Would NOT host guests again -review question

Willene1
Level 9
Kaleden, Canada

Would NOT host guests again -review question

I am wondering what action is taken when you choose No to the guest review question -

“Would you host these guests again?”

 

I doubt the next host sees that and I somehow doubt that they would be blocked from rebooking so I am curious as to what affect this has. 

We are hosting 5  30ish (age) guests that just ask for so many favours and ask silly questions, then 30 seconds later, they figure it out.  Keep texting me even though I say I prefer they AirBnb site. 

Hasn’t been 24 hours yet. Can only imagine what the next 2 days will bring. Yikes. 

 

Nothing terrible but I would not want to host them again so it got me wondering what happens when I answer NO to that. 
What purpose does it serve. Anyone know? 

 

30 Replies 30
Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Willene1 

Hi Willene, Saying 'NO' to that prompt will not necessarily have a negative impact on the guest, It will mean they will not be able to book with you again but, that won't become public.

If you give the guest an overall rating of less than 3 stars, the guest may be precluded from Instant booking in future if any host has checked the 'Recommendations from other Hosts' field on the 'Booking Settings' section of their listing description.

 

As far as the review is concerned Willene......be diplomatic!  Remember that Airbnb is 'guest centric' and if a guest objects to a review you have given, there is a strong possibility Airbnb will remove it.

The review will say as much about you as it does about the guest, so don't make yourself look like a 'prickly' host....Leave it for a few days before you write your review to give you time to simmer down and see the stay more objectively!....Willene, this is very important!

 

Make you comments nebulous, but keep within the content guidelines, something like.....

 

"We try our best to give our guests a great experience, although on this occasion the guest struggled with the information we provide in our listing description. Although I wish XXXXX  all the best for the future, I would decline the opportunity to host them again"!  

Now, by giving a review like that you have not contravened Airbnb's content policy, you have not been specific about what the guest may have done and you have given no grounds for Airbnb to remove your review.

What you 'have' done though is send a clear signal to the hoisting community that this guest is one to stay clear of!

Mission accomplished!

 

Cheers........Rob

 

Willene1
Level 9
Kaleden, Canada

@Robin4   Thank you for your reply.  I would not give them a bad review anyway. They’ve done nothing seriously wrong, just irritating nonsense questions texted to me. 

It’s good to know it would not let them rebook with us though. Do we not come up in their search then or does it tell them we don’t accept their booking? 

We’ve only ever had one bad guest that broke every house rule where I wrote a very negative review which was reviewed by AirBnb and accepted as were all facts. 
Has made us much more cautious. It’s usually a red flag when a guest starts bending the rules immediately. I will be diplomatic in my review. 

@Willene1  "It’s usually a red flag when a guest starts bending the rules immediately".

 

Yes, and hopefully a guest is asking for things before booking even, such as discounts, or for you to make concessions in some way for them. Use this info to decline. It's typically a clear indicator of how the stay will go, costing you time and money. Time is money too! It rarely ends up being worth the payout by the time all is said and done.

Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

Still curious what the answer is on @Willene1  question (regarding the "NO" button)

"t’s good to know it would not let them rebook with us though. Do we not come up in their search then or does it tell them we don’t accept their booking? "

Laura2592
Level 10
Frederick, MD

@Willene1  sounds like you got a group of high maintenance guests. That is never fun. 

 

I would just pay attention to the things they are asking. We have a pretty extensive house guide on the coffee table, and every time I get a group like this I add items to the "where can I find" list. Directing people like this back to the house guide saves a lot of texts. 

 

I would leave something in my review to indicate that this group communicated a lot. Notice I didn't say "was a good communicator" but "communicated a lot." That is a signal to other hosts that they may be a bit painful to have in their space. Up to you how many stars you leave and whether or not you push the "don't host again" button. Check out conditions will surely help to make that decision!

Willene1
Level 9
Kaleden, Canada

@Laura2592   I like that!  Thank you. 
That’s exactly what I did tell them - to refer to the House manual. 
We also tweak it whenever we need to. Common sense can’t be assumed. 

Questions were like “Where’s the DVD remote” - “on top of the DVD player”. “Oh found it”

“How do you turn on the fireplace?”  “Never mind, guess I should have turned the light on to see first”

“How do we turn on the sound?”  “Should be in the house manual. Sorry I don’t recall offhand” “Nevermind, it works”

“Do you have a spare mouse? Forgot ours”

”No but can get you one from the office tomorrow” (as its 10 pm)

Definitely high maintenance for sure. 

 

Kelly149
Level 10
Austin, TX

I can't say for sure what is true, but did have a fairly intelligent-sounding CS rep tell me once that guests are only considered to not have positive reviews from hosts when they consistently get 1* reviews

@Kelly149 I would say I believe that. Whereas hosts are kicked off the platform if their score is 4, guests can get 1s and that is the first time that maybe Airbnb feels they might (emphasis on "might") be difficult guests. 

 

As a host if a guest has 3s in any category, it gives me pause. I know how few hosts leave honest feedback so that is really telling. 

@Laura2592 Yes, I agree... very unfortunate then that IB hosts are the only ones who can even see those ratings. 

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Willene1  You say you aren't intending to give them a bad review, but please do mention the "high maintenance" aspect. Hosts who don't use IB are not privy to guest star ratings, nor can we require that the guest has been recommended by other hosts. All we have to rely on as far as what other hosts have experienced with the guest is the written reviews.

@Sarah977   I did not realize that IB had different views. Assumed they’d be the same. Thx for that info. I do agree it’s best to warn other hosts with polite references. 

@Willene1 You can give them a review without sounding negative. Something like "I would recommend XX to hosts who are hands-on and available to communicate throughout the stay. I hope I was able to answer all of XX's questions." 

 

@Sarah977 do you think that gets the point across and will let certain hosts know to set some boundaries?

Hi Katie, Thanks for following up on this. I haven't sent screenshots because that's not a easy process in Windows10- not just a matter of hitting a couple of keys. So- Windows 10, Google Chrome, up-to-date version.

 

You can tell the tech guys that the error message comes up when I use an emoji, then edit the post.

If there's an emoji in the original post, and I edit the post to add some wording or correct spelling, I always get that error message. The emoji is huge in the post, outlined in red as a error. But if I just hit "Post" again, it posts perfectly well the second click.