1 Star Review for Host when Guest Breaks House Rules

[Yiwei3]

Hi everyone,

I'm a pretty new host, so I may be a bit strict on house rules.  I had a guest who was trying to have a party with 10 guests over in a 1 bedroom condo.  When I saw this, I messaged her on Airbnb app to ask her guests to leave since her phone was blocked.  She also had extra guests staying over than the 2 she booked.  After the stay, I requested additional money for the vomit in the bathroom, extra guests, and breaking house rules.  She gave me a 1 star review.  How do you all deal with guests like this?  How do you prevent this from happening in the future?

She has no reviews and said that she was visiting friends and family in the area.  

I started 1 month ago and have all 5 star reviews except for this one.  Now Airbnb is sending emails about my listing being at risk.  What should I do?

Thanks so much!

[Sarah977]

@Yiwei3  One of the things hosts experience is that guests who ask for discounts end up being the worst guests. Don't let yourself be pressured into giving a discount- the guest's finances aren't any of your concern, no matter what sob story they come up with. If they can't afford your place, they should look for a listing within their budget. If you want to offer a discount to a guest who has already stayed with you, and you know they're good guests, that's a different story. But a guest asking for a discount and you offering one are not the same.

[Yiwei3]

@Sarah977 oh yes, I've gotten a few requests like that already!  I thought it was just because of this period that people are asking...  Thanks for the advice!

[Wasim11]

It's a horrible issue, I can understand what you feel, long hard works have been lost just by getting an unfair 1-Star review, and the customer services at Airbnb are useless they can do nothing for you. 

I faced the same issue before with 1 guest came from South Korea, I have accepted his reservation while many hosts were not. because of COVID-19 Issues. 

We acting by humanity and the result was 1-Star with a short review ((bad)). It was a shock to me, I have 12 Listings on Airbnb, and I'm Super Host, I call the customer services many times and they let me wait on the phone for more than 2-hours for nothing, and they take 3-days to reply to my complaining messages to delete the unfair review; as it causes to me damage, loses and stress, especially after many free cancelations we get it on March without any previous notice from Airbnb. and their answer was (Sorry we can not remove a review not violates Airbnb's content policy. It's a very disappointing issue, It's killing your interests in hosting with AIRBNB 😞

[Anonymous]

@Wasim11   Just curious, why didn't you post a response to the review?

[Kristina382]

Hi to all, I had several situations with bad guests. They either do not respect house rules or they make damage or they do not want to pay for extra services like airport transfers. Last time I had issue with a guest, airbnb was involved, the top case manager contact me and told me Kristina its my advice for you not go to your place without police. The thing was I had guest from China that booked for 2 persons bring 4 and did not wanted to pay and when we canceled he did not wanted to leave my place. He was also lying the people will go but they have stayed. Even airbnb was involved in this situation guest left me 1 star review, reported me for video recording on site even its written on my house rules that building has video surveillance my listing was blocked for booking 3 days. He wrote I throw their stuff out the building hall yelling at them they have COVID 19 and ofcourse it was not true. What Airbnb did they left 1 star review. Situation before that guest had airport transfer, they ignored my request even I drive them, airbnb contacted them they have charged them but I got bad review second after it. Airbnb must be more involved about this stuff because its blows our ratings for nothing. I thing that the best solutions is that when there is conflict Airbnb should not allow for the guest to leave a 1 star review. I also had situation when guy booked place for his friends, they did not want to leave, they left after  2 hour after check out time. Guy left me 3 star review just because he was afraid Ill leave bad review for him, I even has his messages confirming this and Airbnb left review. 

[Alex1485]

In my experience, it is very difficult to get guest reviews removed, unless the guests use offensive language or threaten you.

I had a guests give  1 star review because I didn't have a teapot (I have Nespresso maker & AllClad pots and pans)  and the nightstand shown in my photo was not next to the bed, as advertised. 

I have also had a guest, that raved about my place during their stay give me a 1 star review, after I submitted a damages claim, as she destroyed lux towels and bedding with biohazard materials. 

Next time engage AirBnb immediately, in my experience, then you have better leverage with claims for damages, etc..

Good luck! .  

[Elisabeth40]

I am hosting over 6 years and I had this type of incident maybe over 10x. Twice I had my entire room demolished and walls were full of vomit, I had to renovate and change the mattress. Once I could't say anything because I had such a feeling that people I am dealing with have guns or could be dangerous for me personally. I never called a police in my life. Some of this type of bookings, it was not a party like you imagine it would be in a club, as I was young, guests just call their friends, sit there and smoke marijuana, drink, people are coming and leaving your home, and they play loud all night long music. If I say something, they say, we are doing nothing, just sitting here and talking and listening to music. 

Yes I also received couple bad reviews for cropping parties down or reminding people they are breaking my rules. I have such a feeling, every time I say something I get a bad review. I stopped worry about bad reviews, from people as a revenge. They know they were wrong and they are scared to get a bad review and if you don't go along with their wishes, this is how you get treated. I don't now, I just try to forget this incidents fast and not to thing about it. It's not fear, but there is nothing I guess you can do, beside responding to their review, I am tired of claiming my rights at my own place, I even don't respond to bad reviews anymore. Sometimes I think, it's impossible to be perfect all the time, especially if you don't have expensive rental, you probably will get more problems. 

[Sarah977]

@Elisabeth40  Most of your reviews are good, but the most prevalent complaint, which is quite valid from a guest's point of view, is that you are a smoker and the cigarette smell is overwhelming for them. You say in the listing that smoking is allowed in the living room, but I think you need to be much more upfront about the fact that you are a smoker (I am too, but I live in the countryside in the tropics, so I never smoke indoors or where it blows back into the house). I would suggest that you make it clear in your listing- "I am a smoker and I do smoke in the house, so if you are bothered by cigarette smoke, please do not book this listing."

It's very unfair to guests not to disclose this. Otherwise your guests seem to like your place and say you are a good host. 

P.S Your photo gallery is odd- you have many duplicates of photos- the first 5 photos are almost exactly the same, as are others. You have a really cool place, nicely decorated- you might want to eliminate the duplicate photos, they are just distracting. 69 photos are way overkill for a private room listing.

[Elisabeth40]

I am a smoker and I usually host host people who smoke too. 

There is a smoking preference in search engine you can check or un check. 

People who comment on smoking are marijuana smokers, for some reason many marijuana smokers think, just because it's a smoking place, I am a marijuana smoker, but I am not. I hate marijuana and indeed I even get passive high when guests try to smoke here marijuana and I tell NO, pls don't do smoke marijuana. I have a very strange reaction on it and I prefer not to get high. This type of people get upset about me 🙂 they do think smoking means "4/20", which is not. Yes it's upsetting to them that I can smoke my cigarette and they are not allowed to smoke marijuana. 

[Sarah977]

@Elisabeth40  Then I would suggest that in addition to making it clear that you yourself smoke indoors, you also make it clear that marijuana smoking isn't allowed at all, since you share the home with guests and are allergic to marijuana smoke. Just saying guests are allowed to smoke doesn't make that obvious- they may assume that if they don't smoke, the unit wouldn't smell of cigarettes, since you only rent to one group at a time. 

I would also reiterate all this in a message to guests when they book, so they have a chance to cancel for a full refund if this isn't okay with them. It's much better to get things clear with guests before they arrive than tell them they can't do something once they are already in residence, which can lead guests to saying in a review that a host is controlling.

It's just like a host saying No Pets- guests can assume that means there are no pets on the property, when all it means is that the host doesn't accept guest pets. But the host may have a dog or cat of their own, so hosts who do usually make this clear in their listing, in case a guest is allergic or scared of dogs or cats.

[Elisabeth40]

Actually I do talk to my guests before they book to clarify everything. This particular guest reassured me they are not coming to do a party. I was dealing with absolute 2 drunk and drugged people who tried to invite friends over. I do agree on that I should change acc your suggestions my description. It's a good idea. Obviously search parameters are not being used by guests. And Listing descriptions are not being read, the same as house rules. And there are a case I had where I was forced by airbnb to host a dog, because it's not allowed to decline on service dogs. In that particular case airbnb didn't cared about me being allergic to pets. And I am scared of big dogs, I have a childhood trauma with big dogs. That was not counting, I needed to go through, since ever I put in my house rules, NO PETS, in a hope it counts.

[Sarah977]

@Elisabeth40  While the general Airbnb policy regarding service animals is that you can't refuse them, there are some exceptions. If you host in the home where you also live, as you do, you can refuse to accept any animals if it would present a safety issue or you have allergies yourself. So you do not have to accept service animals and if a guest complains to Airbnb, you point out the part of the policy that states that. The Airbnb rep you talked to who said you had to accept was wrong. 

But this is also something you shuld state in your listing- "No pets or even service animals accepted to this listing, as the in-home host has allergies."  

The following is from the Airbnb Help page "What is an assistance animal?"

"What if I have a health or safety concern related to assistance animals?

It’s important to be aware of the fact that the assistance animal, whether a service animal or emotional support animal, plays an important role in your guest’s ability to travel. However, if your listing includes a shared space and an assistance animal would create a health or safety hazard to you or others (e.g. allergies and pets who are unable to share space with other animals due to a safety concern), we will not require you to host the guests with the assistance animal. Please be clear and polite when communicating with guests about this. We also suggest you include information regarding any allergies or any safety concerns regarding your pets in a shared space in your listing description in order to better inform prospective guests."

[Elisabeth40]

Thank you so much for your advise. Listen, back then, as it was happening with the service animal, it was a big issue, this situation cost me couple days to dispute. I got told that a guest can take me to cord if I refuse to host her with a service dog. I hosted her one night and asked her kindly to find another place, I got taken away my payment by airbnb for that night. But I also felt so bad for the guest, that I didn't wanted a payment. It was so chaotic, the young dog was not trained and it jumped on people and furniture and was sitting on a couch. I tried to ask the guest not to put the dog on my couch and I got told, the dog needs to be on a couch because she (my guest) is traumatized from a Vietnam war and German war. I was so confused, started googling when was the last Vietnam war, because the guest was maybe max 21 years old.  It seemed to be more of a comfort pet as service dog. The guest groomed the dog and  left all hair on my carpet. But it's long ago. I will never forget this hosting experience and since ever then I believed I have no rights to say no to a service dog, just hope people see it in my house rules maybe and consider it somehow. I really appreciate you @Sarah977 , thank you.

[Sarah977]

@Elisabeth40  You should read that whole section in the help pages of Airbnb about service animals- one of the things about them is that they have to be trained- they can't be a puppy that doesn't follow commands, they must be house-broken, they can't be left alone. Many people will claim their dog or cat (or even a snake or other animal) is their "emotional support" animal, when it's just an excuse to be able to take the animal with them everywhere. Of course even a real service or support animal can shed a lot of hair, there's nothing to be done about that. A responsible guest would make some effort to clean that up.

It's a big problem, because it makes others wary of anyone who claims their dog is a service or emotional support animal, when there are people who actually do have legitimate service animals and benefit from having them.

[Fred13]

Indeed @Sarah977 , it brings up the age-old dilemma - the balancing of the personal needs of individuals vs. those of society at large, with cost being a factor and society having to define when individuals are abusing their kindness.