Reviews as Retaliation, otherwise known as "You hurt my Feelings", or "what goes wrong when you accept a guest with red flags"

[Kelly149]

There could be an entire subheading in CC about Reviews and their many problems. I'd bet a fair amount of CS energy goes to cleaning up after reviews. And there is a good bit of the Resource Center devoted to reviews.

In September of 2018 this article was written about "one-off reviews"

https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/airbnb-answers-protecting-you-from-one-off-bad-revi...

In April of 2021 this article was written about the difficulty of "untruthful, misleading, or irrelevant reviews"

https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/review-updates-sustainability-and-more-from-catheri...

"Sometimes, a negative review is less about the guest’s experience in your space and more about them not understanding how reviews or the platform work"

https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/making-reviews-more-relevant-and-useful-for-our-com...

My fun story for the week about reviews is about a family who requested a one-night stay.

In hindsight, I shouldn't have confirmed his request, but I'm curious what you all would have done.

1.  First message: "Hello, my family and I will be staying at your property due to my best friend getting married at xxxx on Sat 19th. Looking forward to this date. Thanks!"   (We're a request only listing so this was a red flag, but hey, ABB guests are bad at reading, so I send him a note with our "here's what to tell us to request info")

2. After 19 hours he hasn't responded (this is another red flag, but hey, ABB guests don't always set up their notifications, so I message again)

3. 3 hours later (now we have 2 hours left in his request) he tells me who is in his group, but not their arrival/departure timing, nor acknowledges any of the other info in our messages (RF3)

4. So now I send another message again for the other stuff (no extra guests, timing, you're adding a "free" infant so we don't have baby gear & there are safety hazards for toddlers (this "infant" is 17 months old)

5. He answers the timing question, says baby isn't a climber, he doesn't have any other questions for me, no additional guest. Ok, fine, I accept the request.

6. The day before they are to come I send them their directions and he replies: "Thanks!! By the way, do you guys have shampoo and conditioner in the bathroom? And also, is there a fridge we could use while we stay there?" (Ummmm, excuse me, do we have a fridge, did you look at the listing AT ALL? So, I message back: "Oh wow!! Now you’re making me nervous. Yes. & yes. But please immediately get out a real computer and look thru the whole listing. Click every tab that says “Read More”. Let’s make sure you’re set up for a successful trip. The listing is very detailed. Please read it & then lmk if you have any questions. Thanks, Kelly"

7. They come, they stay, they leave. Their stay is less than 16 hours.

8. His Review: 2 Stars Overall, Accuracy-3, Checkin -3, Communication -1, Location -3, Value -3, Cleanliness -5 

Private Feedback: Every time I asked a question, you made me feel like I didn’t read the textbook. I don’t know if you do that very often with all of your clients, or just me. Sorry there was a miscommunication. But it sure made me feel very uncomfortable and a bit unwelcome.

So, he felt sad that he was corrected for not reading the listing well, and for this, the whole place is a 2 Star stay and my communication is poor bc it hurt his feelings. There will need to be 9 5 star guests after him to make up for his 2 star rating to keep SH on July 1. Which actually, won't be hard bc in 5 years of hosting this is our only 2 star guest. So, is this a thread about the problems with the ABB review system OR is it a "come on, don't cut people these kinds of chances and decline already" thread?? What do you think?

[Ann72]

@Kelly149   Hideous.  I hate this guy.  A lot.  I get so mad and resentful over things like this that when I can't wreak revenge I have to remove the whole message thread from my inbox and archive it so I never see it.  

To respond to specifics from your original post, I too would cringe at #1 but would let it go because of the way Airbnb words things ("Tell your host when you plan to arrive!").  They follow these directions (not ours, somehow), and we get their responses out of context.   

But after no response to #2, I would say, "I'm so sorry, but not having heard from you, I'm going to have to decline your request.  Thanks so much for reaching out and I wish you well* on your visit to Austin."

You're fantastic and I like your brilliant idea about having Airbnb send emails to guests about being better.

(*Roger Ailes, late of a much-hated cable channel, used to tell his enemies he wished them well so often it became known as "putting someone in the wishing well," a fate worse than death, so I laugh to myself every time I wish someone well.  :):):))

[Kelly149]

@Ann72 yah, I wrote this out to all of you in order to avoid typing out a screed to this guy... will not give him the time of day to do so, but yes, it's galling that "I didn't read, but you should be nice and not call me on it" is an acceptable "review". Rates have gone up and the next guest won't get as much rope. Not sure how ABB thinks they're helping themselves with the silliness we're stuck with bc of the mediocre programming... onward

[Colleen253]

@Ann72 “I hate this guy.  A lot.  I get so mad and resentful over things like this that when I can't wreak revenge I have to remove the whole message thread from my inbox and archive it so I never see it.”

I somehow can’t imagine you that mad. I like it! Nice to get a glimpse of what’s really under your hood, lol.  🤣

[Ann72]

😂  @Colleen253!  Those numbers though!  With each one I was like the cartoon thermometer that just keeps getting redder.  However, revenge is a dish best served cold, so at my age I relish plotting.  There's nothing better than doing a 180 on someone - they never see it coming.  When we meet I'll tell you the story of how I broke up with someone that way...it was so much fun.  🙂