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.

[Terry297]

I think the market has changed in the 6 years of doing it. It is now a commodity and people complain if 2000 sq ft luxury waterfront beautifully decorated and stocked like a high end home should cost less or the same as a 150 sq ft hotel room on the highway. I always had 5 stars but lately I cant please these people. i am about to cash out of this deal

[Petra327]

@Terry297   I'm sorry you've had such a time of it Terry.  I own/operate a couple of high end but affordable places.  And I do provide the high end cookware like you do and even matching dishes from Williams Sonoma.  I say in my listing that I am looking for guests that choose to live as well away from home as they do at home.   And 95% of the time that's what I get.  I get a few low lifes that sneak in and I just make sure I block them from ever booking again.  I've had a few small items stolen/broke but for the most part it's gone well the last few years.

May I offer a few suggestions in dealing with the changing market?  I have adjusted by keeping my price higher than most others and doing a minimum of a 3 day booking.  My clientele  has stayed higher end with those two changes.  One more thing I haven't implemented yet but will do soon is the following;  I stayed at an AIRbnb in Albuquerque, NM recently.  The owner/host of the Old Town Casita did the most interesting thing.  Right before my stay she sent me an automatic message.  It was kind of long but had all the pertinent information I needed for my stay.  And it was used to head off any complaints a guest could have.  I thought it was a superb way to reduce issues.  She happened to talk about parking, cooking, sites to see, stay off the neighbor's lawn, how to get into the property, etc.

I'm wondering if a feature like this would help you with your guests.  In this format you could address some issues that have been a problem for guests in the past.  With my VR that's 3 hours from where I live I make sure and text my guests the day after they arrive to check on them.  And I tell them to please text me immediately if there is something that needs to be taken care of.  So far that is also working well for me.

Of course, you're right that people are more self entitled and persnikety now.  When I occasionally get guests like this I do report them to ABB and simply say I don't want them back.  I had one guest a few months ago rate my cleanliness at 4 stars because apparently one counter was not wiped down in a bathroom and a ceiling light bulb was out.  It was the first complaint I had on cleanliness in 1.5 years.  The home is truly spotless.  I have the best cleaning women ever so I am taking what the guest said with a grain of salt.  So my M.O. is to report them (as in they can't book with me again) and move on because at this point in time having vacation rentals as a source of income is serving my life plan.  When it stops doing that, then, yes I will sell the properties and move on to something else.

I hope there was something in my post that proves to be helpful and I hope I have the pleasure of staying in your property one day.  

Take care.

[Brad18]

I also believe AirBnB is trying to punish hosts if they leave bad reviews. The only was we can combat this is to find another rental service. I am in the process of leaving a bad review because I believe that hosts need to know. The guest that did over $4000 in damage to my home had great reviews. How could it be the same person? Because every time he was a poor guest the host did not want to leave a bad review. Host make AirBnB possible. No host, no AirBnB. 

[Amy76]

Thank you for leaving honest reviews. This is a must if we are to help protect our fellow hosts.

[Michele1002]

I’m concerned as I have had a guest from hell, my friend looks after my apartment in turkey and we had this guest and her family come to stay.  They tried to say when they arrived my apartment was dirty, I have a lot of repeat guest not on air BnB and not once have o had a problem.  The living room/kitchen had just been rebdecirated and new corner sofa bought.  When they left they left the house dirty and not cleaned.  I have messaged her and now she is saying her holiday was ruined and that she is going to write a review about my house.  I have the pictures of when she left it and I am wondering what can be done. 

[Edward366]

Has anyone ever had a guest with a negative review try to book? I have never seen anything but positive reviews. It makes me wonder if Airbnb only posts positive reviews of guests. Otherwise, Hosts would not accept the booking and Airbnb would not make any money.

[Amy76]

I accepted a reservation after checking the guests reviews (he was also a Superhost) unfortunately his request came just days before another local host gave an excellent honest review that would have made me refuse his reservation. Hopefully our two reviews will prevent other hosts from losing $.  We both had to pay 8 hours to cleaning crews & replace items that were stained and ruined. 

[Marybeth67]

Yes, I accepted a guest knowing that she had had negative reviews.  Since she was young and I am a high school teacher, I decided to use it as a learning experience for her.  I had a lot of contact with her prior to her arrival, and I let her know that the shenanigans she had pulled at the other 2 hosts' homes were not going to fly here.  Evidently she is a prostitute, in addition to being an irresponsible pet owner.  She allowed her "customers" to smoke in my home, stained my sheets and bathrobe, and had the audacity to request an extension, which I denied.

[Huma0]

@Marybeth67 

Your post totally puzzles me. Why on earth would you think that just because you are a high school teacher that this guest, who had behaved badly elsewhere, would behave well in your home?

In future, if you get a request from a guest with several negative reviews, especially ones that are very negative, I would suggest you take them seriously. Most hosts are too generous in their reviews of guests, if anything, or often don't leave a review at all if the experience was negative, so when more than one host says the guest is trouble, believe them!

[Marybeth67]

As a high school teacher, I can recognize signs of teens/young people that do not have guidance in their lives.  That is exactly what was going on here; unfortunately, this young lady needed more guidance than I had time to offer.  I have hosted people in my home for money since the 80s, so no advice is needed.  Before I am a host, I am a humanitarian.  Blessings

[Huma0]

@Marybeth67 

It's nice that you are a humanitarian, but I doubt that most guests book an airbnb to get schooling or guidance. They are booking and paying for a room.

You are their host, not their parent, teacher or counsellor and one could argue that it's crossing a line when you decide you are going to school someone who did not ask you for that.

[Karen3489]

How is it helping her to provide a place for her to prostitute? Or was she homeless?

I have to agree with Huma0, it sounds like Airbb reviews are literally the only thing you have to go on to screen guests. I am learning that Airbb  is very misleading, saying   they do background checks, when in fact they probably do not do them at all. Kind of scary actually.

[Ilana93]

I agree.  Hosts are reluctant to give bad reviews and are very generous with positive reviews.  I would weigh the bad reviews more.  Once they are given they’re certainly fire behind that smoke. 

[Michelle2214]

I recently had a terrible experience with a guest and had to call the police to remove her. I left a short but honest negative review. A few days after leaving the review, I can't see her profile anymore. So, either Airbnb removed her from the system, or more likely they blocked me from seeing her and removed the bad review. 

[Louise1097]

Air says a negative review average is 1.0 or 1.5. A 3.01 average is as of last week 'good track record'. !! It may be that your idea of negative and Air's idea of negative do not coincide.