How to review a "not so great"guest

[Lisa1485]

Hi, we are newish to hosting. So far our guests have all been great. We’ve had the usual, give us 5* for everything then a 4* overall trick that seems quite common, and one guest who wanted a rural village (which we are) to test the commute and then gave a 4 star rating for location! 

However, the guest that has left today has me in a bit of a quandary, so i’d appreciate a little input from you all.

She messaged me before booking as she was going to a birthday lunch at a venue located 5 mins walk from our house. She asked if she could smoke, I pointed out that our listing clearly states no smokers or vaping on the premises or grounds (I also pointed out I have health issues which made this a necessity). 

She didn’t book. Then a couple of weeks later she did book, clearly she hadn’t found anywhere else so convenient! 

She booked for one person, but her previous messages had stated two. I sent her an email asking her to confirm how many people. We don’t surcharge for a +1, so for us it wasn’t an issue, but it could be for others.

I asked what time she anticipated arriving, as I was out much of the day, and my husband needed to collect me later, so there would be no one home for around 45 minutes between 6 & 6.45pm. She said she’d be there at 4pm. 

She rolled up at 6.20pm, having at no point told us she was going to be late, my husband had hung around, but that left me waiting standing around in freezing cold and rain.

She was falling over drunk and promptly collapsed on the bed. Her partner didn’t introduce himself, just shut the bedroom door in my husbands face. My husband then had to leave them there, while he collected me. 

The partner was outside smoking when we got back, in the grounds, where there was already a pile of cigarette butts. The house stank of smoke and alcohol when we got inside. We spent the night worried whether she was going to end up coating the room and bathroom in vomit. We close off our area of the house overnight, yet they came through into our area in the early hours of the morning. 

Neither of them took shoes off, we have original pine stripped floors and are a shoes off house, something we make clear on our listing, and we provide guests with travel slippers for their stay. They left mud marks on the rugs, floors & bedding. 

The following morning, they both totally ignored my husband and I; we are happy to either interact with guests or leave them alone, but a good morning doesn’t hurt anyone? We spoke to them and were totally blanked. We never even found out her partners name. 

We felt very uncomfortable in our own home, like we were a nuisance to them, despite us staying out of their way. When they left, the literally just walked out the door, no goodbye nothing. They then proceeded to smoke on our drive, stub out their butts and leave them. 

They did however leave the room tidy, which is frankly the only good thing I can say about them.

How do I review her?? Any tips gratefully received!! 

[Paul1255]

@Lisa1485 Would you welcome these guests back or recommend them to future hosts?

I imagine from your post the answer would be “no” so you should make that clear in your review, which should be short and to the point and will give future hosts the information they need to make an informed decision as to whether they would like to host them or not.

It may be worth composing a review and then sitting on it for a few days before posting-  the guests have just left so you’re still probably feeling put out and upset from their behaviour- and your review should be fact with any emotion taken out of it.

Paul 🙂 

[Lisa1485]

Thanks Paul, that’s really helpful advice.  I was going to leave it for a while to review, to mull it over and get a bit of feedback from here first. She could be a perfectly lovely guest when sober, she only has one previous review, which states she was polite, clean, tidy and a pleasure to host! 

Would I want to host her again, nope, would I wish her on another host in the state she turned up at our house, absolutely not! 

On the other hand, she was going to her mothers 70th birthday lunch, so the likelihood of alcohol being involved in some way was high, but not an event where you would normally expect someone to get so drunk they had to be held up! 

The fact she booked for one person, rather than two, could have been a simple oversight on her part, (being pretty new to Airbnb), for us it wasn’t an issue, but if she pulled the same stunt on someone who charges for extra people, she will soon come unstuck. 

The ignoring of our house rules, by both of them, which appear in our listing and on an information sheet left in the room, (right next to the slippers we provide for guests) is what I found most disrespectful. 

[Paul1255]

Hey @Lisa1485 no worries at all! 

I guess it’s easy for us to host guests who are “superguests” who don’t come with any issues, but the true test of our skills as hosts is dealing with guests like the one you had above.

Disrespecting house rules- especially when yours would be as easy to see as you say is terrible on their part.

I know we are all different, but I wouldn’t book shared accommodation if I knew I wouldn’t be showing the best version of myself to my live-in hosts (by getting drunk) so I’d pick a hotel- but as you say perhaps it was the convenience of your listing that led her to book.

I’m sorry to have read that you felt uncomfortable in your own home- I’m yet to experience that and hope I don’t, so I hope this doesn’t put you off hosting. 

Here’s to your next guests being fabulous :-)) 

Let me know how you get on with your review, and remember if she reviews you and the review isn’t positive when it posts- take the same time out to create a measured response- future guests will see it, and your reply really is for people considering to book at your place- not for your terrible guest 🙂 

Paul.

[Victoria567]

@Lisa0

There are inconsiderate guests......she did communicate well prior to the stay with all the questions first time around but I would be very mindful, that they are local and you are in a rural community. ......I assume so as they held their shindig 5 mins away from your listing.

You can review factually but tactfully.p, you want to sound factual and fair, not “worried” about things like vomit....if they did vomit, then state it, if it factually happened 

The amount of alcohol consumption is subjective.....slightly inebriated for one guest may mean totally sloshed to a host ( you don’t have a breathalyser!)

The business of the check in and check out times, again is tricky and perhaps you should have a check in window and check out window stated in your listing for the avoidance of doubt in future.

Dont fall for double speak, such as the truly irritating phrase .....best suited to a hotel......I can assure you, that if such guests, could afford a hotel and taxi, they WOULD book a hotel.

Guest XYZ

Communicated well first time around and mulled over, whether to continue with the booking, after her request for smoking/ vaping facilities, were regretfully declined by the me.

A period of X weeks passed, before a booking was confirmed by guest XYZ.

Unfortunately I was really disappointed that guest XYZ, did not follow the clearly stated house rules in the listing description, such as NO smoking inside and outside of our premises or  wearing outdoor shoes, inside of our home.

Hope this helps.

[Lisa1485]

Hi Victoria,

She asked about smoking in the house, back in September,  when I said no,as per our listing she didn't book. Several weeks later she booked for 1 guest, but didn't send any more messages after the initial enquiry weeks before.

One of our booking requirements is an arrival time. It took several messages from me to get her to confirm her arrival time and if she was a solo guest, she eventually replied the morning of her booked stay, having booked 1 month in advance!

We do have a check in window, and ask guests to advise a 1 hour arrival window, so we can ensure someone is home to greet guests. We both work, so we have to plan to be home. We had told this guest that we would be out between 6-6.45. She said she would arrive at 4 or just after. She turned up at 6.20, my husband was just getting in the car, having waited as long as he could. 

There was no mistaking the level of her inebriation. This wasn't a slightly merry or vaguely sloshed scenario, which would not have bothered us in the slightest. She was so drunk, she was literally carried into the house by her partner. She did vomit, but managed to hit the toilet (it was a close call). She then passed out on the bed and remained unconscious from when she arrived until around 11pm, when she started wandering around the house, including our private closed off section. She was also laughing very loudly on and off until around 1am, which set our dog off barking. When I came out to quiet the dog, she was standing outside my bedroom, which is upstairs and out of bounds for guests at all times. Guest accommodation is all on the ground floor. At this point I had to guide her back to the room, because she was still so drunk, she could barely stand. 

Her mother lives locally, but she doesn’t, We are also in prime London commuter belt, so the rural community, "everyone knows everybody", isn't so applicable here. 

I'm probably going to leave my review until near the end of the  14 day window, and will copy it on this thread before I post it.

We had follow on  guests booked from today for a week, So we were on a tight turn around, which just added to the stress, not too mention getting rid of the smell of stale smoke, alcohol and vomit before the new guests turned up! They are lovely, thank god! 

[Lawrene0]

Something like "XX was tidy but uncommunicative, and house rules were broken by her unregistered guest. Cannot recommend" would do the trick, @Lisa1485. Always a good idea sit on bad reviews for a few cool-down days, as you are doing. 

I hear you about location when it comes to villages. I had a guest this summer who booked specifically because she spent part of her childhood in the village here. Told me she loved walking the streets and remembering her house, the store, the library. But we are a few hours from where she currently lives, so she gave a 4 for location... 

Sigh.

[Lisa1485]

Thanks Lawrene, I like it, short, simple and to the point! 

Re location, don’t you just love it when that happens. And what’s with the 5* rating on everything then 4* overall malarkey! 

People are weird! 😉

[Steve143]

Hello @Lisa1485,

Just a note on the 4* overall rating. Guests aren't asked to manually give a star rating for the "overall" category like they are for "location", "checkin", "cleanliness" etc.

I'm a host and travelled as a guest a week ago.

What guests are asked to do, for the overall rating, is to select from alternatives with text something like below.

Was your experience

much better than expected

better than expected

as expected

not as good as expected

much worse than expected.

If they select "better than expected" then the host is given an overall rating of 4 stars.

It's much discussed here on the forum as it's not correct that a " beter than expected" rating given by a guest is translated by Airbnb to a 4* rating which Airbnb then treats as a criticism in the host's stats.

Steve.

[Lisa1485]

@Steve143 thanks for the explanation, that makes much more sense! And your right, being  penalised byAirbnb for a "better than expected" stay, makes no sense whatsoever! 

[Giedre-and-Andre0]

@Lisa1485 I think you need to difference 2 points to this aspect.

We always give full points and recommendation. And in almost all of my bookings the guests let the space in great shape but at last OK. So even if it’s “only OK” and I need to vacuum little harder and the place is all shiny after 1.5h cleaning it’s still ok for us. This is the reason we changed $45 cleaning fee, and in end of the day it’s a “business like situation” as we accepted money and cleaning fees from guests  😉

On ither hand, if a guest breaks constantly my house rules and would  be disrespectful to us, our tenant or my property  (we even would consider to end the booking immediately in this case)  and for example would smoke inside the house, or I would feel uncomfortable / unsafe in my house own house and if WE wouldn’t welcome this guest back WHY send them over to other hosts? It is very important to let future hosts know about serous issues you had with them. I’m not a friend of sugarcoating this guests.

I think @Paul1255 nailed it in his first reply.

In your specific case we wouldn’t accepted a 2nd attempt to book. And we always ask for full name of all guests planning to come  to our property. If a guest can’t follow simple directions at booking or prior check-in than don’t expect that they follow rules during the stay. We canceled couple of booking after asking 3 times prior arrival to tell us number and name of guests. 

If someone would book for 1 person, and showing up drunk with an extra unregistered visitor, we would end the situation right there.

Feel free to look at my house-rules and if you want to use something, feel free to copy.

I try to scare away the crazy ones prior booking/arrival 

[Lisa1485]

Thanks for your reply. I’ve just checked out your house rule and am going to take a couple of your suggestions. Our house rules are pretty comprehensive, and our main listing asks guest to check hem before booking, as they will be deemed to have agreed to them on booking. 

We we are not in the city, like yourselves, so not as exposed to some of the foibles of city visitors! 

We don't charge a cleaning fee,  but we do take a deposit, so if someone does trash our place, we will take plenty of pics and request money to cover from the security deposit. 

[Giedre-and-Andre0]

Great!

one more point:

DO NOT rely on a “deposit” it’s a hard fight with airbnb (in fact you need to know that the deposit is never charged from a guest prior arrival) Do only rely on your common sense to whom you rent and to who you let in your house. Do always your own “Risk-Management” accepting guests. 

Let’s assume something serious happened in your case. You would be out of luck getting some help from Airbnb. They would ague that the booking was for only 1 person and you hosted an other unregistered/not booked guests. Case closed.

Airbnb is great with helping with smaller issues. I see Airbnb as a great  advertisement platform (works out 100% great for us) but I’m not a great supporter to blame all guest issues on them. If I would advertise my place with NY-Times, I  definitely wouldn’t blame bad guests on them... my house, my choice, my “business”, my risk.... and at end of the day, my money.

[Lisa1485]

Re the extra guest, fair point, duly noted! Sadly I was out when they arrived, and as my husband was then nearly half an hour late leaving to collect me, (he was on the way out the door when they arrived 2hrs 20 mins late), he didn’t have time to fully assess the situation! 

[Lilian20]

When I am not completely happy with a guest, i tend to leave no review.