reviews

[Courtney125]

I have been hosting for almost a year and have been blown away by how great people are.  I've had a few people show up late, not be great at communicating, ask for xtra stuff, that sort of thing, but nothing unpleasant.  But this last couple were honestly a total mess.  I have a small studio (bungalow) with a queen bed.  Small space.  Initially they asked if I had an xtra bed for their 30 yr old son.  No mention of paying xtra.  I explained there was not enough floor space for that.  I have a check in time of 2-7pm.   I like to meet my guests to give them the key which means I need to know arrival time.  They kept moving their arrival time back.  Then they went silent.  I texted and called but got no response.  I finally had to explain that I was not going be able to be there to meet them if they couldn't give me an arrival time.  When they finally realized I was not going to let them in in the middle of the night they called to tell me theyd left me texts on my phone and airbnb which is NOT true.  The aibnb site had NO messages, nor did I get any on my phone. I don't like liars.  Long story, they came with an attitude, much too important to bother with me, much too important to even be in our city. They had a big group of friends stop by with their kids the next day, enjoyed my outside seating in the garden.  In fact they enjoyed everything.   They went thru every single free thing I had out: toiletries, snacks, you name it.  That's fine, that's why I put them out.  But they left the place like a garbage can.  Peanuts all over the floor and in the bed, coffee cups and glasses all over the place, garbage spilling out all over the floor.  Well, you get the idea.  So now, should I be honest when I write my review?  How honest?  I won't ever have them back.  Would anyone else want these guys?  Everyone seems to write 5 star reviews.  I'd like to know if a guest is going to cost me xtra cleaning hours to tidy up after them.  

[Alexandra316]

@Courtney125 This guest sounds entitiled and problematic. I'd give them the ol' faithful: "Guest would be more suited to a hotel environment," with a thumbs down, and 2 or 3 stars for cleanliness and communication. I think other hosts do deserve to know that they're not good guests. They don't sound like the kind of guest I'd enjoy hosting!

[Ute42]

Dear @Courtney125 , if we hosts don't leave honest reviews about the guests we are cutting into our own meat as we say in Germany. If we don't alarm our collegue hosts of bad guests, these people will go on and on with their behavior. I host a person here  in Germany, this person is terrible but I don't mention it in the review. Next thing this person does, flies to the US and rents Your property in Aiken and now You have a problem because I was not honest.

The way I handle it: I try to never get into an argument with guest on site. I (most) always give them the feeling as if everything was ok in order not to provoce a bad review from their side. Also, I never complain about anything by mail after they have left. What would I achieve with this? Nothing, they left a mess, I have to clean it up, that's it.

But then there comes my dead honest review. 

[Sarah977]

@Courtney125   Sorry you had these awful guests. Definitely leave an honest but professional review. 

About them claiming to have messaged you- many many people, both guests and hosts are confused about the message system, thinking they can respond directly to a notification message they get in their email or phone. The notification messages are just that- they let people know there is a message waiting in their airbnb message inbox, which they have to go to the airbnb message stream to read and respond to.  Notifications may include the first few words of the message that was sent if it's a long message, they may contain the whole message if it's only a few words. But responding to notifications goes nowhere, they are not set up to be replied to.

[Lynette57]

Definitly leave an honest but professional review.  I have made the same mistake in the past but I will never have those guests back again, After they had left their review and marked me down for cleanliness ( which was an outright heap of bull) I contacted them several times privatley ( to which they never responded) If I could go back and warn others I would but unfortunatley me trying to be nice may now cause someone to host these guests and have a similar experience to yours.

[Fred13]

    "Long story, they came with an attitude, much too important to bother with me, much too important to even be in our city."

    That was the perfect time to re-assert yourself, that you are the owner and they are the guest, by your tone and manner towards them. Review be darn, bound to be a bad one, anyway. Once you accept that, no need to waste extra time or effort.

[Rebecca160]

@Courtney125 I would recommend posting a generic “ guest bettered suited to hotel” or “guest not well suited to shared living accommodations” publicly. And then detail all of the issues privately. Give them a 3* or less  so they cannot rebook and a Thumbs Down, if they were really horrible that you do not wish another host to have to deal with them. I do not want them in my home, so please do review!

[Rachel0]

@Courtney125  I just had a look at your listing and it is lovely, plus you have 5 stars for everything and great reviews.  All I can do is reiterate what everyone else has said - write an honest review about these awful guests, give them the lowest possible star rating and a thumbs down.  You don't want them back and nobody else is going to want them either.  Good luck!