3 Stars Because Guest doesn't like Animals

This is hilarious!! A couple booked for two nights at our place, but abruptly left early the next morning saying “We’re checking out early after experiencing the traffic to our destination.” (They were going to a wedding at a town 18 miles from us and had investigated the venue the day before - which I warned them that the Friday traffic was horrendous in that area.) That’s not the hilarious part, it’s what she said in her review.

Public Review: “We stayed at Tami and Christopher’s in order to attend a wedding in Cornelius, NC. Troutman is out of the way on a country road. Their place is a hobby farm with lots of birds and animals. If you are an animal lover, you will be comfortable here.”

Private feedback: “We appreciated your hospitality and willingness to host us. I will have to make certain when booking next time to restrict myself to places with no pets. My son and daughter in law have lots of pets as substitute children so I do understand the love owners have for them. I’m just sorry it didn’t work out.”

Well, I guess people really should read our descriptions and look at our photos because we describe our place as a “farmette,” list all the animals we have with photos of them. She gave us 3 stars for accuracy, stating: “this place is a hobby farm witty numerous animals, I am not an animal lover.”

Even weirder, is that when they checked in, she asked if her partner could pet and feed the donkeys! So, we did and then he wanted to see the quail, pigeons, chickens, also. All I can say is oooh la la and c’est la vie!

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Well then. Guests are twats.

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Complete numb skulls, they don’t know what they think but have a vague lack of ease in life so just blame others.
I have a friendly pet cat and dog. Even though it was totally obvious in my listing I got several guests who had problems with the pets for no good reason apart from the fact that they don’t like any animals. I don’t want guests who are unfriendly to my pets! I ended up putting accepting the pets in my house rules. I haven’t had a problem since.

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Oh no, the guests didn’t read the information about your rental, didn’t look at all of the pictures, and didn’t look at the map after their reservation is confirmed or check mapquest for the distance to their Saturday venue.

Plus they didn’t that Charlotte a true metropolitan area roughly the same size as Orlando or St. Louis so Troutman & Cornelius would have the same traffic as any large city suburban/bedroom communities on a Friday (every one getting out of town to go home!!!)

It is a shame they were able to leave 3 stars—we can’t cure foolish or stupid.

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My guess they just looked at price.

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I’d be interested to see if ABB send you one of their automated slap-on-the-wrist comments. I get them if people ding me on accuracy; of course, always about what’s ready-to-read in my listing.

Her comment about pets as substitute children is really passive aggressive. I bet she’s furious her son and his wife haven’t given her grandchildren. My own Mother-in-Law has never forgiven us!

All in all though, anyone with a brain reading her review will have a good laugh at her!

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Your review will, of course, point out these inconsistencies, and effectively warn other hosts that they are dealing with nitwits.

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I don’t really think that the OP even needs to do this; the guest has done so for herself. I would simply say something along the lines of " I’m so glad your husband enjoyed feeding our donkeys but thank you for asking if this was okay. it showed such respect for the animals we keep! Hope he enjoyed the variety of fowl we have too."

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That’s what I was thinking - she’s taking our her anger on me! And, yeah, people will read between the lines that review!

Thanks, everyone for your support and comments!! Ah, Airbnb life!

Holy Crap… People are weird.

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I hope you publicly responded to their review with the facts you outline here.

Was the twat jealous because her husband had some fun with the animals (joking :slight_smile:)
Goodness, some people - I feel they she has no grounds to complain. Review accordingly.
3 stars is so unfair - maybe you can talk to Airbnb and have them remove it - I know the chances are slim to none, but maybe you can try.

We got a similar Review the other day. The first sentence was: “This is a farm.” Then it claimed it smelled like a farm. Ok, we are listed as a farm stay. It also says so in the listing that we are a working farm and we have pictures of some of the animals. Take a deep breath and move on.

I’ll be losing my superhost status July 1st after four years due to the new regulations and two bad reviews in a row (two star) because guests didn’t like my cats. They are in the pictures, house rules, other things to note, previous guest reviews, etc. No way around it. I’m on instant book but now I’ve been sending messages asking them to confirm they know I have friendly cats. I’m hoping if I directly ask them no one will leave me a bad review due to them again.

My list of questions about their understanding, even sent to IBs also, gets longer and longer. Just wait till you get the response “we love cats!”, then when they arrive, they wonder why you live in the B&B too. Complimentary Cats anyone?

@alf, would you share the reviews you got having to do with your cats? I have 2 cats myself. Some people are smitten with them, some don’t seem to care one way or the other, and a few are incensed to find them here, despite the fact they are included in my photos, and mentioned in the listing text.

I had one lady “kindly” explain to me on arrival that I’d need to keep “those animals” outside during her 2 day stay.

Yes in the past I narrowly missed getting superhost due to my :cat2: cat getting a couple of bad reviews. He is very friendly and goes on the (frequently wiped) table to greet guests. I can’t train him and cannot police his behaviour 24/7, hence the expression herding cats. I then put a house rule for instant book which asks people not to book if a friendly free range pet cat might bother them in any way and then got superhost.

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Here’s a particularly bad one. Out of 64 reviews in one listing, seven are 2 or 3 star because of my cats. I got a kitten in December who is very friendly but guests don’t understand he’s just a baby and I’m doing the best I can to train him. This particular reviewer arrived late at 1:30 am, never tried to contact me, but believes I left my cats trapped in a room with him without food, water, or a litter box. Didn’t even consider the possibility that he let them in when opening the door to go to the bathroom (this room has a private entrance off the porch so that’s the only way they could get inside).

“I enjoyed staying here for the reasons that it was clean and convenient. We did have an issue with the cats, however. They were both in the rather small guest room, caused us to stay up a great deal of the night, and then we were forced to remove them from the room to finally get to sleep. Very troublesome.”

The room across the hall has a 4.9 rating, overall all time rating is a 4.8, in every other category in this room I’m either a 4.8 or 4.9 but because it’s a 4.7 overall and I have more reviews with this room, I’ll lose status July 1. I have been messaging guests before arrival and talking to them when they are here in an effort to make them realize I’ll help any way I can and they should not be leaving a negative review about the residents of my house.

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A couple others just mention “must love cats” or something like that. This guy’s wife loved my place, said the bed was great and reminded her of her childhood, then let her husband write the review. He was upset because like @Jess1 said, my three month old kitten got on the table to meet him. I was standing right there and immediately shooed the kitten away but it was too late. Bad review…

“Quaint and comfortable. Close to restaurants and coffee shops. Andrea is very personable and helpful when looking for local attractions. Prospective guests would be advised to pay close attention to the mention of pets; where they are and are not allowed in the residence. Overall, an inexpensive and comfortable stay.”

Then of course those that think I’m hiding the pets because the other things to note section and house rules are at the very bottom of the listing. I added a picture of the cats and have every box checked saying I have them but still got one less than five star review because if her friend (that wasn’t with her) had come, she was allergic to cats and wouldn’t have been able to stay so I really should tell people. How do you respond to a hypothetical allergy from a person who wasn’t even there?

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