Another horrible experience with a host has me wanting to leave Airbnb permanently

[Stacy481]

I've been on this platform for over 15 years. Many bookings, many great stays, but lately it has just gotten so out of hand with demanding hosts with insanely high standards. I'm a great guest. I treat the properties with care. I've never damaged anything, I check out on time, I'm quiet, I do exactly what the hosts ask—take out trash, start dishwasher, put linens and towels where they want them. But no, that is not enough, even when I'm already paying a hefty cleaning fee.

Most recently, a host left me a negative review because I didn't load the dishwasher perfectly and because there was "some oil" on the countertops. She also claimed I left the bathroom not "in good condition," even though all my family of 3 ever did there was shower twice, and brush our teeth. It was normal, standard, human use of a bathroom by traveling people.

Meanwhile, this same host decided to start garden construction in her backyard, with absolutely zero notice to us. The backyard faced our living room and kitchen. We had no choice but to leave our blinds closed during the day, as random men walked back and forth in front of our window and a truck pulled in with cement. It was insane. Yet, I never said a word to the host. I decided to just let it go.

And she had the nerve to complain about us not perfectly wiping her countertops, not perfectly cleaning her bathroom or stacking the dishwasher, even though we checked out an hour early and paid a cleaning fee.

Why do these hosts think that this is the right way to go about running their business? Trashing good guests, because of such miniscule things. It has all left such a bad taste in my mouth. You pay someone to stay at their house, you are quiet and respectful, you check out on time, you do what they ask, yet after all that you still have to deal with crappy reviews, ruining your day. It's insane.

I might give Airbnb another shot, but if something like this happens again, I'm done, truly done this time.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Stacy481 Don't go - Come to us decent hosts instead!

Sadly you have perpetuated the bad behaviour of this host by not leaving an honest review. You don't have to be nasty just honest and say what happened. You don't even need to give them a very low score but just describe the experience as well as you can.

As a host I go by the words not the score that a guest has because I am well aware that there are hosts out there that expect the place left as it is found which is ridiculous when folks are working or on holiday. 

[Stacy481]

I was honest in my review, actually, but now I realize I could have laid into them more. I mentioned the unscheduled construction work and gave them 4 stars overall. Although it should have been 3.

[Elaine701]

@Stacy481 

This host won't last long if they behave as you describe, AND their guests leave an accurate review of that. 

Sorry for your bad experience, but it's just that simple.

[Zheng49]

Considering you gave a 4/5 review to a host that has 4.95 rating, and is in the top 1% of listings, I'm pretty sure he just responded in kind. PS 4/5 is a negative review in Airbnb land, especially to a host with 4.95/5 in ratings. 

I think he anticipated a negative review in this case and reacted in kind. I don't think we're getting the full story here. 

[Stacy481]

@Zheng49 Well, the host can't see your review until they write one for you. They wrote one for me. I fully expected it to be a positive one, because I literally didn't do a single thing wrong or make any complaints to the host during my stay. I wrote my review, but mentioned the unexpected backyard work, because it was important to note for future guests: Hosts may be doing work on their yard, so this won't be the quiet sanctuary they describe in the listing. Never in my wildest dreams, did I think these people would have anything to complain about with us.

Maybe they were offended that we didn't eat their tray of marshmallows and gram crackers that they left out? Who the hell knows. Maybe they're legit crazy and the mask of sanity is slipping. They had a sign at the entrance to the airbnb that said "this home is protected by the good lord and a gun. if you come here to steal or do harm, you might meet both of them," with a huge picture of a handgun under it. I kinda knew that we were potentially dealing with kookoos when we checked in. Which is why I didn't complain about the yard work. Because these freaks have a gun on the property and i'm traveling with my 6 year old!

And btw, I mentioned the gun sign in my response to their review of me, and she claimed it was "slander" and that the sign was "humorous," which it absolutely wasn't. There's nothing humorous about having threats of violence on your property, ESPECIALLY property you rent out to families! They had games for kids inside the airbnb.

[Zheng49]

You should be ready to get a negative review back if you write one yourself.

It's pretty easy to anticipate a negative review in this case, since there was yardwork going on plus a complete lack of communication during the reservation. For me, if absolutely no communication occurred during the reservation and the guest writes a review, it already sets off warning flags for me. This combined with the yard issue makes it easy to anticipate a bad review in this case.

IMO, the better way to handle this would be to ask for a partial refund in this case, especially because of the noise issue, and not to leave a review in this case.  

Edit: Although yea the sign with the gun is  kind of a major red flag to me as well. This potentially complicates the situation quite a bit. I do think the sign itself is way overboard, and threatening guests with such a sign is unnecessary and mean. 

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Overall I think there's nothing wrong with the review you wrote, and the host does deserve a 4* in this case. However, it is naive to expect a 5* review when you write a 4* review, imo. It is easy to nitpick, at the end of the day. It's easy to justify a 4* review, since the guest experience or the host experience is a completely grey area and is just really hard to refute that with evidence, since experiences are almost entirely subjective. 

[John5097]

@Stacy481 

This is happening with both host and guest. Some host like this one writes negative review for not wiping down the counter while charging $150 cleaning fee.  I always clean every inch of my counters between every guest even when 90% they are perfectly clean. I just think it's necessary to clean every surface between guest. Bathroom also needs to be cleaned. Yes guest brush their teeth, they get little splatters on the bathroom mirror. The whole thing needs to be cleaned. Host can just be very controlling. 

Likewise some guest are unreasonable. It can be challenging to offer a good value as it can attract guest who want to stay for the value then expect the host to include things that are clearly not in the listing. 

You may be able to see if the things this host complained about were in the list of check out instructions. Overall though I would say your assessment is correct and its host that are hurting the platform the most and driving guest away. Even here they aways coach host to leave guest negative reviews instead of communicating, so this host may have read a lot of the advice here and thought it was their duty to leave you a negative review, then try and blame everyone else or some recent update in the app about lack of bookings. They are even very upset they can't put undisclosed cameras inside whole house listings. 

[John5097]

You could contact customer support and request to have their review removed per Airbnb policy.

"Guests expect an easy checkout without any cleaning tasks, but they shouldn’t leave your place in a state that requires excessive or deep cleaning, as per ground rules for guests."

https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/a-clear-and-simple-checkout-584#:~:text=After%20boo...

The way the host phrased the review they expected you to do basic cleaning task that should be done by the host and their cleaning. The kitchen counter and bathroom already need to be cleaned. There was nothing in the review that indicated the guest left the place with excessive cleaning. Although the host claiming it took cleaners an extra hour to clean the bathroom is obvious exaggeration and they already stated several other basic cleaning task that guest aren't supposed to do. 

[Stacy481]

@John5097 True. I can try it. I had another bad experience with a host (my only other one among dozens of positive ones), where she wrote completely false things about me, and I had evidence that she was lying and presented all of the evidence to Airbnb support, but they still wouldn't remove her review because they claimed that it was her "experience." So, basically, Airbnb says: Facts don't matter. Whatever hosts feel they experienced from their guests is fine to post.

So after that experience and this most recent one, I have little hope that Airbnb can do anything to manage ridiculous reviews. But I'll try one more time.

[John5097]

@Stacy481 

You could try messaging them and including the link and quoting the policy. Most of what the host claimed, like didn't load the dishwasher properly, didn't wipe down counter, are basic cleaning things that guest aren't responsible for because they need to be done between every guest anyway. 

The only thing that could be considered subjective is the claim the bathroom took an extra hour. But how is that even possible? Seems like customer support might realize that's an exaggeration given the context of host complaining about basic cleaning that guest aren't responsible for. Even starting the dishwasher isn't something guest should have to do. I prefer guest not to start it so I can pre clean whatever they used so nothing gets baked on. Plus it sounds like the cleaners broke the glass. Even I break them while unloading sometimes. This is all super petty for a guest who did a bunch of extra chores and paid $150 cleaning fee. The host is probably paying the cleaners much less and has agreement that they just make the beds.  

Guest can be difficult also. My listing is great value, books way in advance, only $25 cleaning fee but some guest want additional discounts or amenities that are clearly not included, and would need to triple the cleaning fee, and go up 30% in rates. They know this but mark me down anyway. 

I also ignore any previous host marking a guest down if they don't state why in the review and so far haven't had any problems. One I'm hosting now said guest got chips in a hot tub. Absolutely perfect guest. Host on here also boast they gave someone a 4 in cleanliness for a few crumbs under a table. 

That's the worst part of Airbnb is encountering people this controlling either guest or host. If I stay at another Airbnb as a guest I'm going to message first and ask about cleaning and such and if the listing is accurate, if the hear and AC works, if there is instructions, if all the bedding is washed between guest, although honestly I would just bring my own next time based on past experience, and your host also compromised on cleaning responsibility and probably been a year since any of the blankets or mattress topper has been washed. 

[Janet1536]

I was asked to reduce my cleaning fee down from $100.  Reason was they were only booking for 3 nights.  I responded that no matter whether it were 3 nights or 7 nights, everything will need cleaned.  They didn’t book.  But, I feel my response was correct.  My home is a 3 bedroom 2 bath (average $115. per night) they were booking for 6 guests (max. occupancy).  With 6 adults, they would need to book at least 2  hotel rooms.  Just don’t understand where they think my fee was too high.

[Stacy481]

I would love to be able to ask a host al of these questions before booking, but honestly, sometimes there's just no time for that. Sometimes, you're just trying to find the best reviewed place in your budget ahead of a trip that wasn't planned weeks in advance. And you find a place that looks good, is priced well, and has mostly solid reviews. And maybe there is one or two really bad ones, and you kind of choose to ignore them, hoping for the best! That's basically how I booked this place. But now I realize I'll never book a place this way again. I will definitely be more selective and perhaps that might mean paying a little more. Or just not traveling.

[Janet1536]

Hosts and guest need to be considerate of each other.  If we paid a cleaning fee to a host, we definitely want the home to be clean.  As a host I would never want someone to come to an unclean home. If I  Circumstances arise, kindness is a must.  Repeat issues need reported, but speak to each other before jumping.  Guests and hosts have a responsibility to each other.

[Zheng49]

+1.

Communication should ideally happen before leaving a negative review. If you don't communicate at all, you don't give the host a chance to make things right. 

Yes, the host does deserve the 4 star review in this case, but you also didn't give the host a chance to redeem himself. I'm willing to cut the host a bit of slack in this case, considering their stellar track record. 

1 off mistakes happen, and you should (usually) give the host a chance to remedy things.  I understand the gun sign complicates the situation a bit though, and I also think it's way overboard. 

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When guests break my house rules, I always (politely) inform the guest and let them know (over 90% of guests are apologetic about it and immediately stop) instead of just ignoring it and smack him/her with the 4* review at the end of the reservation.