When is a guest a “bad” guest?

[Courtney125]

I’ve been hosting for over a year and while most of my guests have been fantastic, I’ve had the few “not so great” ones too.  But I’m in a dilemma over this past one.  She was not a good communicator, which drives me crazy.  But not grounds to call her a bad guest. She left the place in reasonable shape.  But she didn’t follow instructions.  I asked her not to block my car in the driveway, to pull in to unload and then back out onto street.  She left her car blocking mine til late at night. I had to text her repeatedly to get her to respond.  When she did she was at dinner and said she’d move it when she got back.  Not exactly ideal.  She also left all the outside lights on at night.  She left a half a case  of beer in the fridge, and bottles of odd alchohol and the garbage was full of bottles. Not my business but I feel uncomfortable giving her a stellar review.  Check out is at 11am.  I thought she was gone and went to clean up and found her in the bathroom still putting on make up.  So late to check out too.  Didn’t seem to faze her.  So what do I say in my review??? 

[Paul1255]

Hi @Courtney125 I hope you are well!

Well done for wanting to review your guest- hosts will sometimes decide not to leave a review for a guest who has been less than perfect, and this doesn't help future hosts, the guest or the community in general.

I always think about the following 2 questions at review time- do the same and see how you feel, this can then help you build a framework for your review:

-Would you want to host this guest again?

-Would you recommend this guest to other hosts based on your experience of them?

It sounds like she wasn't the ideal guest, given what you've told us.

What you've said is clear and factual- as your review should be, so I'd use some of that for the body of your review, just take care when mentioning alcohol to perhaps be more discreet and generalised about items left behind/not disposed of/recycled correctly 🙂

Best wishes

Paul 🙂

[Courtney125]

Thanks so much, appreciate the feedback.  Totally agree, would never mention the alcohol issue.  Just mentioned this in my question to show possible reason for behavior.  I’ll do my best to write honest review.  Hate writing less than favorable reviews.  Always seems harsh.  We can never know the reason for bad behavior.  But I’d not want this guest to come back.  So I guess it’s just one of the downsides of hosting.  

[Paul1255]

You're welcome @Courtney125 indeed it can seem harsh, and you're right we can never know the reasons for certain guest behavior- but just remember all you're doing is reviewing your experience of the guest at the time they stayed with you- it's not a slight on them as a person or a reflection of them as a whole.

Paul 🙂

[Sarah977]

@Courtney125 Honestly, the reason for bad behavior is immaterial anyway. When someone ignores what they are politely asked to do like not blocking your car, turning off lights, and checking out on time, that's just rude. Whether it's because they're soused or stoned by noon and "forgot" or they just don't care, or they're distracted by some personal problems, the result is the same for the host.

Try not to feel that being honest in a review about why a guest isn't desirable has anything to do with whether you're a nice person or not. This is business- other hosts need to know the facts, and guests need to know that their behavior isn't acceptable.

[Courtney125]

You’re absolutely right. Thx so much for taking the time to give advice.  

[John1080]

@Courtney125, given what you have told us about her lack of communication skills and violation of rules, which put you out, I would not want this guest in my space. 

One of the primary reasons we hosts leave reviews is to let other hosts in the community know what they're getting into. I would personally leave her a factual review with the information you provided and I would also give her a thumbs down. 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Courtney125

Communication issues. Not following house rules. Leaves lights on unnecessarily. Not respecting check out time. Overall entitled behavior. 

Sounds like a bad guest to me.

If it were me I'd leave an honest review focusing on the facts...... and leave appropriate star ratings. (3 or less for house rules and communication) 

[Kelly117]

I'll join in on this convo!!! Communication is THE most important thing for me from the get go!!!   It creates a sense of entitlement and leaves you wonder what shape your property will be in with such an attitude.  We need to be able to quietly and safely block them from booking again IF WE AS HOSTS DON'T WANT TOO!!!!!!   Please help us airbnb big boys!!!

[Rebecca181]

You're a lot nicer than me. I would have had her car towed. Her problem if she doesn't feel like moving it. Not mine.

[Ben551]

I’m having a similar dilemma...

I’ve only just started and have had great guests so far.  But one swine my wife and I had to clean up after one time was unbelievable. We both felt ill. It was like someone had actually taken a crap in the shower then wiped themselves on the towels. My wife had to use excremental cleaner (reserved for traditional cloth babies nappies) on the towels. I actually can’t repeat some of the other things we found... it took 5 hours deep cleaning and steam cleaning, using every trick we knew.

Thankfully we got it all clean and like new, so don’t need to ask for damage money... but still, logic says we should warn other hosts. The trouble is we live in too small a place to leave a bad review and not be run out of town by a disgruntled guest who spreads a bad message about our place. We have very little “real” protection or power against these kinds of guests, if any at all.

Tossing a bad review out feels like throwing a grenade at a rubber wall.

[Sandra856]

Hi @Ben551 🙂

Why is it you feel that you can't afford to write a bad review? The guest won't be able to read your review of her before after she wrote one herselve OR after the 14 day review periode is over. I am about to write a bad review myself. My guest haven't left a review yet and I'm waiting till the very last minute to write mine. That way she won't have long to submit hers (smaller change she will write one). 

[Ben551]

Hi @Sandra856  only because in a city like Wellington in New Zealand the power of "word of mouth" is stronger than the internet.  We often say it's like a village, not a city.  Everyone knows everyone and gossip spreads like wildfire.  If I give any guest a bad review, they will see it eventually.  They will then tell 10 people about it, likely with a fictional story attached to make themselves appear better and that story will be accepted as truth, not the internet version. 

I think people are used to thinking that you can have the last word on the internet... unfortunately the conversation continues offline and can be quite damaging when you live in a place with only 72,000 residences in it.  Yep, that's how many there are in Wellington city (in total, not just Airbnb).