@Sue185
Well here I am back again. I am including @Andrea9 also in this response because I am sure she could fill in the holes I leave behind!
I worked hard physically all through my working life and I felt something of a 'worthless' individual when I retired Sue! Although I was not drawing a pension off the system owing to our assetts I did feel like a bludger....everyone else had a job and I didn't! This is where Meals on Wheels has been so good for me, it has given me a sense of purpose and the fact that you can help people who can no longer help themselves in the process, makes the experience so worthwhile.
To the bike rental business, if you have it in writing that your insurer will cover not just your bike usage but the entire concept of short term renting, they understand exactly what you are doing and have issued a policy on that basis then great. You have a relatively unique insurer, many will not insure for this scenario! The other thing which has come up is make sure that your local government authority, Strata management (if applicable) are aware and accept that you are short term renting. Any insurance company will take your premium but if you don't have permission and you lodge a claim they will reject it on the basis that you were perfoming an 'illegal' activity! It's a bloody minefield Sue......and @David126 has had many years specifically in insurance, his opinion would be better informed than mine.
Back to your review:
Keep your review brief and, while not ignoring your obligation to other hosts consider your position first and, as you are concerned with keeping your hands clean and protecting the hard work you have done, keep your review very vague!
"Although the guests stay with us may have been coloured by his distance from his home in Germany he did have a disprespect for our house rules and I do not feel he is suited to a home hosting environment"! You haven't accused him of anything Sue so there will be no back tracking when you see his review. And whether he reviews you or not, that will appear on his reviews and there will be nothing in that the would allow Airbnb to remove it if he should complain. There is nothing defamitory, nothing untrue....just your opinion of him so the review will stay.
When his review comes, really study it and then you can give a response that will tell the world what you feel without being bitchy about it....Do not get into a war of words!
"We were disappointed that this guests lack of regard for our house rules caused us considerable concern, particularly our smoking rule. We understand that smoking is an addiction but we do expect guests to abide by our policy because many of those to come after him do not share his addiction. His other concerns we dealt with, although some of them were of the guests own doing which makes all the efforts we go to a bit useless. You cannot protect people from themselves! We do value the review system and guest feedback because it makes us better hosts. We will always try to control what we can but, hope guests will understand certain things like the weather are beyond our control and to be rated on temperature and whatever insects may be in the area is maybe being a bit unfair. I wish this guest all the best for the future, but based on his stay with us I would find difficulty in recommending him to other hosts"!
There you go Sue, apart from smoking which is a flagrant disregard of your house rules you have not accused him of anything so once again, he would have no grounds to have the review removed.....But more importantly it will make you look gracious and a person of diplomatic character...I would sure want to stay with you based on that! And because you have not made a big deal of it, his review will soon disappear into obscurity.
People say I am too soft with review responses but I think they sell themselves short. There are very few hosts who can't read between the lines....Give it a go Sue!
Cheers......Rob