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My guess is that based on additional amenities there is no room for the door. Personally I think she is NOT overreacting and I agree with her thoughts to put it in the review. I might also put in the private part that if she was not satisfied with it that she should have either accepted the gracious refund or just moved on and maybe put it in her review (although also indicate that if she were to pay better attention to all the listing details she could have avoided booking it altogether if no bedroom door was such a problem for her).
I also realize that I often put way more details in my reviews nowadays than many hosts here. It makes it much harder for the bad guest to reply with lies that make you look like the bad guy when it really was them. But, this is my opinion, as you asked.
It would also be helpful to many of the hosts here to know the facts, regardless of whether or not they recommend putting them in the review.
For what ever reason not having a 'bedroomdoor" triggered this woman, her reaction was irrational, she even went so far as to tell someone there was “no” bedroom door!!!..I kinda think that she is afraid of what will come through the door if there is nothing there to stop it.
Sadly some folks are just damaged.
Just let it go…You obviously have high standards, forgive me but you are putting too much energy into this. One person will not have an impact unless you let her.
We just had someone discrediting our review because it was written in English and my MIL only speaks Spanish. All our pre-arrival communication with her was in English .
And she also said we never asked her for an arrival time, while the message center shows two thorough attempts from our part and mentioning your arrival time should be just common sense.
I guess that makes a difference? But not really. She still disturbed other guests to badmouth a property she chose to stay and continue to stay in.
To answer the OP’s question, as a host I don’t really need to know this specific incident due to the fact that most people might not find this relevant to them since they do not host multiple different groups of guests on the same property at the same time. But I think it would be worth noting that “the guest continued to be displeased even after agreeing to stay and presented with other options to go elsewhere.” I’ve had a handful of guests like this over the years and every time, I would have preferred not to host them at all.
No you can not mention it, and you’re over reacting and out of line:
You pulled up video photage of a guest and a private conversation. (yes yes they were informed of the cameras, yadda yadda) This is not only creepy if you mentioned it, but downright weird for the guest.
If you hadn’t pulled video photage showing her doing nothing wrong, would she have been a good guest? Lots of things happen in our rentals…most are perfectly fine and the others that don’t damage the place I’d rather not know about.
Offering a refund is horrible for a guest. They have to scramble to find a new place at the last minute with few options to chose from. Remember most airbnbs, even if they offer same day booking can have a lead time. So basically it’s a last minute scramble for a hotel if one is arround.
So basically she’s weirded out by no door, who knows and who cares why. She might not feel it’s private or safe, or she might want it darker. Who cares. Try and make sure the listing is clear for others, take a better picture, write it down specifically. “There’s no door between the bedroom and living room.” Yeah 100 guests didn’t mention it, and 1 did.
You have to expect a certain number of these types of reviews. I rent out an “apartment.” There is a sliding, locking door in between the bedroom and living room. The apartment has a totally private living room. Yet one guest criticized me for not having a keyed lock on the door between the living room and bedroom and said she felt unsafe in the bedroom with private bathroom. Go figure.
I’m with those that say it’s probably best not to mention it in the review. People don’t like being videoed and recorded without their express permission. And there is no way you can avoid saying that’s what happened if you include it in a review.
Your guest was a bit odd but hey, that’s what you get sometimes.
Let it go!
I had some ghastly women for a couple of nights, three sisters, who managed to make me feel unwelcome in my own home/B&B. I did the 14 day review thingummy, leaving a factual, unemotional account. She went absolutely ballistic and left what she thought was her own, very spiteful, lying review, but it was too late. Instead, it somehow got posted under her own profile. How I laughed when I saw it a few days later, and I doubt any host will accept a booking from her again.
I used to have an even smaller unit than yours, likewise without a door. It was obvious in pictures and I put it in description. Hundreds of stays never had a complaint. This is a fairly common modern design feature. She should own her ignorance but if she was that type of person she wouldn’t have complained in the first place. The are way too many entitled people or there and this business does make that front and center sometimes. I would never mention what you watched on your security camera. It tells guests you are listening in on their conversations and watching them. That may be what security cameras allow for but not what we as hosts need to use them for. In this case the camera actually created a lot of unnecessary upset for you. Ignorance is sometimes bliss. I would suggest that the value of the camera is that you have a heads up that she may fault you for this in her review. Hard to say though. Has she checked out and reviewed you yet?
My rule is that I don’t do anything about complaints unless 1) they are serious safety issues, 2) it really is a good idea and is inexpensive (like moving lamps around/changing bulb brightness or buying a trash can), or 3) at least three guests have complained about the same thing within a fairly short period of time. If you respond to every request by buying something new or upgrading, you’ll go broke very quickly!
So is your property listed as 1BR or studio? If it’s listed as 1BR I would absolutely expect a door or sliding door or some kind of divider at a minimum. It sounds like the guests had a child with them. When I travel with my children, I always try to get a 1BR because I want a divider between them and me so they don’t directly see me in bed with my partner. I don’t know if that makes me weird… I have no idea how other people operate but this is how my parents were so it’s hard for me to imagine any other way. I don’t need a 2 BR because my kids would happily sleep in the living room (which many Air BnB seems to have designed for). To me, it doesn’t matter what the pictures show… If the listing says 1BR I would assume that trumps any picture since pictures can never show all angles. Why would it say 1BR if it was really a studio? I would love to hear other people’s input in this… Why they feel that it’s totally fine to not have a door (or divider) between your bedroom and the living room, where your children are sleeping…
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and mentioning your arrival time should be just common sense.