How to look out for "picky" guests?

Peter3004
Level 1
Stockholm, Sweden

How to look out for "picky" guests?

So I have a rating of 4.7 and hosted over 50 guests and I never had any complaints, one person have rated cleanliness 3 all others 4 to 5. Yesterday I had 4 guests that arrived and said everything was perfect 10 minutes after check-in (of course maybe they just meant location, rooms etc) and after 30 minutes they said the place was to dirty and they are booking a hotel instead. 

 

Now the thing is that I don't think the place is dirty and it looks like it done for all other guests so on my opinion these guests are more picky than all my previous. I cancelled them with full refund as I don't want any trouble but I would off course want to avoid this in the future. I would like a system where you can see if a guest for example "rated previous bookings less than average" or similar. 

My other alternative would be to be on-site at every arrival and ask the guest to approve everything and "check-in". 

17 Replies 17
Benjamin836
Level 3
San Juan, TX

Picky guests are hard to pleased. There’s not much you can do about it. Been there. It won’t be first time or last time. Trust me. 

Pat271
Level 10
Greenville, SC

There is an desktop plugin you can install on Chrome called AirReview that will show you reviews of other hosts by a particular guest. Or, if you don’t want to grant the plugin the privileges, you can do it manually by selecting a guest’s profile to see where he/she has stayed previously, selecting each corresponding host, looking for the month of the stay in the host’s review section, and, if it exists, locating the review left by the guest.

@Pat271exactly! Precisely this, I've avoided some nasty people with this app. And sometimes I may use their reviews to justify declining a reservation if they pressure me to further answer the purpose of the decline.

@Pat271   My word of caution with AirReview is that it contains some malware that harvests your personal data and can seriously disrupt any other applications you're using. If you find it useful for a one-time purpose and aren't too concerned about privacy, I still recommend at least unplugging the app when not in use.

 

@Peter3004   "Never had any complaints" is a fine retort to the question "How's your head?" but it's not necessarily the right approach to serious feedback. Fact is, most people aren't big complainers, and if 50 people notice a minor issue with something, maybe just 1 or 2 of them would dare to mention it. So before writing a critical guest off as picky, I'd ask some detailed follow-up questions about what specific issues they had, and carefully inspect for things that might have escaped my attention.

 

Based on the photos, your property is unique and looks more like a real lived-in home than a conventional holiday apartment - exactly the kind of Airbnb that I like personally, but some people newer to Airbnb only realize once they get the vibe that they're in a stranger's personal space that they actually feel more comfortable in a more generic rental. That may have been the case with your previous guests. With some pre-booking correspondence you can usually pick out the people whose expectations aren't a good match.  But if and when Covid is no longer a factor in your check-in process, I do think an in-person walk-through is the best way to welcome guests on arrival.

Yes, the property is usually "lived in" and for example if I have a request I might to go my apartment or travel myself. The problem with this guest is that they arrived late (21 pm) and I had already left for another city etc.

What I meant with no complaints is that I've haven't done any refunding at all and never have been in contact with the Airbnb staff before but of course I had "feedback" with potential approval.

Would it be okey to have a policy that when they arrive they have 30 minutes to "inspect" and after that I would have 2 hours to solve potential issues? 

@Peter3004   That would not be an unreasonable request to ask of guests, but as a policy it wouldn't override Airbnb's Guest Refund Policy , which gives them 24 hours from the check-in time to report a Travel Issue such as uncleanliness to be eligible for a refund. If the policy is being followed correctly by the agent (which is never a certainty), the guest would be obliged to give the host a chance to remedy the situation before they're just granted a free cancellation. But Airbnb will not defer to a 30-minute deadline set by the host when it has its own policy.

 

Your best bet is to be directly available to guests so that issues never have to escalate to a customer service call. If you or a co-host is physically present for the check-in and readily available for emergencies, you can avoid that scenario in all but the most extreme cases.

@Anonymous  I’d be interested in your source that states that AirReview is harvesting personal data. Unless, of course, you decompiled the source code yourself, which I suppose is possible.

 

I am fully aware of the security privileges it requires, but are you sure the privileges are being used in a malicious manner? Also, what other applications have you seen disrupted by the plugin? I personally haven’t noticed any degradation.

@Pat271   OK here's the easiest demonstration:  open WhatsappWeb or Gmail while AirReview is active, and type "the quick fox jumps over the lazy dog."  Then hit CTRL + U.

 

 

 

 

@Pat271 @Anonymous 

 

I have experienced AirReview’s malicious effects personally. It kept changing my default search engine to Yahoo and who knows what else. (I should have known better.)

@Anonymous  OK, you want me to view the source.

 

Platform MacOS, Chrome browser with AirReview plugin installed, gmail app, edited new doc and typed a bit, then viewed the source. I don’t see anything sinister, just the source for the web page. What am I looking for?

I would love to know your tips for this:

 

"With some pre-booking correspondence you can usually pick out the people whose expectations aren't a good match."

 

Got my first ever 4 star review and wished I'd identified the pickiness and declined the reservation in advance!

@Summer64  I answered you on your other similar post. I don't see any picky reviews on your profile. A guest leaving 4*s doesn't mean they're picky and to be declined. Guests think they are giving you a good rating when they leave 4*s. This is what Airbnb tells guests. Guests don't have any idea how 4* ratings affect hosts.

 

I know this from talking to my home-share guests. They are shocked when I tell them Airbnb considers 4*s to be unacceptable for hosts. These guests have no intention to tank your rating. They simply are unaware.

You're right. I probably just took it personally. I bust my rear and do extra things for my guests. Guess I expect them to appreciate it and rank accordingly. Maybe I'm trying too hard and should just be fine with a 4 star review and not put so much effort into it....not take it so seriously. 

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Peter3004  You cancelled the reservation? Why? If the guests want to cancel, it's up to them to do so, not you. You will receive penalties for cancelling, regardless of whether you refund them or not.

 

While it sounds like these guests were just scamming to get a refund, if you have more than one guest saying it's not clean, you need to take that on board, not just have the attitude that it seems clean to you. Get some clean-freak friend or relative to inspect the place after you feel it's "guest ready" to see if they agree, or can point out areas that need to be cleaned better, so you will have a better idea of whether your idea of clean is what others might observe.

 

And why do you have a photo of a too-small quilt on a bare mattress? That's a weird photo.