Unfair Review

Unfair Review

Hello all.
Am I an irrational idiot, or do I have a point. (Please feel free to say so if you think I'm the former).

I know it's a bit of a bugbear at times, but I'm curious as to what others think about this: To cut to the chase, here is the guest's revue (I got an unprecedented 3 stars.) 

"There was no lift, I was with my wife & 2 young kids. I just had a surgery the week before so can only use 1 hand to carry 2 big luggage up 2 floors on the narrow stairs. There is only 1 aircon in the living room, not in the bedroom, in order to get access to the aircon in the room, I need to open the bedroom doors. However, then the living room becomes freezing cold. The other problem is no wifi, but I managed to get a local data sims card & access to wifi. Other than the above, it was a pleasant stay."

1. It's one flight of stairs if you come in from Reception, and they would have been only too pleased to help him with his luggage.
2. If you need a lift to a first floor apartment, why not ascertain this when booking?
3. I just plain disagree about the air conditioner. There was only ever one other complaint a few years back which was made during a 40c heatwave, but it was only 18c at night when my guest stayed and he also had a ceiling fan.
4. I don't have WiFi on my listing, and in any case it can be got very cheaply from Reception. (It was a pain when I used to have it, and so I had it removed.)

And after an exchange of a number of messages to the Help Centre, here is my final one. (You can sense my frustration):

"No, I still don't understand exactly what you are saying.
Here is a "copy and paste" of part of your criteria for removal of a review:
"Reviews that contain no relevant information about a host or guest, listing, or experience, the review will be removed. Reviews that contain mostly irrelevant information are also subject to removal, but only where the otherwise relevant information would not be expected to meaningfully inform the booking decisions of other community members."
Can you please explain to me how some aspects of Patrick's review are relevant if
a) I don't have Wifi on my listing, and he criticises me for this. It just isn't a relevant comment - that has no relevance whatsoever. He misread the listing! I can't help him with his comprehension.
b) He had surgery on his hand and complained of struggling to get his bags up two flights of stairs. Again, this has no relevance at all, especially since in the check-in instructions it is clearly stated that: "If you have any problems during your stay, please contact me, or go to Reception and see Minu." The guest chose to do neither!
His comment is therefore irrelevant.
c) His comment about the apartment having no lift is clearly a criticism rather than an observation! No two floor walk-up apartments I know of have a lift! He could have checked this out at the time of booking had he particularly wanted a lift to get up to the first floor. So again, this comment has no relevance to his review!
d) Airbnb: "Reviews that contain mostly irrelevant information are also subject to removal, but only where the otherwise relevant information would not be expected to meaningfully inform the booking decisions of other community members." Patrick's review contains 9 words stating it was an "otherwise pleasant stay", and 100 words of irrelevant criticism!
e) No other guests have criticised the air conditioning, but I accept that this is a subjective matter. The others listed above certainly are not.
I've had minor criticisms in the past and have addressed those - and don't mind doing so - but I won't have guests making irrelevant criticisms.
I also have to say, with respect, that I don't think you have read my messages thoroughly.
I'm going to take this issue to the Hosts' Forum and see what the other hosts feel about this matter. I'm curious as to whether others have had similar review experiences.
I am not at all satisfied with your decision as I see the review clearly as largely irrelevant, and was naive in supposing you also had the ability to do so!
I'm really annoyed about this!
Regards,
David.

16 Replies 16
Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

@David2385 

 

it seems all those entitled complainers have 2 things in common:

  1. they don't read - they assume (and the assumption is a mother of all fu*kups)
  2. they use A/C while they could easily open the windows ( you said it was 18C outside)

With more and more such individuals I sadly realize:

  1. hosting is like motherhood - mum is always the one to blame for all their mistakes
  2. there is no hope for this planet.

Other hosts gave you good tips on how to deal with such guests in the future. Just keep in mind - it's just a business, nothing personal,  you are doing it for money

Good luck 🙂

 

 

 

Yes, a few good ideas to go with!