I tried to dispute a review made by our guest which was re...
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I tried to dispute a review made by our guest which was retaliatory in nature. The guest had violated our check in policy ...
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Within 30 minutes this evening I got the worst review I have ever had, and also one of the best.
I don't stress about reviews any more, they just emphasise what a weird and diverse bunch we humans are.
Here was my worst......
And 30 minutes later came this one from a guest who arrived two nights after the one above!
So, there you go, I go from being a totally unsatisfactory Airbnb host to one of the best within 48 hours.
This is why it's no good taking any notice of the Airbnb review system....who is correct and accurate here? The first review or the second, they can't both be right. What do prospective guests learn from this? All they learn is to not trust anything they read.....it's sort of counter productive!
Until this evening out of 508 reviews I have only ever had three 3 star reviews and I have never copped a 1 star in any category before.
Never mind, it will be more than another 100 reviews before another 3 star comes along, whereas I know I can depend on another 90 5 star reviews in that next 100!
I guess it reminds me of that old saying...."You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all the time"!
Cheers.......Rob
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Hi Rob
its interesting that you have picked up on something above which seems to have shifted recently. There are alot of newbies booking Airbnbs at the moment. The request to book comes with very little info and limited engagement, despite my best efforts! 😉 Happy to help anyone but there is some disproportionate expectation that you are running a hotel (as you say with concierge, guest check in 24/7 aka middle of the night with no advanced warning). Well that’s been my recent experience! I’ve done my very best to accommodate where I can. But definitely a shift. Best wishes and good luck Rachel
@Colleen253 "I feel sad for the first guest, as their life must be very dark, cold and sad." I echo these sentiments to the letter. I'd also venture to say that they are possibly/likely bad people, in general.
Being an absolute jerk like the way they come off means they likely treat colleagues/subcontractors/other hosts this way too. It's just awful and while it makes me sad for them that their lives are so terrible, it makes me dislike them too because they spend all this energy trying to bring others down with them.
The people could have skipped the review completely. But no, they had to sit there and write that drivel of a review while cutting you 100 ways with their peppering of crappy marks on the sub-categories.
I envy your ability to take these bad reviews in stride. I'm trying so hard to get there. When we get a 4-star review, I pretty much can't sleep for a week.
Richard, I think we all need a wake up call like this one of mine every now and then.
While 95% of the world pursues ways of keeping strangers out of their properties.....we hosts invite them in! We need to be ever vigilante for......
1/.....That person who may have had a poor childhood, is a 'glass half empty' one rather than a 'glass half full' one.....they need to make up for what they lacked in the past.
2/.....Just simply has a mean negative streak as a way of saying, "I need to be heard" and criticises as a way of improving their own self esteem!
3/.....The person who haggles their way through life and exploits every situation to their advantage.
4/......The Narcissist who is never wrong, everything that goes wrong in life is someone else's fault. What theirs is theirs and what's yours is theirs.
The list goes on, we need to analyse guests minds and try to get around all the roadblocks that Airbnb put in our way in assessing if this guest is a satisfactory risk to welcome into our property!
Richard (no doubt like you) I have built up a series of indicators over the years that have helped enormously in steering me away from problematic guests.
But indicators, strategies are useless if you ignore them.....I ignored them here and I have to cop the consequences.
My radar is well and truly turned on again after this one!
Cheers.......Rob
@Richard531 wrote:
I envy your ability to take these bad reviews in stride. I'm trying so hard to get there. When we get a 4-star review, I pretty much can't sleep for a week.
I felt pretty much the same until very recently. I got into a real tizz last winter when a guest who apparently had a great stay left me 3*. Luckily, I eventually managed to get hold of her and she had the review removed because the didn't realise 3* wasn't good. Until then, I really fretted about it. Because I host long term guests and because COVID had meant far fewer of them, that one rating was going to knock me off my Superhost perch after having sat there for five years.
Recently, I had two guests that I just didn't have a good feeling about. One left me 4* and the other 3*. Again, that means I will for sure lose Superhost status, but I'm just resigned to it now. This time it wasn't an innocent mistake and I knew these people were just never going to going to give me 5*. It will take me ages to get my stats back up to the 5.0 I've had for a few years but, hey ho, I'll get there in the end... or maybe not. Maybe I'll decide to move on from Airbnb and rent out the rooms another way.
I don't know what has changed, but I just can't be bothered to stress about it anymore. There are some people who like to focus on positives and others who like to focus on negatives. What it has reinforced is that I need to listen to my gut instincts EVERY TIME. There were red flags with both guests in terms of their communication, which made me feel uneasy, but I decided that they weren't that serious. My mistake. I have also turned off IB.
I suggest Airbnb will create categories too for guests.....
@Emiel1 lol! I have some suggestions:
Bachelorette And Other Parties
Fussypants Couples
Little Ones, Big Messes
I'm Bringing A Pet No Matter What You Say
Book for 2, Bring 6
We Love To Cook (But Not To Clean)
Squatters and Other Long Term Stays
Fragrance Free Only
Influencers And Other Free Stays
Was It Humans Or Zoo Animals Who Left This Mess?
oooh, fun! I can play:
That Stain Must Have Been There Already
We Want Early Check-in & Late Check-out
but let's be fair, there's also:
Arrived Late, Left Early
Mums Who Can't Help But Clean
Interesting People Who Also Love Wine
I would add
- I think I'm super clean and even OCD but in reality live like a pig.
- What's yours is mine. Thanks for the wine, avocados and use of your make up brushes.
- I've never heard of Google.
- Why are you here? I know it's your house, but why are YOU here?
- I know you said you have three cats but, by the way, I'm severely allergic/terrified of them, so please keep them out of sight.
- I must rearrange your furniture. I simply must.
- Obviously no one heard me come home drunk, crash into and break things, so clearly it wasn't me.
- Yes, of course I agree to your 3-9pm check in (but actually I'm going to show up at your door at 9am or drop off my bags early and then mark you down because the listing was still being cleaned)
- I don't speak English so you will get marked down on communication and check in because you are not fluent in my language.
- I am a wannabe travel writer, so I'm going to write an essay of a review complaining mostly about things that were stated in the listing because clearly it's more important for people to read MY review than read the listing.
WOW!!
Why didn't I join this community center sooner and read all these awesome posts, Huma0 you hit it out of the Ball Park (lol) LOVE IT!!
Robbe
@Robin4 wow!
I stopped digging into reviews myself in the last year or so. I didn't even look into categories much unless my rating dropped off and I noticed. One of my last guests left me a long list of things they thought should be improved. Out of a dozen items only one was valid-- the rest were things that were fully described in the listing and they either didn't notice, or got my place mixed up with someone else's.
The few times I have had a so so experience with a stay I have asked the host if they wanted feedback, and messaged them. I have never left anything publicly that would tank their score. I would sooner just not leave feedback at all. I do find it really strange that this is written in the third person "Robin needs help" and not "You need help." Its indicative of true passive aggressiveness.
As a guest I look for trends in reviews. If several people mention something over time I figure its probably at least worth noting. If one review is detached and cranky, I figure that reviewer is detached and cranky.
I hope Airbnb doesn't mention us in the following guest categories:
Incessant Complainers
Home Inspectors
Cheap
Ego Maniacs
No Sense of Humor
LOL!!
@Emiel1 This was near brilliance! HAHA!
Then @Laura2592 took it home. LOL! I mean, every single "Category" is so darn spot on! This list is absolutely amazing. Almost 100% comprehensive!
Additional Categories:
I Booked Non-Refundable, but May I Cancel and Get a Full Refund?
I Don't Read Welcome Guides, but I'm Great at Asking Dumb Questions
I Expect Early Check-ins and Late Check-outs
I Don't Know How to Use Amenity X, Therefore it "Doesn't Work"
Common Sense = Optional
Bravo to you both! Needed this laugh today! So true on so many levels!
@Laura2592 @Emiel1 @Fred13 @Richard531 @Huma0
Oh this is great, can I join in......?
'I will arrive about 2pm but it could be somewhere between 1 and 7 pm'
'You say no pets but, we didn't think that meant little dogs'
'No means maybe, if I complain enough'
'Your calendar is blocked but can you fix it and let me book anyway'
'I am an ex-serviceman does that entitle me to a 50% discount'
'Your toilet doesn't work, the left over dinner won't flush'.......(corn on the cob)
'Your WiFi is probably fine but I didn't bring my tablet, do I get some sort of a refund'
I am not kidding you I have had every one of those, they are indelibly printed in my memory banks!
Cheers.......Rob