What should I do to prevent guests who complain about unreasonable things from booking my place?

[Abi4]

It is quite ridiculous, but already the last 3 guests that I had were complaining about unreasonable things. All complained that the house is not as bright as it looks on the pictures. They all checked in at night or on a very cloudy day, and the photos were taken with natural light.

One complained that the floor is outdated, one that the wine glass in the closet is not well polished, and the other is that the house has bad smell from the neighbors which lighted an incense stick (she also threatened she will go to hospital and charge me... from feeling sick from the smell! seriously?!).

Yes, my listing is not for everyone, it is on a high floor with no elevator, but I definitely do not hide it and even mention in the attention note before booking in case they missed it. The place is pleasant, well designed, with thoughtful touches, and relatively not expansive (it's Switzerland, everything is expansive). I have the feeling people did not read the description properly and expecting a 5-star hotel for their budget.

I have been part of the Airbnb community for many years and using the platform as part of my belief in the shared economy. I feel that my guests completely fail to understand this concept of being hosted in someone's home and choosing Airbnb just for being slightly cheaper than a hotel. 

What should I do to prevent the wrong guests from booking my place? 

Thank you in advance for your answers.

[Yulianna0]

@Abi4, some people will just envy you because you are living in such beautiful place. And they will complain because of it. Let it go. They are the masters of their troubles and insatisfsctions. And about weather and things that don’t depend on you: sometimes I’m starting to complain in advance:) So people see that I’m on their side.

[Casita-By-The-Texas-Bay0]

@Yulianna0  haha, good aproach! Saludos!

[Christopher-and-Elisa0]

@Abi4  I just had someone give us 4 stars. The only complaint they had was the location - apparently as described but further away from the town center than they thought. It’s 10 minutes walk. At a leisurely pace. And why am I responsible for what they thought?

The other week there was another one who gave us 4 stars. They gave us 4 stars on most performance markers (except cleanliness) incl. communication. That really bugs me because their reservation email consisted of a full stop, their response to a message from us re check-in was almost rude, they didn’t introduce themselves on arrival and their ‘review’ contains nothing but a full stop. As you can imagine I wasn’t very happy with them but didn’t want to be unkind and gave them 5 star. I could slap myself for that.

Before that we’ve had guests who found the fact that they had to meet me on arrival a real imposition, gave us 4 stars overall and 2 for the check-in!?!

We’re in Australia and it’s stupidly hot here most of the time so I don’t think this has something with the lack of sunshine (although maybe too hot is not good either). My experience is that many people have a sense of entitlement, very unrealistic expectations and no idea what is involved in hosting, all the work, time, resources. I suspect they chose Airbnb because of the price and not because they enjoy the experience of staying in a private house and/or potentially meeting someone new. But they still want the luxury resort. We charge less than a second rate motel here in town and sometimes I’d like to encourage people to stay there and see what’s on offer to gain some perspective. Seriously, we can’t provide 5-star-hotel luxuries for that price. Not even a 5 star hotel could.

Some guests really make me dread the next arrival. That said - many people are just lovely, tidy, friendly, chatty and appreciate the job you do as a host. I’ve had many of those and I think I’m getting one of those tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

[Casita-By-The-Texas-Bay0]

I was "schooled" by this specially unhappy person that stayed at our Casita because according to him I was "not personable"...he mentioned that I was quick to answer by text (which I did within minutes of his constant texts) but I was not there to receive them or solve his issues...(breath-in...breath-out)...I live 10 hours away from our vacation home!

He even pointed on his review that "clearly this was a money making unit, not a home"...(breath-in...breath-out)...again, it is a vacation home where we would LOVE to live, but can't at the moment because of work (how does it matter to him anyways???)...I guess besides him looking for stuff to complain, he was also feeling lonely.

[Ben551]

@Casita-By-The-Texas-Bay0 Sounds like a standard case of “guest envy” 🙂

[Casita-By-The-Texas-Bay0]

@Ben551 I am trying to still "breath-in and breath-out" to avoid responding to the guest...I took his comments personal I guess, and the reality is that I shouldn't let his negative comments set my mood.

[Susan151]

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@Christopher-and-Elisa0 wrote:

@Abi4  consisted of a full stop

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You use this expression more than once and I have absolutely no idea what it means. WIlling to provide a definition?

[Christopher-and-Elisa0]

Full stop is simply a dot. The entire email and the review as well consist of just a .

[Susan151]

@Christopher-and-Elisa0 .So a period? That was it? How peculiar!

[Christopher-and-Elisa0]

Yes, a period. I’m not a native speaker, I hear people around me use ‘full stop’, so I use it too. Is it an Australianism? Maybe.

[Ben551]

@Christopher-and-Elisa0 @Susan151  not just Australian, British folk say “full stop” too, as do New Zealander’s and many parts of Europe. I’ve only ever heard people calling it a “period” in the US.

[Lisa723]

@Abi4 @Ben551 @Casita-By-The-Texas-Bay0 @Christopher-and-Elisa0 @Yulianna0       

Here's the 4-star review we got yesterday. In private feedback she suggested a memory foam mattress which is exactly what she got. 5 stars in each subcategory except value (she paid our lowest off-season rate) and location. (Just commiserating...)

We had a wonderful time! The hot tub was amazing and so relaxing. We really enjoyed paddling around the lake in the complementary canoe. The house was well equipped with everything you needed and Lisa and Miranda were excellent communicators. The mattresses on the futon and bed were not the most comfortable for sensitive backs and we were a bit disappointed that you couldn't see the lake from the cottage itself, but it is a very short walk to the private dock! Also (and this is completely on us, not our hosts), we found that Quilcene is not perhaps the greatest access point the the Olympic National Park. Many of the more popular hikes in the area were 1 hour+ away on the western side. But overall, we had a fantastic weekend.

Response from Lisa:

Glad you had a good stay, Sophie! Just to clarify for other prospective guests: there is no futon in the cabin. We're very sorry this guest found our beds (Novaform 14" Serafina Pearl Gel Queen Memory Foam Mattress and Savvy Calgary leather pull-out sleeper sofa from Sleepers In Seattle) less than comfortable, and a little surprised, as other guests have consistently said the opposite. We appreciate the feedback and will certainly make a note of this exception; guest comfort is extremely important to us. This guest's location feedback presents a great opportunity for us to encourage all prospective guests to read listing descriptions (including neighborhood overviews), look at listing photos, and note listing locations before booking. Also maybe to note that the Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest are different recreational areas and the Olympic Peninsula comprises about 3600 square miles. 🙂

[Casita-By-The-Texas-Bay0]

@Lisa723 Your response is great! Very professional!

I still have not responded to my picky guest (he also mentioned that the beds were "old and too soft") ...breath-in, breath-out...haha...the beds are less than six months old, and they have gel memory mattress toppers for added comfort...it is hard to find the personal comfort level on a mattress for each guest I guess  😄

[Christopher-and-Elisa0]

Funnily enough we have a futon. Proper Japanese futon. For the benefit of Western backs the futon sits on a firm thin mattress and has a fluffy topper on top.

We’ve had one of those gigantic, heavy spring pocket mattresses that are common in Australia but this thing weighed a tonne and the bed is situated in a corner of the room and I’m small and not the youngest anymore and it was just killing me, having to lift this thing day after day to make the bed. We sleep on futons and I love it, it’s like sinking into a cloud, so we’ve decided to get one for the guest suite.

So far we’ve had one couple remark that it was a tad hard and another complaining that the futon kept rolling up underneath them. I still don’t know what that means and how they managed. Recently an older lady who apparently had a bad hip said, she found it a bit hard and uncomfortable. Fair enough. But then the next day a young couple was so enthusiastic about sleeping on the futon, they found it amazingly comfortable, had ‘the best sleep ever!’ and wanted to know where we’ve got the futon from. No matter what mattress you decide on there always will be people who will find it uncomfortable. That’s just how it is.

[Sean433]

As @Antonio-Luis0  mentioned, it is true that winter does bring on the most grumpy of guests.

It has not even snowed yet and I am noticing this. I think besides the lack of sun, this is also due to the fact that when it is cold, guests spend more time inside the house and less time outside sightseeing.

And so they notice more issues because they don't have much better to do but complain. Just had an elderly lady complain that our house has no cable. We did not check off the "cable" box under amenities and I explained that our listing does not advertise cable, that it only advertises Netlfix. She then responded that "yes, we do not advertise cable but we also don't NOT advertise cable? What the??

We left her a bottle of wine before check-in and no thank you for anything. This is what happens when hotel guests who have nothing better to do then watch TV on vacation come to an airbnb home.