guests one star review

[Boonkiat0]

I had a guest who visit us for 3 nights and the blameing me about the Thailand Pattaya local tv. they claim that the signal is not that good but i told them that this Local tv they used anlog not digital signal so its not going to be like Full HD (Net Flix) that crystal clear. they start to angry because they have to watch youtube on their phone rather than the TV. They start contacting Airbnb and tell me that he will give very bad feedback. So finally i come up with solution i will refund them on Airbnb for one night for free for their dinner to make them happier. He feel better. but after they came back they put me one star review. i contact airbnb for this problem because i have all the chat and even money refund through airbnb. they can not help. For me i think its not fair for us because we try very hard to have superhost. while this kind of guest are threatening us. What you guys do? i even tell airbnb that if i am a tricky guest i will book for those superhost who seriously do rental business and i will find something to blame and asking for extra discount unless i will give them one star. Airbnb said they aware of this problem but still no solution yet

[Gillian19]

@Boonkiat0 You advertise wi-fi and cable TV, so it would seem fair that the guest can expect good quality TV and internet. Maybe update your listing to be clearer on what the TV they actually get is to prevent future mis-understandings.

[Paul154]

You probably will not value my input, cuz I am not a Superhost.

But Homey don't play that.

When guests want and complain about things that are not possible, I smile and deflect.

But there is a firm line. I will not be a party to their ridiculousness. 

"Sorry about the Youtube. Have you seen  our wonderful sunsets yet?"

Regardless what I do, they will be unhappy. Even if they are compensated, they will still be unhappy.

Sorry

[Rebecca181]

@Boonkiat0 I am very sorry this happened to you. Amending your listing so that the TV reception issue is made very clear to guests will help protect you in future should you receive a grossly unfair 'Overall Experience' review and have to ask Airbnb to help rectify the situation. For example, you can write about the poor reception in your listing description and also in 'Other Notes'. 

Sadly, Airbnb's review system is extraordinarily 'guest-centric' and at times inarguably unfair to competent, committed, hard-working hosts, including Super Hosts. It sets us up to do things like refund a complaining guest or offering them gift cards and other things in hopes they will not leave us a bad / unfair / retaliatory review.

After only 10 months as a host (and 9 of those as a super host) I have come to a place of peace and acceptance around the possible eventual loss of my super host status. I know that I offer an excellent rental experience and I also know that some guests will review in a manner that may cause me to feel it was unfair. This can be most disheartening. But I am learning to not care about holding on to this supposedly beneficial status - And this is getting easier and easier because there are actually very few benefits that I can see to being a Super Host (we do not rank higher in search results, for example), and there is a tremendous amount of extra stress due to fears of a less than five star 'Overall Experience' review that could deprive us of our Super Host badge.

I don't know about you, but I have had only one guest out of over 70 that even knew what a Super Host was, and no guests have used the Super Host filter to find my listing that I am aware of, and Airbnb does not appear to be marketing Super Hosts nor do they appear to be educating guests on who and what Super Hosts are and the standards they must adhere to; and now it is all about Airbnb Plus so who cares about us much now, anyway?

I run my listing now as a professional business. I do my best and offer my best to guests at all times and let the rest take care of itself. With the new standards being rolled out this July, many Super Hosts will be losing their Super Host status due to the fact that a bell curve is being used, versus a weighted average. Which means most of us sooner or later will fall below the required 4.8% rating (just one one star Overall Experience review could be deadly under these new rating methods, for example). 

I can do my best to sail my ship, but I can't control the weather, winds, or sea. Sometimes there is great relief in simply letting go...

[Tony134]

The situation you are referring to is called "Review Blackmail."  It happens frequently.

The solution to this issue is for everyone to be able see all reviews, both sides.  "Nothing good withers beneath the sunlight."

Overly picky/complainer/blackmailer guests(often the ones that also don't read the listings) are in my opinion the #1 source of frustrtaion for Airbnb hosts, and Airbnb honestly should just be less worried about losing their business, especially because they cause so much frustration.

If Jane shows up at my home and leaves a crap review, another host should be able to see that and the response and make an educated decision about hosting that guest.  There is nothing unfair about that, it's called all parties being fully informed.

Airbnb probably knows this is the proper solution, but wants to keep the guests that frustrate hosts because hey, extra paycheck.

[Mia185]

I wonder if low start view would impact search result since I cannot find my place on the map anymore