How would you handle this situation?

Noreen45
Level 2
New Hampshire, United States

How would you handle this situation?

Hi,

I've been hosting now for about 4 years. 99.9% of my reviews are positive and I love corresponding with my guest, but there is this one now that has gotten under my skin.

She and her friends had a lovely time at my place she said, but when checking out she called me saying there was something wrong with the washer machine and it was leaking.  I asked her to shut the water off to the machine and I was on my way.

When I arrived, the guest were gone and the cleaners were already there. My cleaners told me that they pretty much flooded the laundry/bathroom. We had to rewash all the linins and towels. We could not recreate the "leaking" with the 4 loads of wash we did and we chalked it up to, that they overloaded the washer and it flooded. I've done this in the past, so I know it can make a mess.

Besides that, they left an excessive amount of trash, which I normally wouldn't mind, but per my check out procedures, the recyclables are to be separated out. They weren't, and I spent an hour sorting through 7 large bags of trash in 90 degree heat so I could take it to the dump.

I tried to charge her for the added cleaning required. She, of course fought back, stating "oh I wasn't going to say anything, but their were bugs in the bed, your windows were jammed....." and some other things.  We went back and forth and nothing got resolved. I decided it was more aggravation than it was worth. There was no damage, just time lost and I told her I was just dropping it. Before I tried to charge her, they had wrote a in my guest book how much fun they all had too.

 

Well, a week later now and I get a notification that she wrote a review. I can't read it yet, but it's killing me that she more than likely wrote a scathing one.

I hope to write a response to it, but it just kills me 'cause I take this very personal.  I'm very open with my guest and tell them to text me any time during their stay if they have any issues or questions. Stuff she was claiming after the fact are 1. false & 2. could have been resolved if she had texted me. (she clearly didn't know how to operate a washer or open a window).

How do you all deal with guests that make false claims or just aren't the brightest bulbs, but know how to press your buttons?

99.9% of my guests are wonderful. I just keep telling myself that.

Is there any way to have a review removed due to false claims?

I appreciate your feed back.

Noreen

 

21 Replies 21
Lisa723
Level 10
Quilcene, WA

IMHO it is rarely a winning proposition to ask for extra cleaning compensation, especially before reviews have posted. I definitely would not do it for something like failure to separate recycling, especially if the requirement to separate is not explicit in your house rules. The most likely outcome is an annoyed guest and no compensation.

Noreen45
Level 2
New Hampshire, United States

Well the recycling is listed as part of the check out procedures, she just didnt read them.   It really was the flooding of the laundry/bathroom room where a whole day was spent cleaning. 

I now have a check out procedure that is twice as long as before.  

@Noreen45 whatever is in your check-out request list, unless it is explicit in your house rules it is only a request. You can't really fault the guest for failing to fulfill requests she was not informed of before booking. And re. flooding, it's also unlikely that you will succeed in claiming compensation for lack of common sense. Better to set your cleaning fee high enough to cover the occasional accident.

Noreen45
Level 2
New Hampshire, United States

Thanks Lisa, I was considering raising my cleaning fee and sending a copy of check out procedures in advance to people's check in.

Emilia42
Level 10
Orono, ME

@Noreen45 

For me, the biggest disappointment was when I would have a blah guest but would still write them a great review (when I shouldn't have.) Then come to find out, their review of me was mediocre. Now, I am completely honest when reviewing and I feel better about it.

 

Review her with something like:

"XX mentioned that she was loving her stay but it wasn't until check out when she gave me a list of complaints. There were some check out rules that were overlooked and some extra cleaning was required ......"

Noreen45
Level 2
New Hampshire, United States

Thank you Emilia!

Marta794
Level 6
Portland, OR

@Noreen50  We've been fortunate during our short hosting time to not have experienced any 'bad' guests...yet. Yes, some have been messier than others, but nothing totally out of the ordinary that goes beyond our $50 cleaning fee. Yes, some have not properly followed the recycling requests, but I chalk that up to coming from other areas of the country/world where recycling might not be the norm and they may or may not know although we do our best to make sure they're informed or can reach out. We're not going to sweat the small stuff especially when, for the most part, our guests have overall been great and left 5-star reviews.

 

Sorry that you had to go through what you did especially when you think you're doing everything for the best and it's still not enough. I agree with others about leaving a simple straightforward review and then letting go to concentrate on upcoming guests.

 

Best of luck.