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.

[Gs0]

I do get where the hosts may have made their error with this individual. They should not have texted her directly with a demand for $50 to replace damaged items, no matter how gently they may have done so. They should have requested that Airbnb not refund her cleaning deposit for the damaged property (you do charge cleaning fees, don't you?--you are allowed to do so).

Alot of people are like this--entitled. You will rebound. Folks will rebook with you again. I had a review by a druggie that was so horrible, I thought I was done for. I was able to rebound--even though it was chapters long. I get good and bad. I have had people go through my personal belongings, break my personal belongings (even though they are provided the same items), take my personal belongings, wipe their bum on monogrammed guest towels, deplete supplies when they see too much in abundance, etc.

I am still standing, for now. I have a booking from November to February. The woman texts me everyday, all day. I am praying to survive. Pray for me folks.

[Clara116]

 How about something like this instead of immediately going for $$$ and the awful part of stains and putting the guest on the defense??? It worked for me and provoked a gracious willingness to pay. 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!"

[Jennifer--And-My-Brother0]

that didn't work in my case but I also looked at how other hosts handled the issue in the forum and found that guests were okay with it so this thread is interesting in that it came about after my incident and seem to uniformly "Letting it go."    I actually was going to let it go but then saw the forum posts where the hosts were reimbursed which encouraged me to ask and I got shut down AND got a dishonest review.   

I think the most important thing is airbnb's policy but because my guest was so quick (over 21 dollars - if she had just said no instead of writing that review, I would not have been as truthful in my review). 

I think strangely it's not if they reimburse - but how they respond and that can be very weird.      I don't think a review should be negative unless it becomes important like you sense this guest is going to be further trouble.   Then you need to protect yourself.  I enjoy giving good ratings and reviews to guests and overlooking things but I was very amazed at the response from the guest with the strange dyed bedsheet and washcloth.    But I also think it is strange when someone leaves me a glowing review that there has never been a CLEANER apartment?   What? I did clean the floorboards in another room but I dont' feel we are so white glove - why did he leave that review?   He also didn't say sorry when he dropped his suitcase on me when I was behind him going up the stairs - I was a little worried about that but it made me aware how right I was to ask guests to not let my mother help them or even stand below them when they are going up the stairs.  If I hadn't caught that suitcase, it would have hurt my already injured legs.  I was lucky.

[John915 · Accepted solution]

@Megan160

Unfortunately there is probably nothing you can do about it. Things like this happen to all of us (guests, especially newer ones have wildly different expectations) and I hate the fact that one bad review plants a seed in future guests' minds (for example, I had one who stayed for nearly a month and I left town for nearly a week - I live in the part of the home - I came back and she had left an old pizza box, empty bottles,etc....her review dinged me for cleanliness?!)

Some guests are just horrible and/or petty (and I'm sure a handful of hosts are not so great either) but the best thing to do is learn from it.

I never leave a review for a guest unless I've personally interacted with him/her. I do this because if you are the first to leave a review, your guest sees that you left one and if they felt their stay was unpleasant, they have nothing to lose by leaving you a nasty review. A host may rely on sharing their home to cover a significant portion of housing costs, extra income, etc. but a guest may book an Airbnb once or twice a year. And even if guests get not so great reviews, in many cities there are plenty of hosts who would just be happy for the income.

I've been fortunate to have not yet had many "nightmare" guests but I would learn from this experience - do not be the first to review a guest! If they feel strongly about your space (negative or positive) they will usually leave a review. If I've had a weird situation/neutral, I don't bother. If my interaction was positive, I ask them to send me private feedback as to what I can do better. If someone leaves a review, you can comment on it but if you think someone had a less than stellar experience, you as a host leaving a review only prompts a guest to leave one as well (which may be unfair, misleading, etc.)

Saw your listing and I really don't think your guest's review was that bad. If anything it was probably prompted by your interaction with her following her stay. You have 5 stars and it was overall a positive review! I have no plans to go to Tucson but I'd stay in your place! In the future, I'd just let small inconveniences like that go. Don't be a pushover but understand accidents happen and sometimes minor things occur with otherwise well-meaning guests:

-No smoking but someone opens a window thinking they can get away with it

-Someone breaks a glass

-Uses toilet and "forgets" to flush (nasty but happens)

My advice:

1.) Do not post a review first - Regardless of what you do, you get sometimes get less than 5-stars! If you've had a less than fantastic dialogue with a guest, posting a review prompts them to do the same - in your case, she knew you were upset about the sheets & was probably defensive about being asked to pay $50 for an accident - If she thought you were upset with her as a host, I am not suprised that she didn't give you a fantastic, glowing review in response to the notification that you had left her a review.  

2.) Don't sweat the small stuff

3.) Just buy a $10 set of sheets from Wal-Mart and consider it a "cost of doing business" if they are ruined at some point

[Jon4572]

$10 sheets   HaHa.   

[Jerry624]

My uncle actually owns two Air B&Bs and once I let him stay at an Air B&B I rented. He trashed it out. 

[Rcvi0]

Thanks a lot for say that I feel today the same as you, airbnb have excellent ambassadors, today a Karen answer me, I try to explain my experience, but they didn't remove the review, the guest try to remove his review and they had not yet because I call and call first, and when I call they told me didn't violate their policy, but yes the review violate it. Karen put a note for all ambassadors not to remove my review!!, then the guest contact airbnb and still has not remove it. Today I contact a lawyer to know what to do. I made more than 10 call must of them where cut, and the new ambassadors continue say no remove because the first says no, and when somebody says no, the next can not say yes.

Airbnb does not protect the host, we do our best to have all in perfect condition, because is our business, the guest go one time a year and say whatever they want, and cause a big damage with bad reviews and airbnb do not protect their host. All depends of the first ambassador,  sometimes they are very humans and understable, but there are another that do not listen, my only very bad experience was today with Karen, who did not want to help anyway, and told me is a final decision and I am putting a note that says to any ambassador say no to you to remove the review, does not matter if my guest call to say his error and want to remove it.

[Debra641]

Your advice is ridiculous.  We should be able to post an honest review, provide the proof and AirBnB should be on the hosts side.  After all, they would have NOTHING without us.  

[Caterina33]

Me and my co host had a very bad experience with a guest. Leaving the details for another post, what I wanted to tell you is that we contacted airbnb straight away after receiving her review (which was rude and false) and they canceled her review because it didn't meet airbnb standards.  Have you tried? 

[Yael69]

I recently had very bad experience with guest . She left garage open overnight and when I texted her next day she started complaining about everything . She gave me bad 2star review . She called my neighbors odd , smell of my flat odd and doll she found in cabinets creepy. However - at the end - she told she would gladly stay with us again 😱. Weird!!  I wonder if with deleting review they also delete rating ?

[Russell57]

I feel your pain Megan. In hindsight it was probably not worth contacting your guest with a request for paying for new sheets as this just alerted her that you were going to give her a bad review - so she retaliated. Apart from a bit of clearing up it sounds like you really only lost a set of sheets and your profits and offset tax is there to cover all this. I think everyone gets these from time to time and you have to suck it up and put it down to experience.

I would either keep quiet and send the honest review after they have left - or, if you think you are going to get a bad review back for no reason, just dont post a review at all. Then move on.

I am pretty new to all this but it seems to be a bit of a game you have to learn to deal with the people who are a problem.

Russ

[Oomesh-Kumarsingh0]

@Megan160 If you aren't able to get any book in due to that comment that the guest has left I would advice you to delete your listings and start from zero. In my opinion you did the right thing about this dirty guest who thinned and damaged many items in your property. Good luck for the future. 

[Jennifer--And-My-Brother0]

I've overlooked a lot of things in the past and always given positive reviews but I recently left two truthful ones because I felt that it was fishy and something was going to happen.  AIrbnb is also doing something very weird with hiding a guest review and not letting me respond or read it until it will be too late in a few days. 

I think a negative review is warranted if you feel that something is being done that will make you look really bad undeservedly.

[Jeff129]

Hi Megan,

If you need to get back on track then I recommend that you drop your daily price to an extremely resonable rate and perhaps even remove your cleaning fees for the forthcoming week or two. That should be sufficient to quell the negative review with fresh [and hopefully-] good ones.

I suffered a similar situation when a guest blamed for for everything she could think of during her overnight stay while we were suffering a regional heat wave, and it blew over without a hitch. Frankly, having a poor review and/or rating proves the authenticity of the remaining 120 4-and-5-star reviews, and travelers know that some guests can be malicious and even deranged. I would suggest to just be nice and not bring it up at all ever, and if you must then only in a respectful manner.

Regards,

Jeff

[Andy209]

Wow...prayers that things will turn around for you.  Sure hate that you had that experience.