When Passive Aggressive Guests making bad reviews should be treated as TROLL

[Maddalena0]

It happened to me, luckily not often,

to have guests that kept saying that everything was good, either fantastic, during their stay, and then they come out with bad reviews after the stay.

I don't know if that happened to you but it is extremely frustrating and should be not accepted by Airbnb rules.

My guess is that they don't come out with request during their stay because they don't want bad reviews from the host.

I had a guest who kept saying everything was good,and then gave me 3 stars complaining that the shower was not working well, which turned to be true, but I  don't have  a crystal ball to gaze into, if I knew I would have fixed, as I did in no time after his departure.

I had another guest, even worse then the previous, that same, kept saying everything was absolutely amazing and then he left a very detailed review explaining everything that was not going well during his stay.

What made it worse is that he complained about lack of services that it was clearly written in the description  that are not in the apartment ( like washing machine or wifi). 

Did that happened to you as well?

Don't  you agree with me that this behaviour is absolutely petty and despicable?

Airbnb policy should allow to remove reviews of guests where there is a clear proof that they declared that everything was fine during their stay and then unfairly hitted the hosts. 

[Connie155]

If a guest wants WiFi,  they should book a place with WiFi ! !

Guests' failure to read the listing and book according to their needs should not be hosts' problem! 

[Maddalena0]

@Fred0 I explained already about the wifi and how it is well adverted on my page. My tread was meant to be a bit more general. it comes from a specific episode but that experience showed me how some guests are behaving and I thought it was a good idea to share with other hosts to see if they had the same experience and if there is a way to ask Airbnb to dissuade that behaviour.
I am new on the Community so I just tried because the answer that I got from Airbnb support were very insatisfactory.
But you are telling me that there is nothing to do and we just have to adapt , face down, with Airbnb policy yes or yes.
Alright then.
There is not even point for me to waste everybodies time!

[Ute42]

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@Maddalena0,

You are not waisting our time. Some of us can afford to spend time here as a pasttime, it's just more interesting than watching tv.

You are always hammering on the fact that You state in Your advertisement You have no wifi. Maddalena, You don't understand. This is year 18 in the 21st century. wifi is just as important as to have water and electricity in a place.

Get this wifi and cellphone thing sorted out, then increase Your price from 35 to $60. The location of Your rental is perfect. Walking distance to fontana di trevi, a parc nearby.

Could there be a better location for a rome stay?

No, not in this pricerange.

[Paul154]

@Maddalena0, have you ever been a guest?

Were all your stays perfect? If there was a problem, did you immediately text your host for a remedy? Were you assured  your host would be overjoyed to attend to it?

Guests are usually short term. Many don't want to bother their hosts for things they can fix themselves, even though they shouldn't!   More to the point, they don't want to rock the boat and stay in a place where the host becomes upset and defensive due to a host error.

The review system is their remedy.

As a guest, I have had to wipe the dirty toilet seat. I have taken T.P. and swept up pubic hair. I have also paid to wash the linens provided on day 1.

Did I complain to my host? NO. That was just too uncomfortable for me.

Did I publically air my complaint? Definitely YES.

[Maddalena0]

Paul,

Of course I am a guest, and of course not always things went well. When things were easy to fix I did without complain, when not, I called the host. 

In my case the guest stayed one month, so your theory doesn't apply. 

I also offered him to leave without penalties because he didn't read that in the flat there were no wifi. 

Anyhow, sorry to hear you are part of the not compassionate guests who wave their frustration to the world before to ask for help to the host.  

So you are tell me that cowardy is another reason to be added, I thought it was just to have a good review from the host. 

[Paul154]

Wow, I now understand that you would be one of those hosts who would happily fix a problem.... NOT!

[Fred13]

 @Maddalena0, just double checking, but have you looked into the 'broadband' option? A small 'router' that can be placed anywhere?

   I am glad you took the well-intentioned 'observations' some of us made well. You stumbled on a bit of a picky fellow, but  common enough of a guest. A Godsend in a way, for we learn so much more when everything doesn't go 'perfectly'. How you respond is critical, they should be made to serve you best. Trust me, we ALL wrote responses at first that were too long, took reviews too much to heart and wrote them too quickly. It's a journey. 

[Deb134]

email today asking for a selection of questions to be addresed by Brian Chesky and Greg Greeley on 6/27 but it will not post --- must be less than 300 characters;  adjusted and still won't post.  So sharing here----arrrrggghhhhh

"I had storm damage and had to cancel a reservation - and did so with the aide of your staff....and found the guest a place nearby that they loved/all worked out fine.  This is being held against me on my profile and should not be.  I have attempted to discuss this/get it fixed with your staff with no response/luck.

Guests know where my location is before they book.  The location is described as rural and the map is there for all to see/use prior to making a reservation.  Why is the location part of the review and why am I punished when they selected this site over all of the others regionally available --- knowing where it is --- and then complain later that it's 'too far away' from wherever they planned on going when traveling to this area???

Prior to renovating, my page told people that this was a rustic/farm location and the price reflected that the suite was 'better than sleeping in your truck' for regional travelers --- there were few airbnb type accommodations then.  The place was clean but the decor was worn --- AS STATED IN THE ADVERTISING --- AND THE PHOTOS ......allowing people to rate it as unclean or whatever hurt my rating....again, they are rating something that they agreed to when making the booking.  This practice is unfair and I want my rating adjusted ."

[Maddalena0]

Hi  Deb,

unfortunately, how  Fred  explained me, there is nothing Airbnb will do with unfair reviews.

As he said, some guests are just snakes and we have to conform with them.

Luckily it doesn't happen that often, I only had 2 guests doing so over more than 100 guests I hosted (not get me wrong, it is not that 98 guests didn't complain on anything or gave me all 5 stars, but they have all been right on their comments or at least I could understand their point) 

So it makes no sense to even write on this community, if it is not just to share your frustration and, sometimes, have guests support.

[Deb134]

yup...grrrr...and no way to fix via airbnb customer service......2 or 3 strange reviews and issues over 5+ years and 20 guests has negatively affected my rating --- and due to things I had/have no control over. The majority of my guests have been awesome and it is unfair that a couple can screw up your rating.

[Fred13]

In 400 guests I can say I had two 'bad' ones (older couple/pole dancer from Las Vegas), and 3 marginal ones, all in my first year. They taught me a lot, specifically what NOT to do. 

[J-Renato0]

Hi Maddalena
Can not you have a cable internet provider in that property? I so, you could install a router inside the house to broadcast internally the wifi signal.
There must be a solution! "Sono andato a Roma", I stayed in some old buildings around Termini, both on Via Principe Amadeo.. there was wifi. Walls it was too thick indeed.. the signal it was week in some points of the buildings. A wi-fi "repeater", I think would solve the problem. In your case, certainly there must be a technical solution.

Another thing, when you see that a guest is a "pain in the neck", never writte a review, never ask for a review. Silent is the better option. If the guest writes a review... then give he/she a professional response.

To finish.. some guests can not understand cultural differences... It is much better to have a bathtub than a small shower box.
I think that review will do no harm to your listing. Many people would stay there even reading what he said. Not to say you have many good reviews! Only the potential "pain in the neck" guest like him would agree with what he said in general.
The answer you gave him, showed that you made a great effort to be welcoming and accommodating. I think you passed the idea that you are a good host and he passed the idea is "mean".

[Maddalena0]

Hello J Renato,

thank you for joining the conversation,

the issue is not having or not having internet, as I said I had 2 guests behaving "nastly" so let me tell you about the 2nd episode because I think the internet thing is taking the thread out of topic.

So, 

a guest said that eveything was fantastic, I asked her few times during her stay, this is what I normally do with all my guests, she confirmed me that everything was absolutely perfect and she was super happy.

When she left she gave me a 3 stars review because the shower was not working well.

She was actually right! but why she didn't tell me during her stay? I don't have a crystal ball to gaze into! The problem with the shower turned out to be a very silly thing fixable in 5 mins. 

But she didn't tell me and then she punished me with a bad review.

So the question of my topic was:

Considering I have prooves about asking the guest and their reply was that everything was fine,

why can't we ask Airbnb to remove that valuations?  

Don't you think this aptitude should be considered as against Airbnb policy?

that was it.

But apparently there is nothing to do. 

[J-Renato0]

Maddalena

I understand the focus of your topic.  I have talked about wi-fi because nowadays guests take wifi for granted, like hot water and aircon. Even if the guest is wrong because they do not read that in the listing does not have wi-fi, they may mention it as an week point of the listing in the review. So, it will not be surprise if there is more comments about it in the future.

As for your main quesion, "considering I have prooves...."

I believe the review can not be changed anyway, maily if you say the guest that wrote a bad review is a good guest.

To finish, I think you have motives to be somewhat upset.

[J-Renato0]

Just some something in addition to my previous post.

Reading again the review of the guest in question, I see he is right when complaining about somethings.

Just one set of linens and towels is not enough, even if there is laundries nearby or even if it will be changed in the middle of the stay. I usually provide 2 sets of linens a bed, even for short stay.

He mentioned the wifi issue, but he admitted he did not read the description correctly, he was honest. So he was just giving a feed back and opinion about the listing. The guests has the right to make some comments or suggestions.

The host can take this kind of review as feed back, and decide what to. For example, finding a way to provide internet or find a way to communicate better with the guest and tell that internet is not available.

Given that nowadays internet is something that almost everyone take for granted, it is necessary to warn future guests.