Guests who lie

VisitSanMiguel0
Level 2
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Guests who lie

I've just about had it. Over New Years, a guest came for 4 days, only stayed one night because he came to town stalking a lover and they got together after the first night. So, of course, he wanted his money back. He photographed every possible flaw in the apartment, and now AIRBNB is actually considering giving him a refund. I'm so, so sick of feeling ripped off and unsupported by Airbnb. This is my home - it isn't perfect. I've migrated my listings to homeaway but feeling really angry about this still. 

7 Replies 7
Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

Hello @VisitSanMiguel0 ,

I noticed there is a lot of text in both reviews (host and guest), accusing each other.

But in your comment on his review you state "Airbnb has decided in my favor because clearly the guest is not being honest. I'm very disappointed". If AIrbnb decided in your favor, why being disappointed ?

Best regards,Emiel

John498
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@VisitSanMiguel0Well done on your noble cause of dog recue, something very close to my heart! I may be wrong but I was told it is against AIRbnb's terms and conditions to mention the outcome of resolution issues in your reviews.

If I could give you advice you seem to have quite a few "situations" as a host and guest. I don't know the rights and wrongs of these incidents but I can only say one if understandable, two is misfortunate but more is not a good reflection on you. So I would look at better ways of dealing with tehse incidences and seek better outcomes if I were you.

I do understand your frustration though but in a service/hospitality/retail industry the customer is almost always right.

Rene-and-Zac0
Level 10
La Quinta, CA

@VisitSanMiguel0 Can you post a link to your listing so I can have a peak?

 

I read your reviews and in my house, little Arturo would have been playing the role of “Joseph” in his own Christmas play with his wife playing “Mary” and their son starring as Little Baby Jesus in the streets of San Miguel.

Shout out to the “Most interesting Man in the World”

They would be knocking on doors with no place to sleep, well, you know how the story goes. 

 

I feel your pain. 

We are the ones who put everything on the line.

We are the ones who have our names on all the bills every month.

what we as host need to understand, especially when we share the space, everyone’s cleaning standards are not the same.

I’m not taking sides, I’m just pointing out several guest mentioned cleaning items.

At the end of the day, we keep moving forward. We keep upgrading our listings and we laugh and smile. Sometimes you just wanna dope slap the Arturo’s of the world in the back of the head but we can’t, that’s a battery. So we grit our teeth and we think “You mother lovers got me this time but it’ll never happen again”. 

 

My Momma used to say “We might be poor but we will be clean, soap and water don’t hardly cost a thing” 

 

Good Luck!

 

’You know it’s hard out here for a Host’

Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

@VisitSanMiguel0In this business you should understand that how you ~respond~ to reviews publicly is used foremost by ~future~ potential guests, not passed ones. It doesn't serve you at all to prove that you were 'right', specially by accusing the guest of lying, even if they are, which btw comes up more than once, because that makes deciding potential guests nervous. 

    Imagine, that by stating just the facts, you are then letting the reader (potential guests) decide who sounds more reasonable and thus more credible.

    Every bad review can be turned into a positive btw, IF handled unemotionally.

 

P.S. Kudos to you for the work you do with animals, which says your heart is in the right place. Hosting however requires a slightly different business skill.

 

John498
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Fred13  "Kudos to you for the work you do with animals, which says your heart is in the right place. Hosting however requires a slightly different business skill."

 

I beg to differ Fred. It is quite the same. Like Lion taming. You throw steaks at the ferocious ones and pet the cuddly ones.. The only skill is not getting the two types mixed up 🙂

Haha. Good one John. Upon review and reflecting on many of my past guests, I now see the similarities clearly. 😉

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@VisitSanMiguel0....Now there is a name it is hard to respond to, so I will just call you V.....ok!

 

V, you are accepting the wrong guests! If someone comes to me with a statement like..."We have seen your lovely listing and my husband and I would love a few days away from the kids" ....bingo, I can't hit that accept tab fast enough! They have come to me in a passive complimentary way and I know they will be good guests.

When they come to me and say "I am on a busines trip to your town, do you have, this or that, free Wifi, offstreet parking, what sort of bed is it!".....they will not be the guest for me! They have come to me in an aggressive manner with a mountain of requests......and V, hagglers do not make good guests!

You must analyse every word in a guests approach to you and I can tell you now, your sense of good judgement is no different to mine, you just have to exercise it! It doesn't hurt you to decline the odd request....as long as you don't do it too often.

I have had 120 + great guests through this property! There would not be more than 3 that I would not gladly want to see walk up my driveway and into my life again...hosting has been wonderful to me!

But I do think that I have had a fair bit to do with that....I won't accept just any Tom, **bleep**, or Harry!

 

V, it's your property, don't let the tail wag the dog, take control over who you allow to stay, don't just chase a booking, don't be afraid to say 'Sorry, on this occasion, no'! 

 

Cheers......Rob