Unfairly using a 5star review to get away with things?

[Jules34]

Backstory. 

- I recently had a guest who stayed a week. On the Night before check out, she messages that she wants to check out late, at 3pm. My normal check out time is 11am.

- Before all my guests arrive, I inform them of a late check out fee schedule. She knows this.

- I asked her if she’s willing to pay the fee.

- she said (and I quote): "I’d really appreciate it if you can waive the fee for us. We’ll be sure to leave you a 5-star review."

Anyone else feels this is unfair? Cuz now I feel like she’s dangling the review in exchange for getting away with a free late check out. Anyway.. read on.

- I said: Oh. Do you mean to say if I don’t waive it, you’d rate me poorly?

- She backtracks and says she loves my place and then tells me about a smell that they didn’t like. 

- I just acknowledged the criticism. It’s too late to remedy it. She’s already leaving and she never said anything during her stay.

- In the end I let her stay and didn’t charge her. Before she left, I specifically said please turn off all the lights and AC before you check out. 

Turns out my cleaning company couldn’t do the last minute reschedule. So we ended up cleaning the next morning. Lo and behold, my AC was on full blast. 

Now my questions:

1) I am put off by the way she dangled the review in my face. Am I wrong to feel this way?

2) Do you think she intentionally left rhe AC on out of spite? 

3) Should This be reflected in my review? 

I don’t want to be overly emotional so i will wait a few days to let the annoyance pass. Just wanted to vent and get others’ thoughts.

thanks.

[Ana1136]

@Jules34 you are not wrong to feel that way because offering good or bad reviews in exchange for anything is extortion and it is against Airbnb rules and if you have evidence you can get her review removed. As to the AC, she might have left it out of spite, I guess we will never know but I definitely think it should reflect on your review of her. Make sure to write an honest, factual and calm review. Did you get a notification if she already wrote a review? 

[Jules34]

Thank you so much @Ana1136 for taking the time to read and respond. am glad I’m not going crazy. I do have proof, it’s all in the Airbnb chats. It occurred to me to report it but at the time she was still in my unit and I didn’t want trouble. Also it’s only implied that if it’s free then she will give me a review. I wasn’t sure airbnb would see it the way I saw it.

Am trying to get to factual and calm. It’s only been a few hours i’m still at ‘very irritated’ haha. She hasn’t left me a review but I am bracing for something bad.

[Kira32]

It's not fair that your guest is making advantage of the situation. Just ignore what they say and repeat that they have to leave at 11.00 am or they need to pay for an extra night.  Always keep it short in situations like this so you won't give them room to negotiate. They will respect and apriciate you without giving too much of yourself and lose money over it. 

[Yadira22]

Hi @Jules34 

yes to all of the above and I would report it.

This is not acceptable behaviour and if she did it to you, chances are she will do it to someone else. Just don’t mention this in the review as it could be grounds as to be taken down. 

I had this one girl stay with us and even a week before her arrival I sent her messages as to confirm her arrival time as it was my father’s birthday and we had plans. She got back to me for about 12pm on the check in date to say that she would arrive for 1pm and then 5pm as she got lost taking an Uber from the airport (takes maximum 1.5h- walking would be 5hr). It’s impossible to get lost taking an Uber- a more realistic lie would be a major delay in roadworks or simply the truth, she decided to spend time with friends and underestimated eta.

Then at 5:30pm she texts me to say that she would arrive at 7pm- for then we have confirmed dinner plans and I kindly declined and she accepted to meet up at 9pm. I was going to leave my father’s dinner as to greet her at the station and take her to my place. She messages me at 8:30pm saying that she has had a long day and has a maigraine so will stay with her friend. 

She came the next day and everything went smoothly and my father greeted her at the station, showed her around and we gave her a hotspot as to remain online and « not get lost » . When leaving she said it was so clean and she wanted to return, the location was Great and July would be great as to come back. 

We reviewed her fairly and an hour after she asked for money back for that one night and I kindly declined and mentioned that all communication should be in the app. She then went to write an unfounded review about it being dusty, communication was lacking, we forced her to check in late and her friend had to take her in.... making us look like villains who left her out in the cold without WiFi. Obviously this is not true as we would never even dream of doing something so mean and it was all for less than £30. I wanted to give her the money but after that, we took it and donated it in her name to a Charity! So something good can come out of something not so positive. 

Extortion is against the law and is unethical- people should be held accountable for this and as hosts and business owners we should not allow for this to ever be acceptable. Please talk with Airbnb and explain the whole situation and block her from ever reserving with you. 

I wish you luck and a beautiful day! 

Thank you,

Yadira 🙂

[Jules34]

Thank you for sharing @Yadira22 !! That is crazy. What a terrible guest and I am sorry you had to go through that. I appreciate your perspective, i did elevate this to airbnb and I’m waiting for their thoughts too. Fingers crossed they see my side! 

[Patricia55]

@Yadira22 

Ugh, the time-wasters are SO annoying... Poetic justice that you donated the money in her name to a charity! Love it 🙂

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Jules34  she didn't like the smell but she would like to stay another 4 hours to sniff it? 🙂 hyaaooo...!

" Dear XX we are very worried about a bad smell you just reported so I would kindly ask you to check out on time so we have enough time to find a source of the smell, fix it and air the unit thoroughly before our next guest arrival. Regards "

[Jules34]

Omg brilliant. I didn’t think of that but thank you for giving me the idea. I will save that response for the future. Am sure it will come in handy!! Thank you @Branka-and-Silvia0 🙂

[Helen3]

Personally after she made this request for the free extension to the check out time and five star review comment, I would have contacted Airbnb to flag this with them before refusing her request. @Jules34 

I would absolutely leave her an honest review mark her down to three stars for communications so she can't IB with future hosts.

[Jules34]

Is that how it works?  If they have 3stars in communication, they would be barred from IB? I didn’t know that. Good to know! Thank you 🙂 

[Ange2]

@Jules34    In Airbnb parlance, offering five stars in exchange for a freebie  (a refund, a good review, whatever)  is called extortion/blackmail.   I had it happen once, they wanted me to give them 5 stars in exchange for them giving me 5 stars. I said no they were free to rate me whatever they wished but I was not going to recommend them to future hosts. In the end they did not review/rate me. I gave them 1 star and thumbed them down.  They cost me well over $1,000 in drunken damage,  Airbnb reimbursed me less than 20% of the cost for replacement.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Jules34 

she said (and I quote): "I’d really appreciate it if you can waive the fee for us. We’ll be sure to leave you a 5-star review."

EXTORTION as previous posters have said.

Great that you have evidence. Charge the late checkout fee and complain about the extortion and the review. Charge for the AC use too, look at the 2.5x night rate you are allowed to charge for guests who outstay their welcome and license, you might be able to use that. 'Letting' them stay does not mean you let them stay without charge.

Your house rules clearly state to not wast energy and turn off AC and lighting. This guest is taking the Mickey.

[Jules34]

"letting them stay does not mean you let them stay without charge." precisely and thank you. 

[Lilly28]

@Patricia55 

The time waisters... Not all of them are annoying - but some of them are really not respecting the host, and in that case it gets irritating!