First negative guest experience... Review help

[Amanda982]

Hello all!

This is my first time turning to the community for support. I've only been hosting for a month and a half, but it's been absolutely WONDERFUL for the most part (one guest sent me tea from her home town as a thank you, and I've had some of the most amazing conversations getting to know my guests) but this current guest has been a bit different. In addition to requesting to check in a half day early (which I said okay to) he sent several nudges prior to arrival demanding the door code (which I wasn't going to send until the morning of arrival). I've made myself available to say hi, and he's not left the room once. He sent me a message asking if my dogs would be shut upstairs for the rest of his stay... I said no, that they follow me around and if I was downstairs, they would be too but they're very friendly. My listing clearly states that my dogs live here too.

When he realized I was in the living room, he slammed the bedroom door closed. Additionally, he's sent me several questions (why wasn't there a restaurant closer, why my dogs weren't upstairs all the time, if the tap water was drinkable, etc...). He's failed to lock the front door, and while I live in a safe neighborhood, I ask guests to please keep the front door locked. I sent him a message reflecting the same, and he still left the door open. He's ordered food late (and I answered the door after the delivery people loudly banged on it for several minutes) and left the trash in the kitchen (despite the empty garbage bin. I've had more than a dozen guests who've been wonderful, this is the first one that hasn't been.

I'm wondering what other hosts do in this situation, if they leave negative reviews or just don't review at all? I don't yet know how he's treated the space, but he seems like a guest who would have been better off staying in an entire place or without dogs. Any help would be lovely! I'm looking forward to feedback.

[Sarah977]

@Amanda982  Oh dear, how unpleasant. Guests who start off asking for special treatment (half-day early check-in, demands for door code) almost always turn out to be problematic, if not downright awful. So going forward, while it's okay to agree to a not-too-demanding special request if the guest is polite and nice about it and it's not a hassle for you to comply, be aware that this type of communication is a big red flag. This goes for guests asking for discounts or making it obvious in their messaging that they haven't fully read the listing description. Decline those requests or direct them to please thoroughly read the description and house rules and indicate they will comply. If you are using IB, consider turning it off and only getting requests until you learn some vetting tricks to weed out potential bad apples.

Definitely write an honest, factual review. Other hosts depend on those. The guest can't see your review until it is published, and then it's too late for them to leave one. Keep a bad review unemotional and concise. No need to list all the transgressions in detail- something like "Guest failed to follow house rules, was rude to the host and expected special treatment" sort of thing gets the point across. many hosts will post a draft review here to get feedback from other hosts before submitting a review, so that's always an option if you're unsure about wording. "This guest is not suited to home-sharing" is also a line that hosts use.

If you go in after he leaves and find a disaster and damages, pour yourself a glass of wine or do something nice for yourself to take your mind off it and wait a few days to compose a review until the initial anger subsides. Some hosts have had their reviews removed because they wrote it in the heat of the moment and said things Airbnb doesn't allow, or ended up coming across as slightly unhinged.

Hoping this guy was just a hiccup and you continue to get wonderful guests.

[Kath9]

@Amanda982, we've all had these types of guests. Unfortunately, your first mistake was to allow him to check in early - for most experienced hosts, unless there is a very good reason for it, asking for special favours is almost always a red flag. So glad to hear you held your ground on giving him the door code.

Second, please please PLEASE review him honestly. Hosts that don't review guests like this just enable their bad behaviour and allow other hosts to accept them blind. As I've said many times before on this forum, we hosts are all we have to support each other because Airbnb most certainly doesn't.

I would wait until the 11th hour to review (in the hopes that he won't review you) and then say something like, 'Unfortunately, I cannot recommend X as a guest. Before his arrival, he pressured me for the door code and an early check in. He did not seem to be aware that he would be sharing a home and seemed unhappy about this and the fact that I have dogs. He consistently sent me demanding messages from his room (which he never left) and failed to follow instructions regarding security or to clean up after himself. This guest may be better suited to a hotel or self-contained accommodation, but is not suited to staying in someone's home'.

Obviously, depending on how he leaves the space, you might have more to add to this. And obviously mark him down in all categories and click on 'no' for 'would you recommend this guest?'

Other hosts also might have some great suggestions - it always useful asking for advice here on what to write for negative reviews.

[Kath9]

Hahaha @Sarah977, we were writing our replies at the same time. Sometimes I think we think with the same brain!

[Sarah977]

@Kath9  I know, one of us really must cross the big drink one of these days so we can stay up all night over a bottle of wine 🙂

[Sarah977]

@Amanda982  I have a huge check-in window (11AM-11PM, which wouldn't work for most hosts), as I don't take same day reservations, allow 1 day prep between reservations, work from home and am a night owl.

I recently had a guest, who in answer to my request for ETA, said she would be getting in on the bus at 9AM, realized that was too early to check in and would amuse herself in town until check-in time. That's the dif between a good guest and an entitled one. So I messaged her back saying no problem to arrive when she got in, to just call me and I'd meet her at the bus stop (my place is hard to find, so I do this for all my guests). She messaged back saying she really appreciated that, that she'd certainly be ready for a shower and a relax after the long bus ride. And was a charming guest.

[Amanda982]

Thank you so much @Sarah977  and @Kath9  for such thoughtful feedback and help!!! I really appreciate it, and I might take what you suggested for the review section verbatim! I'll definitely be more weary of people wanting special requests in the future. 

[Linda108]

Perhaps it is the fact that I am retired that I look forward to each guest as an unwrapped Christmas present.  Sometimes the present is a pajama set and sometimes the present is a puppy.  Guess which one I would like to receive!  My point is tha both positive and negative guests have something to offer.  The easy ones are delightful, but what have you learned about yourself or your business.  Maybe you didn't appreciate that you can be considerate but also establish limitations.  While I absolutely agree honest reviews are so important to the host community, I also think hosts need to see the educational opportunity for becoming a great host in this business.  As delightful as some guests can be, they usually do  not teach you as much as the annoying ones do.