How to deal with retaliation review?

[David6]

Another nightmare weekend. Saturday I fell asleep at 12 midnight, as horrendous personal situation  (is this wrong!? Do I need to be 24/7 *woke*)

woke up at 5am to see dozens of calls - around 1am / 2am time - from guest who had ‘left keys in uber’ .

i can’t understsnd why the guest didn’t recall her driver - his number would be listed in app - and get keys back. 

Anyway, at 5am I wake up - message and tell guest how to get emergency set of keys. Bingo! She acknowledges she’s back in flat! 

She messages next day, to say ‘sorry, don’t worry, chatted to driver, I’ll get keys back, before I check out.’ 

So today Monday. Guest checks out. Sends message. ‘Not able to get keys back, I had to rush to catch my train’

I phoned Airbnb to log issue and commenced resolution claim. I just charged  the ‘labour’ to Change barrel on 3 locks. Not whole new locks. No charge for all extra keys I had to cut for me, cleaner, my new guests, arriving this same day at 3pm! I tried to be reasonable. 

Weekend guest accepts the charge, but of course leaves retaliatory review. 

Nearly 6 years of hosting Airbnb? How do I feel? Defeated, unsupported, guests can ruin hosts, no fairness, a platform hosts built and  pay for with fees , yet treated with utter contempt! Superhosts lost because of guests like this! 

And *supposed* voice of hosts (the biggest joke of this century)  @laurachambers 

you ignored me last time when a guest literally sh*t all over my apartment! But when  are you going to step up to your role - supporting hosts? -  stop guests who are charged via resolution centre, from leaving reataliority  reviews????  I appreciate this is rude, but apart from staying with superhosts all around the world - utterly  pountless as so biased- and documenting how amazing it all is. What is your response to hosts like me, who are totally hacked off with Airbnb? A totally disillusioned host worn down by Airbnb policies? 

[David6]

@Yadira22 

Absolutely. I wasn’t happy my keys were left ‘in back of Uber’ but the guest has agreed to get them back. I had accepted this and would have just left negative review and moved on. 

It was her entitled, selfish and irresponsible attitude and this is her actual message to me.

[Yadira22]

@David6 consider having a false bottom to the key box and tape it underneath that? Nothing fancy but might work 🙂

[Sandra126]

You do say that you are available 24/7 in a listing I read, maybe change it? Otherwise, yes, you DO have to as promised.

[David6]

@Sandra126 

thank you for your input. My partners sister passed away on Friday . We were up all night. And just by Saturday night after a lot of wine I literally just hit deep sleep for couple of  hours. Of course the guest didn’t know this. Airbnb doesn’t know this. You guys didn’t know this. Its just what it is. But I’ll reword the listing for sure. 

*edit.

checked all my listings and no mention of ‘available 24/7’ do you recall where you read this? As I’m obviously missing it and would like it altered. Thank you. 

[Sandra126]

Hi @David6 , didn't mean anything bad, and I am very sorry about all that went on. I thought the wording was on the one in Elx, but now I can't see it. It said something like ''when I am not here there is a house keeper and I am available by phone 24/7.'' I felt the wording was very hard on you, the host, as some will take you literally. As for me, I sleep with the phone outside the bedroom. If someone was to be ringing it insistantly I would maybe hear it, but not texts etc.

[David6]

@Sandra126no problem, I took it as good positive advice and helpful. 😎

*Edit. You were correct. It was the listing in Spain. What was I thinking 🙂  So thank you; I’ve now altered it. 

[Michael3267]

I just got burned myself.  A grill was damaged in a storm and we did not have time to replace it.  The guest complained, we apologized and immediately refunded $150 (enough to have a gourmet dinner made and delivered).  Regardless he gave us an overall 3 rating.  It seems he had another problem, he could not figure out how to take the childlock off the icemaker (push button, hold 3 seconds).   Because of his problem, he wrote all over the house instructions “Guests should be told to bring their own ice.”

    If Airbnb really wants to protect their hosts, we should ALL write in on the same day (July 1 2019) and say.   “Any rankings that deviate significantly from the norm should be deleted.”

[David6]

@Michael3267 

Sorry to hear. Wow you really had a guest there! And what a great & kind gesture from you and still he complained. 

I think it’s just the frustrating (anger, haha) in these situations as it’s just so disheartening when we hosts make such effort year after year and Airbnb don’t seem to give a **bleep**. 

[Michael3267]

If it is so hard for them to take care of little problems, imagine the nightmare and lost income if there was a guest that did extensive damage.  WOW.  Scary to even think of that.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Michael3267  we don't have to imagine... there are plenty of posts about it here, and all over the internet already

[Myta0]

Thank you for your post.

Very surprised airbnb posted it.  It is very true host get no support from airbnb.

[Yan37]

I would like to share my experience here too. Just got a 1-star rating today. Guests didn't communicate with us when we reminded them of regular check out time of 10am. On check out day, they stayed in the house, made coffee and showered while my cleaners waited from 10am to 12pm. When my cleaners finally stated the $100 charge and the possbility of calling the police, the guests left in a rush with a messy house behind.

Now he gave me 1-star rating in all categories although he never raised any issues during the stay. I called Airbnb multiple times to report this but I was told the review will stay and the overall score of my listing will be affected. 

When I further pressed the Airbnb staff for more support, I was referred to share my experience here. So here I am......

[Helen350]

@Yan37 Poor you! - Not right that YOU should suffer & get penalised for the bad behaviour of guests.... 

- Do we all need to stand by our doors & exits with our cameras, now, making sure a large clock is placed in shot to record the overstay...? (Not possible in the confines of my English cottage!)

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Helen350 

I think your comment is slightly 'tongue in cheek' but that and other evedence collecting actions by hosts would receive a definite 'yes' reply.

[Helen350]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 Mind you, I count my blessings that so far, I have largely been spared the bad guest. Could be that the sort who visit the Lake District are nice people.... the sort who stay in private rooms are nice people, or British, European & the occasional Asian guests are nice people? I've said before that the bad guest problem seems to be largely a US thing, with a smaller dose in Australia (?). Most of mine are grateful for a bargain, especially the young ones.