Is Passive-Aggressive Revenge Bad?

[Paul154]

It's high season and I'm enjoying high and easy popularity. I'm close to the airport with convenient bus service. So yesterday I get an inquiry. "blah-blah-blah, You're close to the airport good, blah-blah-blah, Are you close to the light rail?" I roll my eyes. I'm not close to the light rail. As a matter of fact, my airport bus is faster and more convenient. I know I don't want this person and I know this person is looking for an excuse not to book. But i do pre-approve and give her a polite reply explaining my bus situation , knowing I'm wasting my effort. So I wake up, finding her day has been booked by another guest! I'm relieved and happy to have my judgement vindicated. But there is that evil vindictive side of me that revels in denying her a reservation. Am I bad?

[David126]

@Andrea9

I agree so I do not go there, sometimes I just hit the pre approve and all is good as far as the system is concerend, sometimes I let it sit for a while, you have 24 hours to action. All I am interested in is keeping the system happy.

A few are so silly I would otherwise just delete.

[Annette33]

@Andrea9 , so the haggling reminds me if this encounter once had in my gallery: couple comes in, husband immediately makes himself the spokesperson for the two of them, expressing his admiration for a specific piece but immediately ctitizing the prize of $180.00

So I played a game with him, knowing the outcome already ahead of time: I say, "well, how much would you give me for it?"' He says, "oh, about 100".  I don't bat an eye, I grab the piece, say, "congratulations, it's your lucky day", and I take the piece to the counter and start wrapping! Oh, that made him sweat.... and very uncomfortable! Good! That was my game... never intended to sell it to him for 100, knew he wouldn't take that either.....so it was a bit painful for him to extricate himself from that hole he had dug for himself 🙂

[Andrea9]

@Annette33

That's a good one! but just imagine he would have actually put his money down in a stupor of shock and left with the piece, haha! 

[Jiw0]

You're not bad, but you're weird.  😉 And so are many hosts who replied.

My reasoning goes like this: 

* Guests seriously don't know anything about your city, and how one public transportation method is different from another one.  They'll try as best as they can to come up with some relevant questions, also to see that the host will respond promptly and positively.    If anything if I recommend people to use AirBnB as a guest then I always recommend them to put in an inquiry first, finding any appropriate question. 

* Not everyone is a native English speaker.   That leads to some very short, even abrupt seeming messages.  It makes no difference to me, and I'll try to answer in detail, but sticking to clear, short sentences.   And I'll typically throw in some more information because almost everyone asks the same questions relating to confirming the location relative to stuff in town, and how easy it will be to find it using public transport.

* The AirBnB website and app isnt' that great.   Sorry but so many people fail to even find all listing photos, I have to mention where they should click/tap.   Some hosts seem upset that they didn't read through their copy of War & Peace they wrote into the various text boxes but trust me that this isn't easily taken in by all guests.  And I'm more than happy to confirm how to reach us from the airport, or how far it is to the main sights.