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So, it has been sooooooo slow this winter but I finally got a booking last week. The guy lives in the next town and basically it was a booty call and he total lied about the excuse he gave me for needing to stay. (I don’t understand why guests t think they need to do this?)
Anyway, he left my linens and towels really soiled (black) and with gross bodily fluids and it required a lot of extra work to clean. Additionally he disconnected my tv wires (I’m guessing he brought a gaming system) and didn’t reconnect them so now I have to get out the manuals and figure it out.
I was planning on giving him a poor rating on the 14th day because I never want him to stay here again but now I’m worried because he lives nearby. He is very large and I am a petite woman living along.
So now I’m thinking of just giving a very basic review, marking him down a little for cleaning and saying I would NOT host again.
Definitely mark would NOT host again regardless of how you rate him or what you say in your comment. He won’t see that comment. He deserves a ding on cleanliness. You could mark him down on communication because he lied, but that it tough to prove. Your safety is important and people are unpredictable. You will get comments that you should be frank for the sake of warning other hosts, they don’t have to deal with the threat. Go with the option that helps you sleep at night. Unfortunately any of his potential partners could reserve under their name. If this was a one night reservation, you might consider having a two night minimum.
Personally (female homeshare host) I would leave an honest review . Obviously your safety is paramount but I think it would be highly unusual for a guest to try and hunt you down as a host because you left an honest review (particularly as you don’t live at the listing).
When you say he lied what did he say was the purpose of his stay? Did you query why he needed to stay if he’s in the next town over. Just thinking through whether there are lessons you could learn to improve your vetting?
You could say something like. 'Unfortunately I cannot recommend this guest to other hosts as there was a lot of additional cleaning involved following his one night stay, particularly of the linens and towels".
This tells hosts what they need to know without being explicit.
He stated that he needed to stay there because his place was being worked on and had to leave and it was near his work and school. He really never left the place. I get that kind of message all the time. It is a 2 night minimum.
I’m going to go with Christine - my safety is more important than being truly honest. I will review and mark down on cleanliness and leave a very vague review and say never to host again.
Agree that your sense of safety and security comes first in writing the review.
However, do you really expect a guest to say the purpose of their visit is a booty call? The thing I would feel put out about is that the number of guests was not disclosed, not the “activity” with the other guest. Especially if you charge for a second guest.
Or was it a prostitute? I guess I would more concerned if there was some sort of criminal activity, but I don’t know how a host could be certain of that.
I expect guests to pee, poop, menstruate if they’re designed that way, have (gasp) sex, and occasionally bleed, puke, and spill things. Comes with the territory of being an innkeeper.
Some guests leave messier towels and linens, some don’t. Makes me grumble, but if they’re not ruined, I take it as part of doing business. Swings and roundabouts, as one of our moderators frequently says. Likewise, the business with the electronics is annoying but to me not egregious.
You might have a policy to decline all local reservation requests, although declines of course will generate repercussions from Airbnb in terms of listing visibility.
I wasn’t put out by the fake reason. In regards to the linens and towels, this was way beyond what I’ve ever seen in the 6 years of doing it. The white towels were black, the white sheets were black and there was definitely poop smudged all over the sheets and went to the mattress pad.
In regards to the electronics, it’s in my house rules that you can not bring in any electrical or cooking equipment so they broke that rule too.
I have read many posts from hosts concerned about some kind of physical retaliation from a guest, especially a local one, over a bad review, yet never heard of any such thing actually happening. So I think it is an understandable, but irrational fear. I doubt that any guest cares that much about a bad review that they are going to risk perpetrating some criminal act, like coming back and assaulting you or vandalizing your property over a less than favorable review.
The most egregious thing I’ve ever heard of guests doing is sending nasty, threatening messages, but that doesn’t have anything to do with them being local, any guest could do that.
While I believe that hosts should write honest, informative reviews, if a host is fearful for their safety, a review that just says “2 night local booking” would say to most hosts, I think, that you had nothing good to say but for some reason didn’t want to spell out why.
“Coded reviews” are not only unhelpful (since we do not have a list of the codes lol) but allowing a guest a pass for whatever reason undermines the accuracy of the review process. Please everyone, accuracy and honesty is the ‘best policy’…
Rolf, I agree with you and wouldn’t normally advocate “coded” reviews. But if a host has fears for their safety, I think that trumps the advice to always leave a clearly informative review.
I would prefer a coded review to a dishonest one, as the OP had originally said she was thinking of doing, saying she would host them again, when she definitely wouldn’t.
I like @Helsi’s review and would add that the house rule of not bringing in electronics wasn’t followed leaving you to reengineer your system, if you do leave a more detailed review. If he did try and make something of it, the possible public exposure might be problematic.
Overall though, I agree with @Christine_Shirtcliff , do what makes you sleep well at night.
@Lynick4442 FWIW I have had this same concern as I have (under rare and specific circumstances) rented to local guests and had “words” with a few of them that caused me to wonder if there was going to be some sort of backlash. My rental is in my basement and for a time I was here by myself (older female). It has never happened. I actually was surprised. I thought someone might at least come to the front door and try to harass me, but no. Thank goodness people don’t seem to want to go that far, especially and probably because they know they are in the wrong to begin with.
The only important thing is to write something so that you can choose ‘would not host again’ so you don’t have to deal with him again. I’ve written a few that say something like, “Greg stayed for 3 nights” and left it at that.
I think you should be cautious because he can easily stop by and break your windows. Knock him on the rating for cleanliness and click on “would not host again.” Give a generic written review. Best to be cautious than to be sorry later. Sometimes we have to pick our battles, especially when guests are local.
You may want to edit your initial post. It may have a “typo of omission” where in your 2nd to last paragraph, you wrote, “So now I’m thinking of just giving a very basic review, marking him down a little for cleaning and saying I would host again.” Maybe add the “NOT” to your sentence.
I would be concerned about human excrement, as it can be a serious health hazard!
And If your guest did not disclose the correct number of guests, you should state that in your review.
I always remind guests that only registered guests listed on the booking are allowed. ‘No outside guests without prior permission’.
When you say ‘black’ I am not sure if you are speaking literally, or just that they were covered with dirt… and or poop…
