HOST CHECK IN GUESTS ON TIME AND GUEST ARE UNHAPPY

[Marissa46]

 PLEASE BE CAREFUL WITH THIS GUEST IF YOU HAVE HER AT YOUR HOME. BY DOING THE RIGHT THING AND ALSO GOT BLAMED FOR IS HIGHLY RIDICULOUS

I got one of the most ridiculous review of one the guest leaving. Her name is **. Apparently our check in time is starting at 6pm. She requested for earlier check in time and due to weekends, I make it flexible to most of the guests. We offer her a check in time earlier at 1pm and at 12pm she told me thats too early she cannot make it. Ive told her that we will be seeing you at normal check in time instead and 6pm and she said okay.  Then I told her we will be arriving at 6pm to check you in. .She mentioned that she would be arriving at exact 6pm and both of them arrived earlier and without letting me know in advance, how would they expect me to help them? She arrived 8 minutes earlier and didnt let me know that she's arriving. She didnt reach us by phone, didnt response to any messages and imessages and airbnb app when she arrived earlier either. So it was definitely a lie on her end. As we can see upon you are satisfied with our service and rooms. We offer her some teas as for most guests as reflected in our previous reviews also. But we get turned down by her arriving the place early and we checked her in on time. It clearly pointed out to us that our quality and service cannot compare with her early arrival and her refusal of communication from guest. I have contacted airbnb in regarding to this case and also sending evidence of our conversation. I raised this issue to two case managers and they cannot help me. Their argument is this issue does not violate our contents so we cannot do anything on our behalf. So Frustrated

This is her review and below is her Airbnb PROFILE. 

The accomodation was nice and overall it was pretty good, about 10min walk to Darling Harbour. We did however arrive 8 minutes early and were made to wait until exactly 6pm before Marissa would allow us to check in.She seemed agitated at our timing and was abrupt and a little rude when we finally got hold of her. We had been offered a check in 4hrs prior so it wasn't to do with the room not being ready. It made us uncomfortable and despite the accomodation being clean and as stated, I probably wouldn't stay here again due to that fact. 

**[Image removed due to privacy reasons - Community Center Guidelines]

[Robin4]

@Marissa46

Asha's comments in that review flow through into your post! Marissa, you are drawing a bit of a 'long bow' here!

She wasn't complaining because she was early, she was complaining because you appeared rude at the fact she was early! It seemed to the reader that to you 6.00pm means 6 pm....not a minute before, not a minute  after!

As hosts Marissa, we have to understand we are dealing with travelling guests, and most will be in a strange environment where it will not be possible for them to run their schedule with 'clockwork' precision! They may miss that perfectly timed bus! That's a busy time of day it could be hard to get a cab. In all probablity Asha planned her trip well and she arrived ahead of schedule because she did not want to mess you around by having you wait for her!

I tolerate half an hour or so either way without hearing something and then I might send a text asking for an update....but gee, less than 10 minutes!!! If you showed this guest an agravated manner because she was 8 minutes early I don't blame her making mention of it in the review....I would do the same!

I think Asha gave a well balanced accurate review. She praised your listing but felt she would not want to deal with you again...... and the fact that you have 'raised cain' and sought assistance from not one but two case managers over what....8 minutes!!..... [Content hidden]

As hosts Marissa we do need to be a little bit adaptable! Guests are paying us good money and they are entitled to just a little bit of liberty!

[Content hidden]

Cheers.....Rob

[Gordon0]

[Content hidden] 

[Gordon0]

Very disappointing to see that this thread has been policed and moderated with such a heavy hand. Can you explain why you found this necessary, @Quincy? 

[Marissa46]

Hello @Robin0, and @Gordon0, I appreciate for your feedback. I just finally got her review removed as everything was submitted with evidence. Which means in this case I was right unfortunately.  With Airbnb, I believed with evidence submitted everything would be okay to resolve. I still have some faith in the system overall. On the note of my attitude, you cant just based on someone's review and assumed they are aggressive when they are more side stories to it and you are not in their shoes.I thought you learnt to be a host and should have acknowledge this common sense. Oh well this is a community so you may be entitiled to say wherever you want. Cant argue with nonsense anyway

[Robin4]

Marissa said "Oh well this is a community so you may be entitiled to say wherever you want. Cant argue with nonsense anyway".

Well your post did read correctly so I don't have to apologise for misreading it, I didn't!

It is a pity that Airbnb do intervene in these review situations because the genuineness of the review system looses credibility when reviews are 'sanitised'! 

From what we read here the guest did nothing more than complaint about a hosts attitude over small error of timing (8 minutes), and for that the review has been removed so that future guests will have no incling that strict adherance to timing is an overwhelming priority with a reservation for this host! That's not fair!

I, in almost every instance stick up for hosts, it's hard enough having to deal with some of the left field scenarios that are thrown at us hosts. But I am struggling to give support here.

There is currently an Airbnb superhost (fortunately not from this country) who proudly shows a perfect hosting record, but has an entire section of another website devoted to complaints from guests who have stayed in that listing  and each of their dozen or so reviews, the 'superhost' has managed to have removed. Most of these guests say they had no idea they were walking into trouble and would not have booked if a true representation of this hosts listing career had been displayed.

We do need to take the good with the bad or sooner or later the travelling public will not trust the platform. 

Cheers.....Rob

[Paul154]

Robin, not Fair!

You can't dangle "another website devoted to complaints from guests" without telling us what that website is. Especially if it's about dirt on a SuperHost!

Please do tell

[Robin4]

@Paul154

Hi Paul, bad news finds its own way around and I will not make it public here on the forum.

I will however DM you Paul!

Cheers.....Rob

[Emiel1]

@Marissa46 I see the review is still there, would suprise me if it's going to be removed, as there is IMHO no violation of Airbnb guidelines. However, it seems to me this posting itself has inappropiate content, as it contains personal information like photo, copied from a guest profile.

[Robin4]

@Emiel1  @Paul154 @Gordon0

Hi Emiel, yes you are right, the review certainly has NOT been removed and this is where I stand by my above post here. The host Marissa did not have a problem with this guest at all during the stay! The review she left for this guest was a simple...."Nice lovely girls" ! So, until the point where the reviews were posted, everything in Marissa's hosting garden was nice and rosy!

It wasn't until the host saw that comment in Asha's review that all hell broke loose....big warning to other hosts in CAPS..." PLEASE BE CAREFUL WITH THIS GUEST IF YOU HAVE HER AT YOUR HOME."!....Then 'badger' CS through different agents to get the review removed......What-th!

And one absolutely damnable thing I have just noticed by the hosts screenshot....She has reported this guest for nothing more than that review....wow!!

I am pleased to see that CS did not consider this review worthy of being removed because as good a host as Marissa may be...and she does have a bag of wonderful reviews, on this occasion she did not show her better hosting side! We all do things that we can look back on and say...'maybe I should have approached that a bit differently', and we need to learn from those experiences, not get on our high horse and try blame the guest.

I am not saying @Marissa46 is a bad host I am just saying that in this case she showed poor judgement and the guest felt that poor judgement should be pointed out.

Cheers.....Rob

[Kath9]

I agree with all the responses above. Robin is right when he said travellers can't plan their trip like clockwork. From Asha's review, it sounds like you were actually there when she arrived and you wouldn't let them in! If that's the case, then I don't blame her - 8 minutes is not really worth getting so worked up about. If you weren't there until 6pm and she arrived early, then what difference does it make to you if she got there early? Why be rude about it? Also, the review hasn't been taken down and nor should it be if it's an accurate account of the situation. It seems like a bit of an overreaction to me...

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

I am in complete agreement with the opinion of other hosts that have posted above @Robin4 @Paul154 @Kath9

If the guest felt compelled enough to mention how arriving 8 mins earlier than the informed ETA seemed to have been problematic with the host........... well that is certainly something I'd want to know before choosing a place to stay. And as a host and a human being, putting up guest personal info from someone else's profile and the vindictive manner you take says A LOT about the type of person you are. I most certainly hope ABB does not remove the guest review. I would not want to stay with a host that gets all worked up and rude about a guest arriving 8 mins earlier than planned. Sure....the guest said they will "arrive exact 6pm" but is 8 mins earlier that much of a big deal - to react in a way noticeable to the guest to the point that they feel they should mention it in the review? 

[Gordon0]

The sooner I get my guests in the door and settled the better. Cutting off my nose despite my face isn't my thing. 

[David126]

To save anybody else going to have a look I have copiedthe review and response and posted below.

From my perspective if a guest arrives within 8 mintes of when they said they would I would take that as a major result. I think my records are 5 hours early and 6 hours late. If they say 6pm, not all will give me a time, I look to be around by 5.30pm and assume most will make it before 7pm.

The accomodation was nice and overall it was pretty good, about 10min walk to Darling Harbour. We did however arrive 8 minutes early and were made to wait until exactly 6pm before Marissa would allow us to check in. She seemed agitated at our timing and was abrupt and a little rude when we finally got hold of her (took multiple attempts to contact). We had been offered a check in 4hrs prior so it wasn't to do with the room not being ready. It made us uncomfortable and despite the accomodation being clean and as stated, I probably wouldn't stay here again due to that fact.

Response from Marissa:

Hello Asha, thank you for your review. My only question is 'Did you fully acknowledge what you are saying?" and Why didnt you ask us to check in earlier in advance? You mentioned you would be arriving at exact 6pm and you and your friend arrived earlier and without letting us know in advance, how would you expect us to help you? You didnt contact us through phone, message or Airbnb app when you arrive either. So it was definitely a lie on your end. As we can see upon you are satisfied with our service and rooms. We offer you some teas as for most guests as reflected in our previous reviews also. But we get turned down by you arriving the place early and we checked you in on time. It clearly pointed out to us that our quality and service cannot compare with your early arrival and your refusal of communication from guest

[Cindy84]

Marissa were you home?   If so why not let her in?    I can't see why either party would make an eight min wait an issue... Seems so petty.