Guests who disregard house rules

[Melly4]

What does one do, when you host someone who doesn't have any reviews, so you are already taking a chance, and then

the guest(s) do a number of things that are rude and disregard house rules (show up early when check in time has been communicated, over use

water and plug up plumbing, and steal items meant to be "community" use, in which no previous guests took advantage of such items before and leave the property dirty).?

We left a positive review for them, out of fear, and now regretting it, afraid that they will make another airbnb host

quite angry.

Please advice, have been steaming alllll day about rude dirty guests!

[Jackie148]

I have decided to be honest in my reviews some people are so disrespectful and don't deserve to be given a good review if they do the wrong thing we take a gamble on letting strangers into our homes I have turned off ib so I can chose who I host and see reviews. 

[Alexandra316]

@Melly4 I leave an accurate review to warn other hosts so they don't have to put up with the same nonsense. Why were you afraid to post an accurate review? They can't write a retaliatory review because of the double blind system.

Just say, "The guest is more suited to a hotel environment" and give them a thumbs down. 

[Melly4]

Thank you Alexandra! Yes, we will have to do that, I think we were just afraid there would be back lash because of the type of people they were...the disrespect and thoughtless ness of everything being our problem, when they created the problem(s).

[Alex939]

@Melly4 It depends how far would the guests go in their disregard. If it's a small thing and it could be neglected, I wouldn't leave a review for them, even when they leave one for me.

In the opposite case I take the situation as @Alexandra316 and @Jackie148 do - I feel responsability to inform my fellow host how these guests behave and to warn them about certain facts. 

Here on this CC I met one more approach, I would call it Neutral. You just put in your review: XXX visited our listing and have stayed there for YYY days then followed their way to ZZZ. Never used this one.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Melly4

I rely more on my gut feeling and my own impressions from the guest than reviews - I've hosted guests who were 1st time ABB users and it was fine. So many hosts admit to writing good reviews for guests who don't deserve them so imo reviews shouldn't be a deciding factor in whether to host or not. 

I try to be honest and factual in my reviews. I've written one bad review - I struggled a little bit because I was pretty sure most other hosts would have let it slide but for me and Henry we wanted to WARN other hosts that while that particular guest may not cause any permanent damage they should be prepared to expect wasteful behavior. For some hosts doing 3 loads of laundry per week at full load setting (each load less than 10 items) and a tendency to leave lights on all the time may not be an issue - but it was for us. We'd think "Thank goodness we don't allow guests to adjust the ac/heating temps!" - each time we looked at our water bill. 

[Melly4]

oriYes, we've been doing that too...and the majority of our guests have been first timers! This time around it did not work out well:[

[Melly4]

Thank you Jessica for that!

Almost all of our guests have been first timers, and we've only had this happen so far, 1st out of 7 guests. I think just being a newby host, it is soooo hard to do negative reviews, so thank you for your imput, that is SOOO helpful!

[Linda108]

@Melly4  As you can read, all these hosts, myself included, leave honest reviews and you chose not to do so because you were afraid.  Can you help me understand what you were afraid of?  Perhaps there is some misunderstanding about how reviews work.

[Letti0]

@Linda108  On one of the threads recently the host gave a 5* thumbs up for a horrible guest. Her reason: The guest lived in the area and she was afraid of retaliation. It was pointed out to her it is best to never rent to locals, but she should have been honest. Now some other poor host will get these jerks without any warning.

I've had to leave two bad reviews, both got a thumbs down 1) 1* Unfortunately I would not host these guests again. and 2) 2 - 1* House Rules & Cleanliness and 1 - 5* on Communication, so their over all is 2 1/2* They would be best suited to a hotel environment. I try to leave the reviews as short and sweet as possible, but they tell other hosts to beware.