Naming & shaming

David-and-Shully0
Level 2
London, United Kingdom

Naming & shaming

Hi fellow hosts.

 

I have been hosting o Airbnb for a few months and overall it has been agreat experience. However, we have had 2 sets of guests who have left the house in varying states of dissaray and dirt. Lights left on all day, heating turned up to max etc..

 

What I would like to know is other than giving these guests a bad review and risking their wrath in return, what other options do us hosts have to warn fellow hosts?

 

Is there a website  where we can upload details of bad guests together with photo evidence? Then other hosts could check to see if potential guests have been "blacklisted".

 

What are your thoughts on this? 

 

Shully

15 Replies 15
Karen-and-Brian0
Level 10
Bragg Creek, Canada

Hi @David-and-Shully0 Not sure if public shaming is the way to go - a far more effective and completely innocuous way to warn other hosts is simply to include "may be better suited to a hotel" in your review. That is host code for AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

 

There is nothing to stop guests who receive scathing reviews from deleting their account & getting a new one, starting fresh and carrying on being vile guests. The "may be better suited to a hotel" tag on their profile deosn't seem to spook them, but is definitely beneficial for other hosts. My 2 cents. 🙂 Karen

Hi Karen

 

Thanks for your input. We will certainly consider it.

 

It is just so fustrating when you have put so much time and effort into getting your place into pristeen condition and going out of your way communicating with guests and even out of hours check ins. To then find that the guests leave the house in such a mess and there is so little you can do to warn other hosts other than leaving a bad review... 😞

 

Shully

Deborah1
Level 10
Beaufort, SC

They can't give you a bad review "in return" since they will not see yours until they do one or until it is too late for them to do one. Just be honest in your review. I personally don't like the code "better suited to a hotel". Tell me what the problem was. Just list what the problem was like you did above --- heat left on, all lights on,  dirty dishes --- whatever. Just my thought.

@Deborah1 You can certainly put in all the problems you had with the guests - that works too. Still, "better suited to a hotel" speaks volumes to me. If a bad review will make a guest delete their account & get a new one, I'd rather have a neutral review with the code in it stay up & visible to future hosts.

Hi Deborah

 

Thank you for your help. We are actually thinking along those lines. Just leave an honest review on them and let other hosts decide whether or not they want to have them as guests in the future. If these guests then decide to leave a bad review for us, it cant be helped.

 

Shully & David

David-and-Fiona0
Level 10
Panglao, Philippines

One of the best things about Airbnb is the peer to peer nature of the reviews as it helps guests and hosts alike. My policy is be polite but honest in your review without emotion. Oh and say hi to May for us : ) 

Hi David & Fiona

 

I think thats exactly what we are going to do. We are just checkign through the whole house to see if there are any damages, or just loads of mess. Once we knw whether or not we are going to make a claim, we will then move on to the review side of things and leave them a good review for communications but a honest/bad review for cleanliness etc..

 

Thank you for your input. I will pass on your well wishes to May when she wakes up..:)

 

Shully & David

I'm very concerned about this issue as well.   We just had a guest cause $10000 of damage to our home.     Airbnb seems to be pushing guests to try and expand their business while not providing much support to the hosts who have put in their hard work and money to try and play by the rules.

 

I also think an outside source might be good so that we can check these dubious guests without other good reviews to see if they are the type to just delete an account every time they destroy a place, smoke pot, leave it dirty, etc.

 

Perhaps a reddit thread?

Thanos6
Level 2
Athens, GR

I think a good lawyer is always needed.

I had a recent experience with a guest posting a terrible review, she uses expressions such as "aggressive host", "not trustworthy", "rude","accusatory","dont take the risk" etc.

In my opinion all those expressions portray a male criminal which im not.

I have 153 excellent reviews and all of the sudden i have to deal with public shaming, just because this particular lady thinks she deserves to be treated like royalty.

Airbnb so far despite my msgs and calls has taken no action.

Tomorrow im meeting with my lawyer!!!

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Have a look at Airbnb's updated review policy @Thanos6  there might be something there about removal of outlier reviews that could be relevant.

 

Personally I wouldn't waste money on a lawyer until I had exhausted all channels on Airbnb.

 

I am sure you left her an honest review so future hosts are warned. In this  case I might be tempted to respond to her review in a polite, professional manner to reinforce that is was disappointing to see her review, as you work hard to ensure all guests receive a 5 star experiences. That at all times you acted in a friendly, calm manner as evidenced by feedback in your 150 plus reviews from happy guests.

 

EDIT 

 

Just seen you have left a response to the guests review. Unfortunately I am not sure it does you any favours as it seems unnecessarily personal and doesn't feel particularly professional.

I tried deleting my review and going immediately to my lawyer.

Airbnb denied to erase my review because they think its not offensive.

I replied as Thanos not as the "host" because this young lady describes me as a person, not as a professional.

Her review analyses my behavior as a real person , like im actually a rapist out on the streets of Athens.

There s nowhere mentioned specific incidents and people involved.

I m still waiting my lawyer's answer but im really dissapointed with the platform.

We re a friendly city, friendly people, we speak to our neighbors and i don't see hosting as a job.I have a professional profile as a designer but im not going to answer to this lady like im her employee,if you know what i mean.

Thank you so much for being part of the discussion here.


@Helen3 wrote:

Have a look at Airbnb's updated review policy @Thanos6  there might be something there about removal of outlier reviews that could be relevant.

 

Personally I wouldn't waste money on a lawyer until I had exhausted all channels on Airbnb.

 

I am sure you left her an honest review so future hosts are warned. In this  case I might be tempted to respond to her review in a polite, professional manner to reinforce that is was disappointing to see her review, as you work hard to ensure all guests receive a 5 star experiences. That at all times you acted in a friendly, calm manner as evidenced by feedback in your 150 plus reviews from happy guests.

 

EDIT 

 

Just seen you have left a response to the guests review. Unfortunately I am not sure it does you any favours as it seems unnecessarily personal and doesn't feel particularly professional.


 

Laura2592
Level 10
Frederick, MD

@David-and-Shully0  my formula  for leaving reviews is this:.

Something I liked about the guest

How they communicated

How they followed house rules

How clean they left the place

Would I recommend to others?

 

So in this case I would say "guest was pleasant and communication was good. However there were some issues with following house rules and cleanliness.  I would recommend this guest for hotel stays as opposed to Airbnb as that is likely a better fit."

 

Leave any specifics in private feedback.  

Ashley678
Level 7
Apache Junction, AZ

this is sooooooooo important. Guest with 0 reviews come in and expect the world on a silver platter, then when they trash the place and claim , " well we pay a cleaning  fee" , what are we as super hosts to do?  i left my first bad review , evening leaving some stuff out, and the guest didn't see it, gave me a five star review, then once she saw it she replied to my review on with lies, she even admitted to throwing cigarette butts off the balcony on a, " farm stay " near our hay barn..... i mean are you serious??? and airbnb refused to take her bad untrue comments off.  Ive been super host since i started this and have five listing in three states. I bust my ass  and now i feel a bit insecure with airbnb..... and i don't trust people at all now. really messed up !