How do we protect our 5* ways of working when our guests choose to disrepect and break all the rules?

[Darren-and-Sarah0]

We wont be alone in this. Im staying curious as to how to handle this with the guest and also with Air B N B. But to say if feel slightly cheesed is an understatement! 

Not wanting to sound annoying BUT we know we do hospitality well. We've been doing it for a lifetime.

We have been hosts in different countries for years and on Air B & B for 6 + years - we are v familiar with dealing with a spectrum of guests - we are used to dealing with humans and navigate challenging conversations with grace wherever we can.

BUT we are getting increasingly frustrated about how guests can break ALL the rules and yet we have to stay quiet to avoid being impacted by a negative Air B & B review when we operate at gold ++ standards? 

An example played out this week and we feel we have to play a game to protect ourselves as a quality HOST.

We recently invested in a renovation of a large property and launched it to market in January of this year. Overall our guests have been excellent. It's a 5 star premium property with brand new interiors, phenomenal location landscaped gardens and fabulous facilities. 

BUT A guest booked our property visiting from Australia. Had 5 x 5* reviews (altho we are now questioning how that can be possible) The original booking
8 adults + 2 infants. Lots of factual stuff but the gist would be - Her communications were more than poor from the outset taking weeks to reply to simple requests - at one stage wanting to bring a dog - we have a dog policy which we communicated - ignored our reply- when we requested age of children so we could establish if she might like travel cots or step stools for bathrooms etc..  ignored our messages.  

The day before check in as part of usual housekeeping practices - We asked how she might like the beds to be configured for the 8 guests - as in twin rooms or doubles etc... messages ignored. 

In addition - The Guest booker had not downloaded or read our Welcome Guide Pack which has all the information about operating basics like the pool/spa/sauna.

On the  morning of booking we had a booking amendment request that told us now kids coming & now wanted 9 guests. We eventually called her and she stated she 'wanted to do the right thing' to let us know. (we wanted to believe her but had become concerned - our gut instincts were right)

We finally managed to speak to the Guest Booker an hour before check in as our intention was all about making this the best guest experience.  Her attitude was immensely flippant - we were confused as the number of people / beds she was actually going to use. She was vague and dismissive of our questions. It was appropriate to remind her that we have a NO party policy and being amidst a residential area we respectfully request quiet hours from 10pm - 9am. 

What transpired was what we had started to suspect on check in day.

From our security cameras we could confirm multiple cars came and went thoughout the day and into the evenings.
Additional guests arrived. unloading multiple ice boxes of food and boxes of beer. Loud music was played until 1am - screaming and yelping. At least  6 extra guests stayed.  We received complaints from the neighbours from the 10pm noise level and a complaint was filed with the council.

The following day we notified the Guest Booker advising her that we are aware of the extra guests and got in touch with air b and b support. We have to wait 72 hours to see if she pays before we get any furhter support. 

In the meantime we are cleaning up the impact of these guests (both physically and in the residential community) We have gone back to review the air B & B process.  It's got us thinking how powerless the host becomes when we are dealing with clearing up messes of inappropriate guest behaviour & actions.

"AIR B & B REVIEW  FROM THE PLATFORM

Reviews are critical to help build trust on Airbnb—they’re an important way for Hosts and guests to give each other feedback, help our community make informed decisions and understand what to expect. We believe that a fair review system is one that respects and protects our community’s genuine feedback, and we have a number of safeguards in place to help build trust in our reviews system.

WE reread the REVIEW guidelines - on the air b and b basis - a 5* review to us would be absolutely deserved for every category - our standards and communication are 5*

• Check-in. How easy was it to find the place and get inside? 
• Cleanliness. How well was the home cleaned before the guest arrived? 
• Accuracy. Did the place meet the guest’s expectations based on the listing?
• Communication. From booking to checkout, how well did the Host communicate?
• Location. How did the guest feel about the area and neighbourhood?
• Value. How was the value of the place for the price? Heavily discounted  as this was our first booked

Reviewing guests is one way to remind them to review you.
Your reviews appear on the profile pages of the guest who booked and the guests who accepted invitations to that reservation. Strive to:

• Show gratitude. This could be as simple as: ‘Thanks for being our guest!’
• Offer details. You might write: ‘This guest followed our checkout instructions perfectly’.
• Be respectful. Consider addressing sensitive issues in a private note.

You’ll be prompted to rate guests on cleanliness, communication and following your house rules.
Your feedback helps enforce ground rules for guests, which require guests to treat your home like their own and follow your House Rules.

FACTS

- we have not recieved the funds for additional 6 guests

- no communication received about having additional guests at the property - and additional 12 guests were on site

- a party was hosted 

- noise levels impacted our neighbours and a complaint was filed

- we reached out to give her the opportunity to speak to us - ignored our messages

- the check out guidelines were not followed 

- still assessing the inventory & damage

For the next 14 days - If we review this guest with the 1* cleanliness, communication and following your house rules. that is deserved to expose the behaviour/actions to protect other HOSTS having to deal with this - then we run the risk of a negative review. We have already experienced attitudes that represent a lack of ownership or responsibility for their actions. 

We get it Air B N B seem to protect their guest to ensure they are getting the quality of accommodation that is advertised etc etc

BUT Air B n B also need their quality  HOSTS to grow and develop the platform.

We accept accidental damages happen - we accept some guests dont clean as throughly as we might like  - BUT the damage that this type of guests creates by behaving in ways that break ALL  the rules and in the process seriously damages community relationships who start to resent the existance of our business vs support it.

Its also easy for a guest like this to set up a different profile by using a different registration email.

It takes the hosts a heap of time and energy to reset from actions that some guests just walk away from. 

Its pretty sad how some humans behave and dis-respect other peoples property. 

What are your thoughts? 
What ideas do you have that could support these situations?

[Helen3]

It's horrible when you encounter bad guests but it seems there were lots of red flags with this guest . 

I am  more risk adverse then many, so wouldn't have let the guest check in in the first place if they refused to provide clear information on who was staying  @Darren-and-Sarah0 

Im a little confused why having spotted cars coming and going all day with guests not on the booking bringing food  and drinking did you not go there straight away  and ensure visitors not on the booking left while you waited for airbnb to cancel the booking so you could get the guests out @Darren-and-Sarah0 

it should have never got to the stage where your poor neighbours were disturbed until 1 in the morning and the Council involved. 

by the way there's no risk for hosts in leaving honest reviews of guests  I'm not sure what you think the risk would be? 

as you say you're highly experienced hosts so have your own systems in place I'm just not sure why one of them isn't you or your cohosts going over to a listing when you have problem guests disturbing your neighbours.

[Darren-and-Sarah0]

Thanks Helen - agree the red flags were there on the communications and we will addressing some of our processes. We were hopeful that integrity would play out.

We checked the security cameras with number checking in on site initially - that appeared ok. We want to honour privacy and avoid any invasion of that.

We will be revising our procedures on that and involving Air B n B earlier in the process.

Further reviews of the security footage were once we were alerted by our neighbours disturbance - when the reality played out. On this occasion our local property contact was away for that one night.

Right now we are focussing on mopping up the mess, supporting our neighbours and working out how to avoid this happening going forward. We will always be learning!

We also had a delay installing the Minut sound monitors - they will help going forward. 

We want to avoid this particular guest being able to repeat this so that others don't have to deal with her. We could not recommend her as a guest for anyone.

With regard to your comment about risk of an honest review - on a different experience we had of something of this nature (not as extreme and a different property) - the guest became massively defensive and used our low star feedback to them to review us negatively when you could not have faulted the Comms, Cleanliness, Location, Accuracy, or Value - they got an exceptional off peak rate! 

[Robyn555]

Helen3 do you have instant booking turned off? Is this how you manage something with red flags.

Regards

Robyn 

[Helen3]

No I incorporate vetting questions into my IB process if guests don't meet the requirements I can ask Airbnb to cancel penalty free @Robyn555 

I also have house rules guests need to meet 

for example in this situation if the guest refused to confirm how many were on the booking it would have been grounds for Airbnb to cancel. 

also having people at the property not on the booking would also have been grounds for cancellation - unfortunately @Darren-and-Sarah0  says he didn't have any cohost cover in place when the party happened and didn't go to the premises themselves when they knew the party was happening.?

[Robyn555]

@Helen3 what are IB questions maybe I am missing this. Where do zi include the I B questions?  Thank you

[Helen3]

If you look at the Airbnb Help Centre and look at Instant Book it mentions there you can add IB questions @Robyn555 

[Pat271]

Like @Helen3, I have stringent communications requirements.

If I get a booking request from a guest without the requested intro, I ask, in a friendly way, to hear a bit more about themselves and who is traveling with them.

If I don’t get a response for 6-12 hours (depending on length of time on the platform, reviews, etc.), I reject the request and issue a canned message saying that their booking request has expired because requested information was not provided. The message also instructs them to turn on notifications if they haven’t done so already, so that they don’t miss important info from their host and from Airbnb.

So far, in every instance this has been enough to bring them back to provide the info, most of the time apologetically. I thank them heartily for their info and accept the booking.

I refuse to have someone in my home who won’t communicate. We know so little about our guests, as the platforms have eliminated most identifying information. It’s not like a hotel proprietor, who not only communicates with the guest either on the phone, online, and/or in person (sometimes all 3), but also seems to be able to extract, in writing, a guest’s full name, address, phone, email, car they are driving, driver’s license number, etc. Not being able to ask for the identifying information beforehand, I at least want to get a feel for who will be staying in my home by having a short exchange. It’s not foolproof, but so far after 7 years of hosting, I’ve been able to avoid the “red-flag” guests.

I want to add that other than this communication, a short welcome the day after they arrive, and a thank you message after they leave, I don’t bother my guests. There is a fine line between being friendly and accommodating, and being a nuisance and disrupting their stay.

[Robyn555]

@Pat271 this sounds great. Could you copy and paste your questions you speak about? It may help a lot of us. Thank you.

[Helen3]

@Robyn555  @Pat271  Has already mentioned in her reply to you above what questions they ask.

have a think about what vetting questions are important for you and then include .