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.

[David126]

@Lorna54

I meant a real security depoist, one that you control.

[Fred13]

@Lorna54 Simple, stop using 'Instant Book' or any other method that allows total strangers drawn from the human race without having a clue what area of the spectrum they are coming from.  Especially with your type of listings that allow 8 or 14 people, especially at your price point, because with such numbers (and price) there is a high chance there will be at least one lunatic amongs them. 

P.S. I always follow the '10% Rule' - 1 out of 10 people are crazy. 😉

[David126]

How does not using IB make much difference?

[Stephanie365]

Because without IB, the guest HAS to contact you and make a request BEFORE the booking is allowed. You can at least vet the guest somewhat by asking certain questions. Also gives you a chance to review their profile, see if they have a profile pic, etc.  This gives you the chance to decline the booking before it happens vs canceling after it happens which gives you a black mark. 

It's not 100% fool proof, but it gives you a little more control in who will be coming to stay.

[Linda108]

@Fred13  I agree with you.  The more remote the host and the more guests allowed, the higher the risk.  I feel for hosts that hand over the keys to an important asset to a total stranger.  Without resorting to paranoia, I think we need to be aware that the human race has the best and the worst of our species, so act accordingly.  Have a system to inspect what you expect. Look to technology if you are not present.

[Fred13]

It is indeed a wide spectrum, from monsters to angels, I am sticking to the at-least-sane+ range the last two years, and gone are the psychos.

[Linda108]

When you have such glowing reviews as you do, @Lorna54, this idiotic review will reflect on the guest and not on you.  Your honest review is definitely a warning to other hosts, so thank you.  I think some issues are not under the Air BNB umbrella but are under the host community umbrella.  The more we can trust other hosts to be honest and post accordingly, the easier it is for other hosts.  Now, when you risk accepting a newbie, most of the time it will be a matter of educating them, but sometimes you will face what you faced.  Perhaps you can change your IB settings to require a positive recommendation and I would imagine you know what to ask in messinging to qualify a guest.  Bottom line, you are the owner of your business and if at anytime the Air BNB platform does not support you, you have other choices.  Good for you.  Thanks for sharing.

[Lorna54]

thank you for your positive and enouraging feedback Linda. 

This was the family holiday home .. the size is and has been full of wonderful memories for us and others . We have had propsals , weddings, 70ths  , family reunions etc. Most of the houses down here are double story larger beach homes. I have had mostly good experiences but yes I do try to 'assess ' via messaging and have the house rules in a manual printed on the coffee table in several languages. It is probably good to know about instant book and I have since then removed my listing from that 🙂 

I used airbnb the first time with no reviews and respected the house as it were mine.. I assumed (innocently that everyone else was the same ) 

[Gs0]

To everyone who complains about soiled linens, I have but one suggestion: mattress pad. It is the only remedy to help in some instances, with the exception of those messy incidents where the individual lies on top of both the flat and fitted sheets and comforters/quilts in a really haphazard way.

In the alternative, you can always start using dark linens as well. I will be sharing a link with you all shortly to get great Egyptian cotton linens, etc. at a great discount. I know it can be costly, especially since guests do not always have a vested interest in our homes, they do not see the value of taking care of our property. Best to you all,

GS McNair

[Donald28]

I am really sad reading this. It's obvious what happened... you voiced your displeasure with the guest and asked her to pay for the blood covered sheets BEFORE you BOTH left public reviews for each other. Airbnb should be able to see clearly through this guests bad review and remove it from your account. It is clearly retalitory. 

Who in their right mind thinks its OK to ruin sheets (with blood, motor oil, feces or whatever other gross thing) and not be responsible for them?! Had the host been a man, would the woman claimed the same thing... that the host should understand her "woman thing"?! 

[Content hidden]. As a married gay man, I have never had to even think about it before. But now as an airbnb host, I have to have tampax in my rental and it seems that almost every woman that stays here is on her period! 6-8 hours of a dirty tampax smoldering in the trash is all it takes to make me gag, have to open all the windows and turn on the fans for a couple hours just to get the stank out. [Content hidden] 

EDIT: I just looked at your reviews and do not see any really negative reviews. The review they left you wasn't that bad and your response was fine. I doubt that has anything to do with your slow bookings. 

*[Content hidden in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

[Stephanie365]

There is no reason not to leave a negative review. But if you're concerned, wait until Day 14 to leave it.
__________

After having all positive guests, 2 out of the last 3 guests I've had were horrible. The first guests were a family of 3. They communicated really well and I had a good feeling about them. I was helpful as far as getting to their downtown destination during a rally with the least amount of hassle. 

They thanked me by leaving trash and half-eaten food everywhere. There was food and food smears in the sink, on the counters, on the dresser on the floor. Tooth paste smears everywhere in the bathroom. Coffee spills on the counter, down the cabinets, IN THE DRAWERS and IN THE CABINETS and on the floor with zero attempt to clean the spills up. 

They got the "These people would be better off in a hotel" and a do not recommend. 

They responded to my review for them by saying in essence "I should expect a mess since I charge a cleaning fee."

My second guest just left.  She is a super-host herself, which I hoped would mean she's be a wonderful guest. Instead, she used her insider knowledge of how AirBNB works to try to circumvent AirBNB Policies and my house rules.  In other words, she was a manipulator. But I'm a snarky beyotch and can sniff out a manipulator with one nostril clogged.

She booked a month in advance.  Then, she cancelled with less than 24 hours, which as we all know means you forfeit your first night's stay. She then messaged me asking me to refund that as well, citing the AirBNB catch-phrase, "Extenuating circumstances". Her 80 year old mother who was coming with her was "deathly ill" with the flu. I offered to refund only if I could rebook the suite as I'd already declined another guest because she was already booked.  Strangely, she rebooked 2 hours later and arrived 12 hours later at 6 am. And Mom was just as fit and healthy as could be. Not a sniffle, sneeze or cough to show that she'd been "deathly ill" only 12 hours earlier. 

Upon arrival, she informed me that they would be leaving "around noon" the next day. My check out time is 10 am. Since I didn't have another guest scheduled, I was going to let it slide. But it was almost a challenge to see if I'd insist she leave at 10 am.

When she booked, she said her mom had a service dog and passively-aggressively let me know I had to take the dog per AirBNB Policy. I said, "Of course, but the dog must be leashed at all times." She specifically stated Service Dog. And when they arrived the dog was wearing his little mail order Service Dog Impersonator vest.  But no leash. Service dog kept wandering off, too. Then Mom let it slip they'd just gotten the dog from someone who went into assisted living and "so far he hasn't had any accidents in the house, but he's mostly deaf and blind".  That right there told me she was a manipulator, that she'd exploit the needs of legitimately incapacitated people to bring her PET to a No Pets location. 

Finally, my house rules clearly state, not once but TWICE that due to my allergies, there is no smoking anywhere on the property. It is also posted in the Welcome Manual.  She snuck around, hiding in the trees and bushes smoking during the day. I caught whiffs of smoke but didn't actually see her.  I can also smell it when people drive past my house who smoke so naturally I didn't want to accuse her until I saaw her.  At night, she figured the coast was clear and she lit up and smoked right under my open bedroom window. It caused me great respiratory distress and a sleepless night.  I called AirBNB because of how she had lied about other stuff so far and that with her insider knowledge about how important reviews were, I feared a retaliatory review if I were to tell her not to smoke. AirBNB instructed me to message her via AirBNB to document my reminding her about the no smoking policy anywhere. The next morning she lit up again. At that point, I told her again via message about the policy and that she really needed to leave now. It was 30 minutes past check out at this point anyways. 

Her response was I should have made it clearer about the non smoking. (roll eyes) 

Since I basically busted her and had photographic documentation of her smoking while chasing the unleashed dog to substantiate my asking her to leave, I decided to wait and see if she'd actually leave me a review. She didn't.

I left a very honest review about how she attempted to manipulate the system to get around the rules. She got 5* for cleanliness (she did a very good job of cleaning up) 3* for communication, since she did communicate, but half of it was lies, and 1* for House Rules since she violated both the No Smoking and No Pets clause.

I can play the game too; I waited until 30 minutes before the deadline to leave a review. I knew she'd be asleep by the time the review posted and she wouldn't see it until it was too late to post a reply. 

[Fred13]

@Stephanie365 Fortunately, I never have 'guest battles' because my particular arrangement, but this battle with this guest I would have relished flattening and enjoyed reading how you nailed her on the very eve of running out of time. 2/3 of my worst guests have been Airbnb hosts.

[Erin443]

Why is it that hosts are the worst guests? Surely, they're the ones that understand how important these reviews are! I had a host message me insisting that I measure the bedroom in my guest apartment. Brow raised, I did and sent her the dimensions - it's a good-sized room with a queen bed. She paid for three people and arrived with four, and then told me her daughter had an apartment in town and would not be staying. Her daughter did stay - my son had a seizure and I was up with him all night, so it was quite apparent. The next morning, in an effort to cut me off from asking for payment for the fourth guest, she told me that she'd had a lumpy pillow that ruined her sleep and said she'd have to review me poorly for it. I've never had anything less than 5 stars for everything. I politely asked her which of the NINE BRAND NEW PILLOWS in the apartment was the "lumpy one," and she left without answering. She actually held me hostage for the guest fee with the lie about a lumpy pillow? How could hosts BE this way when they know what we go through? She left a review saying the bedroom was "disappointingly tiny" (remember that she KNEW the square footage?) and that I only had a tiny fan for the apartment, apparently ignoring the central air conditioning. She told me that she believed in "firm but fair" reviews. I've considered turning off instant booking so I can head off hosts attempting to book my place.

[Clara116]

I continually am surprised that hosts allow guests to book WITHOUT profile pics atleast. It is a requirement and I would think that even for those doing IB - I wouldn't accept such and if that can't happen neither can a booking. I have written to potential guests that a profile pic is mandatory by Airbnb -  just those words and it worked. 

There is so much fear out there in the review system it is rather sad to read. Sure we all want great reviews but there will always be crazies and nuts and we actually can't totally control the odds. However, what we can control is HOW we respond to them and the trail of what they leave behind and a result of our response....... 

The defensive replys and remarks that many hosts leave draw much more attention to them as hosts and show great vulnerabilities and how personally fragile a host is - I am thinking the GUESTS don't actually give a rip about Hosts when they trash or mess up a place - they just want to play the system, not have to pay damages AND when attacked about the wake they left behind they get extreme. Its actually bizarre and like a carnivel to watch. 

I AM not defending the guests at all - I am just working myself to understand the best way to host and not get stung and how to navigate the platform and I'm convinced KNOWLEDGE is our best defense. It is a continual learning of the platform, people and our roles to be smart, be fair and protect our hearts! happy hosting, Clara

[David126]

I am on site, I would not use AirBnB if I was not as I would want to know who I am dealing with and have a real security deposit.

Photo does not bother me personally, my favourite storry was somebody who had posted a clear head shot, forget the name, Johnny or something.

For some reason I thought it would be a 6ft guy, turned out to be a 5ft girl. Went and looked again at the photo and it was her with the benefit of hindsight so nothing to complain about anyway.

So if I can not even tell gender then wonder what use it is.

As an aside I have only used ABB once as a Guest but have travelled a fair bit, stayed in all sorts of listings and never sent them my photo.