Cranky guests that un-deservedly lower your rating. What should AIrBnB do

[Charles1856]

HI,

 Have you experienced guests where you thought and heard that all is well, but then they ding you from a 5* to  4* beacue of something wrong or very minor?
Things like "the bed was too soft" when 60 other guests say it's very comfortable?

Or guests that are annoyed when you politely ask instruct them to comply to sensible,publish rules, like where to park? But they ignore it and publicly resent you for guiding them to be compliant e.g. park properly to not block in anything?

Or guests that decide your posted and published stairs, furniture, etc., are not exactly what they wanted in the perfect world, so they dock you a whole star?

If all guests did that, there would be no superhosts.

I believe that AirBnB needs to revise its currently biased policies towards these cranky guests versus superhosts that must maintain 4.8* average ratings.

What are you experiences, thoughts and recommendations?

Charles

[Elaine701]

@Charles1856 

AirBnb can't help you with this. There's only one way to mitigate this - and it's not guaranteed, but generally works.

It's prevention.  Undesirable guests exhibit a certain pattern. Generally speaking, they don't communicate well, they tend to be demanding about petty things... they use poor language (not necessarily expletives, but use phrases like "we wanna"  or words like "gonna", poor grammar, and so on), can be pretty self-centered, and tend to divert from answering any questions, as if they have something to hide. You can spot them if you look closely.

If you're getting a lot of these undesirable guests, then perhaps first you should look at what might be attracting that particular type, and try to change some things to target a specific profile - like families or whatever - you have to identify who fits your listing and try to tailor it to attract them, and even subtly make it unattractive to the profiles that don't fit.

But most importantly is to check their reviews and ratings, and ask a few benign questions before they book.  Their answers (or lack of them) can tell you a lot about their character.

"Are you coming to golf? we are near 3 golf courses.". No, nobody mentioned golf, but this is a way to get them to say why they're coming, without sounding like you're gestapo or something. The answers to questions like this can be very revealing.

If they sound dubious, suggest another place that better suits them - maybe even a cheaper place, which many undesirable guests will find attractive.

The vast majority of guests aren't bad at all, many are delightful. But some can drive you nuts. Try not to attract the latter.

Good luck and happy hosting.

[Helen3]

In what way do you vet guests to ensure they are a good fit for your listing @Charles1856 

I used to get upset by getting marked down in the odd category by guests now I don't even notice. I've had solid 5 star reviews for the last four years apart from a host /guest who marked me down for location (her daughter lived around the corner and she knew the area well) . 

[Helen3]

By the way why do you only provide responses on reviews to guests who mark you down . By doing so you make the lower reviews stand out . It's not a good look for hosts to tell guests off for giving you lower ratings and will put some guests off from booking with you @Charles1856 

[Greystone0]

Hi @Charles1856 ,

I totally understand how you feel about cranky guests. 

Agree with other comments shared and here's some feedback:

- I read the 4 star reviews on one of your listings and don't find them cranky, really. Seems like decent feedback. In the case of the child and the dog, I would take that very seriously. Respectfully, perhaps you shouldn't allow children or alternatively don't allow your dog off leash when a guest is around (ever). Dogs are scary to a lot of people and no one enjoys a crotch sniff, paws on clothing and in all cases parents and with children will always be protective. Other reviews note the dog too but keeping a guests safety and comfort does not come across as top of mind, again respectfully.

- if any of the four star reviews are ALSO guests who broke your house rules, and you communicated that to them to remedy, then you may have a case for a retaliatory review. See this for more info:https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/how-to-dispute-retaliatory-reviews-552

- as noted already, your response to the 4 star reviews isn't really helping your listing, it's probably creating a negative impression. After that type of response, that particular guest won't return for sure. Prior to posting a response, if you aren't already, take a moment to evaluate, is the chair/whatever uncomfortable, in need of replacement or new cushion/new stuffing whatever? If so, can you remedy? In a lot of cases, what is noted in a review is probably noted by other guests too, they just recognized it as a non-issue but I wouldn't interpret is as something that  doesn't need to be addressed.  You could consider a response like this: "Thanks for the feedback. Sorry you found the 'whatever' uncomfortable, we will look into a replacement/fix/upgrade. We  strive to make a comfortable and welcoming environment and just note that previous guests found our home comfortable/whatever."  Or "Thanks for the feedback, we replaced the 'whatever'."

Alternatively, if it is a guest that had an issue with a house rule, you could respond "While we appreciate the feedback, please note this guest was asked to follow our parking rules and we feel like this is an unfair response. We  strive to make a comfortable and welcoming environment and just note that previous guests found our home comfortable/whatever."

Wishing you much success!