Reviewing guests, how picky should we be?

[Holly142]

When it comes to reviewing our guests, how picky should we be, letting future hosts know what to expect? There are some guests who weren't really bad guests but maybe didn't really obey the rules, left the place messy, etc.  I'm not always sure how to handle it. I don't feel some guests deserve a "Great guests, welcome back anytime" type review but at what point to we just leave it honest even over some things that might seem a bit trivial?  I know we need to just accept some things and pick our battles.

For example, I had a guests check out today that left a kitchen full of dirty dishes. I have few house rules but one is to wash your dishes and put them away.  A couple other rules/requests were also ignored by them. However overall, they weren't actually bad guests but don't deserve a great review. If they didn't follow my rules, what about other places they would rent? Should I write a review letting future hosts know that? 

[Fred13]

  Some guests are just better than others, which will undoubtedly 'show' in my enthusiasm (or lack off) in my review of them.

  I try not to be too picky, people are on vacation and probably won't do things exactly like they would at home. On the other hand, we ask little of them since we go through the whole place  with a fine-toothed comb between guests, so they have little opportunity to 'fail'.

[Sarah977]

@Holly142  Yes, you should mention these kinds of things in the review- other hosts need to be warned, and the guests need to know that their behavior isn't acceptable.

If you can find some positive things to say along with it, if they are true, that makes you look fair. So something like

"XX was a friendly and personable guest who communicated well. Unfortunately they ignored some house rules and failed to follow pre check-out instructions, leaving a pile of dirty dishes which required more than normal cleaning time to deal with. XX would probably be a fine guest if they respected house rules and cleaned up their personal messes in the future."

You haven't totally slagged them, showed your appreciation for what they did do right, and given them an opportunity to improve. They still might not like the review, but they should have considered that when neglecting to follow instructions.

Picky, IMO, would be if you mentioned a few pieces of garbage that didn't make it into the bin, a couple of dirty coffee cups, or a small blood mark on a pillowcase. Or if a host who doesn't make their expectations clear calls out a guest because they just assumed the guest would do those things.

But when house rules and clean-up requests are clearly stated, yet ignored, that isn't okay behavior that deserves a totally good review.

BTW, I completely discount reviews that read "Great guests, welcome back anytime", particularly when I can see that a host leaves that review for almost all their guests. It really tells me nothing and I don't trust it.

[Holly142]

Great advice, thanks for the tips.

[Maia29]

A lot of hosts leave this review for guests that don’t follow stated rules, “this guest is better suited for a hotel”. 

This review is a slang review meaning that the guests was fine or maybe not so fine, and not welcome to stay again. 

As for my unit, I have no cleaning rules for guests, that is what my nominal cleaning fee is for.  

I rarely leave a dismal review of any guests; when I have been forced to leave a bad review, it was well earned. 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Holly142 

When writing reviews I just try to focus on facts and be honest. Based on what you wrote about them if I were in your shoes the review would go something like this.......  "Guests seemed nice and communication was okay. Unfortunately, when going in to clean after check out, it was clear that rules/requests were ignored and cleaning up after them was more work than usual. At least there wasn't any permanent damage, but I would not host again."