How to handle those difficult reviews!

[Robin4]

I have posted this comment on another thread but have felt that, due to problems experienced by new hosts when it comes to how they should handle the review of difficult guests I would open a new thread.

This is a long post but a lot of time and thought has gone into it....We all learn every day, and as you continue to host you will become very proficient at sorting out 'the wheat from the chaff' but if you take note of these points I am sure this post will stand you in good stead!

Reviews cannot be taken frivilously because they are the centrepiece of the ABB platform. But on the other hand we are reminded at every opportunity that anything less than that 5 stars is not good enough...and for that reason we 'pussyfoot' around issues for fear what we say may come back to bite us in the bum!

And if we start rating our guests as per our experience.......ABB will find a way to remove it!

From seeing thousands of these posts I think I have come up with a protocol for reviewing.

There will be some hosts and guests that will fall outside of the common boundaries of accepted behaviour! There are times when police will need to be involved and even more times when help from Airbnb is required and these incidents will require immediate action, but this will only ever be the case for a handfull of bookings over your hosting experience, particularly as you become more experienced in spotting problem guests before accepting! So what I am saying will not be relevant to those situations. What I am talking about are those hostings where rules were broken, personality clashes existed, and there may have been a different perspective between host and guest. If you are concerned about what to write, try the following! And if the reviews do differ wildly keep these points in mind for your review response:

1/. Never write a review until you have had two nights sleep after the departure of the guest! There are many little things that will annoy you enough to make a comment when they are a fresh experience, but which, with time, will mellow and can be appraised in a more objective way.

2/. Always write a review as though you have been asked to do it for someone else. 'YOU' will see things as being 'bleedin obvious' because it's your 'turf'! Another set of eyes will see a legitimate reason why the guest did (or felt) what they did!

3/. As I have said before, make yourself a nice drink, leave your emotion out in the garage, or out in the barn before you sit down at that keyboard. What you write at this point will stay with you long after you have forgotten about that belligerent 'turkey'! It will stay with you as long as you host and....it cannot be removed! We have all said things we wish we could take back! When it's in a review it is 'set in stone'....there is no going back!

4/. Tell the community what you feel about this guest, but don't give the guest a reason to resent you. As I said in a comment in another thread, you can make them feel guilty by carefully selecting your words but still finish by wishing them well in future. This way the balance of nature is restored....you made your point, but you have also said 'no hard feelings'!

And if their review is a stinker:

5/. Never get into a 'he said/she said' slogging match with a guest. You will always loose, and you will make yourself look petty and a difficult person, in yourself, to deal with. Remain aloof and always assure the guest you value their contribution because after all, the only way you can become a better host is to take notice of what others say. Don't apologise, but tell the guest some things are beyond your control.....like, how much cloud cover may have been present on the day! But tell them that their comments will be taken on board and acted on.

Many guests will form an opinion of you by how you carry yourself in the review process....you can be seen as a diplomatic person with great hosting skills........or you can be seen as a 'tough nut to crack' !

Sorry this is so drawn out but, it is a major issue on the forum ....I am not saying I am the review sage but I have had a lifetime dealing with people....I took a mechanical services company from 3 employees to 27 in 6 years......and I don't think my people skills are all that bad!

Cheers.....Rob

[Robin4]

@Troy6 If you feel their review is ok and the star rating was good then, although it does contravene review rules you could possibly just let it go, because it is a review for a stay which will not have an impact on your review stats, whereas if the review had not been given it would show in your review percentages! And as it has not had a negative impact on your rating then, possibly let sleeping dogs lie!!

If however the review is in some way negative to you, have Airnb remove the review on the basis that the reserving guest did not stay, and ABB will do that....they will remove it! The review you are talking about is short and to the point but Troy, it's not a bad one and nobody else gets to see private feedback so, as far as the world is concerned Troy, nothing got mentioned...What was the star ratings like? That's what would determine if you stay with it or have it removed.

Troy, it is in a way unfortunate for you that you did not review the guest, because you would have had the right to respond to the guests review and you could have, in that response, made mention that the guests information did not add up and that would have alerted other hosts to the fact that there was a guest issue.

Because you did not review the guest, you do not have that opportunity to leave a response. You want to remember that in future!

Cheers.....Rob

[Troy6]

Thank you Rob for your wisdom, they gave me 5 stars! Thank you for your advise, I wil let it go and take onboard your sugestions. Strange as it is but then again, you can never please everyone. 

[Robin4]

@Troy6 Yeah good on you Troy.

There is an old expression 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing!!

I know that review contravened the rules and you can bounce it off of your page, no problems!!!

But down the track if your guest review rate has fallen below 80% it is going to affect your overall status and that review (illegal as it is) will be important to you. You can understand that can't you?

You have received a good review and a 5 star rating, don't tell me you are going to do a Monty Python and shoot yourself in the foot!

We are all after 5 star reviews, and lets face it ABB are making them ever harder to come by, so Troy if anyone suggests that you take the high moral ground and get ABB to remove that review .....tell them to 'get one in their ear'!!

Cheers....Rob

[Deborah82]

I’m truly pleased it all worked out well for you Troy.

[Troy6]

Deborah thank you! I really did not think about the ramifications so I will not ever let that happen again! They did give me 5 Stars so I guess I skirted around any problems that could have been and nothing bad is visible to future guests. Thank you again for your wisdom, it really helped. 

Troy-

[Marc46]

@Robin4 Hi, thank you for the sage advice!

Now I do wonder if Airbnb reviews are ALWAYS set in stone and if there is a way for us host to have a DIRECT contact with a responsible case manager within Airbnb to apply for removal of a specific review.

Back in September last year I had a terrible experience with a customer and had to involve police to sort out matters.

Just in short: We have several listings for the same house (4 bedroom house), people can either rent the whole house or just 1 fully equiped floor as an apartment with 2 bedrooms. 

In September we had a lady booking 1 floor for herself and 2 kids. When she arrived at our property she brought a boyfriend and no kids but the next day there were 10 persons in the house...etc...
After quite some abuse we had to call in the police to "rectify" the situation and in order to avoid further problems we agreed that she could stay with her group by paying pittance extra. All the way we communicated with Airbnb keeping them informed and seeking a proper solution and applying their procedures to swap the reservation from an apt to the complete house.
When this customer left our place she had the guts to write a review putting the blame on us....

As a result we got a negative review with low star rating for the house while she initially booked only an apartment.
Without her negative review we would already have a Super host status for the house and eventually attract more customers....
Further, I felt obliged to respond her review, defend myself and make clear what really happened but I can imagine people don't like to read inconvenient truths and that it may even scare away a few customers.

Is there a way to get rid of that review...given what we really experienced?

[Robin4]

@Marc46....Oh hell Marc, I feel for you, just a terrible thing to happen to you. 

Now it's all very well for me pontificating here on these issues, because experiences like this have never happened to me. Possibly I have just been lucky and not struck that 'particular' guest yet!

But from what you have said, I am afraid that review is set in stone, and you do not have grounds to have it removed. The guest was meerly stating 'in the review' what she experienced, and that is not grounds for removal! 

Peta's review was not a bad one, but seriously Marc your response was a shocker!!!

If you had just restricted yourself to a response like...."As much as I looked forward to hosting Peta she unfortunately accepted the smaller of my two listings and this did create a perception issue with regard to what she though the reservation included. However her being somewhat ignorant of Airbnb's procedure this did create a problem where numbers were concerned but, we worked it out in the end and I wish her all the best in the future" 

Marc, short, to the point you make your statement and you look like a great diplomatic host...there was a problem and you coped with it, and very soon nobody will even look at that review...which as I said was not bad!!

But, my god, that response of yours will guarantee that every prospective guest will read that like a chapter from days of our lives for long into the future.

Yeah Marc, maybe Peta will learn from that, but you should too, and try not to go down that path again....it really does not do justice to the host that you obviously are!!

Cheers.....Rob

[Marc46]

@Robin4 Thanks for your answer. Yes, we all learn from such experiences but isn't it regretful that as a host you have very little protection against abuse and on top of that you have to pussyfut around it?
We live next door to our listed property and we were able to see quickly that something was wrong. When ringing the bell to figure out what was going on we saw teenagers sitting on bar chairs trampling the wall with their shoes. There was a bit of damage at the wall when they left and quilts were a total mess.

When you see 10 people in your house instead of 3 I wonder if you would still think the same way. But yes, I had to be more reserved in my answer I agree on that, for the sole purpose of hiding what happened to the next customers and protect myself....
The least Airbnb could have done is to contact that customer right away when I signaled the problem but they let me solve it completely by myself and just acted as witness to the events.
Even if I would have given a reserved answer...would their star rating have changed...I don't think so.
Airbnb knew about the abuse, there were several emails/communications I had with Airbnb while the issue was happening and it shouldn't be difficult for Airbnb to track what happened so they can conclude it would be better to delete that review.

The result is now that me as a host I got "punished" and tend to always give a nice review to customers even if they left the place in a dirty conditions...I have learned that I cannot speak out. After all, this serves Airbnb purpose but are we fair to ourselves?

Thanks anyway, I hope I can find a way with Airbnb to explain that after all we are their customers as well...

[Dunny0]

@Marc46

Hi Marc,

It seems to many folks in this discussion that all that ABB provides is the introduction of new guests. The actual screening and filtering, sales conversion of an introduction to a reservation is in the skillset of the host. We are in your situation, not side-by-side properties, but two homes up-and-down. They clearly do not earn their 12-14 % plus extra 3%. A professional real estate property manager takes 15% generally, and does far more.

I suggest all of us who see that these problems are not being addressed get busy with the creation of a parallel system for the

introduction of better guests consistently. Doable at reasonable cost with 100 people to start, from my consultants.

As for the future directions of ABB, they are making deals all over China with The Party in local governments. At the same time,

see AIRDNA, the website, for real estate investment advisors promoting the purchase of multiple properties to flood the ABB listings

and be run by professional property managers.

Where we are in Japan, the amateurs doing this had to give up, as governments made new laws April 2016 to force all to have real estate agent training, licencing, bonding, inspection. In some ways good, until one considers that so many of the domestic mafia and underworld connections are just such real estate agents. Hear all about it. My brother-in-law is one here, has a construction company for 35 years.

And ABB cooperted with the governments in drafting thes elaws, neatly removing themselves for any danger of liability

or responsibility. As Robin has indicated many a time, eloquently, faith in ABB support is a delusion. It's paper-thin at best.

I am interested to assemble what we can  - for the benefit of all - in organized resources independent of this forum and ABB.

Thoughts?

Kind regards, best wishes,

Dunny 

[Robin4]

@Marc46...I do seriously understand your pain and it is possibly because you are 'too' understanding and coopoerative that you are in the situation where that review will have to remain.

When this guest turned up with 10 instead of three you had every right to reject the booking. Airbnb would have intervened and had the guest removed because not only had she broken your house rules and reservation acceptance, she also tried to put one over on Airbnb by bringing more people into the listing than she had declared. 

But the problem was Marc, as a reasonable person, you worked it out!!! You allowed them to stay, and you lost any leverage where this guest was concerned.

I am not advocating that we need to sugarcoat every guest review to protect our own a*se.....far from it! In your situation you get the guest removed 'quick smart' and the guest review would not have been able to be written, and you would have been able to pursue legal recourse to get any damage repaired. Some guests forgo the right to being treated with respect, and it's possibly unfortunate in that when a guest is removed because of wrongdoing they get no say on you and their review is rejected, the reverse is also true, and you get no say on them through no fault of your own.....and that is where the system is wrong. If someone has been removed because of wrong doing the host should have every right to make a statement not only in his own reviews but in the 'guests' reviews as well.
Please don't confuse your issue Marc with the idea behind this thread, they are entirely different!

All the best mate, I hope it's a long time before you strike another like that....in 90+ I haven't struck one like that yet!!

Cheers.....Rob

[Marc46]

@Robin4 you wrote "When this guest turned up with 10 instead of three you had every right to reject the booking."
Here is the point: the guest didn't turn up with 10 when they arrived, Peta booked for herself + kids and had communicated me via Airbnb message that she was an "independant parent with 3 kids" and needed a good deal for 1 apt = 1 floor. I already gave her a small discount from the start.
She showed up with a man, they were dropped of by a car and she asked me if her friend could stay till the next day and her kids would come later. As they were dropped of at 9pm...could I say no?
The next day there were 10 persons.

How could I have rejected them upon arrival of Peta + friend?

[Robin4]

@Marc46

Marc you are not getting my point....she booked for three and when the hosting was taking place you noticed 10. When you noticed that there were considerably more people in your listing than you had approved.....that is when you should have got onto ABB and requested action. You say "Could I say no"...yes you could have said no, and that is exactly what you should have done! You should have stated that "My booking was approved for 3 people, I have just noticed that there are 10 in my listing....please relocate or remove this guest!!!"  And Marc, Airbnb would have done it. You created the problem by being the good guy and tried to find an equitable solution thereby bypassing Airbnb's rules.

It's not who she arrived with, it is how many stayed in your listing during the duration of the booking....you can see that can't you?

Marc it is no good coming here and complaining about the rules if you are going to go off on a tangent and do your own thing and not abide by them!

Cheers....Rob

[Marc46]

@Robin4 I immediately called Airbnb on the next day of the arrival of 2 persons when I noticed there were suddenly 10 persons. I gave them the facts but the Airbnb representative that I talked to never suggested me they could remove the guests or relocate them.

Are you saying that is what you would have expected the representative to do? 
As per my earlier communications with you please let it be clear that I followed Airbnb procedures and communicated every step with their resolution center. They could have known that any review from that customer would have been tainted. 

Please, I realize I could have done better but is it justified to put the blame squarely on me as a host?

I also have had lots of good experiences with customers and most are quite happy with what we tried to do for them. 

[Huma0]

@Marc46, just out of interest, did you use the Airbnb resolution centre at all to try to claim for any of the damages, or did you just let it go?

I read somewhere on the forums that if you are/were in a resolution dispute with a guest, they can't leave a review for you, but I've never been in that situation, so I don't know if that is correct or not.

Your guest sounds like a nightmare! While @Robin4 is right in saying that your response will draw attention to that particular review, I can totally sympathise with why you wrote it given all the problems you had with this booking. Hopefully, you'll never have to experience that again!

[Marc46]

@Huma0 thanks for the advice and tip.

In fact we were in a resolution dispute while that customer was staying. Once they were gone I tried to forget them the sooner the better and decided to repair the wall myself instead of raking up emotions again.