Ever accepted a guest for his positive reviews....

[Lucilla14]

..... To then find out they are ja****ses? I had to most terrible month since I started hosting, only terrible, rude, inconsiderate guests. I accept their requests because they meet my standards (they reply to my messages fast and tell me before hand when they arrive) and seem kind of nice, and then they arrive... They are late. They are loud. Or act like it's weird that you are around (.. It's my house, isn't it?..). They ignore you. They are rude. They steal things or break things. They leave without saying bye even if they know you are home because they saw you three seconds before leaving.

They all had positive reviews. More then positive. How is this possible? Has it happened to you? 

[Kelly149]

@Lucilla14 yep, one of my very worst ever guest had multiple positive, really glowing, reviews. I don't even necessarily share space with my guests (guesthouse) but this guest was atrocious.

hard to fathom

[Amy-and-Brian0]

@Lucilla14 @Kelly149 Happened to us too. Guest had several glowing reviews and then completely trashed our place. Broke lamps, left food rotting on the counter with the windows and doors open in the Florida summer heat, ruined bedding. One of the worst ever. 
What was even more mystifying was the person got several reviews immediately AFTER staying with us that were all glowing again. Like they just decided to crap all over us specifically for some unknown reason...

[Mark116]

@Lucilla14   Yes, definitely.  When we first started hosting, almost all of our guests were new with no reviews, and we still get a large percentage of new guests, but as time went on, we got more guests who were longer term airbnb users, 5 reviews, 12 reviews...

Now, I truly dread those guests because a very high number of them are hugely entitled and problematic, and so I always wonder about the hosts who gave these jerks not just nice reviews, like 'left the place in good shape' but positively glowing reviews, raving about them and how they want them to come back, LOL.  But, you are not alone.

[Ange2]

@Lucilla14    Yes.   Guests with eight,  stellar,  swooning,  off the chart amazing reviews— worst ever damage I have ever had,  over $1,000, for which Airbnb awarded me $199.  They did offer me a five star review if I gave them a five star review.  I said no, gave them 1-stars and thumbed them down. Made me wonder if their barter system had worked on other hosts.  Conversely, I have taken people with bad reviews who were great.  Did they learn from past experience?  Was their host a faultfinder?  

Now, I take all reviews with a  pinch of of salt.

[Sarah977]

@Lucilla14 Sorry you've had such rude guests. It is often worthwhile to cross-reference reviews. Go to the host's profile who left the review. Look at the listing. Is it a home share like you provide? Is it a host who's basically a property manager with tons of listings? If so, those hosts may never have even met the guests- as long as the cleaners don't report damages or over the top dirty mess, the hosts may just give generic good reviews to all the guests- you can look at how the host reviews other guests as well.

Just because someone hasn't caused a problem in a self-contained unit with self-check-in, doesn't mean they understand how to behave in a shared-home situation.

And then there are hosts who simply don't review honestly, they somehow can't bring themselves to leave anything but a nice review, it makes them feel they're being mean. They don't appear to realize they're just misleading other hosts, who'll get stuck with these bad guests.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

oh it is so great when I see @Sarah977  already wrote my thoughts... again  :)))

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  Yeah, you've voiced a lot of my thoughts over time, too. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Sarah977   

you have the same thoughts but in better english 😉 

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0    I have to admit my thoughts are never in Croatian 🙂

[Emilia42]

I feel you.

I've had a guest with 28 five star reviews who never messaged a word to me after her initial booking confirmation. Not a word; she came, stayed, and left with zero communication. The host before me wrote "perfect communication" and the host who reviewed her after me wrote, "communication was pleasant and easy." 

My most recent worst guest had 55 reviews. 

Needless to say, I do not put too much faith into reviews.

But I am always amazed by all the newcomers to Airbnb with a blank profile who are so pleasant, kind, and appreciative.

[Mike1034]

I think that this is due to the flaw of Airbnb's review system. Many hosts are afraid of getting retaliatory review. Therefore, just try to give good reviews to the guests and hopefully to get 5 star review back.

On this forum, many hosts suggested to talk to the guest when they check out about getting a five star review. If you ask a favor from a guest for a 5 star review, in return, you give a 5 star review to them as well. I had tried the same tactics as well. I did give 5 star reviews to a handful guests who really did not deserve a 5 star reviews. Now I will only talk to those really good guests after their stay for getting a good review while I promised to give them good review too.

[Rebecca181]

Two of the worst guests I ever had were 1) Positively reviewed and 2) Airbnb hosts themselves. The host who said he had a hot tub and of course his kids would not pee in it let his kids pee in our hot tub - It stank like a sewer when I opened the lid after they checked out and the water was yellow. Had to drain the entire thing, clean, and refill - Luckily I made sure I did not have new guests arriving the same day (I always assume if kids are coming I will need an extra day to clean).  That's the first and last time I will break my 'No children in the hot tub' policy, regardless of their age (his kids seemed old enough to know better).

The other guests seemed to have booked my place just to see what made my listing so popular with consistently high ratings. Barely spoke to me while they inspected every inch of my place during the check-in.

Neither of these guests left reviews.

Many of my best guests have been first-time Airbnb users. Appreciative, clean, quiet, friendly, and thoughtful.

Go figure.

[Rosemarie9]

I feel that occasionally I am being baited by an entitled guest over my good reviews. They normally present as passive aggressive, or just find fault with something I suggest, or some improvement they think is necessary ie, include a map in directions, I do, did you print it out? "It's not a good map". Well it is the one the tourist office gives everyone!  I think it is sour grapes and the green eyed monster, especially some  Dublin guests, who look shocked when they see I am the owner, they expect someone older given the good address, or married to a local- I was, but the house is mine, he never contributed a cent. My guests from everywhere else in Ireland are fantastic, leaving me flowers and gifts and generally saying it's a great place I've got going in a short time. Last week was a doozy with bad entitled guests from the capital, so glad I was back to hosting lovely U.S guests this week.

[Susan17]

@Rebecca181 

You have a hot tub, Ms Rebecca...?? Book me in... I'm on the way :))