I have been hosting for just a couple of months and until now I have had very good, even wonderful guests. Today a couple left after one night and they left the place dirty, mostly the bed sheets and linens were totally soiled, and in a very bad female way. (Apologies for too much information) I was appalled!!
I expect guests to treat an AirBNB stay as it is, a stay in someone’s home! It was as if these guests thought they were staying in a cheap, pay by the hour, hotel and not someones home!
Now, if I write a bad review about them, and warn other hosts, then they may write a bad review about me in return. What can I do??
Welcome to the forum!
I’m afraid that female accidents are pretty common (in our rental anyway) and more often than not, they really are accidents and not deliberate. In fact, they are probably really embarrassing for the girl in question. (Unless you mean that they made love at a time that isn’t usually considered appropriate?)
In your house manual, you can ask guests to let you know if anything is stained so that you can treat them in good time. But I find that bleach does the trick.
HI Jaquo, Somehow I do not think this was an accident… In any case, they left the unit untidy in other ways too. I was really upset and disappointed as this was the first time I experienced guests that I felt had little respect for the fact that they were, in fact, in someones house! Still - I will not write a review for them as I do not want them to retaliate with a bad review…
I agree that you should forget them and move on 
But I bet that before long another host will come along and ask you to please write about them to warn other hosts. And don’t worry about retaliation - they won’t see your review until the end of the fourteen day review period.
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I did not know that they do not see my review until the end of the fourteen day review time. When guests y write me a review, I can see it as soon as I write their review. Are you sure about that?
Yes, if I don’t write a review for a guest, I don’t see their review until my 14 day review window is up. Same for them. If you both write reviews before the 14 days, then you are both able to see them. If that makes sense
So they will only see my review, AFTER they write their review… got it… I think I will let it go and move on… feels like the thing to do. Thanks for your feedback!
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The problem is that by not leaving a review, you are leaving other hosts open to the possibility of having a bad experience with these same guests.
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Leave a factual review – “A and B were pleasant guests, but did leave the room and particularly the bedding very unclean.”
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@JudyA Air’s reviews are “double blind” – which means that neither of you can see the other’s review until both reviews are written -OR- after 14 days, if only one of you left a review. After the 14 days, the review period expires and if you or the guest did not leave a review, too bad, and you cannot leave a review. However, either the host or guest can leave a rebuttal to the review given, which shows up under the review.
KenH - really liked your wording.
Yes, I will reconsider this for a couple of days.
Many thanks - all the feedback really helped!
J
Please leave an honest review. Keep in mind if they leave you one it will be visible after 14 days whether you review or not. We can improve the Airbnb experience for everyone if people would leave honest reviews.
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Judy this has happened to me, lucky for me the guests let me know and offered to pay for new sheets. I understand a accident but she should have let you know. Wash in cold water with detergent and biz to get blood stains out.
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You can leave a review after the period of double.blind. I just did it with the guests who dmaged furniture. I didn’t what to review until the issue was resolved. As the final word didn’t come til after the 14 days, I hadn’t written a review. I was able to see their review before I posted mine.
This is interesting. I’ve never seen a case of this except before they changed the review protocol.
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Well said as usual, @KenH. Short and to the point. Think about it, @JudyA; wouldn’t you prefer to have an idea of what kind of folks they are if they want to rent your place? Honest reviews are the only way we’ll all survive.
But as @jaquo said - this just does happen. I try to think of a big wheel that gets spun - sometimes it comes up ‘wonderful!’ sometimes “they brought gifts!” sometimes “meh - looking forward to check-out” and sometimes “omg what that WHAT?!”. You do just get out the bleach and roll with it. Some people are not going to get it. Truth.
Cost of Doing Business.
CDB, CDB, CDB, CDB. Repeat as needed. Just make sure you’re charging enough to make it worth it.
But as well, leave an honest, unemotional, factual review! Ken said it perfectly.
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I don’t want to start another post so I’ll tag onto this one – guests who left today: They asked for a $75/night discount AFTER they booked. I would have turned them down completely if they had asked prior to booking. I offered a full discount if they wanted to cancel, but they did not. I told them that (a) September is already discounted down from my summer rates and (b) September is still busy because of the University and the football games. The day before their arrival, she sent a message that there were no home games scheduled for their weekend. She also asked for an early check-in because their flight was arriving at 1:05. I said fine because it was not a back-to-back day. It takes at least 50 minutes to drive from the airport to my place – add to that departing the plane, getting through the airport, taking the shuttle to the car rental, and renting the car – at least another 45 minutes. I was timing my cleaning on them arriving at 2:30, just in case their plane was early. I got a text at 12:55 saying they were five minutes away! Some kind of test? Oh, and the person who booked was an illegal host in NYC (and she restarted her account so I could not see that beforehand). I told her that I wasn’t expecting her until 2:30, based on the information she gave me and to hit the grocery store on the way, or something. I finished at 2:15 and then waited for a half an our until they arrived (no big deal – I did some yardwork). I asked if their plane arrived extremely early (reiterated that she stated the landing time as 1:05, and she simply said yes.
Nice enough people but they spilled some sort of oil all over the bathroom, staining my marble vanity top (I know, bad choice of material for an Airbnb – which I had done quartz), peed all over both toilets, and I found a spatula and whisk in the dishwasher, but no pan. Sure enough, they put the food-encrusted pan back in the cupboard. They also clearly wore shoes on the carpet (against house rules), and neglected to take out the garbage (again, not a big deal). They also asked for a late check-out but I got a reservation for my open nights on Saturday so I was not able to accommodate that request as today became a back-to-back day.
I know they are going to leave me a bad review because I didn’t give them a discount and was unable to let them stay late. Help on the review? I would not host them, again, because of the discount request and telling me that they were showing up way earlier than they should have.
Sandy, wait until you get the review to do anything. If they do retaliate for those things, you may have grounds to get it removed.
Yes, thank you. I will also wait the 14 +/- days …
I hope the timing works for you because it sure didn’t for me. I waited to post my (first ever) negative review on the 14th day, 15 min. before the supposed midnight deadline and it never showed up.
So boo on that!
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