Hosts giving 5-star reviews, despite the experience (or the truth)…

[Gordon0]

Just had two guests (’recommended by’ 5 hosts) check out. And quite frankly, I couldn’t have waited much longer to see them leave.

In short(ish); 

Turned up at 22:30 (despite stating ‘2-3pm’) having decided dinner with friends (without telling me, natch) was more important than my time. Parked in wrong space (despite clear instructions), struggled to open the door (why, just why?) and when they did get open it, slammed it like their lives depended on it. On every subsequent exit and entry.

Spent three days being loud and generally annoying.

Last night I got a message (followed up by a call from an unknown number…which I answered, more fool me): “we left our keys inside, you need to come home”.

When I did, no thank you. 

But I was (rather unpolitely) informed they would be leaving their cases the next day (check out day) until 10pm, because they had night flights home.

Erm, no you won’t, because we’re leaving for our own holidays the same day.

“Ahh, no more guests - we’ll keep the key”.

My “Nope, sorry” met with a pair of ar5e-smacked faces. 

Left the room in a right old mess (I don’t charge a cleaning fee). Four bags of rubbish (the bins are a 30-second walk of the house), half-eaten yoghurts on the dresser, more hair on the floor than a hairdresser’s on a prom-night, and more. And all the walls suitcase-scuffed (those Rimowa ones make a fine mess), and towels a soggy heap on the floor.

Not a quick read, but my somewhat long and drawn-out point/question is, why do hosts feel the need to give guests the ‘thumbs up’ when clearly they can’t wait to see the back of them. These two hadn’t changed their ways for me only, surely?

[Sam397]

I didn't read all the replies so if someone already mentioned this, ,sorry. I think a reason for host either not leaving a bad review or not leaving one at all is because the guest gets to reply back and then thats the end of it. Whatever is said in the response is the last thing people will see and most likely what they will believe.  For example, I had a guest stay after attending burning man, (a big festival out in the desert that everything is covered with a white dust) they washed all their stuff off on my wooden deck and left a white coating on my deck that wouldn't come off. On top of that, she was over two hours late checking out. I put all that in her review and she replied white vinegar takes that right off and then said she was only an hour late checking out. Since I  wasn't able to reply back, I wasn't able to say that I tried vinegar and it didn't work so I had to have all the boards taken off and flipped and restained, or that I had a text that she sent almost 21/2 hours after checkout saying she was leaving then. 

To be honest I don't know what AirBnB can do about it. I think guest and host should be able to respond to a review and there has to be a limit on responses so someone will always have the last word.

So if a host is afraid to give a bad review but doesn't want to lie and give a good one the only option is not give the guest a review. And as far as I know, there is no way of seeing how many stay's a guest had where the host didn't give them a review so what can you do?

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Sam397

this is true... it all end up as he said / she said situation

besides, writing polite bad reviews always takes a lot of time, especially if you have to write it in a foreign language

[Christine615]

@Sam397I would have sent photos to the guest through the inbox, then charged her for the repairs through the resolution center. Accidents are one thing, carelessness is another. If Airbnb can see the date you sent the photos (before another guest checks in) it might help with your case if she doesn't pay.

Also try oxalic acid to clean the deck. It's what you would use anyway to clean before staining. It might get "her" stains out. Can get it at any hardware store:

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/acid-wash-deck-25831.html

[Sarah977]

@Sam0    I hear what you're saying, but I actually think the guest's response makes her look bad. As a host, reading a guest's comment about how easy it would be for the host to repair damage the guest did tells me the guest doesn't want to take responsibility for her actions and considers what she did to be no big deal. Whether it would have worked to spend hours scrubbing the deck down with white vinegar or days taking the boards off, flipping them and restaining them isn't the guest's business. 

[Catherine232]

Like many, I feel, as an Airbnb host, caught between a rock and a hard place. I am not going to give bad reviews for trivia, but I just find the continual lack of care tiresome. Just hosted a group who burned incense everywhere, leaving heaps of ashes on the furniture, table runners etc. The house now stinks of sandalwood, which I know some people like, but which makes me feel sick. But it's not bad, it's just tiresome. Just like them turning up an hour early (on a back to back from a two week stay which we busted our ass cleaning up to make it nice) despite having confirmed check in time. Then asking to check out late. I asked the next guests (also back to back, so three in a row), when they were arriving. They said, "No problem, let the people before us check out late, we won't be there until 6:00".

So I'm just moving yet another item back to its proper place (incense burners rearranged everything) and the new guests walk in, AT FOUR O'CLOCK!

I seriously don't get it. If you tell me you're arriving at 6:00 pm, and it's a back to back with late checkout, I am generally cleaning and touching up to the last minute. Arriving 2 hours early doesn't work!

Anyway, long winded way of saying, I only review maybe 1 in 20 of our guests, because I can't be nice, even when the guests are relatively fine. Maybe time to get out of the business? We're superhosts, but it's taking a toll.

[Sarah977]

@Catherine232 Sounds like you need a bit of a holiday. Maybe block off your calendar for a little while and rejuvenate? Then see if you get a second wind and feel like continuing to host. Or make it easier on yourself- don't take back-to-back reservations- set a 1 or 2 day preparation time or block off a week each month for a sanity break. 

[Dee173]

yes if you give an honest review of a bad guest they will comment negetively, best to not leave a review. 

[Alon1]

Dee,

I don't understand your logic.

A Guest who wants to give a negative Review will do it anyway, irrespective of whether Host reviews or not. A Host then has the option to Respond.

If Host posts a negative Review of the Guest, Guest likewise has option to Respond. 

Both parties are predominantly responding to their own audience (i.e. those who view their profile).

Personally, I've never been inhibited to give my 'honest' appraisal.

[Sam397]

@Alon1 Your comment "A Guest who wants to give a negative Review will do it anyway, irrespective of whether Host reviews or not."  I don't think that's true. I don't know why but I think its been shown that guest who get a bad review feel they have to retaliate by saying something bad about who gave them a bad review. So if a guest knows they did something that could get them a bad review they are going to sit back and wait to see if they get that email saying so and so left you a review, if they don't get it they won't give one because they don't want the host to turn around and give them a bad review but if they do get it, they will then do one themselves.

[Alon1]

Sam,

It's not clear to me on what basis  you make your comment:

"I don't think that's true. I don't know why but I think its been shown...."?

You don't know, but you think it's been shown BY WHO???

it all sounds extremely vague and muddled, and not supported by a scrap of evidence. 

I would say there is no 'true' or false. Only our experiences, and I can only speak for my own.

In my experience over 6 years, every guest who I felt might give a negative review has always done so, and been quick about it  

In such cases, I tend to wait till the last moment to do my own review of the guest. The idea behind it is that hopefully someone else or a number of others will have reviewed in the meantime, so that the negative review will not be the most prominent on my profile.

The situation has been made easier in the past few years when Airbnb changed the way reviews are noted on the listings per se. Originally it was chronological, but now it's mixed up, so a recent negative review is buried on later pages of the Reviews. 

[Sam397]

@Alon1 I think you may have misread my post or something but when I said: " I don't know why but I think its been shown that guest who gets a bad review feel they have to retaliate by saying something bad about who gave them a bad review." I am saying I don't know how come they do it, and I am basing it on the numerous post I have read on this site from host saying how guest gave them bad reviews because they knew they would get a bad review themselves. 

I am not saying its a fact, its just my opinion based on what I have read here and on my own experience. I do know this though, I have only had a few bad reviews but every one of them waited until I posted my review before they did their own.

[Sarah977]

@Dee173 So you don't think you have any responsibility to warn other hosts about bad guests?

[Sam397]

@Sarah977

 have a feeling this post won't be very popular with all the other host and I probably should have thought about it more before posting but I got to do it.  

Sarrah I mean you no disrespect by saying this but how is Dee or any other host have a responsibility to inform other hosts about a potential bad guest? What your saying is a host should do something (in this case write a bad guest review) that could be bad for them just so someone they don't even know won't have to deal with a guest who may or may not be a bad guest. As cold as this may sound I am not jeopardizing my livelihood just so someone I don't even know won't have to put up with a less than perfect guest. My responsibility is to provide for my family and I am not going to risk that so another host won't have a guest that doesn't clean up after himself. I will admit there would be circumstances that I would have to say something, but that said I can't expect others to do the same. To ask someone to do something that could cost them money just so other hosts they don't even know wont have to clean pots(nothing personal Sudsrung just using you as an example) is just too much to ask in my opinion..

[Sarah977]

@Sam397  How does leaving an honest review for a bad guest have the potential to cost you money? 

[Sam397]

@Sarah977 You get a bad review, your rating goes down, you lose bookings, you lose money. I admit its not very likely but that's not relevant. My point is you can't expect someone to do something that could have a negative effect on them (no matter how slim the chances are) for someone they don't know. Just because we are all host don't automatically put us in a brotherhood situation. I don't owe any host anything and nobody owes me anything.