Guests just ain't what they used to be...

[Amy-and-Brian0]

It can't just be us but we used to get 1 out of 20 guests who we would not host again.

Now? It's 1 out of 4. 

Yes we can change our settings yada yada yada. But the guests are getting worse.

Dirty. Entitled. Asking for extras wildly out of bounds. Giving 4 stars because of something THEY did or out of our control or not part of the deal at all.

Breaking house rules. Not reading the listing or the instructions or any words at all that were written.

REAL questions we've asked lately:

Who puts dirty dishes back in the cabinets? 

How do you even get spaghetti on the ceiling?

Do you live like this at home?

What is THAT? Put on gloves before picking that up.

If reviews are our ONLY recourse for crummy guests, well guess what? They are getting REAL ones from us. 
My new rating scale is now:
5 stars - you left the place spotless, were a joy to host and we'd love to have you back.

4 stars - you required a little extra but hey, it's ok and we'd still love to host you.

3 stars - yeah, I'm not so sure you're right for us and we'll just kind of say "Hope you had a nice time".

2 stars - you are gross. total disrespect for our place and I'm letting people know you should not be welcomed. 

1 star - left the place like a frat house and you should be banned.

We're getting A LOT more 2 stars lately. 

[Anonymous]

Is it younger people you've been getting?  Or all ages?  I haven't had a bad experience yet, since I'm new to airbnb, but the bad reviews I've seen for other property owners seem to be young entitled people.  Especially when the owners response is, "why did you leave the place a mess and leave us a bad review?"

[Amy-and-Brian0]

@Anonymous To be honest - there's no "profile" for a lousy guest. It's an equal opportunity happenstance. 

Sometimes we get a gut feeling about a guest when they start communicating with us. Little tells like messaging for a late checkout at 2 am the morning of checkout...or over communicating about what kind of pillows we should have...

Now we just call them "Forrest Gump" - it's like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get...

[Anonymous]

@Amy-and-Brian0  Are you just having a bad day?

I looked at your reviews for every guest that has reviewed you in 2019, and 100% of your comments were completely positive. (The closest thing to an exception: "light on communication" for a guest you still recommended.

If you've genuinely had such bad experiences with guests this year, the proper place to say that is in your public review, where it can be useful to other hosts. Star ratings for guests are useless, because they aren't actually visible to hosts who genuinely choose to screen their guests (you know, the ones who don't use Instant Book). Of course there's nothing wrong with venting on the forums too, but you're doing this community a disservice if you're misrepresenting the guests' behavior in the written reviews.

[Amy-and-Brian0]

@Anonymous Sorry, but you didn't see every review. Not even the most recent actually. 

While I won't link to them as that just seems like bad form, here's one from just this month, and it's public:

"Unfortunately, we cannot recommend XXX to other hosts. The condo was left with food and spills all over the floors and the patio, which attracted ants and required a great deal of extra cleaning. There was also food and candy stuck all over the bed spreads. But worst was the vomit all over one of the beds without much attempt to clean it up nor were we informed of the issue. As such, we can't say we'd host them again and perhaps a hotel is a better solution for XXX and her family."

[Anonymous]

I see now that I was only looking at one of your two listings, and also it's not possible to pull up your reviews from guests that didn't review you. But would you say that 25% of your public reviews from recent months have communicated that you wouldn't host the guest again?

[Amy-and-Brian0]

Well, to be fair, maybe we've been having a bad streak these last few reservations. The person who left today, who we just reviewed as having a food fight with pasta sauce all over our condo, kind of spurred this post. It was like they ate food without plates in bed...all of them. And then splattered it all over the walls for fun...

They probably will never review us and never book again.

[Sandy391]

I recently had these same types of guest. Stuck candy on sheets, vomit on floor, swarming of flies on open food left outside with a window left open and flies came into the house. Broke almost everything possible in the house.  It was horrific. I had to call in an emergency cleaning crew.

[Maia58]

I noticed the quality of guests dropping as well.  I turned instant book off so I can screen guests.  I think the rating process is bad in general.  why is it that i cannot see my rating until I review the guest?  I usually leave 5 stars but then i see they have left me 4 stars, well maybe I wouldnt have left them such a nice review if i had seen the review they left me.  Also, I don't think people realize how detrimental even a 4 star review can be.  I left a special note explaning the importance of a 5 star review if they enjoyed their visit, keeps me at superhost level.  Screening and upping prices seems to be the best way to avoid less than stellar guests.  One thing I did notice is that local people are uaully the ones who cause the problems, throw big parties and totally disrespect my home.  So now i try to steer clear of booking local guests.  And explicitly write NO PARTIES in my description.  Charge for extra guests after 4 and make sure they know there is a limit on total guests.  

[Jaimie-and-Todd0]

We have had good success with our two properties.  We try to look at the home once they leave.  If the house is in order, we message them using Airbnb chat thanking them for their stay and letting them know we will be leaving a favorable review on them.   This sets the expectation for them to do the same.   Working great so far.  

[Jim472]

Have you thought about raising your prices? I'm only 8 months into this but have been steady increasing prices and seem to attract a higher level of guests. 

[Amy-and-Brian0]

@Jim472 We've actually have been implementing price increases slowly, but the competition is pretty stiff in Orlando - with a lot inventory. It's a balancing act for sure.

[Stephanie6]

We have IB enabled and a few months ago we raised prices, changed our minimum stay to 2 nights, and usually block Saturdays on the calendar.  The quality of guests has improved and, more interestingly, more guests rewarded us with 5-star reviews.  The only category where we sometimes receive 4 stars is value.  We are generous with early checkin and late checkout.  We usually allow first time airbnb guests to book, as long as they have provided all of the credentials and answered our one question (traveling for business or pleasure?).

[Jim472]

So I see. With your 6/2/3/2 configuration & amenities you still look lower than a lot of other places in the area. I just know that, for me, I still have a pretty high occupancy rate and am priced higher than almost every other place in a 2 mile radius. My reasoning is the riff-raff book the lowest price available so I get either a more discerning guest or the low priced units are booked already and I get overflo.  I'm not even next to a world class resort. 

[Barry-and-Lera0]

@Jim472: You got it right.