We recently received the worst review we've had so far, and I would love to get any feedback ya'll have to offer. The guest's complaints were:
1. House smelled like a wet dog.
2. Guest had "no privacy" because our listing was "just a room in a townhome."
3. Our dog jumped all over him and we didn't do anything about it and "didn't keep him put away."
I don't know what to make of the comment about the smell. We thoroughly and regularly clean the house, and all but three of the 36 guests who have reviewed us have given us five stars for cleanliness. The other two guests who have had an issue with cleanliness didn't mention a smell, even in the private feedback. But I realize that we probably wouldn't notice a dog smell ourselves, and I am going to ask a couple of guests and friends if there are any bad smells in the house.
Our listing clearly states that it's a private room in a townhome, so I think the guest just didn't read the listing thoroughly and was expecting something we don't offer. He also had no prior reviews, so I suspect he is totally new to AirBnb and may have been disappointed overall with the experience of renting out a room in someone's home. I am going to start including a mention of "your private room" in my welcome message to guests just to emphasize that we are not offering a totally private residence.
The comment about our dog is the most confusing to me. It's true that he is a puppy who still gets very excited when new people are in the house, and he does have a tendency to jump. But we always stop him when he is jumping on guests. When he was jumping on this guy in particular, my fiance went over to grab him as he always does, and the guest just kept petting him, said he loved dogs, and insisted the pup was not bothering him. I still get that the jumping is annoying and the guest was probably just trying to be polite, but it's not true that we were just letting the pup jump all over him without doing anything.
He also mentioned in the private feedback that our dog is "untrained," which is not true. He responds to "sit" and "no," no matter how excited he is, and our house manual (and a welcome note that we leave in the room) clearly state that he will respond to these commands and that guests should use them if he is ever bothering them when we aren't around.
As far as not keeping our dog put away, I mean...the guest was with us for three days. We're not going to keep our dog confined for the duration of a guest's stay. We have had several people book our listing (which clearly says we have a dog) only to find that the guest does not like being in a home with a dog. So I'm going to include a picture of our dog in the listing photos with all the info about the jumping and the commands he responds to, and I'm going to put all that stuff higher up in the guest manual and in the welcome message we send out to guests after they book.
I also responded to the guest's review with the following:
"We're sorry to hear that you weren't totally happy with your stay. I am not sure about the issue with the smell, as we have not had any other complaints about this. As far as privacy, our listing clearly states that this is a private bedroom and bathroom in a townhome, so I am not sure how we could have served you better in that respect.
We are also a bit confused about your comment regarding Mas. We realize that he is an energetic puppy, some people like to interact with him, and some people don't. We always try to follow our guest's lead in either allowing Mas to interact with them or keeping him away. When my fiance came over to pull Mas off of you, you insisted that it was fine and that you didn't mind. If you had at any point indicated that he was disturbing you, we would have taken care of that immediately. Again, we're sorry you were not happy with your stay, and we do appreciate you taking the time to offer your feedback."
If anyone has any suggestions about other ways we can improve in light of this review, I'd appreciate it. I'd also like to know if anyone finds any issues with the response I posted, if it seems defensive at all, if something could have been worded better, etc.
Thank you!