Reviewing Guests

[Lara1217]

We had our first not great guest. I've been debating about what I should say about the experience in the review. Nothing they did was totally egregious, so I'm not super comfortable leaving a not nice review for them. Will it hurt my status as a host if I just don't review them?  

Here's what they did:  Had a three night stay, no showed for the first two nights and each time texted me the following morning to say they didn't make it because of some kind of difficulty along the way. I went ahead and charged them for both missed nights since they didn't communicate that they wouldn't make it until the next day. Once they got here they had problems with their TV, and when I went to help them they were super unfriendly to the point where I was pretty uncomfortable (I fixed the TV problem pretty quickly). They used one of our nice, new white hand towels to remove their makeup, even though we provide disposable makeup remover wipes and black makeup washcloths, and then used the same towel to clean their motorcycle, effectively ruining it.  Otherwise they left the room in fairly good condition.

They then left us a nice review on our FB page, which totally threw me off since I was sure they were going to give us a bad review given their unfriendly behavior. Is any of this worth reflecting in a review or should I just let it go and not review them at all? If I don't review them, does that hurt my status as a super host?

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Lara1217  no, not leaving a review doesn't hurt your status at all.

You are very happy if this was the worst damage your guests have done, but yes, wiping a motorcycle with a bath towel is disrespectful and of course, you are not happy.

Unfortunately, it will happen again.

To prevent frustration I bought a lot of cheap towels at Ikea and now I don't think about them anymore. When they become hard or ruined I take them to the animal shelter  🙂

[Laura2592]

@Lara1217  I would leave one that was factual for other hosts. Something like:

"So and so had a 3 night booking but was only able to stay one night. Left everything in fairly good condition. We thank them for staying with us."

A towel getting ruined is the cost of doing business. The nasty communication would be something I wanted to mention but if they seemed really strange and made you uncomfortable I probably wouldn't.  The above review is neutral but if I saw it as a host I would think "uh oh. This is a problem guest."

You get to rate this guest on cleanliness, communication and house rule following. How would you honestly say that they did? Rate them accordingly-- they don't see it. Push the "would not host again" if you don't want them to instant book with you.

The social media aspect is more tricky. We had just started our Instagram feed when we had a poor guest who invited a bunch of people over capacity to our space and I left a review similar to the above. She posted something on her feed about how unfair it was and how crappy we were as hosts. It was awkward as she had tagged us a few days earlier saying how she loved her stay (she was a wanna be influencer type.)  She left us 5 stars and then threatened to have her review taken down. Just a bratty guest and not someone we would have back. The fact that she had access to us in a different way through social media was awkward. All the same, I would have left her the same review and am happy that she is discouraging like-minded friends from staying with us. Our bookings have in no way suffered.

[Fred13]

I would leave a good review because when you consider that the stay turned out well: you got paid for the two nights they didn't stay and they ruined a lousy towel, otherwise everything else went well.

Reviews are best written with future potential guests in mind, above all what they are looking for are hosts that are cool, not overly picky.

P.S. I have never left a review unless they leave one.

[Laura2592]

@Fred13 eh I don't 100% agree that this guest would get a glowing review if they were nasty and made me uncomfortable.  But I do agree that I wouldn't leave one unless they did. 

[Klaus121]

Guess its the guests fall if he is not coming and he payed. No Problem. If he do a bad use to anything in the room, apartment or house, well the guest is responsible in the moment he is in. So, just a towel. No! If its to throw away,  he has to pay for it! Of course he can get a nice review than. I had some experiences with disapearing towels, pillos and bed linnen. Well i wrote to them. Some sent it back others payed for it! Ladies and Gentelman. You are selling your property for part time. Doesn`t mean a guest can do with your property whatever they want to do. A bit of respect to everbody!