I'm annoyed when a guest makes a personal remark that is so unproductive and so 'what the hell??'

[Dionne2]

So needed to do a little rant. Just a little.

I have had guests who leave personal remarks after the public feedback. Some make good ones like internet wasn't working intermittedly  (though I grind my teeth and wished they told me on the spot).

Or , the lighting was an issue, (fair enough, I'm on it and the electrician is on his way).

Nothing annoys me than a remark like walls were dirty , eh???

Turns out she was talking about the emergency staircase, my place in an apartment, not the whole building. 

Or you need to put a mat on the corrider because I hurt my toe and it was bleeding, (insert 'rolling eyes' emoji).

And, despite making it clear I have two mattresses on the floor, people still complained. So I got a proper queen size bed. 

Now, this is what I need to rant about.

The guest and I had no problems , in fact he did say it was one of the Airbnbs he has been too and was planning to come again.

This is what annoyed me.

His personal feedback to me was  ,"the bed was agony (could be me though) and the linen was offputting. Fix those things and quite frankly its one of the best AirBNB's I've stayed at".

Number one, the bed issue. This is a first. It's a new bed and it was agony for him but then again as he put it , it could be him.

Number two, the linen was offputting. They happen to be the nice ones , soft yellow with feminine touches. I think that was off putting to him, it was kind of girly. Unless he wanted the other one which was floral.

I'm definitely not putting in expensive sheets. I already had one guest steal one and the other 'misplaced' them and we had a huge debate about it because he became an absolute moron dealing with it.

So here I am annoyed because no matter how you want to please your guests , they always have something stupid to complain about about stuff that isn't really been a problem. If I wanted to put nice things, I would hope noone steals them or damages them and yet, jeez that has happened already.

Anyone got something similar happen to them?

[Alejandro-Hector0]

Oh wow, I've handled so many guests like that! As hosts, we need to be positive all the time (Or at least pretend to be), nothing is more "off-putting" than seeing an unhappy host. So in the rare instances where we get guests who do not meet Airbnb Guest standards - we need to smile and say nice words, even though we wanna scream at the guest on the inside.

Here are a few stories I wanna share.

They guy named Bruce booked a night. He gave my listing a very low score (2 stars) because he said "I opened a door, and there was literally a hole on the floor". I kinda paniced at first, so I inspected the room. Then I realized what the guest saw...this was my response:

"I was taken aback by your review, so I personally inspected the room. Mr. Bruce, when you saw the "hole on the floor", you may have missed the big lit sign that said "Fire Escape" . If you took a closer look, you would have noticed that the hole is covered by grills. There is also a big red ladder that you can use to climb down the fire escape incase of a fire. This is a standard requirement, and I'm surprised that you even mentioned this. Nevertheless, thank you for your review, we appreciate your feedback. We will work harder to make this much clearer to any future guests".

Another guest booked a room that was good for 6. He asked us if he could add two more people. So we allowed it. Then at the last minute, he said that there would be another person joining them. The apartment can accommodate a maximum of 8 people, but since he already invited the 9th person, we didn't want him to go through the awkward process of un-inviting him. So we allowed it. The next day, we received a 4-Star review because the room was "too small", and because there "weren't enough beds"...

It's true, no matter how hard you work - there will always be unhelpful guests like these. But as time goes on, we learn how to handle them. After the first incident, I personally showed the guests every nook and cranny of the room (especially the fire escape). After the second incident, I made the maximum occupancy very clear on the house rules, and stood by it.

Airbnb is so much fun, but what makes it better is the learning experience that we go through. And despite all the "what the hell" guests out there - nothing is more fulfilling than seeing a group of travellers with big smiles who're happy to have stayed in your listing.

[Cathy172]

Hi Alejandro! In my town, rental units must be inspected annually by the health department which limits the number of guests allowed to 6, based on square footage. So by posting my maximum guest count-- SO FAR-- I have avoided requests for larger groups. I know the space wouldn't be appealing with more guests and I avoid the wear and tear. I'm always happy when 2 people book my 3-bedroom unit!!

[Fred13]

@Dionne2I hear you. I approach guests with a most 'general' view, : 90% are great, 10% can be potential pains. about the very exact percentages I also encounter with humans in every day life. However, I am presently batting 98% good ones and when I finally stumble upon one of the 2%, I dismissed them as such, and look at them statistically.

Usually, I adopt humor dealing with the 2%. In the case of the 'too small of a room' @Alejandro-Hector0 mentioned, I would say - 'Even the Taj Mahal would prove to have too few beds if they try to be so kind by accomodating what is too many people" (looking at you 'Mr. Bruce'). In the case of the 'hole on the floor', I would say - "I still can't find the infamous hole on the floor, except the required fire-escape one with a grill over it and a sign over it". Always with a winning friendly smile of course.

The good nature ones with cool suggestions I always thank without hesitation and much enthusiasm. "Great idea, missed that one, already on the list, consider it done and thanks for bringing it up".

It is my place, I keep control over it.

[Daria20]

@Dionne2

Hey, that happens (and will continue happening) all the time. There will always be people out there with bizzare requirements, opinions and behaviour. I've dealt with quite a few so far, but because they are not that many I just ignore it or take it with a note of humour 🙂 

Some are just pure annoying - I've had a couple of guests who did not bother reading the instructions on how to get to the house (nor even the address!) - which they acknowledged to me - wasted a lot of my time by calling and texting non-stop, asking how to get there, sending me pics and geo tags of where they were etc - hey guys if you can do that, isnt it easier to just open your confirmation with all the details and read them? And then they would give me lower reviews for "check-in" because it was troublesome.... What can you do! 😛

[David126]

I have a historic building, on the National Register, and I use the names it was called historically which caused comment.

Made me think if the Brown Palace in Denver, a high end Hotel, listed on ABB and somebody complained there were no Royality present.

Sometimes I read comments, usually I do not. Perhaps one day I will go though them for my book.

[Stefan341]

I hope that I can provide some insight from the other side of the fence as a renter about impossible situations.

Just recently I rented a cheap room in a nice house in a nice area near Amsterdam  for ten days.

I thought the host, her husband and her ex-husband who would drop in for dinner and their daughter were perfectly nice people. I didn't spend a lot of time with them, but I appreciate that having strangers in your house can be stressful, so I did make an effort to be friendly and polite with them. Her husband actually offered to give me a bike tour of the area on my last day, which was fun. They had a standing invitation to dinner, which I used about three times and once I cooked for them. It actually seemed very convivial and pleasant and I had nothing to feel bad about. I was actually looking forward to going back some day.

My host left me a review and it was about another week before I wrote mine and saw theirs. I was quite surprised to see that they had written that I was enjoyable and polite company but prefaced this by saying that I was a 'bit eccentric.' They said at least twice in private responses that I hoped I would be back one day. This one word is enough to deter any future host in the future and if I ever use AirBnB in the future, I am actually going to tell them what happened before they ever meet me. This word means nothing positive in English that I have ever seen and it is open to an enormously wide interpretation, most of which would cause a stranger some worry about me.

For the very first time I wrote a response to the review, on my profile, saying that my understanding of an eccentric, is somebody who does not conform to normal social rules and could be very hard to live with in a shared environment. I was very worried about this rather insidious and cryptic comment, whch seemed even worse because the host had given no reason for it. My response stated that it was impolite and inappropriate to make personal remarks about guests like this and that the boundaries and privacy of my hosts would always be something I would be conscious of. I said that if the host or guest had a comment they wanted to make and that they could not say it to the face of the other party, then it shouldn't go in the review. I said that the host could have had a conversation with me. Their review was a mixed-message and so not helpful to me.

At thirteen days after the let ended and just after I wrote my review and repsonse I told the host what I had written. I expected them to say at least that they accepted why I found their review disquieting. Instead they said that I was exaggerating and because I had mentioned in my repsonse that it would be nice if they had said something like, 'cleaned his room on departure and set the laundry going..' they launched into recriminations about a lost bike key and the fact that I had ruined an expensive bed cover by washing it with the other bedclothes, I had in fact cold-washed it separately. They then provided me with an analysis by saying that I needed more 'space' and attention than any of their other guests. I immediately offered to pay for the damage, but this was abruptly refused. All communication was then shut down with a curt 'we will leave it there' and a chilling 'I wish you well' but not before the host said that they had made the 'eccentric' comment to warn other hosts about me.

I have sent a letter to Airbnb, describing this experience. The host's original comment was ambiguous, inappropriate and impolite in my opinion, but the follow-up was one of those excursions into bizarre behaviour one encounters from time to time. The host was being criticised for one word, which was all it took to cause an erruption of reccrimination and something bordering on diagnosis. I was starting to become convinced that I was dealing with a deep-seated bully. Interestingly when I posted on AirBnBhell.com the piece immediately attracted the most horrible people who laughed and jeered and told me that I was mad and of course to get-over-it. I had to remove the post, but was interested to see how the antics of one psychopath gave so much instant enjoyment  to a whole lot of total strangers. I am however glad that I disovered how much negativity was in my host before I ever went back.

I have stayed in a number of shared houses and the experience has always been positive, except once where the host didn't ever show up because he was on the other side of the world in Malaysia and another where the host was operating a boat location, which in every respect was dirty, smelly and untidy. Aside from that, I have always had good experiences. There is usually something a little different about an AirBnB rental and some sort of compromise to be made, but that has been part of the fun. It may be time to pay a little more for a private apartment in the future to avoid encountering people like my last host on their own territory. The only way to deal with such people, be you a host or a guest is to be as open and transperent as you possibly can. The psychopath, rather like the con-artist will always flare up if you try to have a rational exchange of views and then go silent.