A plea to all hosts

[Tania-and-Andrew0]

Hello all!

Over and over again I keep finding posts of hosts asking for advice after a negative experience and if they should or not give a bad review. 

Here is my plea: PLEASE, do not hesitate to leave a bad review. Airbnb is a growing community and more often than not guests do not even know they will be graded upon their stay. We need to protect each other, especially hosts that do not share the space with guests are in even more danger from abusive people.

I know it's hard to speak ill about someone you just shared your space with and probably had nice times. Guests can and will request reviews to be deleted if they get too heated and personal. Just make sure you remain neutral, straight and to the point. Especially the key phrase "I would not welcome them back nor recommend to any hosts".

I have had bad experiences with guests that are new to Airbnb or, if they are not, they still think you're a hotel and expect the same service. This is why I put something like "the guest did not follow our house's rules, he/she would be a better fit to a hotel or at a place that has little to no rules. I would not welcome him/her back". If they are new you can just say "guest was new to the Airbnb experience, was a really nice person but did not really get the hang of this. Probably with more Airbnb experiences this could improve" and give personal feedback of the does and don'ts of staying as an Airbnb guest.

Please, PLEASE, always leave an HONEST review. PLEASE.

Thank you.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

As a new host, I fully agree that we hosts need to be as honest as possible when we review guests. I honestly wish guests would also face some sort of reservation limitations or be penalized (like not being able to instant book if they were ever reviewed by another host to have broken house rules, or mandatory deposit even if the host does not require a deposit, if they were ever reported to have smoked in a non-smoking listing) if a guest rating done by a host is anything less than a perfect 5 star.

[Tania-and-Andrew0]

That's a great suggestion! Maybe you can put it on the Host Voice forum and get Airbnb to actually do it! If you do, let us all know so we can up vote it.

[Heather86]

I agree and was one of the people who probably posted about this when I was new to airbnb. 🙂

It is importnat to keep it factual and not let any personal vitriol through. Sometimes I draft it, let a few days go by.

I've only left a couple of "bad" reviews and they are factual. One was something like "Great communication, very friendly, checked out and in easily, but inexplicably had left several towels ruined from what appeared to be a hair color project. Could not welcome back." I left out the commentary in my head about "did they just not notice and are clueless...and hence bad guests??? or notice and say f you..." etc.

[Jo133]

Yes I think its important to say what was the problem, were they messy or smoking, complaining etc. After a year on Air Bnb I started to write worse reviews for people. I still always check myself. Its better to write when you are not annoyed with guests. but have calmed down.

[Bruce43]

Airbnb is the reason I use Xanax

[Paul154]

For me, I want to know which guest are checking out late.

This is a factual, non-subjective fact which helps the next host.

It is difficult to turn over a room if guests leave their room an hour late - it stresses me out.

[Yaniv3]

I recently had a guest literally disappear for hours... check out was 11am and she finally responded to my messages, texts, phone calls at 3:15 pm. And I had new people checking in at noon. Yikes, now that is STRESSFUL!!! I thought she was dead and was ready to call police. All her possessions were spread all over the room and bed including high heeled shoes and her id. And that was one of the more responsible guests, here on a business trip! Airbnb told me after an hour I could go ahead and pack up her stuff. Recommended I document it first with photos so I wouldn't be accused of stealing anything. But I was convinced it might be a crime scene since she was traveling alone in our big city. Turns out she had a bit too much to drink the night before and decided to 'do the responsible thing' and stay with her co-worker. The responsible thing would have been to know checkout time! She added, she thought checkout was 9pm...hugh??

[Todd-and-Reese0]

Here's the thing. It's almost comical that bad guests will not leave a review for hosts. I seems they know that if they do, the host will give them that poor review and rating. So, they don't poke the bear. We've had a few guests worthy of negative reviews and I wait with baited breath for that notification "so-and-so has left a review".  Of course I'm nervous that they will leave us a bad review because they knew we were not happy with their behavior. But, I'm ready to leave them a poor review. However, I also don't want to poke the bear because they probably have already guessed their review won't be stellar and might leave us a negative one. It's a huge catch 22. And so far, only one time did a "bad" guest leave a review, to which we totally outed his behavior matter-of-factly in our review of him. So, the majority of the time, they get no review and vice-versa. The only satisfaction is if they have no reviews yet, so they still can't instant book.

[Tania-and-Andrew0]

@Todd-and-Reese0 so you're saying you have left 22 BAD guests without reviews becuase you were afraid that they leave you a bad one? That's horrible for all other hosts! Now there are 22 BAD guests out there staying with other hosts dragging a horrid experience for them because you did not leave a bad review. 

If they are BAD guests and you were a GOOD host, then there's nothing bad they can review you, if you, in turn, are a bad host (not saying you are!) then other guests should know. Reviews should NOT be optional and as hosts we have to make sure guests always go out there with their review.

[Todd-and-Reese0]

Lol. Language barrier. Catch 22 is an American saying.

[Tania-and-Andrew0]

Ha! Lol. Sorry >___<

[Melanie140]

@Todd-and-Reese0  That would really be back luck on your end if you had hosted 22 bad guests!  One was enough to just about put me in a mental ward.

[Bruce43]

 catch-22 is a paradoxical situation from which an individual cannot escape because of contradictory rules. ... Catch-22s often result from rules, regulations, or procedures that an individual is subject to but has no control over because to fight the rule is to accept it.

sounds like the review system 

[Melanie140]

@Bruce43  Lol.  That is true!