I will no longer post a bad review about a guest

[Megan160]

I had an awful guest experience and tried to settle it with the guest personally. She stayed at a reduced rate and then needed to extend her stay. We gave her an even bigger rate discount. When she left, she left the place a mess. Dirty, greasy dishes, pots and pans. All the furniture was in dissaray, both sets of blankets/quilts had spots and stains on them, there were crumbs in all the beds on the mattress pads (which had to be hand picked off), and she ruined a set of sheets.

I took 3 days to cool off before I texted her because we really went out of our way to help this guest and she took advantage of us. I told her I was unhappy about the state of the place and asked her to pay $50 to replace the sheets. Prior to this text, she had nothing but glowing reviews and thanks for me in all her texts. She did not understand why she should have to pay for her sheets because I was a woman and the damaged sheets were a result of a "woman thing" and thus I should understand. I said I shouldn't have to pay for her "woman thing".

After much internal debate, I decided to warn other hosts and gave her an appropriate but still not brutal review, even leaving out the refusal to pay for damages and passing on her lame excuse for the mess. She then gave me a bad review, lying about my place and me. Prior to this review, I had 5 star reviews. Now people think my place is noisy and I am rude. My bookings have almost stoped dead in their tracks after her review. Plus, my 3 month pre-book for Jan-March canceled right after the review. I have contacted Airbnb twice about this to no avail. I had responded to her bad review, but not in much detail because I assumed that if I could prove it was a retaliatory review, it would be removed. THIS IS NOT THE CASE! Not only will they not remove it, they won't even let me expound on my explanation to her bad review.

So frustrated! I am knee deep in the process of spending a lot of money to make my other 2 rentals Airbnb rentals and now I can't even get bookings in prime season. Airbnb penalizes us for trying to warn other hosts about bad guests.

[Robert56]

As a Superhost I ALWAYS have problems with Guests wanting a discount........DONT DO IT!!

[Mary617]

I am curious how you contacted Air BnB. I can’t find an email for any help. Can you share it?

[Jiw0]

Oh that's really fun.  It's one of the best puzzles on the internet, and it keeps changing all the time too. 

And even more fun, the exact same contact link does different things for different hosts!

For example, this is what I get when I go to the link https://www.airbnb.com/help/contact_us  : 

(Summary, the site tries seriously hard to get me away from sending a message to an actual support person, and to the 'Community' which is really fruitless when you have some beef with a recent AirBnB decision about a guest or your account:  )

 

But... if I let my friend log in (she's a host that I'm co-hosting for), and she types the EXACT SAME URL https://www.airbnb.com/help/contact_us  , then it links through to a link with an extra # sign and suddenly it directly offers all kinds of options to directly contact someone: 

Same link!  And if I use that link on my account, then I only get the same page, the one with the Runaround and no actual contact info.  

So.. I'm not sure if you understood all of the above, but the short version is: you can't win. 😉

[Gs0]

In terms of contacting Airbnb, I always call. I get results immediately.

[Eleanor17]

What is the number you call ?

[Lynette49]

They do that to guests, too. I never did find a phone number. I finally found a (grayed out) contact us button that led to a form. 14 hours later, still no response. AirBnB wants to be a platform, not a service that involves actual people. People are always going to have issues that need to be personally resolved. Wondering if AirBnB has competition....

[Jerry-and-Kerrie0]

This is what I got when I clicked on the link....

[Linda108]

@Mary617  Hundreds of posts about needing to contact Air BNB so you are not alone.  What many hosts fail to do is look at the help section of this site.  So here is a guide for contacting Air BNB found right here.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide/m-p/16165#M728

@Jiw0  this might help you as well.

[Paul-and-Zoe-Anderson0]

Hi Megan,

Sorry to hear about your bad guest, however, we had exactly the same thing happen to us. 

Our guest was very lovely at first, however, when we visited the site after she left, we found numerous problems. One of those was damage to the luxurious sheets in the MBR. She had a "woman thing" occur also and the sheets were heavily bloodstained. This along with smoking, additional unauthorised guests and other damage were brought to the attention of Airbnb. 

Airbnb's suggestion was to ask the guest for compensation. I contact her through Airbnb and that's when she went sour. From there things got worse. Our review was a complete farce. We received a rating of 1 out of 5 for each category which destroyed our ratings. We are new and trying to get to Superhost status. This makes things much more difficult now.

Lesson learned. Firstly, if we are going to ask for compensation for damage, we will do it AFTER we submit our review of the guest. Secondly, if there's any doubt, we won't review the guest at all!

Please feel free to look at the comments on our home's profile. "Casa Colombia" Sellicks Beach, South Australia

Good luck and kind regards,

[David126]

@Paul-and-Zoe-Anderson0

It is after they submit their revew that matters, but waiting that long and making a claim may not be practical.

[Paul-and-Zoe-Anderson0]

David, if they don't submit their review then we won't make a claim unless it's a large claim. We are not going to make the same mistake as the last time and we won't risk being discredited by a bad guest with the intention of getting a little payback.

We've learned our lesson...

[Clara116]

@Paul-and-Zoe-Anderson0@Megan160 Hello all - I had a lovely couple and they had a terrific time as guest and after I see blood stains on wash clothes, a pillow case and a little on a sheet - probably a nose bleed. It was my very first such event so I went to Community Center - right here and read from other hosts and I discovered this very terrific paragraph and it seemed the way to go. I sent the below message and the response I got was fabulous.  She was so sorry, said please charge the credit card whatever I need to and so sorry it happened. I think the husband had a nose bleed. Since it was my first, I learned tons, about dealing with such, and getting blood stains out. The learning was terrific. I got a fabulous review - I didn't charge her cause she was so gracious about it and so willing to pay for the damage. I ended up only having to toss out one wash cloth.......and so that honey and vinegar saying seemed to work plus, I didn't come off like the bad guy and I did mention Airbnb and security deposit and health and safety. Hope this is helpful to some of you - it was for me. Happy Hosting, Clara B. 

"Hi, thanks again for staying with us!  It looks like there are some stains on the sheets, and for everyone's health and safety, stained sheets need to be disposed of.  Luckily, Airbnb's security deposit system makes it easy to add the replacement cost to your booking after we provide documentation.  We've had this happen a few times, and guests are always gracious in handling it.  If you'll approve the security deposit charges when we submit them, we'll be all set.  Thanks again, and all the best!"

[Gs0]

There are ways to get rid of blood on items. The first is if the item is still moist from the blood. Simply pour peroxide on the front and back of the bloodsted fabric. Toss in the laundry--voila. It's all gone. (This also works if you have OxyClean spray to saturate both sides of the fabric.) The second is if the blood had a chance to dry a bit. Take clear ammonia (not pine scented, etc.)--only clear-generously pour it over the bloodstained area, let sit a second or two (don't allow it to dry) and vigorously scrub. Toss in the laundry. Voila, again.

[Lisa1435]

I use peroxide and Shout all the time.  Gets blood, red wine and many other organic stains out like magic as long as you catch the stain. 

[Jennifer--And-My-Brother0]

peroxide and bleach eventually destroy the fabric