So, 260+ comments down the road, 82% of them 5*, Superhost and hosting on Air since 2013. In all these years had only TWO comments below 4*: one from a very nice Indonesian lady who went on and on about how great everything was and how happy she was about her stay, and then gave us three stars. Still puzzled, but not too much, as her comments were so positive.
The other 3 star comment REALLY angered me. This guest booked for 6 nights, and from the first minute I knew he was going to be difficult. Why? Because instead of his name he used his Airbnb listing’s name. So I wrote asking for his name and address…he never replied to this. Then he writes saying his plane lands early, so can he check in as soon as he gets there. My check in time is 16:00, check out 12:00, which is absolutely necessary because during the full season we’re booked solid. By chance the previous guests are leaving very early and my cleaning lady says it’s ok for her, so I tell him no problem. Next mail (still no name or address) he asks if he can also check out late, as his plane leaves at 22:00. I see the next couple of days are not booked, so I tell him OK, if there is no last minute reservation.
I didn’t become a Superhost by chance: we (my cleaning lady, the friend who takes care of check in and of looking after our guests when they’re there and myself) bend over backwards to make our visitors’ stay as pleasant as possible. I send them at least two messages during their stay to make sure they’re comfortable, and my friend Lia is the most extraordinary PR one could imagine and is fantastically popular with our guests. This guy walks in, walks out, says hello, never answers my mails asking if he’s enjoying his stay or needs something. Not very nice to Lia, but, OK, sometimes people don’t want any interaction and that’s perfectly fine.
The day he’s supposed to leave, he gets the Airbnb mail asking him to rate his stay. Which he does (but he’s still in the apartment). Since I always rate immediately, I give him my usual nice comment, although I strongly suspect his won’t be so nice. So, Mr. A**hole gives me 3*…and complains about the size of the apartment (there are 25 pictures taken from every angle, a detailed description, a floor plan and a mention of the exact size, i.e 15sq.m!) - saying the description is “misleading” - and about the price, saying it’s too expensive!
I’m so angry I see red: send him immediately a message saying we had a last minute booking and he must leave within the next half hour. Since everything went through the Air messaging system, he’s out 20 minutes later…and must have spent the rest of the day wandering around with his luggage. Which, if I judge by his comments (that he didn’t have enough place for all his suitcases) must have been pretty bulky! I still can’t get over his rudeness and stupidity!
I also wrote him that I was a bit surprised that he hadn’t bothered to read the description which mentions several times the size of the place, that the price is justified by the fact that this studio has so much demand and that I hoped for his sake that his Airbnb guests were fairer and nicer than he was!
A couple of years ago another host also gave me a hard time, complaining about what I later found out were imaginary noises (no one mentioned them before or after him): I was still new to the game, he asked for a partial refund and I gave it to him, and his review was …so-so. I later realized it was pure blackmail, and I certainly wouldn’t let it happen now.
And yesterday…3rd unpleasant experience with hosts! They’re landing at 21:00, so I give them the usual choice: either send them our friendly taxi driver with the keys, which costs them nothing but the taxi flat rate. Or use the keybox. Being Dutch (stingy) they chose to take the bus and use the keybox. Thereafter ensues a 4 hour exchange of emails to send them detailed instructions, including pictures of the place where the keybox is, pictures of the keybox (it looks like a huge padlock), Google instructions to walk the 3 minutes from the bus stop. The code…the small black lever to release the padlock door…more pictures of the door of the building. Instructions on how to use every key.
My phone rings at 23:00 (just to make all this clear: I live in Switzerland and my 5 apartments are in Greece…). The lady, almost in tears “We’re here, but there are no keys in the box…”. I almost faint: lost keys, someone must have stolen them…find Lia to get her to come to give them her keys…Panic. After frantic phone calls, Lia on her way form her house (a good 20 minutes away) my husband asks, repeatedly: “Are you sure they opened the right box?” “Oh please! She says they’re at the right address, and there is no other box”. “Yes there is” says he, wise man. “The old rusty mailbox”. I look at him pityingly “Pleeeeease…they couldn’t be THAT stupid! I sent them a picture of the keybox!”. He says “Call them, you never know”.
Next conversation “Dear Mrs. Guest, which box did you look into?” “The black box, next to the door”.
At that moment, I wish I was there in Athens and I could punch her and her husband.
“Mrs. Guest, I sent you a picture of the box: it’s grey and it has rotating numbers on it.” "Huh, no, this one is black, no numbers."
Finally managed to walk them 2 meters further, find the keybox, open it and make it to the apartment. Feeling wretched, annoyed and sad that there is so much stupidity in the world. My husband says people NEVER read instructions. He’s right, but then what can one do? And I’m sure I’ll be getting a comment about that in their review.
I hate hosts as guests!
Some people are not reading instructions, neither description of listing. We have the same problem.
It’s exhausting! I had some people staying a couple of weeks ago, and there was the same size issue in their private comments. So I wrote her and quoted the description, the 25 pictures and the floor plan, and asked her, very politely, if she could give me some ideas as to how to make the description better so that future guests wouldn’t have that problem.
She wrote back and after insisting on how nice everything had been and how much they’d enjoyed their stay, she finally admitted they hadn’t read the description fully, and she was sorry. Pfff…
My experience with hosts has been much more positive. Most of the hosts I’ve hosted have less experience than I do and are curious how I run my business. One had a lot of experience and was a very nice guy. He left me a great public review, but a laundry list of things he would have liked to have seen in my guest room and bathroom. Had I not developed a personal relationship with the guy during his stay, I feel like he would have given me a sub optimal review.
I can definitely see how other hosts can be pickier. They my has a distorted expectation of what you are offering and that could be offputting to them.
As always, keep doing your best and your average review will be awesome! Don’t let these people ruin your day!
These hosts sound like complete assholes, I’m so sorry. I love that you got to boot the idiot after he counted on a free late check-out.
Now we are hearing stories of hosts getting outright denied again and again. No one wants to host us!
You have had 2 bad experiences out of 260? If that’s right then whilst it is regrettable to have any bad experiences this doesn’t seem very significant especially when you are running a business and doing so from abroad. I am also very surprised you, as an experienced host, would allow an unnamed man into your property as that to me is simply a no no and a recipe for trouble.
I have not experienced this. All my hosts have been great guests.
Yep: sounds petty, but it made my day!
See…no one reads properly! (Just kidding!). No, I certainly had more than 2 bad experiences, although I have to say that none were catastrophic: mostly annoying. What I said is that out of more than 260 reviews I only had 2 below 4 stars, and that one of them was this disgusting host.
Also, despite the fact that he wouldn’t bother to give me his name, I found it out quite easily through his own Airbnb listing.
And I don’t know where you are located, but in Greece we don’t have big safety concerns. And I’m confident enough that the people I have working for me over there can handle any situation!
Hi @marika,
Regarding your last guests, it reminds me of the saying:
Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.
Your husband sounds like a keeper. Congratulations on having him.
I LOVE your revenge on the first guy! Stupid man! What did he think he was going to achieve writing such a nasty review while hoping for a favour from you?? I hope he had a miserable time looking for things to do all day. And I hope it was raining
Love the saying…and so true! And yes, I’m keeping him. Have managed to hold on to him for 33 years (the man has earned his halo, I can tell you that 
)!
The great thing about this episode was that since all the exchanges we had were though Airbnb, he couldn’t say that I’d accepted and then changed my mind, since I’d told him he could stay on condition we didn’t have a last minute reservation. And if he stayed even a couple of hours more I could have charged for another day…and he certainly wasn’t going to risk that. Made me very happy to be able to ruin his afternoon!
I am a newbie here since we only started on the 10th of February and hosted 21 groups so far. It may sounds odd but we get lower rating from guests that we had to go beyond the normal practices to help their stays. How unfair is it?
I also notice that during the communication process before they arrived if I got some strange feelings (at the faintest level) that guest is going to be the weird one in many ways. I am going to have a host guest at the end of this month. Your experience makes me nervous.
Anyway having been in another business before I tend not to care too much about those weirdos (either their behaviours or ratings). I do not take it personal. I see them as the 10% imperfect of any nature population. Not happy with them though.
Ha ha. I wonder if you had the same dutchies as me! They ring me saying the key box doesn’t open. I get them to push the clear button and 3x we try the code and no it doesn’t open. I leave the lunch at the Cafe I am having with my friend and drive home. I punch in the numbers and woolaa the box opens. Ohhh they say, we thought that punching in the number would automatically open the door. The lockbox looks like a padlock and hangs independently off another door handle, not intergrated into the door. I have added better instructions now. I find the Dutch (having lived in Holland and travelled with) are most impracticable people. They are missing that gene lol
Hi guys,
Can we please avoid stereotyping nationalities? As we all know, Airbnb has a strong anti-discrimination policy and I’d hate to think that people who are browsing this site think that hosts are prejudiced against certain nationalities.
Thank you!
P.S. I am not Dutch 
I wouldn’t dare renting your place, being host, Dutch and I’m missing a gene 
Marika, 9 out of 10 that requested early check in and are vague with communication plus want this and that, were problem guest for me. They are the ones that will rate you low, even if you stand on your had for them.
Marika, I believe in Karma. Sometimes it just takes time!
I had a Dutch couple who rated me 1 star. They were the most bigoted, hateful, disrespectful couple I have seen in a long time. It must have been the same couple that Marika had.
There are not just Host but there are also Guest that are big time bigots, and need to be exposed. Covering and not talking about them is just supporting their future behavior.
It happens just so that they were Dutch, and no, not all Dutch are bigots. I will never scoop to their level.
If it was not for the black couple exposing Host that are bigots, it would have gone, on and on. Let’s be not so politically correct. I would rather have those type of guest stay with bigoted Host.
World is big and life is to short. Respect works both ways.
I’m so pleased you say that! I noticed the exact same thing. In fact, as soon as I read “Would you mind…” or “Could you please”…the warning lights go on. Same thing goes for prices: the less they pay the more they demand. So I’m keeping my prices high, and apparently it works since my occupancy rate is way higher than cheaper (and very nice) dwellings in my neighborhood. Actually it makes me smile when I see other hosts on the local forum complaining that they get no reservations and that they’re lowering their prices.
I believe low prices are the best recipe for getting cheap guests…and bad ratings! People who pay a higher price have more respect for the host, for some mysterious reason, and tend to enjoy their stay much more.