Suggestion on reviewing guest

1

I hate doing reviews when I am not happy with the people who stayed and also I think they gave me a negative review. These people weren’t “bad” but they sort of took over the house which I didn’t like.Since then I have taken off my “kitchen” as a use thing which was limited and spelled out in the description - but I still allow people the same access I did before - the microwave, utensils, coffee maker. Also - I have never listed the dining room/sunroom as a place for guests even though that is where they enter from.

Anyway - I came home from walking my dog to have everyone in my kitchen and dining room preparing dinner. People were seated in my dining room with even outside chairs they brought in because my dining room is being remodeled - along with my kitchen. The tables weren’t even set up properly because I had a 4th of July Party a few days before and I am having another one shortly. So the tables are in “buffet” mode and against the walls. Regardless - all I have in my dining room at the moment are 6 ft folding tables with table clothes on them and folding chairs.

When I walked in - the one woman asked if I had another sponge because that one had mold on it and the yellow one she threw away because it was “covered in mold” - I told her it wasn’t mold and that I didn’t have another sponge. The fact is I had wiped something off the counter that was like charcoal and it made the sponges black - I even wash them in the dishwasher. She said - “well I’m not using it”. They were prewashing my dishes because they got the dishes out of the dining room - which has one of the doorless kitrchen cabinets that had to be taken down when I had the garden window installed. Those dishes have to be rinsed off because they collect dust . However I do have dishes in the cabinet in the kitchen that do NOT have to be rinsed off because they are enclosed. They didn’t wait to ask me where anything was so they just grabbed stuff whereas if they had asked I could have shown them exactly where everything was.

When I first showed them into their rooms - the one woman asked if I had a scent thing in there and I said yes. She asked if I could unplug it - so I did and put it on the electric heater faux fireplace. I didn’t actually remove it from the room. Anyway - after they checked out - I went up in the room and saw that it wasn’t there - but not only was that one missing, so was the one in the other room. I messaged them asking where it was - but then when I opened the closet, I saw it shoved in the corner in a bag.

Then when the one woman came out of the shower she asked if there was some secret to getting cold water in the shower. I told her I don’t think so. She responded back with “why you haven’t taken a shower in a while” - I said “no, it is that I like hot showers”. I have since asked people about the shower and they all love it - but I think these people like ice cold showers.

I felt like they were very judgemental on everything - even with my watering my flowers and shrubs. The one couple was from Israel and told me how wasteful it was and how there they use underground irrigation systems with pipes that have little holes in them.

I don’t think personality-wise we meshed. They seemed to be an older aging hippie commune type that thinks everyone should be eating organic - and I’m not. And because of the way they spoke and acted - I felt like everything I did was under a microscope. They even made mention of how many potato and other snack chips I had.

I was hoping they wouldn’t review - but now they have and I feel I have to and I have 16 hours to do it before the clock runs out. Or should I just not review and do I still get the opportunity to respond back to their review if I don’t?

This is what I have so far but I really don’t like it and I just stopped and decided to get some feedback here. :slight_smile:

“Phillip and his group were friendly - but I think they would have been much more comfortable in a full house. The limits to my kitchen are the coffee maker and the microwave, along with plates and utensils. My dining room/sun room guests don’t use. I came home from walking my dog and everyone was in the kitchen making dinner and going through trying to find the plates and everything because they hadn’t asked.”

2

It’s a little confusing. Suggest rewriting to spell out what rules they broke. “My house rules state A, but the guest did B”. As it is it’s not really very useful to other potential hosts. Were they clean? Did they communicate well? Did they follow your house rules otherwise?

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Like I said - it wasn’t really like they broke “house rules” - it was more their attitude, snide comments such as “what, you haven’t taken a shower in a while” when I said I wasn’t sure if there was any secret to getting cold water in the shower and just being generally very judgmental. I ended up removing “kitchen” as being listed as an amenity even though in the description I spelled out what the limits were in terms of using the kitchen.

4

Hi JD,
How awful. Entitled, pushy guests who made you feel uncomfortable in your own home. No respect of your boundaries. Just no. And the judgment of your chips. Ridiculous!

I wouldn’t say they were friendly…
You have to decide if you are going to leave

– a bad review, in which case don’t hold back
– a neutral review and tell them all in the private feedback
–no review… which wont accomplish anything.

The response thing won’t really do anything, I don’t recommend that anyway.
(I think you are going to hear about the moldy sponge in the review. )

I would just say something along the lines of…

Unfortunately x and his group were not a great fit for our home. Without asking me, they held an event and took over the house, pushing us out of our own kitchen to cook. They then helped themselves to all the dishes and serving ware without asking and arranged the dining room furnishings to their liking, as though we were not even in the room. They lounged in the sun room which is not available for guest use. I was put off by their boundary-pushing behavior and have since taken the kitchen off of guest use. The guests also made judgmental personal remarks on my lifestyle and diet. Can’t recommend.

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Also, JD you can make use of the Air countdown timer. Go to your dashboard and see it ticking down. Especially the last hour. It will tell you almost to the second how much time you have left. Have it all written and ready and submit it with about two minutes to go. You can also find e time on e first email you received from Air. Don’t do it any sooner. They will get notified and post theirs.

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Post that review and go out for a cheeseburger and fries! Sheesh. Just when you have heard it all.

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Exactly - I have a couple who have been staying here for 2 months - I felt really bad because even though I have told them they can cook and everything they have been VERY respectful of the limits and have treated my house as MY house. They walked in with these people basically taking over my kitchen and dining room. I apologized to them and said - They did NOT have permission to do all this.

But you are exactly right and what I told my long term guests Vince and Lauren - I literally felt like a stranger in my own home. The downstairs - except for the shared bathroom and the one bedroom which Vince and Lauren are in - is my complete domain. Guests sleep upstairs and have limited use of the kitchen and the use of the dining room is on a basis of me OFFERING it to someone once they are here.

It was VERY uncomfortable having them completely take over that space and just going into cabinets and looking for things without asking.

As for trying to post at the very last second so they can’t review me - they did just review me tonight. I did not know the counter actually was that accurate - I thought they just gave “within an hour” type of message. One good thing - I have about 5 great reviews since they stayed here so hopefully it will be buried if it is negative…

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Ugh. Sorry. People are unbelievable and the chutzpah it takes to do that is just beyond the pale.

I would avoid giving anything positive with this guest review. They are just bad all the way around.

Go ahead and review them now. Then go get some funyons. Honestly!!!

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I’m currently eating cotton candy from the boardwalk. :slight_smile:

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Guests have already reviewed her – I can only imagine OP’s dread when she got the notification…

I’m pretty horrified that your initial review called these people friendly? I see 2 central issues: complete disregard for your written parameters limiting house access and their judgmental, snide comments which were totally unacceptable.

In the future, you’ll need to stop people when they invade your space and I’m guessing you’re a relatively new host. I know it’s difficult but if you don’t develop a firm but friendly approach, it will keep happening. OMG – where’s Yana?

In anticipation of their negative review, I’d write something like this.

X and his group disregarded clear, written limits about house access and invaded my dining room (which I was preparing for a party) and also cooked an entire meal in my limited-use kitchen, while using dishes and items that were never intended for guest use. They also made an unending stream of unsolicited judgmental comments about how I watered my plants, my non-organic food, my personal diet (too many chips), etc. These guests were incredibly rude, self-righteous, and inconsiderate in every possible way.

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Ooo that sounds good. :grin:

Hey you know I have discovered that some of the most adamant organic or vegan or gluten free eaters are sometimes the most hypocritical. For instance, we are they always the first to jump on all the desserts at the buffet table? This was after eating their tofu salad. :rofl: Or like a friend of mine… she constantly posts about vegetarian this and that, change your life with a vegan gluten free, raw diet, and blah blah blah… and then I run into them at the market and their cart is full of sodas and candies. Well, at least those are gluten free! LOL!

Not to put down anyone’s eating choices. Just don’t judge all the rest of us for our gluten eating and then go fill your cart with candy and soda. Why is that?

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@yana is always missed! We need to send her to the jersey shore!

PS I like your review better than mine! I could write better reviews if I just had some cotton candy from the boardwalk to munch on. :rofl:

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I have also noticed that with many vegan, vegetarian, organic, gluten-free eaters.

I should clarify that they never actually “cooked”. However, when they first came in and saw my stove the one woman said “oh you have a stove, I didn’t think you did since it wasn’t in the description” I said “that is because I don’t allow guests to use my stove”. When she said this I thought “who doesn’t have a stove.” But after having them here for the few days - I imagine they do know people who don’t have stoves. What they did do though was take over my whole kitchen to prepare vegetables and salads - washing absolutely everything they used even though most of it had just come out of the dishwasher that day… The use of my kitchen is more for people who went out to eat and brought back leftovers - they simply want to store some stuff in the refrigerator or heat up something in the microwave.

I think the main issue I had with the whole kitchen/dining room - was the feeling of invasion of space. Even though I have a Cape Cod - I have more or less an open floor plan with my living room, dining room and kitchen. From my couch I see my kitchen and from the dining room you can see the TV in my living room. So while they were in the kitchen and dining room - I felt uncomfortable just being in my living room.

This is why I have now eliminated the “kitchen” as an amenity - and then once a guest is here I will then tell them what they are allowed to do in the kitchen. Some people - such as Lauren and Vince - I even allow to cook on the stove.

This is sort of how this section of my house flows and off the dining room is my deck.

L
L K
…D

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Yes… this is the conclusion that most hosts come to eventually for many of the same reasons you describe. You will feel better taking charge and not giving them the chance to take over…and new guests will not even know they used to be able to use it. But it’s such common sense you would think…ONE WOULD THINK, that you would not have to say it! Live and learn!

You know It’s a bad stay when you have to change your description or rules because of things guests have done. Just today I had to change my rules and add THREE new ones. My most recent guests did things I have never had anyone do. Each time it happens you become just a teeny weeny bit more jaded. Sigh.

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Can you see if my listing comes up for you? When I go to it it suddenly comes up saying it is"no longer available"

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I’m having the same problem.

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Same problem with your listing then? I went on a different browser it seemed to work so I am going to try it again.

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I tried on Firefox and Google Chrome on my laptop. On both it says, “This listing is no longer available.” My husband tried on his laptop with the same results. We are both able to access our listing on our cell phones.

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I see it and if I may… your prices are way too low!!!, for a nice place like this???

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Yeah - I just tried several other listings - not just mine and they seem to all be coming up saying “listing is unavailable” I seem to be able to get it on Firefox and Firefox Developer browser, but not Chrome.