Wrote my first 2-Star review and... guest was gracious!

Isabel203
Level 10
Halifax, Canada

Wrote my first 2-Star review and... guest was gracious!

After 40 guests, I just had to write my first "not recommended" review.  Right from the get go, I was a bit worried: Their picture looked a bit intimidating; they weren't very forthcoming in their messages. Nonetheless, I stuck by my booking rules (which they met) and accepted the reservation. When they arrived, they were very pleasant and respectful. We had a nice chat as I showed them around. A couple times during their stay, we ran into each other on the property and exchanged a friendly good morning. They were quiet. All was great!

 

Then, after checkout, I headed down to the suite to start cleaning and found... a MESS!!. No damage, but 3 hours later, I'm still cleaning.

 

No doubt in my mind that other hosts need to know about his messy habits, so I sat down to write the review (ugh).

 

Of course, I worried about whether I was being fair (too harsh ? not harsh enough?), about the kind of impact the reiew would have on the guest (afterall, they weren't EVIL, just sloppy) and whether the guest would make things difficult for me in return. I acknowledged what the guest did right, gave a factual description of the mess they left behind, took a deep breath, and clicked "submit". And then... within minutes, the guest responded with a brief apology and a "god bless".

 

Just thought it was worth sharing this, since so often we here about the times things get nasty. Even problem guests can pleasantly surprise us!

46 Replies 46

@Webizz0youre just a troll. You & your profile have been flagged/reported to Airbnb . Get a life.

Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

They had left a review right, why they were able to see yours so quickly? What did they say in it?

Yes, @Fred13, they had already left their review. Short but sweet. Basically said "Great place. Really enjoyed our stay. Thanks."

Cool. I maybe would have taken it easy on them if they were merely sloppy, but if it took you 4 hours - yikes.

@Isabel203

I'm glad things ended well 🙂

 

I expect I will be writing my 1st not so glowing review soon.......  Henry and I are counting the days (D-46)  till this guest checks out. The guest hasn't violated any house rules (barely), but he's one of those passive-agressive types - doing stuff he knows will irrate/annoy others but minor enough to pass it off as just a careless mistake.

I feel for you, @Jessica-and-Henry0. Sometimes it's those "borderline" guests that are the most difficult, because you"re constantly having to re-evaluate what your response should be. If they would clearly and egregiously break the rules, it would be easy to decide what to do!  May the next 46 days go quickly for you 🙂

J-Renato0
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

You said the truth. It was an honest review.

If he had left the place in normal and acceptable conditions, he would have received a good review.

If he was given a bad review it was his fault, not yours.

You do not need to regret, you did the right thing and said the truth.

 

Telma9
Level 1
Hafnarfjordur, Iceland

Hi Isabel, I also just wrote our first "not recommended" review, and as with your guests our guests were pleasant enough in person and communication and gave us a nice review.

 

Bottom line is we would not like to host them again as they did not follow house rules about not wearing shoes inside the home which is the general rule and custom here, and they left lots of dirty plates, cups and kitchen utencils in spite of house rules stating they need to be left washed and cleaned. Every floor and table top was covered with crumbs and food everywhere, floor covered in mud from under their boots etc. We charge a nominal cleaning fee and the rent for our rather big space is relatively low and this is possible because people generally leave the place tidy.

 

This summer we had a group staying that ruined two brand new white towels by using them to clean their shoes/boots. One room was tidy and the other was very untidy. They were a group of four tso I felt bad writing a review that would possibly shame the "innocent", but I would definitely not like to host them again and wish I would have shared that opinion with them and the Airbnb host community this summer. 

Hi, I am new to Airbnb,  I just wrote my first bad review. I want everyone to enjoy their stay and don't really care too much about the cleanliness because I know that I will come across clean and very messy guests. But the guest I wrote the not recommend review for was a nice person, her reservation was for 3 people 2 nights; and she had 3 pick up trucks, a trailer, a box truck( like a moving truck) and two cars. In the morning I walked over and politely asked 2 of her guests who was unloading about a dozen buckets from the trailer to please not park the trailer and trucks on the grass. He told me don't worry we are very careful and will not damage your grass. They look like construction workers.  That afternoon more people showed up. Check out time is 11am I showed up at 11:30 some of the guests were still there, I asked her why she only put 3 people on her reservation she said she was moving and the others just came to help, and that she is leaving now. I didn't say anything else; because I am not sure if she's lying about moving because her other reviews mentioned she travels with a group of workers. After they left I had  some lawn damge from the trailer tires; they left garbage from their vehicle, and trailer outside  in fornt of the house, about less than 3 feet away from 2 pails; one of our mugs was on the ground by the garbage ; cigaretts butts by the patio door.  Also a big roll of garbage bags, a bag of tide pods, and all the spices I had left for the convenience of 1-2 nights guests were gone.  I sent her a message explaining what had happend she did not respond. I supposed that's why I mainly wrote  the not recommend review. I was concerned about her review since I am new; but a couple of days later she gave a good review and wrote great place; I still feel bad about it because I know it wasn't her personally.

Raman2
Level 2
London, United Kingdom

Now he who had the traveller's is correct to give bad reveiw 

Raman2
Level 2
London, United Kingdom

Ifyou read it in reveiw can u really complain 

Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

I would however make sure you the host - make it known about what your expectations are via ~your description~.

Words like 'normal' or 'acceptable' or 'messy' do mean difference things to different people. Not all guests are equally tidy, and not all hosts are equally forgiving nor tolerant about un-tidiness.

I personally do not like drama queens, nor demanding guests with chips on their shoulder, those are my requirements, so I make it know to my guests by description and manner. Result - they never go there in the first place.

 

J-Renato0
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

From my point of view, It is not necessary to explain what is "normal" or "acceptable" to anyone who goes to a restaurant, who stay in a hotel or that book a place via Airbnb.

"Acceptable" means that it is something that the host can at least cope with, or that is acceptable in any hotel, restaurant, Airbnb listing and whatsoever.

I have been to US, UK, Europe, most of the South America Countries, and a "normal" guest is just a "normal guest" anywhere, being supposed to be polite, having gentle manners, and leaving the room in "normal conditions". The guest are not supposed to clean a hotel room before leaving it, but it is supposed to leave it in a normal and acceptable condition to be cleaned.

I am glad you have such a solid handle on the meaning of such subjective terms and and everyone is in agreement what they mean.  Count me out of that group.

With my guests I take the following approach: I am very explicit in what they need to do, said in a friendly manner of course and definitely with a sense of humor, It causes less confusion and thus far 100% of the time has eliminated the need for me to say anything negative about a guest.

In essence, I do not to make hosting a 'test of knowing better', if I did many will definitely 'fail it'.

 

J-Renato0
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

I am addressing Mr. Fred, to anyone who may not understand this post.

 

You have your way to approach the guests and you have a successful result. You are a superhost. Congrats!

 

I have mine and I also have a successful result. I am a superhost as well.

 

I stand for what I have said.

 

Thanks for letting me know your opinion.

 

Could you please, post here some exemples about what you say to your guests (in your style, friendly manner and sense of humour) that guarantee that 100% of the time there will be no problem and eliminates the necessity to say anything negative about a guest?