About to post a negative review, maybe

Please forgive me if I’m wrong but the OP seems to have anger issues. To be successful as an Airbnb host, you need to put the interests of your guests first.

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You are correct; the original poster appears to have anger issues. He/she appeared to be asking for objective views on whether his/her anger was out of proportion with this verbiage, “Personally, I think they were rude, entitled and abused my hospitality. But feel free to tell me if you think I’m wrong.” Now, the original poster is lashing out at anyone who disagrees with him/her. Sometimes guests must feel damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Some hosts want the guests to tell them about everything and not attempt repairs on their own. Some hosts want the guests to fix everything and not involve the hosts. This guest followed the protocol they were given; to cancel if they were uncomfortable and still the host is upset. Personally, I want guests to tell me if they have a problem so that I can fix it.

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As a host, we are in the accommodation game. We are the front desk, the house maid and the maintenance guy. If I found a cockroach in a hotel I was staying at would I immediately bleat to the front desk… You Bet!
Would I expect something done immediately- yes! Even if it was a can of spray… then more the next night… not a good look.
I grew up in Papua New Guinea… bugs etc were huge, not frightened of them but do I want to find love ones running around in my accommodation- no.
You should have apologied, been around the next day with a bottle of wine and a can of spray.
So Sad Too Bad is not a hosting attitude!

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Happy to get advice from people who bother to READ my OP.

What is anyone supposed to do once the initial complaint is made? Stand in the kitchen with a fly swatter?

There was insect spray under the sink the whole time, I had promised to arrange a pest exterminator asap, they agreed that that was suitable.

What else was I supposed to do pray tell?

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I don’t know about Australia, but here in the U.S. we have emergency pest control, like we have emergency plumbers. They are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Well, this is just my opinion and I’ve had a similar situation when guests contacted me about ants. The ants were entirely the guests’ fault because they had left food out. Within a minute of receiving their text I was in the rental with that ant goo stuff and apologising profusely. I explained to the guests how it works.

They were totally cool and left a great review. Why? Possibly because of my instant response? I suspect so.

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It’s an attempt to be diplomatic and smooth things over in a very tricky situation that I think worked out satisfactorily for everyone–except for the lingering issue of a review.

I’m trying to think what I’d do. I’d either write no review or write a very short, neutral sounding one. I’m with Ellen about the roaches I’m afraid. Since you were concerned about your sleep interruption, as a guest I would have also had a hard time falling asleep knowing that a cockroach could very well crawl into bed with me.

“I’m sorry for the interruption in the guests stay, but fortunately a solution was found. I appreciated their patience and understanding.”

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I am not sure that this is politically correct. It is showing concern and empathy for a person who is distressed; someone who feels that you are the owner and the only person who can help them in a unknown environment. There are reasons that I blocked my calendar for the Christmas Eve-Christmas Day holiday break. My energies needed to go towards taking care of my own family. Since there is no way to indicate on our AirBNB listing that we were only open for people here to spend the holidays with family (meaning someone else would be taking care of them), I knew that my own personal limitations would mean that I couldn’t accommodate a certain kind of guest.

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Diplomatic is probably a better word since both parties needed some feather smoothing :slight_smile:

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I like diplomatic… PC has taken on meanings that boggle the imagination!

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I’d be more worried re how the guests will review you. If you are keen to share how they messed up your Xmas, keep it for the private feedback. You will look like a grumpy host if you post it in a review. I know holidays are important to some, but you chose to have guests over Xmas, which means you are on-call 24/7, unless you arrange for someone else to take the calls.

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I do this a lot this computer. I’m not fully engaged because I’m eating, crocheting, texting on the phone while I’m writing responses here, so at times I’m thinking one thing but typing another.

Boy this salad is gooooood.

Tell me about the salad dressing you made for this salad. And what components makes up the salad?

Organic, super fresh romaine, cucumber, a can of Portuguese sardines, broken up Wasa crackers.

The dressing is EVO, apple cider vinegar, chopped fresh garlic, cracked pepper, oregano, salt.

Then a light dusting of parmesan cheese. I ate it with chopsticks.

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Sardines??? Oh, be still my heart!

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Yes, it’s true. Packed in oil and lemon slices. Actually I think they were Croatian.

@J_Wang – Whoops, I’ve been away too long and am trying to re-connect with this thread but having difficulty. You wrote: “Since you were concerned about your sleep interruption…”

Sorry, but I didn’t author anything like that. Must have been another poster.

My only comment was to the vendor, Uphost, who I said gave a crappy one-sided response. Still think so. I was just voicing my opinion is all, as everyone else voiced theirs.

I didn’t even answer whether the OP should post a review or not. Personally, I wouldn’t bother to review the guests. It’s over, everybody is gone and fair compensation received. Let it go.

Cockroaches are a big deal to most people, not as much to others. It depends on one’s exposure to them while growing up and the fear/disgust factor.

The guests’ late-night calls and anger upset the OP enough to cause her to vent about it. It was her reaction and the guests had their own reaction to the situation. They both believed they were justified in their reactions and I say, so be it.

P.S. You just had Portuguese sardines and I can’t find them anywhere except Trader Joe’s…and they aren’t the brand you pictured. Not fair.

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Absolutely THIS. Presumably the OP was more than happy to take a premium rate over the festive period but apparently not prepared to put in the work. No sympathy from me. Refund your guests, apologise, sort out the roaches and improve your attitude: my free advice and you’re welcome.

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Up host, you can’t come here and post spam, even though you keep denying that’s what you are doing. Make your responses genuine and not solicitous…othetwise you won’t be allowed to post. And for heavens sake stop with the “hope this helps.” That sounds like something Air would say. :frowning:

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I figured my answer was neutral and genuine, and just about every reply after mine seemed to echo the sentiment

“it’s a service you’re providing in exchange for money, don’t get mad when you’re expected to provide support”

although perhaps I’m wrong.

I’m still not sure how it can be solicitous since just about everyone on this website is not in the city we operate on.

That being said, fair enough I see how ending the msg with " hope this helps" may not sound personal if done repeatedly.

And again, my apologies for “spamming” :wink:

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