Suited to a hotel is harsh, or is it?

[Cecilia155]

Need some advice around reviewing a guest I had recently stay.  I feel that suited to a hotel is harsh, or is it?

I've just had a guest check out.  She requested information on how to get to the bus terminal as she needed to get the bus to go to Vermont.

I advised her of the options,  bus out the front (45 mins to destination)  or cab/uber/Lyft (10min ride) and strongly recommended she book a taxi/uber/lyft to get there.  She advised she would organise for the ride sharing option.  

Got woken up at 5.45am by her banging on my door, saying she has left one of her suitcases behind (she left it downstairs on the couch open with all her clothing/lingerie/toiletries spread across my new couch)  I repeatedly requested for her to take it with her upstairs however she continued to leave it there.  Then she starts begging me to drive her to the bus terminal, as she hadn't booked her ride and she will miss her bus to Vermont.  There were a couple of other incidents as well.  She was late with check - in.  It appears this guest has issues with time.

I love helping my guests out as much as I can, however to be woken up at 5.45am....wasn't too happy!  Also, I don't normally have a car, it just happened by chance that I had borrowed one for the weekend.

Thoughts on reviewing?

[Marit-Anne0]

@Cecilia155

Disorganised and definitely better suited to somewhere with a 24 hour front desk.  

[Linda108]

@Cecilia155  I agree with the wording suggested by @Marit-Anne0.  You have a cute place with a wonderful view of the harbor!  In looking at your description I notice that you post you are willing to provide transportation to the airport during specific hours.  Has that worked out for you?  If it is not a real money maker, you might consider the downside to such an arrangement.  One, pushy guests will seek to have transport outside your parameters. Two, you have liability exposure that you might not realize.  Insurance is always different about commercial endeavors.  Just some thoughts...:D

[Cecilia155]

@Linda108thanks for the feedback.  I have removed able to provide pick up service, as you said, guests can be quite demanding. With the guest that just left, she was begging me!  To say I was not happy is an understatement.  As always trust your gut feel.  When they start asking you a million questions before they arrive, alarm bells should go off!

[Susie5]

@Cecilia155, did you actually drive her? I'm guessing you did!  Clearly she was disorganized and somehow "forgot" to book herself a ride, or maybe she overslept, and along with others I think that @Marit-Anne0 has it about right in her suggested wording. I do hope that if you drove her at 5:45, she writes you a super review!!  

[Cecilia155]

@Susie5yes I did drive her. I told her the night before, she should book the ride share, she said she would get onto it straight away.  I wonder how she gets through her trips though.  To walk out the door without your suitcase and realise you forgot it, surely says something.  She is a lovely girl, but honestly, I was so annoyed!  

[Marzena4]

@Cecilia155 @Marit-Anne0 ... and full service.

[Penelope95]

There are such guests, indeed. I think they should also have a conscience.

[Laura2592]

I would use my formula...nice first, then comment on the three categories guests are rated on.

So and so was pleasant to talk 

to/charming/upbeat/interesting.  She had some issues with following instructions and house rules and communicated her needs but failed to follow through on things she needed to do for the next leg of her trip, which resulted in a very early wake up for her hosts. She left the place clean.  Overall she would be a great guest for a host who was very hands on and provided hotel-like amenities and services but she was not a fit for our space. 

I always like to say who might be an ideal host for guests who aren't totally awful.  Theres a lid for every pot. Just because a guest drove me batty doesn't mean that someone else wouldn't want them.  If they arw truly and irredeemably horrid I would just say we don't recommend to other hosts.

[Mark116]

@Laura2592  That's not a bad formula, I've generally been too paranoid about Airbnb's randomness and fears of being accused of being unfair or discriminatory to leave any kind of details on a negative review, so even the guest who stole a throw and other items plus the rest of her antics, none of that was mentioned on the review, I do almost always try to lead with a positive even if I'm saying they belong in a hotel. 

[BenkaandKeith0]

We, on the other hand quit holding back while reviewing the guests. Sour lessons not reading between the lines when hosts before us tried to write some polite blah blah after having a bad experience with a guest. Because of that we ended up hosting  few incredibly unacceptable people for this community and honestly, would not wish them to land on any of your doorsteps as we know for the fact their actions can not be appreciated by any living host. We have A LOT of friends hosting and I always ask myself if I would honestly send this guest to their household. If the answer is no, we try to describe the experience with the guest in details. And then every host can decide what to do with them. Good luck to all of you out there and as little as possible of those irresponsible guests to all of us!

[Stephanie365]

I am also in the camp of, "If a guest is a pain in the arse, other hosts need to know."

My review would be: "Karen seemed nice enough, but she is a Guest who is better suited to an accommodation with 24 hour Concierge Services to assist her with the most basic needs.

While I was happy to advise her on transportation options, I didn't appreciate her waking me up at 5:45 am because she both forgot her suitcase and neglected to actually arrange her transportation upon check out and insisted I provide her with a ride. She is exceptionally high maintenance and requires more assistance than is reasonable to expect in a home share environment."