Possibly, previous hosts weren't into honest reviewing...

[Colleen253]

I didn't see this one coming. Guest had 5, 5* reviews. He was thorough and pleasant in communication before and during stay. Easy going over the two night stay. Said "I'll look after your house as if it were my own!" Bless him, but I should have asked what that would look like.

Bathroom as if used for a month and never cleaned. Over two nights, not sure how that's even possible? Pink wax flakes all over bathroom and bedroom, some melted on the duvet cover (he brought the wax in, it wasn't there already). Food smears and crumbs on the bedding. Food also smeared on kitchen cupboards, as if he'd been eating with his fingers and not even licked them clean before grabbing a glass. Dishwasher crammed with very dirty dishes. It was necessary to remove them and wipe food off before running the cycle. Personal items left behind and general debris that needed sorting before cleaning could commence. Neglected to cover the bbq back up and didn't lock the door behind him. Just rather careless. Am I really expected to believe he was the exact opposite with all 5 previous stays? What the heck happened? 

While he was apologetic re the wax and the door, I wouldn't care to host him again, due to the excessive cleaning needed. I mean, I had to wash all the cupboards, so that alone 👎 😡.... If I press 'no' to 'would you host again', does that prevent him from even sending a request to book, or would I have to block?

[Sarah977]

@Colleen253  I assume you'll be leaving the first honest review for this guest 🙂

[Colleen253]

@Sarah977 Oh yes, just biding some of the time I'm allotted. The stay is very fresh! I need to recover from the cleaning first, lol.

[Anonymous]

@Colleen253   Given the locations of the wax, it sounds like your guest attempted to have a romantic candlelight dinner, got in over his head, and rushed to hide the kitchen disaster before moving on to the next phase of the date. This would be especially funny if he was staying alone.

I wouldn't immediately assume that 5 previous hosts were all being dishonest. Not all mistakes and sins are committed habitually 🙂

But no, the thumbs-down doesn't block the guest from sending future requests. But an honest review from you would surely dissuade him...

[Colleen253]

@Anonymous Yes, funny indeed 🤣 Maybe funny/not funny? There is so much about this stay that I'm trying hard not to wonder about. One of the personal items left behind was a camera tripod for a phone. It was set up in the bedroom.

I don't intend to rip him apart in my review but will mention the cleanliness thing. He wasn't by any stretch a truly nightmare guest, more a 'personal' nightmare. I'm pretty fussy on cleanliness, and will admit my standards are quite high. I've also been pretty spoiled with guests who are stellar in the cleanliness category. Giving myself a day to come down from my indignation a bit. I actually expect he may want to book again, as he travels this way for work and said he loved the place. 

[Helen350]

@Colleen253 @Anonymous I wondered if he was waxing his skis.... with or without your iron!

[Emilia42]

@Colleen253 I once hosted a guest with 25 five star reviews. Previous hosts mentioned great communication. She booked 5 months in advance and she never exchanged a single word/message with me after her initial booking message (which was sparse.) Not a single piece of communication, even though I was actively trying to communicate with her. Meanwhile, I just got an instant booking last night from a women who has one do not recommend review (out of 2) on her profile but she sent me a nice, polite, and thorough booking message, so I'm going to take her. I have been saved once by a previous hosts review but the vast majority of the time reviews really don't hold much weight.

[Mark116]

@Colleen253  I've said this before, guests with more than 5 reviews, even if they are all good, are usually bad.  People who are super frequent users of airbnb often don't do reviews, have strange requirements or simply do not live up to their 5 star reviews because many, many hosts will not give a bad review and so many places on airbnb are now hotel like corporate units that a real person may never have even interacted with them, so their good review is a standard boilerplate that has no relationship to them as guests.  Some of our worst guests had truly glowing reviews where the hosts raved about their cleanliness, when they were super messy and general unpleasant.

[Helen350]

@Mark116 I disagree. I've hosted several guests with more than five  5 star reviews. Sometimes 10 -20 reviews. All people traveling for a good reason, like a 3 week holiday, staying somewhere different every  one to two nights, or people who travel for work. Almost always the good reviews appeared accurate. Especially when the reviews were detailed & personal from home stays. As a home stay host, it's encouraging to get folk with 10+ great reviews. These guests usually ARE better than newbies, who fail to communicate, wash up etc. 

[Kelly149]

Some of my worst guests had other great reviews... (Host Circle: Reviews are pointless)

I once had a CS tell me that consistent 1* reviews were required to prevent IB... I'd try to manually block him - if it will let you

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Helen350 

I think guests reflect learned behaviour, and my experience of Newbies is quite positive. I  do promote communication and express their obligations and direct their use of the Airbnb platform. An individual may exhibit bad behaviour and have several reviews stating they were wonderful, but can you imagine the problems hosts encounter when that same individual books for several other guests too? Just how are those other guests going to turn out basing their behaviour on their 'leader'? When they become individual guests their experience becomes replicated and pretty soon you have Maverick expectant guests.

The problem is, there's no school for them to learn the good ways to behave and when they disbehave nobody holds them to account. Not even Airbnb. In fact, Airbnb will not even know who the guests are they are sending and they will not know who to hold to account should they need to. 

I think Airbnb fail to promote good behaviour on their platform, and such is their reputation. It is very easy to guide guests towards good behaviour with automatic helpful suggestions prior, during and after a booking. Things like:

- Full disclosure of group, intentions and identification.

- Adding guests to the Airbnb Itinerary (so that guests are identifiable). Often only 1 guest is listed out of 8

- Emphasising that the Airbnb platform is predominantly 'other peoples' homes and not hotels.

- Insisting that the booking guest be present at check-in and not still 'on the way'.

- Breaking down the Terms of Service and expectations into simple terms.. 'Leave as found' etc..

- Reminder message " You're due to leave... make sure everything is as you found it..."

- Promote honesty in revealing damages they might have caused by simply asking them the question.

I don't think as hosts, this sort of training should be our responsibilities, and I don't think that giving sparkly reviews should be the default. This just promotes poorer behaviour.

@Colleen253 

When you say that your guest was apologetic, was that in your presence or afterwards by messages? In hindsight, giving him the cleaning materials necessary and time to do the cleaning if he was present would have been a good thing. Those marks and cupboards were not like that when he arrived.

That problem is just a fundamental abuse of the mutual contract we make as hosts and guests and should not even be needed to be discussed. Least of all hidden in flowery reviews if that is what his previous hosts had done.

As an aside, judging the cleanliness of guests , or groups in my case, the more time provided on checkout the better condition the accommodation is left. We have a lateish check out of 11.00 anyway so there's reasonable time for breakfast and clearing up, but often on the night before I'll get a message "any chance of a late checkout?" I can normally accommodate so do. The difference in the cleanliness is noticeable.