That one guest!

Answered!
Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

That one guest!

I have been lucky, always had a great bunch of guests...struck a Malaysian family once who didn't quite understand how the system worked.

But I just struck the one I keep responding to here on the CC. Everyone else gets them, now I have!

 

My most recent guest ruffled me a bit though, best she gave me was a 4 star, major reason in her comments......'the polished concrete floor was cold'....room wasn't, neither was the bed....just the floor.

 

She was a first in almost every respect though, she gave me.......

A 4 for Accuracy, now that is a first for me, in 160 guests not copped that one before. I would defy any other guest who has been here to tell me what wasn't accurate!

A 3 for cleanliness...she found a cobweb, God knows where, but she found one!

A 4 for location....that defies any sort of logic....she booked it and I can't move it!

A 4 for value...................??

I charge $85 AU ( $63.37 USD, 49 pounds) per night, with, at that point, no cleaning fee and this is what every guest gets thrown in....

 

IMG20180317111324 b.jpg

 

Plus all the regular condiments like tea, coffee, jams, spreads, soap, toilet paper.

 

And I get a 4 star for value! Some guests really are loonies. If I had given this woman the listing for nothing for the two nights....it still would not have been acceptable value!

 

But guests like this have a negative impact on all users because, I have now set a cleaning fee. Not much of one, but obviously I am not doing the job properly and it will enable me to get a cleaner in once a week to make absolutely sure there is not a lurking cobweb.....period. Every future guest will pay a bit more because of this one woman. My 'Alice in Wonderland' image of Airbnb guests is just a bit tarnished and I hope that doesn't show through to future guests

 

Never mind....I knew I would cop one sooner or later, just been lucky till now but, this is the job we are in, sink or swim!

 

Rant over!

 

Cheers......Rob

1 Best Answer
Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Robin4

 

Lol, Lucille Ball gone mad! I recently hosted a late middle aged American couple and it went something like this...

 

The booking came through the wife's account and I was getting extremely apprehensive about it as her communication was shocking. When she would finally respond to a message she would simply ignore any questions and would not give me an arrival time no matter how many times I asked.

 

On arrival day itself, I had to send a fairly blunt message saying that if she didn't tell me when they were arriving, I simply couldn't be home. Finally, husband took over and started texting me and there was some progress, although they took an extraordinary amount of time to get here from the airport. I supect they had decided to do a detour and leave me waiting.

 

I went out of my way for these guests from the moment they arrived. Mrs. immediately wanted to do laundry (not available for short term guests), which I did for her for free. She never thanked me. I spent half an hour late at night showing her how to work the TV, left it on for her because she needed to get something upstairs and then she never came back to watch it! For the rest of the stay, she completely ignored me. I never saw her again. She wasn't upset with me. She just had no manners.

 

Mr. on the other hand was friendly, chatty, thanked me profusely for the laundry, said it was the best Airbnb they had stayed in, London was wonderful etc, and left a lovely comment in the guest book. I got the impression that he was so in love with his wife that he put up with anything.

 

When it came to leaving a review, I was totally confounded. He had been great, she had been awful, and I had no idea which of them was going to write my review. In the end, I was kind. Their review was clearly written by the husband and was glowing. Phew!

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62 Replies 62
Adi25
Level 3
Pitts, PA

did you ask for a picture of the spider web? perhaps she made it up. some people are like that, im afraid. they pay so little and they expect the Ritz

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Adi25

All this guest said when she was here were glowing coments and I had not the slightest inking that I should shake out her camera for evidence!

First one I have struck Adi, but I guess they wait until they are in the safety of their own lounge room in that anonymous house in an anonymous suburb behind securely locked doors before working up the courage to tell the world what a pr*ck the host and his place was!

Never mind, only another 10 5 star reviews and I will get that percentage loss back again!

 

I am just a bit disappointed that this woman is now going to make future guests dig a bit deeper into their pockets.

 

Cheers......Rob

Well, you don’t have to be disappointed, you can just take that extra charge off. However, I could tell you a story or two about star rating. What gets me though, is that no matter how obvious that vicious rating is or how obviously untrue, Airbnb will not take it off and the guest is always right. I feel like they don’t have my back.

Here is my worst one yet:  two young people rented my den $20 a night at the time. When they arrived I asked them if they would like the private room at no extra charge and they said no because they like the private entry in the den. The second night (while I was out) they moved to the private room. I told them that I had to charge them a cleaning fee and they were all upset because they were “offered a free upgrade”.  Some people don’t understand “this or that” doesn’t mean you can have both. Well you wouldn’t believe the story they made up to Airbnb, that my cat attacked them in the middle of the night and that is why they moved upstairs! I got a 2 and 3 star rating from them.

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Rebecca181 @Steve416 @Ria16 @Bruna-and-Siana0

Nikolai, I can't tag you in on this thread either, sorry about that, I have replied and I hope you find it.

Nikolai, you silly bu*ger, you never offer anything for free, I am learning that, or if you do you keep it quiet. Free has a magic ring to it like a light bulb going off in the brain, and all of a sudden you whack em with that dreaded cleaning fee.....don't you know you are supposed to do all this for nothing mate! Let them mess up two rooms, four, whatever......;-((

 

I have learned over the last few years not to overplay what might happen here in the review because it leads to an expectation by future guests.

I love cooking and many nights I will share a nice meal with guests, those I feel I want to share a nice meal with but, Nikolai, we have this understanding....guests are not to mention things like supplied meals in the review. It leads others to believe it is on the cards. And you can bet the ones that will grizzle the loudest will be the ones who thought they might get it and didn't! Best to just keep the review to the basics!

And so this is the way a review will play out.........

Jess review.png

 

And this is probably being a bit unfair to other hosts because although these things may not be mentioned in the review, guests do remember them and expect that other hosts will do the same. I don't want to make a pr*ck of myself but, I might just be doing that..

 

Cheers.....Rob

I allowed my guess to use my washing machine. SHE put it in the review that I let her use it for free. Now, all guest expect it and ask to.wash

.Now, I only.allow washing if a guest stays for more than five days.

@Bertina-S-House0

See this is what happens Bertina, prospective guests look for these nice little extras...

Are they going to book a holiday house on the lake at $150 pr night, or one for a similar price listing where the guest said in the review how much they enjoyed the jetski!!!

Of course they are going to go for the latter...it's summer time and a jetski on the lake...yeah I will be in that!

The Jetski may have been because the two guys got on, the host could see the guest was a responsible person and offered him the use of the said jetski!

 

Tearaway Ralph, who has never been near water in his life let alone a jetski thinks, Cool, this is the place for me and expects an automatic right to go out on the lake trashing everything he can with this borrowed jetskli!

 

Don't automatically offer something you are going to regret later on. Bertina, I offer heaps but I don't want guests making mention of them, it builds up a false expectation bubble that may burst.

 

Cheers....Rob

I feel the same way! People are not being relistick and in-order to pleas them you need to give them the world. I have an older house in Pittsburgh its over a hundred years old and this guest complained that the floors squeezed and one said my house needs some work done. I know that it is an old house but come on people. I hope that Airbnb is going to make the guests more accountable for their review! If we give them a bad review its not a big deal for them they just move on but we have to get 10 more 5 star bookings to bring our value back up. What about the great job we have done. I don’t get people some times and I just wish there was more of an understanding by guests. 

 
I will get off my soapbox 
 
All the best,
 
Dustin
Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

 

@Ria16 @Tomaz5 @Farah1 @Branka-and-Silvia0 @Ben393 

@Dustin 

Sorry Dustin, I can't tag you in, hope you come across this.

Old houses are just that, old houses, and while half the world desires to live in an old house, the other half do not, and will proceed to tell you why and critisise you for your choice!

 

I still have lots of work to do here on this property but, gee in 9 years it has come a long way!

My guests get to sleep in a bed that cannot be bettered, in a space that is fully heated, cooled and ironized air filtered, a library with over 1,000 books, good Wifi speed, chocolates on the bedside tables, even a beer and a cider in the fridge, washing machine with free soap powder, fabric softener and own personal clothesline, the use of a sparkling clean hooded barbeque and a choice of three diferent private outdoor seating ares in a 1,200 M2 garden.

If they were paying $150 US a night plus a $50 cleaning fee, I feel they would have legitimate 'wiggle room' for a complaint or two!

At $64 US a night I feel there expectations are unreasonable. She even said in her private feedback she would be happy to list for me how things could be improved if I wanted to know.

 

I have felt rather smug sitting back here telling all you guys how wonderful all these guests are and how you just have to a cop a 'wilted flower' every now and then. I knew a bad week had to come along at some stage and last week was that bad week.

 

It's all good though, just dented my ego a bit, that's all!

 

Cheers.....Rob 

Bryan10
Level 10
Feltham, United Kingdom

Ahh we've all had THOSE guests! Mine was the infamous Russian dog lady. She stayed a week on 2 separate bookings, the dogs were large and messy, I had to clean a lot every day, my lawn turned into a dog-poo and mud mess garden, she wasn't terribly communicative with anyone including her poor husband; she left the oven on for hours while out walking the dogs, switched the heating on a midnight etc etc. I even had a complaint from a neighbour for the first time ever. You had to shout at the dogs in Russian, which I sadly can't do. After all that I got a 3-star from her (her husband gave me 5 stars on his section of the booking, which kinda tells a story). My housemate and neighbours still talk about her. I hope they find peace somewhere, but preferably not at my place lol. 

 

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

Bryan, sorry mate, I can't seem to tag you in this thread either....must have something to do with @Rebecca's  Bot!

 

In some sort of Cyrilian code, you will have to tell me the name of that Russian dog lady Bryan so I can file her away in the memory banks.

I know what you are saying about conversing with dogs. They are lot smarter than you think! Our dog Betts is bilingual. We had some Dutch friends here for 3 weeks and, Betts responds to 'Walkies' in English and in Dutch...exactly the same reaction for each!!

 

Cheers.....Rob  

When you are really dedicated to what you do, it really hurts when someone is picky and spiteful. I try and think that I am glad that I am not such an unhappy person who has to take it out on some poor unsuspecting host. Welcome to the TripAdvisor syndrome, that is seeping in everywhere, where hyper critical people get some satisfaction from behind their troll gates. Honestly that spider web could have gone up after cleaning, happens to me all the time. What's the big deal?

Robin, I put a cleaning fee on my suites pretty quickly as it helps me provide breakfasts and plentiful snacks. Guests from certain countries expect a lot, and unfortunately they are the biggest tourist segment that my town attracts. Older guests used to American or British hotels who don't want to spend three times what I charge to stay somewhere else, but want all the extras. That is why I always state how easy my younger guests are no matter where they come from, as they are so happy with the extras I provide.

Try not to let it get you down Robin, I had a few hard cases early on this year and they seem to be increasing with each year unfortunately. We can only do our best!

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

 

@ Rosemarie@Sarah

 Rosemarie, it won't get me down, it just makes me realise that I am just the same 'schmucky' host as all the rest of you! :-)) :-))

 

I have always resisted putting on a cleaning fee because I did it myself and felt that, like a hotel, the room charge should include the preparation cost.

Time marches on though, I am getting older, Ade is getting harder and harder to look after and maybe I am missing that odd cobweb, as I said I have no idea where she found it....no actually I did go and do a check again of the room before my latest guest came in and I do know now where she found it!

Arty farty timber  pieceArty farty timber piece

 

In the window I have this 'arty farty' wood thing that I put together out of bits of old tree twigs, and when I looked at it, low and behold it does indeed have a spider web or two on it. After this guiest I will take it outside and put the 'leaf blower' onto it and that should restore my cleanliness respectability...albeit it won't erase that cleanliness 3 star!

 

Cheers.....Rob

You have given me ideas for using my new leaf blower now! Funnily enough, I was checking in a nice couple early as they were attending a wedding and as I was speaking I looked up and saw a cobweb, **bleep**! We just laughed it off, they are hosts as well, but I was busting a gut to turn over the room early so they were extra grateful that they could get changed and ready. Thank goodness most people have a sense of humour. I may bring the leaf blower inside for a turbo dust! As someone who once hated the noise of blowers, I quite like the speed of them and my new powerwasher is so much fun!

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Rosemarie9 @Fred13 @Sarah977 @Rebecca @Steve

Rosemarie.....There is not much you can't do with a leaf blower....

A/. You can make an insane amount of noise.

B/. You can drive everyones Sunday morning into a paraniod frenzy.

C/. You can blow all your leaves into the local stormwater drain assuring that all the local houses will be flooded in the next downpour.

D/. You can express clean those filters in the Dyson vacumn cleaner.

E/. You can dry that washing on the line on a warm still day in about 15 minutes, also satisfying item B.

F/. You can give a totally over the top meaning to that expresion 'Blow Dry' and dry the dog off after her bath before she has time to shake that water filled coat all over you!

G/. And this is a great one for Airbnb hosts.....you can blow up an air mattress in about 4.5 nano-seconds for those sudden IB's .

 

I did give this decoration a once over with the leaf blower and it worked a treat Rosemarie!

 

 

I do have a serious slant on this that I am putting together Rosemarie. As most of you know my wife Ade has MS and has lost the use of her legs and relies on a couple of gophers to get around....so think hard here. What would be a logical series of posts to put up on YouTube.....

 

'50 things to do on a Gopher'

 

 

 

 

My first one is, 'cleaning the roof gutters on the house'! The back of our house has a flat verandah roof so I got Ade's light weight gopher up on the roof and, on a couple of planks went from one end to the other cleaning out the gutters!

No, 2 is 'Riding the surf at Bondi Beach'. There is a salt water swimming pool at the southern end of Bondi beach just under 'The Icebergs'! Aussies will I am sure know it...google it if you don't! I set the gopher up on the pool wall on the sea side of the pool and after a fair bit of double taking from just the right angle managed to get myself on the gopher running the pool wall along with the wave...pool wall cropped it looks like the gopher is riding the surf.

 

I have another 48 of these things in the pipeline and I am sure after no 10 it will become a You Tube sensation....millions will want to see what the next outrageous thing is that you can do on a gopher....Every day I see a new opportunity. This could make me millions!

 

So @Rosemarie9 be inventive girl, that humble leafblower could be your path to riches.....or it could make your listing turnaround that much quicker!

 

Cheers.....Rob