So far the guests who have given us 3 or 4 stars complaining about something have been as I said unwarranted.
Examples:
One guest complained because our Airbnb space is in our renovated basement. He knew this when he booked it!
Another guest complained that our house was not an Airbnb because it is up for sale so they refused to stay after arriving in front of our home and never coming in. Then the next day they phoned Airbnb support saying our house was unclean and they wanted their money back.
Then we have had guests who gave us nice reviews but only four stars with no explanation of what the issue was that they had.
After a while mom and I decided to laugh. Seriously if a guest has a legitimate complaint then you better believe we will listen and fix the problem. But here we have mostly terrific reviews with cleanliness being our greatest boast. People who leave fine reviews but drop stars never expressing their complaint make themselves look bad.
Then we have had guests who have complained in their reviews yet never bothered to talk to us while they were here. So and so could not find a certain amenity. We frequently ask guests while they are here if there is anything they need to let us know. So why should any guests leave here unhappy or unable to find any amenity?
The bottom line is that no matter what a host does or says or offers there will always be unhappy types of people. These people are generally people who are unhappy with themselves and they complain no matter where they are. It is impossible to please all people all of the time, as the old saying goes. It holds true.
Airbnb did remove one and only one review at our request because the things the guests wrote were totally untrue. What was funny is that after our first 3 star review the next guest did the same thing. Mom and I feel very disappointed and hurt since we work so hard to please guests and make everything warm and cozy the way we would like other hosts to do for us. But in the end the people who have no real complaint and give low ratings only make themselves look bad.
We have also been told numerous times by guests that we have the best Airbnb they have ever been to.
One last thing. This is not to say that every complaint guests make is unwarranted. It is very important to listen to what guests have to say. There is always room for improvements. But if people allow unwarranted complaints to break them down then they will never be able to grow their business. Part of being a good business manager is learning how to communicate with all kinds of people. Taking the bad with the good and learning to discern productive criticism from unproductive criticisms.
