Torn about writing a bad review

[Tina26]

I was excited and nervous about my first guest, as I am new to renting.  

I arrived at the house 30 minutes after check out time and they were still there, almost done but still bringing things out. They had contacted me to see if they could check out late but I had someone else coming in that day so I had to decline the request.  I thought it no big deal I can still clean and turn it around for the next guest.  All the laundry had been placed in the laundry room per check out request but as I am pulling out the sheets from the hamper I find vomit, lots of it all in the sheets, along with the mattress protector also (thank goodness for the mattress protector). I cannot understand why someone would leave them in the laundry basket like that, at least rinse them out or put them in the washing machine?  

As we moved on to clean the bathrooms, we found vomit behind the toilets in two of the bathrooms.  I had to bleach and disenfect all the floors in the bathrooms, it was disgusting. There were lots of leftover food in the fridge, food all over the floor, the oven looked like something has exploded, a broken glass, smoking on the back when its is strictly no smoking.

Now in the big picture nothing big was runied, everything cleaned up and all is as good as new so part of me wants to just let it go, remind myself that not everyone has the same standards but I also wonder of I should put it out there so the next person knows.

Thoughts please .........

[Andrew90]

@Jirina0 I like that your list in that it applies very specific criteria and avoids possible discrimination EXCEPT last one. This will violate Airbnb anti-discrimination policies. You should be very careful with this last one as it might get you in trouble as "Airbnb will take steps to enforce this policy, up to and including suspending the host from the platform."

Race, Color, Ethnicity, National Origin, Religion, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, or Marital Status

• Airbnb hosts may not
  • Decline a guest based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.
  • Impose any different terms or conditions based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.
  • Post any listing or make any statement that discourages or indicates a preference for or against any guest on account of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.

....

If the host improperly rejects guests on the basis of protected class, or uses language demonstrating that his or her actions were motivated by factors prohibited by this policy, Airbnb will take steps to enforce this policy, up to and including suspending the host from the platform.

Full Policy can be found here - https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1405/airbnb-s-nondiscrimination-policy--our-commitment-to-inclus...

[Jirina0]

Thank for your reply, however, this does not help Tom solve his problem. 

[Maria-Lurdes0]

Hi @Andrew90  i must be missing something in @Jirina0's post as I didn't see anything in the last point that makes me think there's discrimination going on..... do you think that simply suggesting that hosts use the web to find out info about the guest means we're being biased?  I am not sure if I'm reading it correctly.

[Zandra0]

Point 6 is now age discrimination according to airbnbs policy

[Adriana100]

OnVRBO hosts ca specify the minimum age of the guests. I picked 30. Although Airbnb doesn't have this I found that most young ppl don't have good reviews or are first time users. They ask and I decline. I only accept grad students if they tell me why they are coming and so. Undergrad no way.

[Cathie19]

Hi @Adriana0.  

May I speak up for young people. Some of my best guests have been young, respectful and very strong observers of the house rules. One group of three left the space the most spotless of all my guests. They were three international travellers, camping, exploring, hiking and driving around Australia.

a good guest: 

Its not the age, it’s the attitude, and you only get to be aware of this information through conversation, honest reviews and scaffolding your settings, house rules and pricing.

I‘ve had over entitled individuals from all age brackets, but they have all been wanting to experience the community spirt, rather then a clinical environment of a hotel. Yet there is always the person who want five star treatment and setting, at a three star price. But a warm host who is Fair, Fair and Firm, can win them over without too much effort. Yet you can still review them as lovely guests, who may be better suited to a hotel. 🙂

🙂

Cathie

[Laura865]

Adam, I really appreciate these 8 points! Wow, it saves learning the hard way, which is what my husband and I recently did. We had a guest who had no reviews but was really friendly and sweet. Unfortunately, our property was disrespected and the group did not adhere to our rules. I thought we could give him a chance, but we will never do that again! Thank you for the advice. 

[Katherine139]

Hi Adam,

I agree with most of your methods accept #5 and #7.  The strict refund policy does not allow for a full refund under any circumstances.  Not everyone who may have to cancel is simply "undecided" or flaky.  Emergencies do happen.  It is a rip-off to a potentially good guest who may have circumstances beyond their control.  This was the case with me recently.  I booked for two weeks with a cost of nearly $1000 to visit grandchildren but ended up having to have surgery.  I am retired and never would have been able to take the loss of even half that amount.  Thankfully, the host had a more lenient refund policy.  It was my first experience with airbnb and honestly, if I had not received a full refund, I never would have used airbnb again.  I was able to re-book for a month later with the same host and everything went great!

As for increasing the price, again you may also be excluding lots of very good guests.  Not all guests who may have low or fixed incomes are trashy, inconsiderate disrespectful people.  There are plenty of people with plenty of money who fit that description. And, in fact seem to think that their money buys them entitlement to do those things you mentioned and have someone else clean it up.  Lots of retired seniors use airbnb, like myself, who look for something nice AND affordable.

[Huma0]

@Katherin1e

Airbnb has an Extenuating Circumstances policy. That means, if you have a really genuine reason for cancelling, such as a true emergency, you can apply for a refund if you can provide proof, even if the host's policy is Strict.

Also, a host can opt to offer a refund or partial refund even if they have Strict policy if they feel the guest genuinely deserves this. I have done it myself and I have read that several hosts on this forum have also done so.

[Song6]

Yikes. Do you make your guests sleep on a bed of nails too? Just kidding.Song

[Michelle490]

I knewwww there was a reason I kept my prices higher!!! I was feeling burdened because I was higher than comparable homes, now I will not. I want to keep out the riff raff.

Another point to perhaps add is give no discounts when asked!! I have gotten burned EVERY time!!! Also beware, if you do offer a price change, Air is sure to charge THEIR fee, but does NOT put the cleaning fee on automatically like a regular reservation!!!! 

[Michel630]

Great advise Tom ... Thank you

[Janet917]

good points

[Natalia84]

Hi everyone,

As a guest I once havent left a review because there were problems and they were solved eventually, so I didn't say anything. But now I am hosting and after 3 month of very succesful relationship with the guests (did not escape a bit of vomit but at least they tried to clean it and just missed a bit and unfortunately late complaints of one of my neighbors) it was great. And now I am deciding what to write in the review of a person who booked my house last and who already refused (not with grace) to pay the damage. 

First, it was booked for "friends" who then happen to be 6 builders from Romania. She guaranteed they were decent and worked for them numerous times. So they staid and left, leaving house in a general disorder, no complains there. Unfortunately they also blocked the kitchen sink (and burned a frying pan, which i didn't even mentioned to subhost, shall we call her that). We tryed to unblock the sink ourselves in order not to disturb the customer, hoping it's a minor blockage. After few attempts I contacted her requesting a plumber. She took few days to organise herself and finally send her dad (unfortunately not a plumber) who took the key to bring the plumber the same afternoon. Next morning I came to check and collect the keys from the house and I found no keys, the sink wasn't fixed and on the draining board of the sink there were horrible corroded stains. I tried to clean them and they are still clearly visible. Later I saw also discoloration on the kitchen top next to the sink (stain from the bottle and the bottle top) and the product was actually there and it didn't belonged to us - MELT containing 95% of sulfuric acid. After couple of days her dad finally came with the plumber who unblocked the sink. Dad supposed to come back with some product to clean the stain (15 min he said), after few hours of waiting I received a message saying that he wasn't coming back and will turn up in few days time. In meanwhile 14 days almost run out. So I contacted her again requesting a sort of reimbursement for the damage. She replied quickly with lots of accusations and assumptions (that we havent told her about the sink straight away, that we might have hosted other people and blocked and damaged the sink ourselves, that house and pipes were old and more then 10 years nobody looked after it (house was gutter and completely renovated in 2008, all systems changed) and that we are trying to rip off a first innocent person who came across (look at my rating, it's almost perfect) and so on and so forth.  

I started the damage request which she obviously refused to pay and now i involved Airbnb. One small thing left - review. What do I say in it? I firmly believe that hosts should be very open and inform other hosts of such behavior. Also she is going to leave a bad review surely stating all things above. Should I be diplomatic or just state the facts? 

Sorry for a long story! look forward to have your comments.

[Clare0]

@Natalia84 You don't have to go into all the details of your experience with this guest.  I would simply say that your experience was unpleasant and that you would not recommend the guests to future hosts.  Then leave a more detailed private comment to Airbnb.  Also a "thumbs down" selection. 🙂