Guest recent booking

[Laurene23]

Gm. To all 

I recently, had a booking with a couple that stated they just arrived to Las Vegas. They stayed six (6) days

Here ‘s the issue in my listing washer & dryer is not available. Guest ask could she wash and I accommodated her saying one load. She washed @ lest  4-5 which went on all day. 
** Guest message me and ask could a friend come for lunch for a few hours, and I said yes! what happened she invited the guest to wash her clothes as well. Very Disrespectful!!!!

* I must give a review stating guest should’ve not been so sneaky. Not acceptable!!!!!!

Please give me some feedback ?

Thank you

Laurene 

[Bhumika]

Hi @Laurene23 , so sorry to hear of this challenging experience with the recent booking. Did you happen to message the guest when they went ahead with 4-5 loads of washing? 

Usually our hosts in community suggest to always leave honest reviews in such situations. However, I am also tagging a few experienced hosts to see if they have more tips on reviewing this guest : @Nash-Cottages-LLC0 @Greystone0 @Rose422 @Tara0 @John7474 @Rudolf103 . Thank you everyone in advance!

Regards,

[Nash-Cottages-LLC0]

@Laurene23 

Oof. I totally understand your frustration. It's annoying, at a minimum, when kindness is reciprocated with being taken advantage of. Your guest was probably of the mind of better to ask for forgiveness for the 4-5 loads as well as her friends'. I like @Tara0's approach with regard to putting something in the 'something else' section.  I might be more direct though - "Though laundry facilities are not an available amenity (as noted in my listing), X requested use for one load, which I accommodated as a courtesy.  However, they did multiple loads over the course of a day and invited a visiting friend to do theirs as well going well beyond the agreed use."

I'd also note something in the public review, such as: "X was a nice enough guest. <say worthing else positive> However, there was a miscommunication about the laundry facilities, which I do not offer as an amenity (see listing). I suggest future hosts highlight any amenities that are/are not available and clearly communicate any other important information." 

And, yes, publicly respond to their review, if they post one. 

Thanks for the tag @Bhumika. 

[Marie8425]

@Laurene23 

I agree rude.

The professional way though is just mark low on communication, because you weren't told her expectation.

No name calling allowed lol.

Guest did not clearly communicate to me exceptions to my House Rules.  I didn't feel comfortable with the utilization of my giving the guest extra benefits and the guest exercising excessive use of limited granted exceptions.

All true just politely saying sneaky haha.

[Tara0 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Laurene23 You have incredible reviews so you're obviously a natural when it comes to hosting! However, you're still fairly inexperienced, so I would regard this as a learning experience, that it's important to maintain very clear boundaries.

You bent the rule to accommodate a special guest request, and yes, she took advantage, but perhaps because you were really 'nice' about it (I'm sure you were!) she then thought to herself, oh, okay, Laurene won't mind a couple more loads etc. I agree it's really pushing it to invite her lunch-friend to use the washer BUT you did get yourself into the whole situation by being too flexible.

I would not leave an openly negative review, because I don't think the guest sounds that bad (much, much worse things happen!) and nothing was damaged, etc, she was just pushing at the bending of the rules which you allowed. If you'd just said, sorry, no, none of this would've happened, right?

Anyway, you know there's a feature when you leave a guest review, where you leave star ratings for things, and there's a button which says 'something else' - you can leave a short comment in this feature, which only prospective hosts can see, so I'd use that to say, "don't let [guestname] use facilities which aren't included" (or something like that!) That way, it's fair on both the guest and the future prospective host. 

And, as I said before, treat this as a learning experience, and think about it the next time a guest makes a special request. I understand we hosts like to be as accommodating as possible, but there are ways of doing it where you don't leave yourself open to your niceness being exploited. 

[Marie8425]

@Tara0 @Laurene23 

Yes she was nice and gave an exception.

No, I don't agree that if an adult books and pays for my space and the adult realizes she needs to ask for an exception.

The adult Guest because of a nice Host the common sense she had to ask for a favor somehow disappears.  She did not have a lobotomy.  She knew she had to ask for a favor and most of us at a very early age are taught taking advantage of a favor is bad.

[Robyn555]

@Tara1  can you send a screen shot of the area a host can put a message only for host to view. Thank you.

[Tara0]

@Robyn555 I can't send a screen shot (nor for several weeks, as I have a really long booking right now). But, when you leave a guest review, you see  the options, e.g. for cleanliness, adhering to house rules, communication, etc. Within all these buttons, such as 'Always replied' in 'Communcation', there are buttons marked 'something else', click on this button and you can add a very short custom comment. The guest can't see this comment, but future hosts can see it.

[Robyn555]

Thank you @Tara0. I worked it out great to know these things.

[Tara0]

@Robyn555 Glad to help! It's a really useful feature of the review process but hasn't been advertised! I think it's a really fair way to proceed, just a nudge to a future host, who most probably has the guest Instant Book.