Responding to a bad guest and an unfair review

[Jennifer3217]

I had my first bad review and poor ratings.

I'm trying to dispute it because in the public note, she said that the fire alarm went off ... because they set it off, and then it was a low battery, which I have no control over and is unrelated. We scheduled a time to change out the batteries and all was fine. But their private note said it was wonderful stay. But they still left poor ratings.

I was genuinely confused so I asked what their experience was for a poor review considering their private note, or if this was a mistake. They said they saw a bug on their 6th and final night... odd considering no one has ever mentioned that and we are on a routine spray schedule to prevent that. Whatever.

What puts the cherry on top, is I found illegal drugs on my property where the guest would go outside and sit in their car for an hour or more. This is now in my possession once they left and I could have had serious consequences. Also, if I didn't see it in my rocky driveway and the next guest did, this would have been a very poor outlook. I still gave her 5 stars in 2 categories and 4 stars in one and in the review I said she was kind and communicative, but her guest had unfavourable actions.

She is now asking me what the unfavourable action was. I'm afraid to tell her because I don't want her to turn around and say I'm trying to incriminate her, even though I took pictures of what I found. Of course I cannot prove that it was from her, but I know that it was 100% her and so does her and her guest. I don't think I will respond but wanted some input.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

@Jennifer3217  That one seems to be kind of on the line. Nothing about that guest's very short review violates the content policy, but I guess you could make the case that it's too vague to be relevant. Like ok, every Airbnb listing is supposed to have a fire alarm, so the fact that it went off is not in and of itself useful to guests.

On the other hand, "her guest had unfavorable actions" is also too vague to be helpful. You made the right call by not mentioning illegal drugs - that gets a review removed by default - but without having any idea what degree of transgression was involved, I couldn't use your review that to make an educated decision about whether to host that guest. Unless a guest's substance use outside of the house causes behavioral problems inside, I'm not inclined to mention it.

Giving a low rating for "seeing a bug" is super lame, but the only defense against that is to be really selective about which requests you accept. I'm not sure the vetting would have caught this guest's lack of maturity, but her photo sure would (too bad you can't see it before deciding). Fortunately your rating average is still great, and the public response is very easy:  "we appreciate that our guest alerted us that it was time to change our batteries, and are happy to know the fire alarm worked properly when they set it off."

[Jennifer3217]

Thank you Andrew for seeing my frustrations. I did find it difficult to say the right words and  that was the best I could come up with. What would you have liked to see as a host to know illegal drugs were being used, and left on the premise?
Also, do you think it would be best for me not to respond to her question about “what unfavorable actions her fiancé did?” Or do I tell her? I just don’t want her to flip on me and say I’m trying to incriminate her. 

[Anonymous]

@Jennifer3217  No doubt this person's behavior looked weird and suspicious, but in the review I think it's best to avoid making assumptions and simply state the facts: "I found it unusual that xxx's friend repeatedly sat outside in his car for an hour or more."  Onsite hosts would likely find this disturbing, even without the implication of drug use, but it would be less relevant to hosts who don't offer onsite parking or don't care what guests do outside the home.

Some hosts will disagree with me on this, but I don't think a guest's drug consumption is in and of itself something I need to know about; it's a very private matter. If you witness erratic or destructive behavior in the home, I want to know about that, regardless of whether drugs are involved. I'm 100% sure that the guests didn't intend to drop their stash on the ground - it's precious cargo - so I'd let that go as an honest mistake and thank your lucky stars that you found it instead of the next guest. 

How to respond to the guest? I'd say, just don't. The booking is complete, you have no outstanding damage claims, so there's no need to have any further contact with the guest. Had you developed a closer connection during the stay, you might earnestly share your concern about what you witnessed and what you found, and ask if she is OK. But after the negative reviews, you're not coming from a place of mutual trust, so nothing good can come from continuing that conversation. Block if necessary.

[Jennifer3217]

I actually just thought they wanted peace or just wanted to do something other than sit inside. I know some people just find comfort in their own car with music, which I really didn't think anything of. But I see, I do wish now I would have stated, I will not host this person again.

I understand, I also do not care if a person wants to consume drugs, however, since it is illegal to have the drugs they had, and it's on my property, a guesthouse at that. It then is considered in my possession and I could carry those serious consequences. It also wasn't accidentally dropped, or left behind as belongings, it was definitely left as trash.

Thank you for your understanding and communication to help see how to view all of this. I didn't know I could block, and that's probably what I will do.

One last question, is it normal to ask a guest why the poor review? I was genuinely confused considering they left a very positive private note, so that's the only reason why I asked.

[Anonymous]

@Jennifer3217  Hmm...well I don't know which substance was involved here, but the combination of hastily discarding it and freaking out over a bug suggests that it was making them super paranoid. So if you do ultimately gift the cargo to a friend, give them fair warning! 🙂

On the last question - it's not abnormal to ask, but I find that it's only worth asking for follow-up feedback when you genuinely find the guest credible and value their opinion. 

[Huma0]

@Jennifer3217 

It's possible that the guest got confused and left the review in the private feedback and vice versa. I've seen that happen before and even hosts reporting here that they've done that by mistake. I could be wrong, but her private feedback is written like it's aimed at other guests. I don't believe the bug reason. Sounds like she just made that up because she didn't know what to say. I mean why didn't she mention that in the review or feedback then?

You could ask Airbnb CS to remove the review for irrelevancy, but I'd be surprised if they do it. Worth a shot though.

I once had a situation with my smoke alarms all going off rather randomly and it took me about half an hour to get them to stop. This happened when I had a house full of guests and the noise was horrendous. None of them marked me down for it. Reasonable people realise that these things just happen sometimes. Unreasonable people will always find something to complain about.

[Helen744]

@Jennifer3217 The amount I know about smoke alarms applies to Australia . All rented properties must have one at least,nd bigger houses more. We have a specified day to change batteries. Once a year . That is how long a battery should last , if they go of continuously then you need to replace the battery . A different sound to the alarm sound. H