Recently I have been staying in an Airbnb for a few days as ...
Recently I have been staying in an Airbnb for a few days as I am working somewhere else. Before moving in, I have made an awa...
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.
Answered! Go to Best Answer
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
This is what I got when I clicked on the link....
@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.
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,
It is after they submit their revew that matters, but waiting that long and making a claim may not be practical.
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...
@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!"
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.
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.
peroxide and bleach eventually destroy the fabric
I never mentioned bleach, but only peroxide and clear ammonia--both of which do not destroy the fabric at all.
I love your response and will use it if needed. Thanks!
@Paul0 & Zoe
you can't wait with resolution center claim until reviews are public. You have just 2 weeks or before your next guest arrives to make a claim.
Ever heard the saying dont sweat the small stuff or you have to spent money to make money.
I have had a luxury face cloth ruined by make up so now provide disposable facial towelettes.
Have not yet had blood stained sheets, but know it will happen, but no lady is planning to blood stain your sheets,
so usually is going to be an embarrasing experiance so why worry about it and just replace and think of all those rags.
I had a similar guest who had raving reviews prior to check in. Then, when they left after just two days, left my cottage a total disaster-toilet seat with burn marks ($45), sheets stained so bad had to toss ($80). Trash revealed alot- 2 empty bottles vodka, 2 empty bottles gin, 4 empty wine bottles, 2 empty wine boxes and almost no food wrappers! Thats more alcohol intake than I could consume in over four years! They had a discounted stay and needless to say I made only $3.45 on the booking! So this is a lot of information to be applied. I decided to pass on trying to collect on payment for damages and decided to provide a low rating on their stay with the comment, "interesting couple" and left it at that. Sometimes you just have to out fox the fox! These guests obviously had no plans ever for a future stay, so why make my life unbearable? Then there are those times that you just need to cut your losses.
My advice to you is to always try to stay on the positive side and to exploit all of your bonuses and pluses and things will turn around. Concentrate on the big ones and work up to the minis! They ALL count!
That's horrible. Was the guest the one who booked (they had good reviews), or did someone else show up (after being booked by a friend)? How can a guest stay with a discount that leaves you with $3.45? I am guessing you mean you netted $3.45 after the replacement expenses?