Warning other hosts & A humble suggestion

Toni4507
Level 2
Fort Lauderdale, FL

Warning other hosts & A humble suggestion

Hi everyone, 

 

I started hosting on Airbnb on and off since 2011. I have loved it from the moment I started, the majority (95%) of my experience has always been positive, of course there are those negative experiences. 

 

For example, I recently had 6 college spring breakers stay at our home in Fort Lauderdale and it was a very difficult situation. Not only did they break and clog our toilet they also partied ever night till about 3am, disturbing my neighbors and were harassing my neighbors pets and throwing garbage into their backyards. 

 

We have a very strict "no noise coming from inside or outside the house" rule or a $500 fine will be applied. It's not just our rule it's a city ordinance. Aside from that when I submitted a request for money for the repair of the toilet, the guest completely denied the damaged and didn't want to pay for it. Thankfully Airbnb covered the charge.

 

I've had spring breakers stay before and it's been fine. They party on the beach till 2am and then just come home and crash. Anyways, this person had one previous good review and when I called and asked them to quit the noise they did for the remainder of their stay but, how do I warn other hosts about this?

 

If I leave him a somewhat negative / honest review, what doesn't stop him from leaving a negative / dishonest review on me as retaliation? When I have negative guests, I just don't leave a review. If I have nothing nice to say, I don't say nothing at all. 

 

I think it would be helpful as a host to see how many stays a person has booked / completed prior to booking with us since they've joined Airbnb.

 

Because, for example, I've had guests who want to booked with us, who have joined Airbnb in let's say 2019 and only have 1 positive review since joining. That's a HUGE red flag for me. That tells me that since 2019 they have either had multiple bookings with no host wanting leave them a positive review or they've only used Airbnb once before. 

 

If it's the latter, then that's fine but if they've had multiple stays with no good reviews left, then that sends a warning to the rest of us. It tells me okay, I may want to ask this person for a deposit prior to their stay or I may want to ask more questions upfront and reinforce our rules and penalties to them. It gives me a chance to prepare and not be blind-sighted. 

 

Is this something we can add to the platform? Guest reviews and total bookings completed. 

 

For consideration in my humble opinion. 

 

Toni 

10 Replies 10
Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Toni4507 All reviews are blind. The guest won't see your review until the earlier of them leaving a review for you or 14 days after which it will be too late for them to review you.

Sadly by not leaving a review for bad guests you are not helping your fellow hosts to weed out bookings from bad guests. I guess you get what you sow.

@Mike-And-Jane0

@Colleen253 

@Mike-And-Jane0

 

Totally aware of that, that the reviews are blind till after 14 days, but in this case what am I suppose to do if for example this guest lies and gives me a bad review just because he can. I work hard for my superhost status and I don't want it tarnished because of some spring breakers. 

 

I mean he lied about breaking our toilet, and it wasn't just like a clog, it was broken, clogged, dirty, and the plunger they tried to use was left in the garbage bin next to toilet. They said it was someone else that came in after they checked out. 

 

They checked out on Saturday, my cleaner arrived at 11:45am, no one else was at the house, I have cameras surrounding the property that prove that... 

 

I REALLY want to warn other hosts about this, else I would not have taken the time to write this post and seek advice. I definitely don't want to disservice anyone. And leaving an honest review is super important for both sides, I agree. 

 @Toni4507 

"in this case what am I supposed to do if for example this guest lies and gives me a bad review just because he can."

 

He CAN do this. He has the option to review you regardless of whether or not you review him. If you are scared that your review will trigger him to immediately review you then you can leave a review at the last minute of the 14th day (there is a review countdown clock on the message thread.) A "retaliation review" will not come from the fact that you reviewed him but that you submitted a damage claim for the toilet and he doesn't see that as justified. 

@Emilia42 Yup, I read about hosts doing this in another thread, waiting till the last minute on the 14th day... I'll think about that strategy, it doesn't really sound fair, but makes sense. 

 

I'm also thinking of just being a lot stricter with guests so the second they break a rule, no second chances, just please leave property. 

@Toni4507 Thank you for wanting to do the right thing and review your guests honestly so we all are warned. Because reviews are blind, go ahead and be honest. If you get a bad review in return, it will not be because of the one you wrote. It will be because you called the guest out.

 

“I work hard for my superhost status and I don't want it tarnish because of some spring breakers.”

 

Then don’t rent to spring breakers.


There is nothing to stop a bad guest from writing a bad review full of lies. And you’re  highly likely to get just that when you call someone out for their bad behavior. Airbnb makes it clear they don’t moderate reviews for truth. The best line of defense is vetting your guests and keeping the bad ones from even gaining access to your space in the first place. Once they’re in, you’re instantly behind the 8 ball. Never worth the payout. 

@Colleen253 agreed, never worth the payout.

 

However, this is the first time I've had a problem with spring breakers. And I'd hate to say no to future spring breakers because of one bad experience. 

 

I guess going forward, I'll ask more questions, and once they break one house rule, ask them to leave immediately. I normally give them two chances. 

@Toni4507 Sure, you can do that. But you still run the risk of a retaliatory bad review when you ask rule breaking guests to leave, so that doesn’t fully solve your problem. Also keep in mind that Airbnb won’t always cover the host when a guest refuses to pay up for damages. You got lucky. It doesn’t mean you will next time. 

Colleen253
Level 10
Alberta, Canada

Your understanding of how reviews work is wrong @Toni4507 . @Mike-And-Jane0 is correct.

 

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/13/reviews-for-stays

 

The answer is simple. Leave an honest review. You don't have to be scathing or vicious. Just be objective and honest. "Sadly, X broke the 'no parties' rule, was disruptive to the neighborhood, and caused damage in the house. While they did quiet down when asked, by that point, the damage was already done. Therefore, we cannot recommend X to other hosts."

Emilia42
Level 10
Orono, ME

@Toni4507 

I think you are looking too deeply into this. If a guest has a profile for a few years but only one review, that does not signal to me any red flags. There are far too many reasons why a person would not travel once a year, let alone solely use Airbnb. If the guest had multiple bad reviews, then that would be my red flag. You are really doing other hosts a disservice but remaining silent to bad guests. As @Mike-And-Jane0 pointed out, reviews are blind. You can't see what a guest's review says before you write yours and vice versa.

How do you warn other hosts?.... Leave an honest review!!

Andrea4731
Level 10
West Palm Beach, FL

@Toni4507 they can leave you a bad review regardless of if you review them or not. They will not be able to see your review before they review you at all so not sure why you haven’t left bad reviews in the past. Most hosts don’t do that.. so someone with no or few reviews would not be a red flag to me.