Fascinating conversation. I'm not on instant book at the moment because I don't want to host guests that are flouting lockdown rules so they need to tell me the reason for their stay before I approve them, but I didn't realize that was the reason I didn't see their star rating, useful to know.
When I get a guest that hasn't left the property quite the way I would like them to, I say things like " overall the cottage was left in good condition" indicating it was ok but not brilliant.
I have found it useful to send my guest a departure message the evening before they leave. In the morning they're too busy running around trying to get out of the door to read my message so that's why I send it the night before. I always start by saying that I hope they have enjoyed and are still enjoying their stay. I don't want them to feel I can't wait to get shot of them! And if I don't have a back to back booking I often give them a bit of extra time in the morning to check out . More time for them to tidy up!
In my message I ask them to turn appliances off leave it tidy and lock up properly and where to leave the key.
This seems to work quite well most of the time, you can't really expect your guests to live up to your expectations if they don't know what they are.
Not every guest is very good but most are pretty good and since I started charging cleaning fee I remind myself that you can't expect too much if they're paying for it.