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Hi everyone. I have 4 years experience and I have a strange situation I am not sure how to deal with.
I hosted a group from South of Africa - 3 people, a couple and friend of a girl. It all seems extremely great, and the messages we were exchanging where always with xx and super kind words. I found a common subject - photography, There was a lot of laugh and also I received the invitation for lunch. She was super excited to meet me ect.
Then sudendly it all has stopeed and I only receive a short messgaes like āthanksā.
The guests left a terrible mess (half eaten food in the room, stained towels, ect) and did not locked the apartment and did not leave the keys in the key box.
I wrote them a standard msg on WhatApp, if they could leave 5 stars review, and I am also leaving them 5 stars, and standard thank you for staying ect.
She never responded. And then after 12 days she left the review.
Should I leave the positive or negative review? How will I know if mine was ok?
Yes, you right. I am worried that she might have left a positive review for me. As no resons (or she has not shared the reasons) to leave a bad for meā¦
It feels bad, never had to leave a bad reviewā¦
Good to see such attention paid to leaving a review. But,
this is very strange logic.
This means, any of us other hosts looking at a potential guest whoās stayed at your place, we can get no accurate information on how good or bad they might be, because you just left them a āniceā review because they might have left you a positive one?
And the review process descends to a mutual back-scratching farce rather than (at least to some extent) a reflection of the guest/host and the experience?
Especially when:
Do let us know how it went and what sort of a review they left for you ultimately.
That makes sense when you look at this perspective.
I hosted over 250+ groups and when thre was any issue (4 times) I was expecting a lower ratings afterwards.
I am not able to judge this time. Especially she has a few excellent reviews.
I could forgive them a mess - if they only are just messy people - not did it intentionally to show me disrespect.
How will I know.
Airbnb customer service does not want to spill the the beans. Abviously - quoting me āreview rulesā.
@CynthiaSuperHost
Stop thinking about what review you may get and just leave an honest review for them. You are manipulating your own mind and missing the entire reason for the review process.
I agree! What your review should tell the rest of us ā not the guest ā is what the guests were like ā messy, rude, uncommunicative or neat-as-a-pin, a joy to be around, great communicators.
You SHOULD leave a truthful but neutral Public review: āXX were interesting guests, but did leave our place quite messy with stained linens, half eaten food, and the place was not locked when they left.ā Then in the Private part of the review you can say to them what you want.
How does it sound?
Would you like to edit to sound more professional and diplomatic? I never left any bad review on airbnb.
āI hosted Hanriās group for 3 days. At the beginning they seemed to be lovely people and we had a great chat. However I did not appreciate the state of the room and common spaces (food leftovers in the room, stained towels, full bin ect.) they left in the apartment. Also the they did not put in the key box when checking out. The other gusts (family) staying the in other room did not feel comfortable with them around being noisy.
Our communication suddenly stoped, as she then ignored my messages. I would not host again.ā
@CynthiaSuperHost
I think it sounds honest but not harsh and sounds like your own words. I would post it as you wrote it. Keep us informed and let us know what they wrote for you.
Thank you good people for warm support.
I have another idea.
Letās say you are expecting to get a bad review as guests seemed unhappy or just were just ass***.
Having that knowlege can you write a review for them, the one that breaches the guideline, (like revealing second name) so the guest will raport to airbnb to have a review removed - then you both will have your reviews removed?
As I had a guest who wrote something that meant to be postive,(like: āit is not a drug addicts area, do not be worriedā becouse he trully loved his stay. So I rang Airbnb and they argree to get the review removed, as long as HE writes to them. So then - he also had to confirm, that the my lovely review left for him will be removed.
And this was we both had reviews removed. As they said we can not just keep one side review, as there will be no cross check. Smart. Logic.
I have to say @CynthiaSuperHost, really? Hosts are confronting guests trying to game the system to get free stuff, complementary nights. This is one of the biggest host complaints on the forum. It is not any more ethical for hosts to play these same games.
I just donāt want to have a bad review. I worked 4 years on my profile, it is my only job and I put all my heart into it. Canāt bare getting a bad review. If I predicting rightā¦ Sad.
Yes crazy, work, No. donāt even think about it. When we deal with the public we ātakes our chancesā stop trying to game the system, it will bite you back sooner or later.
I received a perfect full 5 stars and sweet review. I feel mixed, as happy that I do not have a negative review and silly that could not read her mind. Anyway, what is done is done.
You should not feel awful for being honest. I would not want these guests even for a five star review. STOP! Overthinking!
And ā¦
How would you have felt if it had been the other way around?
[quote=āMaggieroni, post:18, topic:16037ā]
You should not feel awful for being honest.
[/quote] Thanks hun xx I hope she will not be chasing me now to delete the review.
Honestly, it sounds to me like you were just thrown off by the change in the tone of their communication, which could have been caused by just about anything. Maybe they had a fight with each other, maybe their itinerary got busierā¦ who knows?
Because of that you over-thought what their review would say, and guessed that it would be negative. So you wanted to write a negative review to off-set theirs.
If it were me, and I looked at each of these items Iād wonder if I would make a deal out of themā¦
food leftovers - do you permit food in their room? do your rules cover it?
full bin - doesnāt sound like a big deal to me, unless your rules state that they must take it with them
stained towels - that topic is covered in this forum endlessly, so itās obviously something many guests do. Once again, do you cover this in your rules, or offer an option to keep your towels clean?
The above items might be addressed in person at the time, then āwritten upā if behavior didnāt change. But if you didnāt mention it at the time, I would have left that stuff in private feedback, and likely not mention the āfull binā at all.
Being noisy in a shared home might be more of an issue to me, especially if it was disturbing other guests. Did you ask them to stop and they continued to make noise? If so, I would have mentioned that publicly. If you didnāt bring it to their attention Iād also share that privately and suggest that a shared Airbnb might not be a good option for them.
Iām confused about the keyā¦ did they take it with them, or just not leave it in the place you requested?
They were certainly not five star guests. Itās really unfair to future hosts to do so!