Horrible guest, should I leave an honest (One Star) review? Could it backfire on me as a host?

Monty0
Level 2
Las Vegas, NV

Horrible guest, should I leave an honest (One Star) review? Could it backfire on me as a host?

I had a guest last weekend, the profile said "a mom, a wife and a school teacher and alway travel as family!!!", ask her why she was renting and she said we have guest from out of town, then I get two calls form neighbors about party noise upto 12pm and girls out in street in underwear swearing in the morning and....  I wonder if I should put an honest review of her.  I just dont want her to leave back a nasty review for me.  What do you think?

10 Replies 10

Hi Monty
What a darling! Please definitely leave an honest review, objectively noting the issues - noise and antisocial behavior, and whatever you actually identify as the problems. The way the review process works means that both reviews are hidden until both have been posted, or for 14 days if the other does not post a review. You as host also have the opportunity to respond to the guest review. The guest cannot respond to your review.
If like me you can be a bit hot headed, a really good idea is to write your review but don't post it straight away. Sleep on it, read it again, make changes. Maybe ask someone else to read it with fresh eyes. Your review will serve other potential future hosts considering this guest, but also represents you, so keep it professional.
Good luck with it, here's hoping you get no more like her! I haven't checked your listing, but this would also be a good trigger to check that your house rules and listing description convey your expectations of guest behavior.
Cheers
Susan

I recently had a great guest.  I gave her the five star review.  She on the otherhand gave me a beautiful written letter upon departure stating it was perfect and would be returning often.  In the meanwhile she answered the Airbnb questionairre and the review was anything but positive stating that "this is not suitable for big people or men".  That is 95% of my guest list.  These questionairres are misleading and will prompt questions that should not be answered.  

 

I too had the horrible guest and I  basically told this guests that the next time he comes to our community to consider renting a Pig Barn!  I was not going to sugar coat my response as he caused us 33 days of grief, anxiety.  He told us to leave our property as we were noisy people and disturbing his daytime sleep.  My son was having a small BBQ gathering on the opposite site of the building with a handful of people at 12 noon on a friday and I received a text to "get rid of the kids". (all mid 20's).  But it was alright for him to leave the "service dog" home alone to bark for hours in his absense, etc., etc.  

 

So if it is ok for guests to do and say as they please, we as hosts should have the same privilage.  I certainly would never recommend a guest who lies about owning a service dog for a blind wife...who is allowed to drive 90km daily in a rental car!  Or burn incence and leave .the matches to burn holes in the quality linens...right through to holes burnt in the mattress! Or allow the small children that came after the fact without mention to jump on the leather furniture!

 

Will it come back to haunt you?  Maybe.  But rest assure that if you are honest and upfront with bad behavior, best the guests leaves before the damages.  Remember that it is your property and to take pride is a good thing.  Most guests just want privacy, cleanliness and kindness.  Dont ever think that you are the subserviant maid.

thank you Judy! Awesome post!
🙂

Always leave an honest review. This facility is there to protect and alert other hosts of guests like this. If this had been flagged up to you in their review profile, would you have allowed them to book in the first place? Probably not. And I wouldn't want guests like this staying in my property, so it is only right to make other potential hosts aware of guests who choose to behave this way. Be truthful yet diplomatic when leaving your review, and remember you can also leave private feedback as well, where you can choose to be as direct as you wish. The guest cannot see your review until they have posted their own, and vice verca, so the content of your review cannot influence theirs. They may choose to leave negative comments anyway, but that won't be as a result of your review, as they won't get to see it until they have left one of their own (or until 14 days have passed since the date of their stay).

Wendy-and-Markus0
Level 10
United States

First, that is terrible. Sorry you had to experience that.

 

I would recommend leaving a short, honest, and straightforward review. You can wait until the last day to do so. Yes, she may retaliate but I think your other great reviews speak to the type of host you are.

 

Did she mention the purpose of her trip? Aside from what you mentioned in her profile, did she have other reviews? More importantly, how was the situation handled when you found out about her inappropriate behavior? Did she forfeit her security deposit, did you have a conversation with her- did she apologize, did you terminate the remainder of her reservation, did you contact Airbnb to communicate her direction violation of your house rules?

 

Wondering how this was handled to provide some suggestions. Without knowing the answers to the above, maybe something along these lines:

 

X guest booked our home for x amount of days. At check-in she was friendly. Unfortunately, X guest and her group were excessively loud late into the night, wandered outside our home yelling profanities while not fully clothed resulting in neighbors complaining. I was extremely disappointed and embarrassed my neighbors had to endure X guest's inappropriate behavior. For this reason, I would not welcome X guest back nor would I recommend her to other hosts.

As both a host and a guest, I am relying on the community to keep me safe. When I hear about hosts just "not leaving a review" for a bad guest, it frustrates me, because that means I don't get the warning. 

It's best to leave an honest, true, objective review. Failing to do so just means that someone else in the future may be put in a situation they aren't comfortable with or aren't prepared to handle. 

 

Don't worry about retaliation: guests and hosts can't even see each other's reviews until after both have posted, so you won't get a nasty review based on what you put in your review. It's possible to respond direclty to a review, but this goes in context, so if you give a critical review and she responds by criticizing you, people won't see that unless they go to _her_ site, read _your_ review of her, and then see her response. I've seen guests respond to critical reviews by trying to complain about the host, but they are heaping ashes onto their own heads as it's very clear from context what is going on. 

Lisa1094
Level 1
Martinsville, IN

I am running onto people not giving honest reviews!  They say straight to your face that they love the place during introduction and that they are happy with the way the place looks.  But as soon as you turn your back they do not communicate and ask for help and then send you a nasty gram (not a review) after they have left.  I feel like leaving an honest review is necessary for both sides!  Stick to only the facts that have occurred,  and leave the drama at home!  I hope that Airbnb can change this review culture in some way to allow each side to rate their stay without being harassed by it!  I believe that a 0-5 rating questionaire would be more effective rather than allowing people to type in their own drama.

Abby93
Level 1
Indianapolis, IN

Here is one i’m Not loving and i’d Love your thoughts... we recently had a guest and two buddies stay in our space - during and after the place is left smelling like marijuana. Our garage, our carriage house (the space we Airbnb) and outside of our home during the incident) wreak of weed. It’s not legal here in our state for medicinal or recreation purposes... more than anything i’m Just disgusted that my space smells of marijuana and that they left it that way! At least spray some Febreze, open a window, Etc.  The guests also had horrible communication leading up to, during and after and in the end left our yard gate completely unlocked and open and our carriage house space unlocked. Clearly i’m Frustrated, but i’m Not sure this warrants an honest review - as many others may not be frustrated by these elements. Thoughts on if I should leave an honest review of the guest or let it be? I will certainly discuss his lacking communication in m my review but what about the marijuana? Curious if others thoughts! Crazy world we live in today - so curious if others thoughts. Thanks! 

Ana1136
Level 10
Ohrid, Macedonia (FYROM)

@Abby93 you can say that they didn't communicate and disrespected your house rules. That is enough, you don't have to explain in detail what happened. 

Pete69
Level 10
Los Angeles, CA

The profile description was suspect from the beginning.

 

"a mom, a wife and a school teacher and alway travel as family!!!"

 

"a" not capitalized. Either lack of education or they were really hasty. And why the exclamation marks? Seems like either someone who is unstable or someone who is trying really hard to pretend to be someone they are not.