Had a negative experience with a guest. What are the potential negative consequences on my end if I were to rate him negatively?
They can’t see your review until they rate you, so they can’t retaliate.
Try to avoid inflammatory language and just state factually what happened. Will the guest be shocked at the review? Is it something you tried to tell them about earlier? It depends if you think they’re just jerks or if there was just some kind of misunderstanding, language barrier, or cultural difference. You can also leave them a private note. I have had guests leave negative comments in the private notes, and I have REALLY appreciated it. “You might want to wash the shower curtain” or “The ceiling fan is getting dusty.”
I don’t think there really is one. I think it would be a very rare guest that would go through all your reviews to find the negative ones to read. And that kind of guest might be a bit too much of a worrier to enjoy their stay somewhere so best avoided anyway. The only thing that can happen is if he senses you didn’t find him the most charming guest you’ve ever met, your review might prompt him to write a review that is less than glowing in return (Airbnb prompts with so and so has reviewed you! Write a review to see what they said!) but you can simply avoid this by waiting until the last day and as late as possible and hope he doesn’t stay up or notice it in time - this doesn’t always work.
I always wait right untill the lastminute to review guests tht may leave a not so nice review so I can get a few good reviews on the top of it