If I don't write a review for a guest, will their review of us appear on our page anyway?

[Amber-Y-Andreu0]

Hello,

We had two guests recently that we were very displeased with, and I suspect the feeling was mutual. Since almost 14 days have passed and they had not written a review I figured I would do the same, the old "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" rule. However, I just received notice that they have now written a review.

If I choose not to write a review for them, will their review go public anyway? Even though we bent over backwards to please these individuals who seemed to think they should have been staying in a polished urban hotel instead of a country house I'm afraid their review will reflect their (apparent) disappointment, and not our efforts to please them.

Thanks,

Amber

[Debra695]

Hi Wendy, regarding this part you mentioned, "The guest does not know either whether you recommended them or the number of stars you gave them." 

As a host and guest on Airbnb I wanted to mention, although I can't see how many stars a host gave me on my guest profile,  I do receive an email from Airbnb. And same when I host, I can't see how many stars the guest gave me, but Airbnb does email this information. For example, a guest checked out last week and after we both reviewed each other Airbnb emailed me "_____ left a 5-star review!" in both the subject line and body of the email.  So I would anticipate the guest receives the same email.  All this to say, it looks like the amount of stars we give each other is disclosed by Airbnb unfortunately.

[Sarah1644]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has had an undesirable guest but only a month in to the experience of hosting I'm probably going to unlist my property . Guest should not expect luxury  and realise it is your home which is precious to you .

[Sarah2076]

We feel the same.Our home is lovely and people want to party in it,no matter how strict we write our house rules.I had verbal abuse last week and it's just not worth the aggravation.Please can be so rude. I feel for you:/

[Kami6]

I agree. They are paying way below market and expect luxury. It is so bizarre.

[Delje0]

I feel the same way. I’m two months in and rethinking it as well. Had my first couple who kept having extremely loud sex. Then explosive arguments and I’m concerned there is damage to my home after all if the loud fighting. I called Air BNB  and they warned them but Airbnb didn’t even have the courtesy to call me back. Moving forward I’ll be calling the police and cancelling reservations which won’t give me good ratings. Just torn on what to do.

[James2178]

Hi DeljeO,   a reading of house rules may be of help.  

[Karen1403]

Perception of your home is personal, a guests perception of your pictures and description is also personal. Make sure your pictures reflect what they are walking into. Don’t glamorize your home, if you are afraid to post clear pics of all the rooms or condition, don’t list it. Also, make sure it’s CLEAN and fresh!! If there is an issue, take care of it immediately. If it’s unrealistic, kindly point them to your honest listing. 

[Steve-and-Angie0]

We just had guest that did nothing but complain from the minute they arrived. We asked for pictures only to realize it was about 6 pieces of dog hair, which in their words "it is all over". Then more "fabricated" excuses, for the next couple of days. We are fairly new hosts, and it really put a damp on our weekend dealing with it. Since a lot is about perspective, although this group seems to be looking for $$$.... Should we offer anything? 

[Erica257]

Hi Steve & Angie, I too am a newer host but have had similar experiences with high maintenance people. I would offer a discount if it was me (10% to 20%). At the end of the day we are in a customer service position even if we own the home...which has been a bit of a learning curve for me as well. 

I have had people emailing me at midnight about the smallest thing. I have learned that boundaries are very important while still being polite and providing good customer service. That said, if guests overstep boundaries or are trying to take advantage of you, that is a different story. If there is nothing I can do, I apologize for the inconvenience and simply tell them there is nothing I can do to remedy the situation (if I cannot or it is an unreasonable request). 

Regardless, I try to keep the peace until their stay is over, at which point I make a point to write reviews for other hosts. Hope this helps... 

[George576]

Does anyone know why AirBNB lies about this?

I just had a guest do a same day booking and no show no call. 15 mins before my late 12pm checkout he CANCELS the stay and texts me that he already asked me for a refund.  Dumbfounded and not wanting a problem (he is local, we are a tough city)  I decided not to respond.   So obviously he wrote me a review.

Then he called customer support to ask for the money back.

So Customer Support messages me and begs me, BEGS me to give him his 40$ cleaning fee. To keep from having a problem since he knows my address and phone number and lives in my city I relent. (I did tell the person to ask supervisor to get Airbnb to foot the bill, they arent refunding us our fees)

Anyways then the light bulb goes off, I remembered that the "If you don't write a review you cant see their review" was a lie, panicked and told the agent to reverse the refund because his negative review would go up.

They assured me that he would be violating the "Content Policy" and it would then be removed.

Well I read the policy and I don't feel like it will.

If they are still lying to me I will be devesating.  Some kids last year, again one night stay left me 1 star review for no reason.

I lost superhost status and it has taken me 1 year to get my numbers back  up (lots of begging guests for 5 star reviews) and this loser is probably gonna take it from me.

Because I still think they are lying.

[Sarah977]

@George576  If a guest writes a review, it will go up whether you write a review or not. Same with if you write a review and the guest doesn't. If both write a review, they are both posted when both are submitted, if before the 14 day mark. If only one writes a review, it will appear 14 days after check-out. 

As the no-show guest had already written a review, whether you chose to refund or not has no bearing on whether that review appears. If the guest never showed, and you have proof of that through the message stream, or because he canceled before check-in, which Airbnb will have a record of, you can ask Airbnb to remove the review based on the fact that the guest never showed up, so his review doesn't reflect his experience.

If you fail to write a review for a guest, you give up your ability to respond publicly to the review a guest left.

[George576]

Well congrats to the folks who designed the language, it encourages people to write reviews, because lets face it alot of one time customers who might never use airbnb dont care about yours or their own profile.

So anyways customer service promises they will delete it, and the proof is clear and noted. The customer is being beligerant (as we speak he is probably still yelling at them for his full refund)

But just incase that gets caught up, do you think I should do a review? 

Can I give no stars, or is no stars same as zero stars? I just don't know how to review that.

I will not write anything more that "Mr Xyz did not show up for this one night booking"

I would have to click "No" on the 'recommend to other hosts'  hate to do it, but he didn't treat me well.

Funny thing is too, had he canceled say by 5 PM or earlier I would have refunded him.  

Im not a monster.    An update on my case.

The customer upon receiving refund of cleaning fee from me, send me message on platform asking for the rest of the money for the one night, and that he would take me to court. Not hard with address and phone number.

So I guess in review I must put I do not recommend him.  He was honest before booking he was renting my place to watch big boxing match with wife and 2 of her friends. I told him clearly that while I was ok with them entertaining, but I have a no unpaid/undeclared guest policy, and absolutely no party. I think he realized self checkout wasnt an option he went somewhere else, then woke up and felt entitled to a refund.

Because you know, Hilton and Marriot refund noshows all the time 🙂

[Sarah977]

@George576 Yes, I do think you should leave a review,  just the basic "No Show", as you said. And thumbs down (why should you feel bad about that?, he's being a belligerent jerk, you say, other hosts don't want these types of guests). You can't honestly rate him on anything but communication, as he didn't stay, which I'd give 1* to.

The other reason to leave a review, as I mentioned in my last post, is that if Airbnb reneges and allows his review to stand, you'll be able to respond publicly to what he writes.

[Kathen0]

Thanks folks, I too recently had some plumbing issues and the guy (and his son) were good sports about it. The plumber couldn't come for TWO days... but fortunately I had a porta potty for them and they still could use the kitchen sink. What a hassle! I gave them a free night and all seemed well. He was a bit of a wild card, very chatty and seemingly friendly. I have learned over the last two years that there are many who schmooze you. So though I am friendly, always accomodating and helpful (hence the super host badge) I will write a fairly nice review, only to find out that they didn't - expecting luxury, as you say. So in this instance, i'm nervous. I will do as advised here and be factual. I really don't want them coming back, as he drinks and his son lay on my couch and got ink stains all over it, then didn't even tell me. What a pain! Thanks again for the advise!

[Eugenie9]

I have been fortunate in that I  have had only a handful of bad guests.  I currently have one now.  When I first started out I was hesitant to leave bad reviews but as superpostas I am now more candid in my reviews for the benefit of other hosts.  

I am becoming a little jaded jaded with the Airbnb vacation rental system though.  As the site attracts more visitors with “”resort” mentalities on nickel budgets, it is not affording its hosts sufficient securities against bad guests and negative reviews.  There needs to be a better understanding that the hosts are the bedrock for the booking system and there must be a strict protocol and consequences for not only the host, but for guests as well.