To Review or not....

To Review or not....

I had a woman book my home for 4 adults for Wednesday thru Saturday.  As I always do before booking someone ~ especially if they have no history on AirBNB ~ I asked who would be traveling and for what (my home is in the deep northern Maine woods...).  The guest stated her mother had a moose hunting permit, so there would be herself, her husband, her mother, her brother, and sister-in-law (I count 5) staying at the house then her children and her brother's child (3 total) would join them on Friday night.  My house can sleep 9, but the nightly charge is for up to 6 people with an additional $35 charge nightly for everyone over that.  When I asked how her children (they're all 3-4 years old) would be getting to my home, she stated her father would be bringing them but he would be staying at his childhood home in a nearby town...a bit odd sounding, but OK.  I let her know there would be an additional $70 charge for the children for the one night and she agreed to pay.  Fast forward to a few days before she is due to arrive, she still has not accepted nor paid the additional fee, so I email her letting her know this needs to be done before she arrives, which she then does.  She also asks if she can get an earlier check in (check in is 3pm).  I told her I could let her group in at 1pm.  I was still feeling very uneasy about the whole thing, so I took time off from work, drove the 3 hours to my house and was there when 4 cars (remember, only 5 adults were staying) arrived in my driveway at 11:52am.  I watched as they contemplated coming to the door.  Finally, a younger man came to the door with a child in his arms, identified himself as the brother, said he was with the group, knew they couldn't check in yet but wondered if they could leave a couple of vehicles there.  I said sure.  I then asked him how many people would be staying.  He stated 5 adults and 4 children (ages 3, 3, 4, and 3 months...) would be staying for the 3 nights.  Hmmm...not the story I had gotten, but obviously he had a child in his arms, so this is what was planned.  I called the guest who booked my home, had to leave a message.  I called AirBNB and explained the situation, they then reached out and also had to leave a message.  I waited until 1pm (the agreed upon check in time), no one showed up & there was no return call, so I changed the code on the lock box so they did not have access and left.  About an hour later, the guest who had booked my home called...she was just leaving work in New Hampshire to begin the drive up.  When I explained the situation to her, she said she needed to call her brother because plans must have changed since the morning.  When she called back she said her father wasn't able to take the children Wednesday night so they would be in my home Wednesday instead of Friday, but he would have them all the rest of the nights but they would be in the area...um, really???  She was picking up her daughter as we were talking, so it's obvious this wasn't new.  She then went on to say that a few things had come around and that she wasn't comfortable with her father having the children...so she'd rather pay the difference and have them stay at my home the whole time.  I said that wasn't the agreement and the house really wasn't set up for children for any length of time.  She assured me that the children would never be unsupervised and that they would take full responsibility and everything would be fine.  Fast forward to Saturday's check out...on the surface they followed the check out to a "T" and the house looked great...until going into the upstairs loft area where there were crayons crushed into the hardwood floor, magic markers were used to draw on throw pillows, a duvet cover, the floor, and books, crayons were used to draw on the painted wall as well as on the rough cut cedar walls...yes, I have pictures and immediately sent them to the guest.  Are you surprised that I've heard nothing from her?  I've put in a claim for the damage as the loft area was just finished 4 months ago...my home did not have magic markers or crayons in it, so they supplied their young children with these then left them unsupervised.  So my dilemma ~ do I leave a review?????  Going forward I will not rent to someone who does not have a history on AirBNB!!!

8 Replies 8
Alexandra316
Level 10
Lincoln, Canada

@Julie1271 I would absolutely, definitely review this guest. Other hosts need to know what they're getting into if they're thinking of hosting her. She sounds both dishonest and irresponsible. Wouldn't you want other hosts to warn you?

I guess I'm trying to figure out a diplomatic way of reviewing them.  I believe she was dishonest from the start tho she tried to blame it on naivety...she had a lot of "tells".  Other than the damage by the children, the house as a whole was very clean and the 'house rules" were followed, so I'd like to give them kudos for that...UGH...

 

Emily487
Level 10
KCMO, MO

@Julie1271 Please leave an honest and accurate review of this guest so other hosts can make informed decisions about who they let into their homes. 

 

Guest was friendly in messaging but changed plans multiple times before arrival. Guest assured me that the children, ages x, y, z, would be watched at all times. Upon checkout I was disappointed to discover that pillows, duvet covers, painted walls, rough cedar, hard wood floors....were damaged by crayons and markers. Guest is not suited to hotels or AirBnB. Perhaps the woods themselves. 

 

Okay, maybe not that last part. 

 

@Emily487

hehe Emily , your english is better then mine but we think the same 😉

Hahahahaha !  I needed that laugh, Emily!

 

Thank you ~ a great way to word it.  I know I truly need to inform other hosts.  The last guests I had were even worse so I diplomatically reviewed them and recieved angry texts from them about publicly shaming them!!!  If you do the deed, be prepared for others to know, right???

Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

hm... maybe something like this ;

I hosted guest x and her family of x adults and y children for 3 nights. They didn't respect previously agreed time of check in and changed their plans few times. Although the part of the house was left clean ,  crayons and markers were used all over the children's area including walls, bedding, floor etc... and I wasn't informed about it.  I can not recommend this guests and they are not welcomed back any more.

 

 

Aside from what everyone else has suggested how about:   the downstairs was left clean and in good condition, however the recently renovated upstairs loft area was damaged and requires extensive cleaning, repair and replacement of some items.

OK...it's been posted...I'm sure I'll have something negative from her...Thank you all!