Oh, this makes me want to be there!!!
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You canât. Your response is perfectly polite and succinct but you are simply not in control of how the potential guest receives that decline.
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Yes. I automatically decline those people and do not give them another thought.
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I agree. Location dings are purely subjective - especially since, guests have a map indicating the area where the house is located and, in my case, loads of information about public transportation times to San Francisco, the location of the bus stop, distances to many of the major destination points around the area (including - 141 miles to Big Sur and 152 miles to Yosemite, because I have actually had guests that traveled to those places during their stay with me!), and a recommendation that guests have their own wheels (rental or other wise).
Of course, the Location stars should indicate if the listing accurately described the location, not the location itself. The darn building didnât move between the time they booked and the time they arrived. This is the only star category that I have received dings. I keep adding more specifics. In fact, it seems almost cautionary at this point and I am considering scaling back the negatives I have introduced.
Unfortunately, there is no clear direction to the guests by Airbnb on how to rate this, so even though my listing accurately describes the location and how it relates to other destinations around the area and also allows for guests to pre-plan (by supplying them the nearest bus stop), I still get dinged because I they canât walk out the door and step on a BART train. sigh
I keep hoping that the fact that I say âwest side of townâ and the map will be sufficient. Iâm walking distance to the Pearl Street Mall, hiking trails and biking trails right outside the door, and my place backs to open space â what more do they want? Iâm not tweaking any more. A hint came from the guest before last (a New Yorker, with whom I met for coffee). She had to move to a hotel for the 3rd and 4th day sof her visit as I was already booked. She said she like the fact that the hotel was close to Bed, Bath & Beyond, and some of the other larger chain stores. She had a rental car. Go figure âŚ
This is what she said in her review: " I needed to stay in Boulder for an additional two nights and Sandy was already booked, so moved to the Boulder Marriott (for about the same price). Although the Marriott was just a little more centrally located, there is absolutely no comparison (Sandy wins)." However, I know from the âstatsâ, she left me less than five stars for location.
and she had a car? Makes no sense! Any area around a BBB is a commercial wasteland, while you look at trees. No comparison.
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Precisely. This appears to be a mental hurl for many guests, to consider the difference between the merits of the accuracy of location description and of the location itself, which is up to them to decipher how well is suited before booking.
I am annoyed for you. Is there not a Bed, Bath, and Crappola anywhere in NYC? Why do you need to go to Colorado to shop at big box stores? They are flipping everywhere. Some of my most treasured possessions are the sterling silver Indian jewelry pieces I got in Manatou Springs. I canât get that stuff locally.
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I just checked and it turns out â there were three BBBs in Manhattan but all are closed, now. She and her husband were moving their 18 year-old daughter, who is a freshman at Naropa, into a small apartment. Trust me, the Marriot location is all commercial. My place is in a neighborhood with mostly Victorian era houses.
OMG, you would love the Zuni opal cuff bracelet I got myself for my birthday this year at an auction. The opals are âsoldieredâ â about 1/4" each in height, stacked next to each other â at least 40 of them.
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Thatâs bc NO ONE in SF can!! We are literally 1.5 blocks from the California Street Cable Car and we get dinged on location all the time.
Iâm minutes to a private beach on Hawaii island with great snorkeling. Quiet tranquil neighborhood overlooking the sea with spectacular views. But you guessed it. Dinged on location. Even though the cons of my location are disclosed every way from Sunday. Ding ding ding.
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Thatâs the issue, the guest not reading your description and not understanding what they are rating. I have had guests tell me my âno children allowedâ apartment is not child safe. They also review that the 7 inch step into the bathroom is inconvenient. The step is disclosed in the description. I also get 390 pound people booking my room and complaining the doorways are too narrow at 32".
One guest first tried to cancel telling me due to the step up into the bathroom, I pointed out it was disclosed in description. Then he said he wanted to cancel due to the grass parking spot, and I pointed out it was also disclosed. He then came to me saying he would cancel due to the room having a murphy bed, which was in his opinion unsafe. Once again I told him it was disclosed and in the photos. I asked him to find some murphy bed injuries on the internet I could look at.
He just took off around midnight one night with 3 days to his reservation unused (over the 4th of July weekend) and asked for a FULL refund, including days he stayed. His complaint to AirBnB? âNot what I expectedâ
Certainly he was not what I expected. I expected he would read the description and look at the pictures.
AirBnB paid me in full, but granted him a limited refund of the unused days out of the AirBnB fees.
Wish I could block him some way. But I just have to keep a list of the âproblem childrenâ
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You have indeed a lot of patience.
If they could, theyâd ding you on location for the train being too loud!
The doorways into my bathrooms are only two feet wide! I had an obese guest recently that seemed thrilled with my place and she should have been. She had her dog with her and she arrived at 6 am and I let her sleep during the the day (possibly loosing out on a nightâs booking) She was very nice but didnât leave me a review, I wonder if some of the tight spaces are why.
I wonder why he really wanted to cancel. Obviously he was just looking around for excuses to get out of the reservation.
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I think his wife expected to stay in a hotel, and he did not tell her my apt is at the back entrance of a retail store. Everything is fully disclosed, so itâs his bad, not mine.
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I dont have any discernable pattern of complaints. Most of them are unjustified so that they donât even write it in their review, they just write it in the personal notes to me. The one guy that asked for a refund never left a review. Maybe when air B&B give somebody some money back theyâre not allowed to write a review? Either way I have 20 stays and 19 great reviews. as long as thereâs no bad review itâs golden
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Itâs easy to imagine the conversation.
-Honey, I want to stay in a nice resort and order room service, and get a massage at the in house spa andâŚ
-I have an even better idea. Letâs stay in this Airbnb I found. Itâs just like a hotel, and with all the money we save, we can get you a new purse.
They get to the place, and itâs not just like a hotel, because itâs actually someoneâs apartment behind a storeâŚ
Then all hell breaks loose, and the husband decides he better come up with a new plan. Oops.
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