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. 

[Maddalena0]

Hi J Renato, 

The point is not what can be better in my apartment but what to do with unfair guests that fake happiness and then kill you on back.  

Regarding the towels and linens I told him that the cleaner would have come at mid of his stay to change the bed, collecting  the dirty ones and leaving the clean one, and if that was fine for him. 

He said it yes and he said HE WAS AMAZED BY OUR KINDNESS AND HE WAS IN LOVE WITH US ( a bit over the top, but this is really what he said). 

During his stay he asked any sort of intervention. But honestly I am happy to help my guests because I am a guest too while I am not a host and also I like interaction because trust me for 36euros per day it would be a better deal for me to rent with a estate agency.

So probably considering his mindset, he thought I would have given him a bad review because he called us a million of time.  

But his requests were fair and I was happy to help and I gave him a positive review. 

So I hope you can understand my sadness. 

[Paula264]

Hi Maddalena,

I understand your desapointment - I've been there too!

I agree with what Fred says. You can only learn from this guy. Airbnb is a community and, as in real life, you find awesome people and the other kind 😞
I can olny talk from my own experiencie, and what I have learned is not to respond agressively nor show signs of frustation. There is nothing you can do to remove his review, but you can show with your response that you are the bigger man (or woman 🙂

Airbnb it is ultimately a business, and if you measure yourself by the opinion of others, there is too much to loose for you. One review is not the measure of your value as host.
My advice is to separate your emotions from your reaction, and respond in a way that helps your business. Guests pay attention to bad reviews, and pay even more attention to the way you respond to those tricky comments. Be nice, address the fact that you were not informed about those alleged issues, and invite them to stay in touch more openly in the future. No ironies, because your future guests will see that, and that can hurt your future business.

Hope this helps!
Have a lovely day,
Paula

[Fred13]

"Guests pay attention to bad reviews, and pay even more attention to the way you respond to those tricky comments." Well said. Three levels of attention:

1. Reviews 

2. Bad Reviews

3. Host Response to bad reviews

[Connie155]

I've had a few guests like this - everything's "wonderful", then a bad review with a lot of complaints. And with the blind review system, I've already given them good ratings ... for Communication too, assuming their "wonderful" comment was true. 

Maybe our review of guests' Communication should be done AFTER we see the guests' review.

I do respond to their negative public comments, to indicate that they failed to communicate properly. However, thsee few bad ratings continue to have a HUGE effect on bookings for a long time. 

* If bad ratings are few and due to guests' poor communication, failure to read listing, etc., Airbnb should be dropping these 'outliers' from calculations.

 * In their reviews, guests should be prompted to rate according to 'accuracy in relation to the listing', not just a 5 star rating system that they confuse with 5 star luxury  hotels.

EG If a guest doesn't like my place because it's "old", don't book a place that clearly identifies that it's a hundred year old house!!

Hosts should not be penalized for guests' booking errors.

Nor should hosts' ratings be penalized for guests' failure to communicate issues. 

All ratings below 5 should trigger these additional questions:

- Was (this issue) accurate in the listing?

- Did you communicate  (this issue) to the host during your stay?

- If so, did the host resolve the issue during your stay?  

Finally ... pet peeve ... Airbnb's current rating system is trying to drive us all to provide luxury accommodation, super hosting, ridiculously high standards that cater to the predatory developers who are Airbnb'ng whole condo developments, in violation of laws,  etc.

My guests are ordinary working people who want cheap, clean, comfortable and convenient, not 5 star luxury. 

Airbnb has forgotten its roots and its purpose.

[Sarah1401]

All ratings below 5 should trigger these additional questions:

- Was (this issue) accurate in the listing?

- Did you communicate  (this issue) to the host during your stay?

- If so, did the host resolve the issue during your stay?  

I love this suggestion.  I recently got a 3 star review from someone who also expressed that they were happy with the stay while they were here, but then cited "not knowing there would be other guests" in their review.  I replied that it was in the listing, and promised to ensure that it was more clear to future guests.  However, when I went to update my listing, I had already added it in MULTIPLE places in the description and photo, as well as in the house manual, and the house rules they must agree to when booking.  I could not have made it more clear that I rent multiple rooms on Airbnb and some amenitities may be shared.   It sucks, but its not frequent and 2 of the 3 who reviewed me poorly were brand new to airbnb (so the above questions by connie would likely resolve), the other has reviewed everywhere they've stayed poorly, which is something that I think should be monitored by airbnb as well.  

[Maddalena0]

Sarah, yes, exactly! 

A part of guests not reading the house description, I would also add guests that don't inform hosts about issues that can be easily solved.

I normally act immediately as soon as a guest requires me anything, but how can I act if they don't tell me? And why I have to be punished for their cowardy?

Especially after asking more than once during their stay if everything was going well?

[Maddalena0]

@Connie0 THANK YOU! you totally got my point and the purpose of the thread!

Is there anything you think we can do to ask Airbnb to change their policy on regard?

I think that all of us as hosts we had few of that bad guests, luckily it's not common but it is truly frustrating when it happens.

[Dáithí0]

I wish we could filter guests better. We need feedback to constantly improve but we need fair feedback - and unfair should be removed like in your case where you asked them was all ok and they said fine. 

I have the perfect solution however - guests that consistently give low ratings on places that have consistently high ratings should be given a poor evaluation rating visible to everyone as they are not fair raters and can damage your listing. 

Then hosts should be able to refuse them on that basis or filter them out entirely as nobody wants them as they damage hosts reputation so unfairly. 

Often it extortion too. I once had guests that ignored me when I messaged to see how they were enjoying the place. They were also Airbnb hosts in another country so I was very excited to see how they got on. However they turned out to be extreme undesirables as after they left they said they will give me a bad review unless I refund them. They also sent me photographs my clothes commenting on them, called my personal belongings trash,  called my various books on home improvement as a nothing more than a ‘diy project’ and everything else in my home was also commented on. 

I didn’t reply and handed it to Airbnb who thankfully put a stop to them.

Another time a guest flew to Belfast to save money than flying to Dublin. They didn’t tell me this and I waited til 2am for them to come. When they did they complained about that road and how hard it was to find my place - even though I gave them my GPS link but they didn’t want to waste their data with google

maps. They gave me a 4 and when I got back to clean up they left the place covered in food and the heating on full blast with doors open and unlocked and windows. 

Just dont let it upset you as the majority of guests are indeed lovely but I know how upsetting it can be when you are treated unfairly by guests. Airbnb just needs more filtering tools and hopefully they will bring it in as it also damages Airbnb to have customers like this upsetting hosts who may leave over such customers. 

I had some amazing guests that I am still friends with and they make all the difference. 

[Mandy79]

I've had mainly great guests but the ones who annoy me are the few who as you say are all sweetness and light until they leave ..

Complaints about  bed linen and giant bath towels that are less than6 month old needing upgraded  to improve the standard and being put in under the cleanliness catagorie makes my house appear threadbare and unkempt which is untrue .....I charge the same price for three people in my fully fitted private house with a small garden and private parking as the local hikers hostel does for three beds in a mixed sex 6 bedded dormitory room ! 

These people want to stay cheap and live like a lord while they are doing it !

[Krystal22]

Recently i had a guest who acted as tho everything was great. Then sent me a very long text after she left about a list of things she did not like. I have 3 houses and then i rent a room in my apartment. One of my houses calendars did not sync with another site and the whold month was double  booked and i spent several days working with airbnb and the other site on the issue. Because of this i did not notice when my son, who is 23 came over he left dishes in the sink. As soon as i noticed them i sashed them. He also took a nap on my couch in my living room and this apparently upset her. So i apologized to her. And after calling Airbnb  and explaining her complaints  to ask if i had done something wrong. I was assured my son wasnt doibg anything wrong and i am allowed to have him over this is a shared space. He did not go in her space. But now i cant imagine what her review will say. I will have to grin amd bare it i suppose. 

[Maddalena0]

Hi Krystal,

that guest didn't behave nicely but at least she sent you a private text expressing her concerns instead of telling you that eveything was amazing and then giving you a bad review.

I may be wrong but my guess is that she won't give you a bad review. 

Let us know!