@Terri38
Terri this is probably going to sound a bit critical, and I really don't mean it that way. You are a great host almost 340 reviews and your guests just love you. Time and again they say how lovely and helpful you were.
But every guest teaches us something! Now I know how hard it is to make an older house pristine, I have cracks to contend with, tile grouting that I constantly have to keep on, spiders.....my God, I even had a possum nibbling away at the fruit bowl on the kitchen bench one night! Startled the hell out of the guests.....at least they were Kiwis and could see the funny side of it but Terri, I felt like Basil Fawlty!
Some guests you are never going to satisfy, they will expect a standard that is unattainable in an older property. Some will even mark you down when there was nothing to complain about....they just did because nothing is perfect.
I have taken a look at your listings and there are some things that you can't do anything about. I noticed in one of your listings enough guests have down voted you for you to end up with an overall 4.6 for 'Location'! Now that's unfair, they booked it and you can't move it, so lets forget about that.
One of your listings has an overall 4.65 rating and the other has a 4.56, and the thing that is driving those ratings down appears to be, 'Cleanliness'! You rate a 4.6 on both listings, whereas the other categories are 4.8!
It is always best to try and head these problems off before they occur rather than have to confront them after! Try to find out from your guests, personally, how they felt you could improve their perception......because in lots of instances Terri, it is just that...... perception! It's not that it is not clean, to them it looks unclean, bed not folded down nicely, towels a bit poorly stacked in the cupboard, clutter on the kitchen bench. Try to make things as streamlined and efficient as possible. That way you may find these 4.6ers will lift.
As to your review, don't make it look like a 'sour grapes' review! That will reflect more on you than it will on him Terri! If it were me, this is what I would write!
"I look forward to all my guests, but at odd times a guest may not be a good fit for my style of hosting, and I am afraid that may have happened with xxxxxxxxxx. He felt, I fell short in some areas, just as I did with him, particularly with my house security and quiet hours. In the end we agreed to part before the scheduled end of the stay and he was refunded for the unstayed nights. I will learn...... all my guests feedback is important to me and helps to make me a bit better at being a host. I hope he will also take something out of the reservation, and in future, treat the experience with a little more respect!"
Terri, by saying something like that you have remained dignified, you have given an honest appraisal of how you feel, other hosts will see that he was a problem, and you have given no ammunition to have him get your review removed.
So again, I don't want to appear critical Terri, I am a new kid at this compared to you, but I am just looking at this from a guests perspective and trying to be constructive.
All the best.
Cheers......Rob
