Reviewing after damage we hope will be rectified by the responsible Guest

[Mary996]

I was in a situation where I now regret NOT reviewing a guest.

I wanted to say something along the lines that " these guests caused damage... at this point in time I am progressing a claim against them. If the matter is settled then I hope to be able to remove this review". Do you see where I'm coming from?

No-one wants to say negative things unjustifiably. They felt I was asking too much compensation. I invited them to make an offer but eventually had no response except for the threat of a £200,000 claim for 'racism'. In my opinion it would have been racist NOT to have claimed for the damage they caused!

I am considering a small claims court action.

Has anyone used this route?

[Mary996]

@Sarah977

Hello. Thanks for commenting. I've replied below (but forgot to put in the prompt at the start). Thanks so much for very kindly giving this matter some thought. And yes "You got it...!!" xx

[Pat271]

About your comment on what you should have said in a review - I believe that a review that mentions anything about legal or financial intents or actions gets removed by Airbnb, so you should probably keep those kinds of references out of reviews.

[Mary996]

Hi All,

Thank you so much for your observations and comments. I didn't get any sort of notification and with Covid and all going quiet I am only just now back on the scene.

Here is what happened. The outcome and what I meant in the commentary about my various thought processes.

[Sarah977]

@Mary996  

You accepted an Instant Book from someone with a bad review but didn't take the time to check the reviews first. So that part is on you- you could have cancelled the booking. I'm sure you won't make that mistake again. You also have the choice to turn off IB and require your guests to request to book so you can communicate with them, feel them out and read their reviews, before deciding whether to accept a booking. I have never used IB.

If a guest caused damages- if it was obviously an accident, (who among us has never accidentally broken something?) and the guest fessed up like a mature adult, and offered to pay for the damage (whether I accepted compensation or not- if it was something small and inexpensive, I consider that part and parcel of hosting), I wouldn't ever mention it in a review. The same goes for breaking house rules- if the guest forgot to take their shoes off as requested and tracked dirt across the floor or carpet, and when reminded, apologized and didn't do it again, that wouldn't enter into the review at all.

If the guest failed to mention damaging something, tried to hide the evidence, or never offered to make reparations, that I would certainly speak to in the review. Whether they paid up later, only after being asked to, would be immaterial to the review and not cause me any regret for addressing the guest's original attitude in the review. 

I believe in honest reviews- not good or bad reviews. Whatever I say in a guest review isn't anything I would feel I need to amend later because I have told the truth in the first place.

We aren't reviewing guests as people on a whole- we are reviewing their suitability as guests. A review which contains negative elements won't ruin their life or cost them their job. It will just warn other hosts as to what you experienced and likely make it difficult for them to book elsewhere, as it should be.

[Mary996]

Many thanks indeed for your perspective in reply.

Instant booking is quite an intriguing element of Airbnb we have experimented with, and further to the example mentioned we didn't have a problem with that Guest but were made aware from the Reviews that at least one other Host did.  The cautionary Review certainly made us very careful with him!!

Re: Damage. I'm seeking to address issues with the dishonest Guest who may have deliberately tried to cover up an accident and to evade settlement. In such an instance there might be various stages starting with the discovery of damage, putting it to the Guest, resorting to Airbnb for redress and in the meantime needing to review the Guest whilst giving them the benefit of the doubt about the cause and their intention or otherwise to settle the matter.  

"Whatever I say in a guest review isn't anything I would feel I need to amend later because I have told the truth in the first place".... I note is your point of view, but to achieve a settlement with someone when an issue is unresolved makes it difficult to assess the truth of the circumstances in the first place and therefore to my logic it follows that an update of the outcome of any dispute at a later date  would be helpful to another Host presented with the same Guest in the future. As a Host I would like to know that a Guest did settle a matter whether promptly or in due course. The prompt settler would be the more desirable Guest.

[Sarah977]

@Mary996   You kind of missed my point- I don't understand what "benefit of the doubt" there is when a guest has definitely been responsible for damage and doesn't want to accept responsibility. If it has to be escalated to Airbnb, rather than a guest fessing up, apologizing and offering some recompense on their own, as far as I'm concerned, the outcome of the dispute is immaterial as far as the review is concerned.

As a fellow host reading reviews, whether the guest paid up after me having to go through the song and dance of trying to charge them or escalating the case, or whether they fought it tooth and nail and never paid, doesn't matter to me- what matters is that they didn't accept responsibility in the first place.

[Mary996]

But they may genuinely have been unaware that there was damage.

[Mary996]

" the outcome of the dispute is immaterial as far as the review is concerned".

I find this perspective surprising but respect that that's your viewpoint.

To me its essential information. If I was considering a Guest who had been involved in a dispute with  another Host I would really appreciate hearing from that Host how things turned out.

[Sarah977]

@Mary996  It isn't that I wouldn't be interested in how the dispute turned out, it's that I wouldn't want to host a guest who denied causing damage that they were clearly responsible for, tried to hide it, or didn't offer to pay for it in the first place. Good people fess up, apologize, and offer to work out some kind of compensation without having to take it to the next level. Those are the kinds of guests I want, so that's why the outcome is immaterial to me in terms of the review. 

If they were truly unaware that they had caused any damage, when I discovered it after they had left, I would hold off on writing the review. If I then messaged them about it, if they offered to pay up and did, I would say in the review that there was some damage, which the guest appeared not to have been aware of, but that they were forthcoming with payment for it when it was brought to their attention. If they disputed it, that would also go into the review, regardless of whether they eventually paid up or not sometime down the road after the review period was over.

[Mary996]

Its being said we shouldn't mention the dispute mechanism in Reviews.

I'm very torn about the whole process. Personally I love giving reviews and am minded to say nothing if I can't say  something nice. I had a recent Guest with no reviews she may have been new but if not I can see why she didn't get reviewed!! I'm struggling between a full blown account of the difficulties or saying nothing at all!!.

[Mary996]

I think that there's also consideration needed for our Representatives at Airbnb who are also going to need some manoeuvring room when trying to assist in obtaining a good outcome and in getting that settlement out of the reluctant Guest. Being able to play on words such as accident and unintentional and not pushing the Guests face in it might be undermined by a Review from us that signals loudly what we think of the Guest and their true intentions.  But a strategy of discretion for the sake of a settlement conversely might obscure a true reflection of the Guest for future Hosts to be able to see clearly so its complicated. In fact I'm surprised that we haven't driven ourselves mad already!!

[Robin4]

@Mary996 

Let’s see if I am up to speed here!

You had a guest who left damage they might not have been aware of, but which was plainly obvious to you. You filed a claim and felt you would sit on the review until the claim resolved itself. If the guest accepted the claim you would give them an okay review, if the guest rejected the claim you would cane them…….if time for the review ran out....well bad luck!

Does that sound about the situation Mary?

Is it your feeling,  guests who create damage, and make no mention of it but are willing to pay when confronted with evidence are good guests and worthy of a reasonable review!

My feeling is, accidents are accidents, and good guests own accidents without being coerced into taking responsibility. If an unaccepted claim is required…..the guest is not a good guest in any hosts language!

I am puzzled why you would wait until a claim resolution before making an assessment of the guest in a review! You don’t have to be brutal, you just have to say something nebulous  like ….”Attention to house rules could have been better and I would decline the opportunity to host again”….That’s all, nothing specific but you have at least told other hosts that the guest could be a hosting problem!

Would you put yourself in future hosts shoes Mary…….How would you feel being taken advantage of by a guest who had no hint of trouble in their past, and even though they may have been a regular user, you had no warning of the guests potential character.

The problem here Mary is, attitudes like yours breed bad guests! They get away with it once so it gives them confidence that being a sh*t  will automatically be tolerated by hosts. You don’t just screw yourself Mary, you screw us all!!

Don’t rush into a review, take time to consider what you will say to remain dignified, but there is nothing dignified by waiting for an olive branch before you decide what you will say. That’s just making yourself as bad as that unacceptable guest !

Cheers……Rob  

[Mary996]

Haha...!

Hello Rob. I tied myself up in knots about this one!! But its done and dusted now and I'm wondering how to switch off further comments (especially the various swipes at my uniformed, unworthy and highly ignorant exploratory perspective. Do Hosts still look for help on these boards?? They do seem to have gone quite silent whereas in my early days the info on here was fantastic, non judgemental and just so supportive and helpful). 

To update you: The end result of this particular case was that I had composed a brief cautionary Review and was compensated by Airbnb. There were elements of the process that I learned from along the way. Thank you for your interest. 

[Robin4]

@Mary996 

Mary, as you are a 'level 10' you have been here for a while and understand how the various threads run. The thing you will know, just like @Sarah977  @Helen350  @Anonymous  we have all got something better to do with our time! But the thing we all have in common......we want to help, we want to offer a point of view from our perspective. We are not always right....but collectively, we are never wrong, there will be something in each thread that you can take on board and you will find, will improve your hosting.

On a personal level I cannot thank this community enough for the way it has helped me over the years. I have had the odd verbal 'fisticuffs' with a contributor or two, but this community made me a good host.

Some times we might say things that may seem antagonistic/critical....they are not meant in malice, they are meant to be helpful. I hope you can see that! 

Cheers......Rob

[Mary996]

@Robin4    @Pat271  @Helen350  @Sarah977  @Anonymous  @Mark116

Thanks for your comment Rob, which I largely appreciated.

However it has to be said that I would honestly prefer to get no replies than to be called a racist ! I really thing its important to be thoughtful in reply to others and that we have a duty to each other in that respect. I agree with you that  great benefit can be found from these boards. But the tone is being lowered. I don't know what the solution is except that I'm not happy about this degeneration. And I am prepared to offer courteous feedback to try to improve things... but then again folk may not be receptive. My point is a small one but The opportunity to provide feedback about the settlement of a dispute would be helpful if it was possible. That said we do get a month in which to respond to a disgruntled Guest. So to answer my own query. I think I would consider writing a prompt negative review (these boards suggested leaving it to the last minute - do others agree with that strategy???) if damage was not addressed immediately or promised... and thereafter update within the month available to do so to inform other Hosts that the Guest did settle but obviously indicating caution. Anyone got experience of doing this? My other question is has anyone else been threatened with libel or with some kind of legal action following a strongly worded review?