Can I mention "smoking" in a guest review regarding a house rule violation?

[C--Natasha0]

I've been hosting for all of 5 weeks and finally got my first guest who blatantly ignored my "no smoking indoors" policy. I want to give an honest 1-star review, but can I mention that she specifically violated my smoking rule?? The forums have already taught me to avoid mentioning it was weed, but is the general word "smoking" taboo as well? It's important to me that my review sticks because while I don't want her banned from Airbnb, I feel the need to inform other hosts that if they're like me and have a no-smoking policy, she might not be the right guest for them. Thank you!

[Joelle43 · Accepted solution]

Hello @C--Natasha0 

Yes you can mention that your guest broke the non smoking house rule in your review.  Did they do other things too to warrant your 1* star review of them?!

Whatever you say in your review, keep it factual and professional if you don't want to risk the guest asking for the review to be removed.  Check out Airbnb's terms and conditions

[Ken3180]

Yes @C--Natasha0 , if the guest was aware of the nonsmoking condition, you can absolutely put in the review. I don't think you can mention the weed as you have no proof of this.

If it was my review, I'd also include a cleanliness issue as the smell is going to be a challenge to remove.

[Atara23]

I recently had a similar experience. You mention proof regarding the weed, but I'm wondering what proof, if any, can I present regarding regular tobacco?

Since I can't come up with proof of smoking of any kind (other than the smell which took a lot of cleaning to eliminate for our next guest), I'm not sure what to do. My listing is pretty new so every review counts. I'm still within the 2 weeks of her stay and so far haven't addressed this with the guest since I'm concerned she'll leave a bad review...

I've contacted Airbnb and they haven't assured me the review would be taken down due to the violation, and since I have no evidence they smoked I'm not sure if it's worth doing anything at this point...

[C--Natasha0]

@Atara23  I SOOOO understand where you're coming from. At that point it was my very first property and my listing had been active for less than two months. I'm only eight months in and by no means am I an expert, but I can tell you that host reviews of guests MATTER! And there is nothing more important than a host knowing if a guest violated someone else's non-smoking policy. I would tell you to definitely NOT specify it was weed and definitely don't make it sound accusatory. I went the wimp's way out and simply said in my review that the guest violated my number one house rule. If a host really wanted to know what that was, all they would have to do is look at my listing for clarification. You definitely don't want to give the guest 5-stars within the review for how well they followed your house rules, however. There's an option to select "smoking" as the reason why. You also want to select "no" as to whether you would recommend the guest to other hosts. Once that's all done, I recommend you report the guest and block them from booking your place - and any other property you host - ever again.

The key thing I want to iterate, however, is that Airbnb has definitely made the review process better between guests and hosts. Don't be afraid that you mentioning the guest broke your smoking rule will affect their review of you because they won't be able to read a word you wrote until either their own review has been completed or the two-week hold period comes to an end. And while hosts have the chance to reply to guest comments, I'm not sure if guests can do the same. You would be doing the hosting community a disservice by not speaking truthfully about how a guest treated your property. 

[C--Natasha0]

Thank you so much @Ken3180 and @Joelle43 for taking the time to respond to my post. I kind of chickened out a bit and gave a review higher than 1* but also excluded the fact that she had been smoking. I was a little worried that even accusing her of smoking would be enough for her to lie and say she hadn't smoked. I simply stated that my top three house rule had been broken despite me sharing the rules with her on multiple occasions. Shortly after my review went live, she contacted me saying she was so confused about which house rule she had broken. I told her flat out that the house smelled like weed and my cleaner found some of her marijuana seeds and the butt of a joint left in the apartment (which, for the record, is how I know it was weed). She told me that I shouldn't list my house if I didn't want people smoking in it and claimed that it was hers for four nights. **big eye roll** I blocked her from booking with me in the future. Thankfully I didn't have guests checking in that evening and it had a few days for the weed scent to dissipate. On the positive side, at least she didn't destroy the house...

[Patricia4111]

Wait, she broke three house rules? You should give her a one star review because nobody is allowed to smoke in my home!! I wouldn’t want her to rent from me that’s for sure and I would wanna know!

[Patricia4111]

I would mention it to her directly, see what her attitude is, and go from there, did everything else go OK?

tricia

[C--Natasha0]

This was the guest's actual response....

"Oh well i guess don’t put up your house for rent if you don’t want people to smoke in it, it was mine for those 4 days lol thanks for the stay 💋"

Again, I made it clear that smoking was not allowed indoors more than once. I was a little worried because the guest lived in town and didn't have any reviews. BUT...I have my listing set to "Instant Book," so there was no way for me to back out of hosting them. I know some hosts like to pre-screen their guests first, but I had a guest send an inquiry two days ago and I didn't realize I needed to pre-approve her. By the time I gave the pre-approval hours later, I never heard from her again and she didn't book with me.

I wanted to mention the guest smoked in my apartment, but I just honestly was worried that if I accused her of smoking, it would be my word against hers and she could try to have the review removed. I wanted to say it, without really saying it, all in the hopes that other hosts would read between the lines. I did have to give her 5* on communication because she was a truly effective communicator. And outside of the house smelling like weed for days on end, she left the apartment in fairly good shape. At the end of the day, I want to be honest without throwing someone under the bus.

[Lamia40]

Hello Natasha, sorry you had to experience this. I would give this guest a one star, say in the public review something nice then I would say something a long the lines of “ wasn’t very considerate of thé house rules” and I would bluntly express my dissatisfaction in the private review. Best of luck with your next guest. 

[Rebecca]

Hey @C--Natasha0,

I'm really sorry to hear of your recent experience with your guest. You've had some really great advice regarding leaving the review, did any of the answers support you? If so, it's always a lovely gesture to mark it as the best answer. It's like a big virtual hug to the member who supported you. 😊

[Kemet1]

Hi @C--Natasha0 ,

Absolutely! I leave a note out for my guests letting them know that there is no smoking allowed in the house.

I explain that it takes extra care to get the smoke smells and stains out and that it costs extra for me to have specialized cleaning for smoke. 

You could have a note on your profile that if the guests choose to smoke within your home when you have stated not to, that there is an extra $200 cleaning fee added.