars. I see the point to let future hosts know but it could have been something like: I am so glad that after so many things were unsatisfactory you had a nice stay after all. But even with that, he is now pointing out that something can be unsatisfactory at his house. I can not see how Rob can respond without harming himself

[Kelly149]

@Inna22 grrr, message eaten by cc bots...

truncated version

him "it was fine"

rob "our review history shows how much we enjoy hosting visitors as they travel through our area by inviting them into our humble homestead and we're always striving for "we loved it" instead of "it was fine". I have to wonder if we had an off day during xyz 's visit or maybe if actually they're a guest that finds their desires more suited to hotel stays. Perhaps a host in the future will have opportunity to find out. Take care, xyz!"

in other words, point out that he's a PITA, but in no way call out that 3*

@Robin4 

[Robin4]

@Kelly149 @Inna22  @Sarah977 

You know this a bit tongue in cheek but, sometimes I have to wonder about you guys!

You cane me because I tell others here to be diplomatic in the review process and you say I need to tell it as it is to warn others....and the one time I tell it as it is, you tell me I went too far and should have been more diplomatic......

!

No seriously, a 3 isn't going to hurt me in the slightest, there it is nestled in at the end of  whole year of 90 + fives with the occasional four. It says more about the guest than it says about me and other people who read my reviews won't even see it!

I approached this with 2 objects in mind....

1/......To let the guest know Airbnb doesn't think a 3 star is great and that it hurts the host a bit, so next time he stays in an Airbnb, he  might be a little more generous.

2/.....To warn other hosts that although this guest seems fine and was worth a good review, on checking with the hosts comments,  he can be overly critical and should be taken on with caution! 

Hey, it's in the past now.....bring on the next guest!

Cheers.........Rob

[Anonymous]

@Robin4 you had a bit of an own goal there. If you actually wanted to "educate" your guest, you could have done that with a private message. But your response now announces to all your prospective guests two things they wouldn't have thought otherwise :

1. You got a 3 star review

2.. You have a petty attitude and are easily controlled by fear of imperfect feedback

From all of your eloquent posts I do not think the latter is actually true, but if all I knew about you was based on your response to that guest, it would be my first assumption. You really shot yourself in the foot there mate. 

[Robin4]

@Anonymous 

Andrew, thoroughly respect your opinion, and it was a calculated risk on my part but I don't feel bad about it.

I am trying to highlight the downright stupidity of the Airbnb review rating system....and I know this won't reach many hosts/guests but, I hope it will reach enough to be worthwhile!

I don't regard it as an 'own goal' because Andrew, I do have the runs on the board.....who are we going to believe, this one or the 350+ complimentary 5 star ones that are all around it!

A three is a three, now lets move on hey! The three reviews I have received since have been 5's....I am back on the wagon again!

Cheers........Rob 

[Anonymous]

@Robin4 no doubt in my mind, you're a fantastic host and any guest worth their salt will recognize from all your great reviews that this one crap one was an anomaly.

But knowing that the audience for Host Response is your prospective guests, do you feel that it represented you the way you most want to be seen? 

[Robin4]

@Anonymous 

Time will no doubt tell Andrew, I got 2 new reservations yesterday and they would have been amongst the first to see it. 

What ever we say we do have to think about Andrew because it's not like a lot of social media where you can edit any time you feel like it, what we say with Airbnb is a bit of a 'till death do us part' scenario.

I am banking on the fact that future prospective guests will see my good review of him and put two and two together when they see my response and realise his of me was, out of the blue and less than flattering. It won't reflect on me, it will reflect on him.

I may be wrong and have kicked an own goal, who knows, we learn as we go along in this game Andrew!

The three word review, 'It was fine' in a normal context would be quite ok but, where Airbnb are concerned it means I failed at my job, and that is something I try never to do!

Cheers.........Rob

[Anonymous]

@Robin4  Your listing is lovely, your reviews are incredible, and I have no doubt in my mind that you're absolutely brilliant at your job. If I ever find myself back in Australia, your place would be at the top of my list if you'd have me as a guest - and there's no chance in hell that a 3-word review would give me any pause. Similarly, I think your recent bookings have also come from people who recognized the great hospitality you offer, and they had no reason to be deterred by a review that was devoid of content.

The thing that frustrates me the most is certainly not anything you've done, but rather the way Airbnb have loaded the ratings in such a way to be emotionally manipulative. I'm not a fan of withholding data, but I have to admit that hosting was a lot more fun back in the first 7 or so years of Airbnb when you couldn't see the individual star ratings from each guest. This review probably wouldn't have been so triggering to you if you hadn't been primed to think about the superficial numerical rating - which you are well aware is not the true measurement of your work.

All I'm really itching about here is that when hosts make unsolicited complaints about their star ratings, the main message that less scrupulous guests get is that our star ratings anxiety gives them leverage to make unreasonable demands. I'd really like to flip this power dynamic. You offer a wonderful space and genuinely heartfelt hospitality that most of your guests really appreciate, and Airbnb is lucky to have you. It's a huge failure on Airbnb's part if at this point in your successful hospitality career you still get nervous about one rating from an unappreciative douchebag.

[Robin4]

@Anonymous  Thanks so much for those wonderful comments Andrew.

You do have a point about the emotionally manipulative bit. It's as though Airbnb downplay our successes and highlight their perception of our failings. 

Where it irks me a bit Andrew, when a prospective guest does a general search one of the first things they see is the hosts ranking. My ranking last week was a 4.94, it is now a 4.92.....it is going to take me 30 consecutive 5 star reviews to get myself back to that 4.94 again. l didn't fail, if l strike another of these 3s again next week l will possibly drop to a 4.89.....for the host nothing constructive comes out of displaying those stats so prominently.

If you are going to rent one of two properties, both of which you equally like the look of, similarly price, one has a 4.95 ranking and the other a 4.82....which one are you going to go for? You will consider the possibility of problems less in the higher ranked property.

All I ask of Airbnb, compare me to something positive, not something negative! 

Cheers.......Rob

[Inna22]

@Anonymous @Robin4 I have a 4.5 average on another platform that does not give the whole star system as much weight. A recent guest (who booked a far bigger house for his size group so I asked him about it) told me that I had one of the best reviews on site so he was willing to get more space/spend more. This is how guests see 4.5. In a normal world it is perfectly fine. I remember years ago some company had a commercial about them having 97% satisfaction rate by customers. They thought it was so good, they used it in advertising. In the mean time, eBay had 98% positive reviews as a threshold to loose power seller status or whatever it was called. Ebay had the same approach to sellers reviews Airbnb does now. 

[Anonymous]

@Robin4 Actually, this situation has never happened to me. I've never found two properties so equally appealing in all the criteria that mattered to me that I used the rating average to break the tie. Since each property is unique, there's always going to be one with a more convenient location, a bigger garden, or some other X factor to give it the edge. 

As a host, I look at it this way: your best guests are the ones who used search filters, looked closely at your listing, and decided it was the perfect fit. I want the ones who are confident that they'll be happy here. I don't want this guy:

[Fred13]

@Inna22 This pushy, obnoxious type of person reminds me how much I also do not like cheap people, very similar in nature; both are just plain ~exhausting~. My approach has always been - "You know what, this place doesn't really fit your needs". At that point they usually go into radio silence, and either cancel or shut up all together and usually leave a good review because now want to be thought of well. I don't let them off the hook from start to finish (aka the formal approach).

[Cathie19]

@Inna22, @Anonymous , @Kelly149 , @Sarah977 ,

Oh @Fred13, you hit the nail on the head! These types ARE exhausting.........
I don’t mind being asked questions if they haven’t already been answered in the listing descriptors. But if the information is there in black and white, I feel instead of a courteous response, just taking a screenshot of the wording (answer) and drawing a big bold red circle around it! Lol...

These types ARE exhausting.........

[Fred13]

I have a couple of guests that are dying to come back, but I always dodge their inquiries. One finally cornered me the other day and asked me right out why he is not welcomed back, I told him - "You are not good for my blood pressure". He started laughing. He will be coming in July, if he wasn't such an old cuss I wouldn't have given in.