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This is for a guest that stayed in my home recently. Looking for advice on how to respond and how much to compensate.
Keep in mind that I allowed her to move her reservation forward by one week on a $5,000, 4 night strict no-cancellation policy reservation for $750 (she notified me a few days before her scheduled arrival potentially causing me to lose $1,000 or so in bookings for the following week).
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Dear Turner,
A review request popped up for our recent stay at your location.
I am reluctant to give an honest review, due to that of the overhead garage door being open a few times allowing access from the back door into the house. That was a major safety issue for us (the garage is
Your VRBO listed garage parking and one space in the driveway. Neither were available.
When we arrived, the grass was long, walkway had weeds and the pool was a mess. Not what I expected with a $1,000/per stay.
In addition,
the bedroom AC units caused us trouble
No TV in the bunk room
Remotes for the fireplace and TV in the Master bedroom were missing
The guest was generous in giving you a heads up on their objections. I’m curious how you’ll respond. You ask for ‘advice on compensation response’ but I don’t see the guest asking for compensation.
The one guest objection that could be inappropriate is;
Unless the listing somehow stated that there was a TV there.
Sounds like you have some explainin’ to do, maybe offering a partial refund for the shortfalls.
I am curious on why the guest did not raise these objections earlier, assuming they didn’t.
I wonder whether you made a post-check-in message asking the guest if all was as expected. If you didn’t, why not? If you did and they did not make any objections that is certainly something consider but it doesn’t excuse the issues they cite.
Since you don’t comment on the condition of the property it sounds like you think all this is ‘OK’ because you moved the reservation forward, which doesn’t reflect well on you as a Host (sorry).
Are the things she mentions true? If so, missing or non-working amenities and promised parking unavailable aren’t things which let a host off the hook just because you accommodated a date change.
If she is lying in order to scam a refund, that’s a different story.
Pertinent advice would depend on which of the above scenarios is true.
The pictures do not show a TV in the bunk room, nor do I have amenities in the VRBO listing anything about parking (Golden Ticket in the Gulch - Edgehill, please correct me if I am wrong).
I also left out this part: ‘My Venmo is XXXXX if you are so inclined to reimburse me a fair credit for the inconsistencies.’ was her last part of the email.
The guest raised an objection about no TV in the bunk room, which listing does not state, no TV remote was found in the master, which I had one shipped from Amazon next day but wasn’t able to get to (not sure if they just couldn’t locate at the time or not) but definitely take responsibility for not addressing right away.
So, all in all I am not sure what to compensate as to what is:
What about her comments about the unmowed lawn, the unclean pool, and
[quote=“turnercress, post:1, topic:57231”]
the overhead garage door being open a few times allowing access from the back door into the house. That was a major safety issue for us
[/quote] ?
Is any of that true? If so, it doesn’t jive with your promise of a “luxurious” 2 million dollar home.
Not sure how you think anyone can give you a guarantee on how much of a refund would result in a 5 star review.
FYI I don’t see any mention of parking or a garage or even a garage pictured in your VRBO listing.
I don’t see anything in the listing about a TV in the bunk room, or about parking.
But I really don’t know – you just don’t respond – if there was a safety issue in the overhead garage door being open and therefore allowing access and creating a ‘major safety issue’ for the guest (raising a ‘safety’ issue might raise bells with VRBO and future guests).
Nor do you respond on whether the ‘pool was a mess,’ the grass too ‘long’ with weeds in walkway, pool speakers now working, bedroom Acs not working/tricky to work or whether you had checked in after they checked in.
You just seem laser-focused on getting a ‘5’ and paying/saying what you need to need to get there, which again doesn’t reflect well on you as a Host (sorry again).
At a ballpark cost $1,000/night I would expect as a guest for everything to be in excellent condition.
At the risk of coaching a Host who to me does not come across as solicitous for its guests (despite a beautiful listing), it seems to me:
I can’t know what’s fair without knowing which of the guest’s complaints are accurate.
You can’t bargain with the guest to get a ‘5’ review under VRBO terms of service (I assume), and we can’t guess at what the guest will be satisfied with and whether fair compensation would generate a ‘5’ review. If I were the guest and received adequate compensation I would still not give a ‘5’ review, but that’s me.
If you point out to the guest some of the problems in the guest’s complaints that might just end up helping the guest craft a negative review that withstands criticism.
You could say something to the guest like 'Without commenting on your specific objections, what is the amount that you feel would compensate you for the shortcomings you perceived in your stay?" Then see what the guest responds and whether YOU think that’s fair given only you know what of the guest objections are accurate.
For me, if the pool was a mess, non-working pool speakers (even if this is not the ‘stereo’ that is a listed amenity, there shouldn’t be non-working things in the property, plus it is in the pics) and if there were a safety issue and no TV remote (don’t know if that means I could not operate the TV), the property would never be a 5. The only question would be whether the guest would choose not to leave a review at all if they felt that you fairly compensated them.
They paid $5,000 (plus $750?). That’s a lot of money. My guess is that despite the generosity you feel you showed by allowing that reservation to be moved up a week that if you charged an extra $750 for doing so – despite your business rationale – that that might well have pissed them off. In the future you might be better off in either not moving the reservation forward or doing so without additional charge. Just a. thought.
Even though the listing does not list a driveway, is there a driveway? Did the guest have access to it? Anything in the correspondence on parking? I don’t know if the guest could complain that they didn’t have access to the entire property if you had a driveway that was used by another vehicle. Just don’t know.
I hope that you will rectify whatever objections of the guest were accurate.
You can let her know that you will wait until the review period is over to provide her compensation. Then you can give her a token amount like $1. You kept your word and played the same game she is playing.
It seems to me that you have already provided her compensation. You gave her a $1000 and now she wants more… no good deed goes unpunished in the world of hosting.
Anytime you help out a guest, your risk of a backlash increases.
Thanks for taking the time out of your day to reply.
I didn’t send her any money, I just allowed her to move her reservation forward due to her being ill. Nashville is a busy time this year around, so I definitely had a 50% chance I would say of it getting booked a night or two the following week.
I also just had my cleaner check and the remote for that room has always been there. Looking at the weather in Nashville for the week they stayed, it was 80 deg High/56 deg Low at night, so not sure about needing fireplace.
I only bring this up as they may just be trying to get the initial $750 back.
She’s definitely extorting you, but the review mention is just the vehicle to try to scare you. It doesn’t matter how much or whether you refund her anything, she can and might still leave a bad review. Please stop worrying about losing your 5 star rating. It usually inevitably happens to all hosts. You can’t let the fear of a bad review lead to kowtowing to guest demands or extortions.
You left the most important part out of your topic post here, which was the passive-aggressive “you can Venmo me”.
Report her for extortion and don’t refund her a penny.
Had she just been straightforward, mentioned what she thought didn’t live up to the advertising, and requested a partial refund for legit issues, or waited for you to offer, without tying it to the review (which changes it to extortion) you might consider if some discount was reasonable, but extortionists shouldn’t be rewarded.
On another note, I didn’t see any mention in your ad about a handyman on the property during guest stays, or that he works in or uses the garage. That’s a serious oversight and you need to add that info to your listing.
I would also tone down the “Luxury 2 million dollar home” wording. It is much better to underpromise and overdeliver than the other way around. Hyping your place up so much can attract entitled guests who will be prone to complain about anything less than perfection.
Am also not sure why you are trying to cram 12 people into your place when your living room, dining room, and outdoor seating only looks like it accommodates 8 max.
Does the back door to the garage lock? If so, that complaint doesn’t seem valid. Agree you should notify guests if the handyman will be on site.
Dear Blankety-Blank,
Of course we expect honest reviews from guests. We were pleased to extend you the courtesy of making an exception to the cancellation policy to allow you to modify your reservation. The lawn and pool have scheduled maintenance, which requires garage access. For that reason, garage use and parking are not included in the rental; they are nowhere included as an amenity in the listing. The back door to the garage locks for guest safety. The cleaner has verified the remotes are in place; perhaps you missed them. There is no TV amenity listed for the bunkhouse. For your information, here is a VRBO policy on reviews:
And then if you get the bad review, the only thing that really needs to be addressed is the garage safety issue:
“We urge guests to bring up any concerns during their stay so that we can address them right away. Garage parking is not listed in the rental description as a provided amenity, the reason being the garage needs to be accessed for scheduled maintenance. The interior door from the house to the garage locks for guests’ safety and peace of mind.”
There’s nothing to negotiate. The guest is attempting to extort the host for a good review, which is a violation. Nothing wrong with telling the guest that.
One side piece of advice - ALWAYS refund through the same payment method they used to pay. If you do send her something through Venmo, she could still file a chargeback to her actual payment method (assuming it was a credit card). Then you risk being out whatever you refunded in addition to the rental fee.
I’m not suggesting you refund, but if you decide to try to placate her to try to avoid a bad review, at least protect yourself as much as possible.
