I'm seeing a startling large pattern lately, especially since they changed the SuperHost qualifications on AirBnB. But it's not just here but on other hosting forums for other sites too. Hosts are over looking extra guests they can prove and not confronting their guests and letting them stay free when they clearly have a fee that should be paid. Guest check in way too early or check out way to late and they say nothing. Leave the place a total pigsty and they do nothing or say nothing. Guests bring vistors on to the property without permission; yet you look the other way. Allow the guest to control the environment, rather than the host this one is more related to shared homes than entire houses and appears to be happening to more and more hosts in the last 6 months or so. Guests asking for things you do not supply, but you go the extra mile and give it to them anyway to make them happy and it contimues to happen again and again once you give in once. There's a lot more but those are the bigger ones. I been seeing a lot of.
More than half of the hosts do not leave any reviews of the guests at all with the bad behavior out of fear of a retailory review. I have also noted that a lot of hosts do not actually understand the review process at all and think if they don't write one then the guests won't appear. Also that many host never leave a review for the guests good or bad. This is troublesome for a few reasons. One a guest rent out places from hosts that do not review at all and have issues renting with hosts that require reviews. Bad guest get to repeat bad behavior at another hosts place without any warning to future hosts. Some guests won't review a host that has not reviewed them first, the logic is if they can't bother I can't.
For the first 10 reviews I let things slide a little, but not anything major. I also use the stategy of reviewing the guests immediately and usually get a review back within 1 to 24 hours, then I ask about the issues that came up on check out along with any costs involved if there were any there usually isn't, since it has to be a claim worth putting in the effort to get before I bother. This has been a very useful method, so far anyway. I am now at the point I will confront them during the booking stage or when they show up with extra guests issues, infants being paid for, vistors showing up, etc. Reviews be danged. I will not be abused or taken advantage of by my guests. I prove a great place with many extra amenties they will not find elsewhere for the most part. I let the place speak for it's self now. I understand all hosting styles are different, but why do so many hosts allow this abuse to go on and continue renting to the guest or guests and not get AirBnB or whatever site to cancel them and get rid of them? It just boggles my mind.
The other thing I have noticed is very few hosts actually have rental agreements with their guests. I not only have the rental agreement I get a copy of the government ID. My guests do not really have an issue with this, out of all my guests on all the sites I list on only one has refused to sign it and return it. They cancelled. No big loss in my mind. Also surprisingly many hosts are not aware of the host and guests email's provided by AirBnB to send the rental agreement and ID back and forth via PDF and JPEG.
So my question is are you one of the hosts allowing major House Rules to be broken for fear of a bad reviews and if so has it really stopped the bad reviews from bad guests? I personally don't see how it would, but I'd like to know what your actual experience has been.