Do you allow guests to break house rules so they do not give you a bad review?

[Letti0]

I'm seeing a startling large pattern lately, especially since they changed the SuperHost qualifications on AirBnB. But it's not just here but on other hosting forums for other sites too. Hosts are over looking extra guests they can prove and not confronting their guests and letting them stay free when they clearly have a fee that should be paid. Guest check in way too early or check out way to late and they say nothing. Leave the place a total pigsty and they do nothing or say nothing. Guests bring vistors on to the property without permission; yet you look the other way. Allow the guest to control the environment, rather than the host this one is more related to shared homes than entire houses and appears to be happening to more and more hosts in the last 6 months or so. Guests asking for things you do not supply, but you go the extra mile and give it to them anyway to make them happy and it continues to happen again and again once you give in once. There's a lot more but those are the bigger ones. I been seeing a lot of. 

More than half of the hosts do not leave any reviews of the guests at all with the bad behavior out of fear of a retailory review. I have also noted that a lot of hosts do not actually understand the review process at all and think if they don't write one then the guests won't appear. Also that many host never leave a review for the guests good or bad. This is troublesome for a few reasons. One a guest rent out places from hosts that do not review at all and have issues renting with hosts that require reviews. Bad guest get to repeat bad behavior at another hosts place without any warning to future hosts. Some guests won't review a host that has not reviewed them first, the logic is if they can't bother I can't. 

For the first 10 reviews I let things slide a little, but not anything major. I also use the stategy of reviewing the guests immediately and usually get a review back within 1 to 24 hours, then I ask about the issues that came up on check out along with any costs involved if there were any there usually isn't, since it has to be a claim worth putting in the effort to get before I bother. This has been a very useful method, so far anyway. I am now at the point I will confront them during the booking stage or when they show up with extra guests issues, infants being paid for, vistors showing up, etc. Reviews be danged. I will not be abused or taken advantage of by my guests. I prove a great place with many extra amenties they will not find elsewhere for the most part. I let the place speak for it's self now. I understand all hosting styles are different, but why do so many hosts allow this abuse to go on and continue renting to the guest or guests and not get AirBnB or whatever site to cancel them and get rid of them? It just boggles my mind. 

The other thing I have noticed is very few hosts actually have rental agreements with their guests. I not only have the rental agreement I get a copy of the government ID. My guests do not really have an issue with this, out of all my guests on all the sites I list on only one has refused to sign it and return it. They cancelled. No big loss in my mind. Also surprisingly many hosts are not aware of the host and guests email's provided by AirBnB to send the rental agreement and ID back and forth via PDF and JPEG. 

So my question is are you one of the hosts allowing major House Rules to be broken for fear of a bad reviews and if so has it really stopped the bad reviews from bad guests? I personally don't see how it would, but I'd like to know what your actual experience has been.  

[Gillian120]

Know this is an old post but since I challenged a clearly inaccurate review by a guest who broke the house rules then it looks like the answer moving forward is YES

[Joel272]

Well I just had a week that all what you described happened to me. Is like guest have control over my property and even over my house rules. I clearly stated no check in after 10pm (key are collected in another place) and many guest arrive after 10pm. So to try to be a good host I help some times waiting for them. I decided as a simbolic action ask for 100sek to pay the traing ticket at that time and some of them after make me wait because they arrived just before 10 refuse to pay the 100sek. So no more waiting for guest that never read the house rules.  And Now I am under presure because if I enforce house rules they give me a bad review. Then I explained the situation to airbnb support and they can not do anything. I can not request money after reviews are done and if I have a guest coming right after I just can request money before the next guest arrive. So this week got 3 stars review. Another guest complained of me not be available and take care of them.....well after answering 12 of her messages since booking time and also find a stroller for her grand son (no included in the listing) even sent photos so she could see the stroller, then she complain about my lack of communication!!!! Seriously!!! Well tomorrow to reinforce and be more strict with guests as less chance to a direct trouble with them I will be in peace. Thanks for letting me relieve this frustration

[Karina-Каринa0]

Joel, I have noticed that you have to keep your prices high. When I lower my prices, I get more picky and unhappy guests. Not logical really, but that is how it is. The more the guests pay, the happier they are?!?!?!? I got the worst reviews from guests who booked on discount!!

This may be psychology at work: if the customer has paid a lot, they will want to be happy about their choice. If they took a bargain, they want to see if it was worth it...

[Olivia215]

The same. 

It’s called being cheap - expecting extraordinary service for minimum price 

[Ute42]

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Hi Joel,

You wrote: "And Now I am under presure because if I enforce house rules they give me a bad review". 

Well, You can still get a bad review even if You don't enforce Your houserules. If someone breaks Your houserules on an ongoing basis, this person is very likely to leave You a bad review anyway. So, who cares? Go ahead and enforce Your rules and then see what happens.

[Sarah977]

@Joel0  I suggest that you be polite and professional, but stop bending over backwards to do special favors for guests, things you don't say you provide in your listing description. 

It's one thing to hang around and wait half an hour for a guest who has phoned or texted you to say they are stuck in traffic, or got lost, that's just part of hosting.

When a guest first arrives, make it very clear right at the outset what the house rules are (and make sure to reiterate your house rules in an Airbnb message when the guest first makes their booking, and require that they respond that they have read them and agree to them).

If you have really nice guests who show you that they are responsible and appreciative by their words and actions, there is nothing wrong with doing something extra for them, but wait until you see that they are worth going out of your way for.

Don't base your hosting style on fear of bad reviews, but on your own self-respect and a professional attitude. (which doesn't mean you have be stiff or formal with guests or not have a good, friendly time with them if they behave like decent, respectful people)

It sounds like you get a lot of bad guests, which may mean you have to look at changing something- your listing description, your price, the minimum or maximum stay length, or the type of person you gear your ad towards, etc.

[Inna22]

@Letti0 very interesting topic!

I do not have a rental agreement. I do not see how it would benefit me in my particular case  but might unnecessarily irritate guests. Or maybe I am lazy. I do ask for ID at check in some cases- when something does not seem right or with last minute bookings. When I do, every time it is like pulling teeth. No one has ever just given it to me. Usually it is a major back and forth and involves Airbnb CS and some point. 

As for review, I do have to admit that sometimes I do not leave a review so not to trigger the bad one. There is something about getting that message "read what so and so wrote but only once you write yours" that I think makes most humans curious. So I do not want to provoke them. However, if they do write one for me, I let it all out for sure.

Now, to giving it to unacceptable behavior or demands. I know for sure that when I did in the past, guests just did more things wrong, demanded more and gave a bad review anyway. So now I stick to my rules. If anything, I may have lowered the negative review rate. I always cite my or Airbnb rules, so it is not like I am making any new policies up on the spot.

[Ute42]

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@Letti0+ Inna (can't tag You)

Hi Inna,

You know that I love You, so I have to be real sweet in my wording to You.

Inna, it is a mistake not to take down the passportinformation of each and every guest. It says in the airbnb TOS that the guest who booked is liable for all damages of Your premises, and that is not only for him or herself but also for all the people that come along. This liability is unlimited. Now if someone destroyes Your place and You want to sue that person, how can You do it if You dont know the guests identity. Where would You send the legal papers to?

Oh, I forgot, of course there's the airbnb host guarantee. If You read the TOS of this guarantee You will find out, that this guarantee is limited to the amount of money airbnb payed to You in the last 12 months, it's basically Your last years airbnb revenue. Or, if You're a brandnew host and You haven't had any airbnb revenue so far, it's limited to $100. Read it, I think it's in section 6, at least it is in the german version.

I live in Germany and we have a law by the name of „Meldegesetz“. This law requires all hosts, no matter if they are commercial or private, to take down the passportinformation of all guests on site and then report it to the local community. Our country want's to kow, who stayed where and when. If You don't have such law in the US, put it into Your houserules: „Passport required for check in“. You will find out that some people will not book Your place with this requirement, and maybe it's better that You don't get them.

As far as I'm concerned, noone enters my place without showing the passport. If that's a problem, the guests have to get back into their car and drive back home. Faced with this option, they all show their passport and I don't care if they like it or not.

This is the form we have to fill out in Germany:

[Sarah977]

@Ute42  While I think you give sound advice, what I don't think you realize is that the average American or Canadian, or even Mexicans where I live, do not have passports. If they never have reason to travel outside their own very large countries, they have no reason to apply for a passport. But they do have driver's licenses and other forms of picture ID.

[Ute42]

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Hi @Sarah977 ,

in Germany there are 2 major documents to identify Yourself.

No 1 is called "Reisepaß", that's a passport we need to travel to foreign countries such as the US and where visas can be stamped in. No 2 is called "Personalausweis". That's a plasticcard with Your picture and data on it and it has an electronic chip. Either one is good for me if people want to check into my place.

[Letti0]

@Sarah977  i usually get a drivers license, but I am seeing Passport cards a lot more frequently that are needed to go from the US to either Canada or Mexico now instead of an actual passport. 

[Ana1136]

@Letti0 I was breaking all of my house rules for them, I was providing much more than listed in the Airbnb profile, I was upgraidind people to apartments with lake view even if they had booked the garden view until i learned that no matter how much you give they will always want more and it does not influence their review. We were picking guests up from the airport and bringing them back, organising city tours, anything they even mentioned we tried to accomplish. And it definitely isn't worth the trouble. I now only give what is written and not a thing more and nothing is changed.

[Yulianna0]

I just have started in August and already learned the lesson. No breaks of house rules! If they do something strange I will talk once, explaining what’s going wrong. Second time does not exist. Really I felt good stopping one bad stay. I need money but personal dignity and security cost much more. And I don’t think that to provide more amenities is a good practice. It is business with counted cost. They buy what we sell. 

[Victoria567]

The problem with such entitled guests is that air bnb condones their behaviour by removing reviews written by hosts.

I had 2 entitled guests from Salt Lake City in Utah, USA who thought it smart to make free use of my washing machine and electric tumble drier, despite my listing stating a fee was to be paid.

I involved the resolution centre and asked 2 operatives if the following review was acceptable ( otherwise I would have made changes if required, if I was breaking any rules)

Both said my review was OK, but I am surprised my review has been removed.

How are hosts such as myself to know what type of guest is going to be sharing my family home?

Hi Julie
Thanks for reaching out and declining to pay for the use of my washing machine and electric tumble drier
I love feedback whether it is positive or negative. I especially like feedback like this so others can see the “entitled” guests I sometimes have to deal with.
There is a large element of trust in being an air bnb host and I feel that trust has been eroded by a guest who does not care about honouring the £10 fee clearly stated in my air bnb listing for use of my laundry facilities in my family home.

Yes.....it’s my home, not some hotel or large corporation such as Hilton or Google who can forgo the odd Ten Bucks.
In fact it is the home of a retired senior, a woman in her sixth decade.
Particularly galling, as this gullible senior, also waived her Strict cancellation policy and let you change your booking from 2 nights stay to a 1 nights stay ( at your request, a couple of days prior to your arrival) FREE OF CHARGE and this senior also lost £62.50 in payment into the bargain!

I appreciate any guest who chooses to spend their money in my family home until they act like like this and tries to make it up to me by promising to write me a nice review.

You can pen whatever review you wish and I won’t lose a second of sleep over it.
The only thing I have lost this season, is trust in the “ entitled” guests that seem to be increasingly using the air bnb platform for a cheap deal, rather than being genuinely part of the sharing economy.

I shared my beautiful modern home with you, I also gave you fresh grown organic fruits of apples and plums to eat on your onward journey ( as part of my warm hospitality) but Im afraid I do not wish to be part of any deal!....whether bartering down a price for my accommodation or getting your money’s worth or even getting a good review as quite frankly I’m quite appalled by your attitude.
Enjoy the rest of your holiday in Scotland