Agreed – that was nicely played, and – given the circumstances – doesn’t make the host look like “tit-for-tat” guy who just has to get in the last word. Nevertheless – being seen as argumentative is generally not a good marketing strategy, even if the arguments are righteous and clever… generally speaking.
3 Likes
That’s really interesting because I would’ve guessed that we were more aligned on it from what you commented. I don’t know why but it comes off as too aggressive or arrogant or something for me. It looks bad from a customer service standpoint, IMO.
(But it could just be that I’m offended by the inappropriate use of quotation marks for emphasis on “forget” 
JK. )
1 Like
I wouldn’t go there myself, and perhaps my reaction to this example is a case of a good laugh undermining my better judgment. 
1 Like
Perhaps we can discuss the merits of declining a cancellation against dealing with a ‘revenge’ review. I just wonder if the profit made from the stay was worthwhile for the worry and stress this review seems to have caused.
Personally, if a guest wants to cancel for the reasons ‘Kevin’ gave - being shocked at the house rules and not having read the listing properly regarding the parking, I wouldn’t want him as a guest anyway.
I’ve never had a last-minute cancellation - as long as I have a couple of days to get new guests in place for that time period, I’ll always okay a refund via Airbnb. (I’ve had no shows of course - great, money for nothing 
)
I’m wondering what others think about not allowing what is obviously going to be a problem guest versus the headache of a 
review?
Did the host / co-host not realise when the guest arrived that he was going to be trouble? What did they do to allay the problem?
5 Likes
It’s certainly not ever happened to me, and I think it’s rare in general that a guest arrives and immediately expresses displeasure, but I would be inclined to get rid of them ASAP. “I’m sorry you feel this doesn’t meet your expectations- I will issue you a refund, so you can find something else”.
I wouldn’t even want them to be there for a minute, I’d just want them gone. Not interested in having to deal with nasty people if I can avoid it.
Of course, if they had a 2 week booking, that might be different, as the amount of $ you would stand to lose without being able to rebook the dates might be worth dealing with a bad review to some hosts.
2 Likes
It does worry me that so many hosts (from observations here and from people I know locally) seem to have such low profit margins that the hassle may not be worth it to them.
I can put up with less-than-perfect guests if I’m making a lot of money but if I’m not, then it’s not worth the headache.
The reason I asked about how the guest seemed when he arrived is that I had a guest fairly recently who was totally grumpy. Grumpier than I’ve ever seen. It was pretty hard work to get her on side and I nearly didn’t bother - I just wanted to boot her out there and then.
I’m glad I persevered though because she booked a further stay later this year. 
1 Like
I’d make a distinction between a grumpy guest who seems to have being a complainer as part of their nature, and a guest who arrives and instantly makes it evident that they find the place unacceptable. I could deal with the former, but wouldn’t want to deal with the latter. In the case of OP’s guest, it seems he made it obvious immediately that he didn’t want to stay- if a guest doesn’t want to stay, I don’t want them to, either.
1 Like
This brings to mind my only bad review, where the guest stated, “ If you don’t mind donkeys braying right outside your window at 6am, this may be the place for you.” I state very clearly in my listing that “the donkeys will greet you in the morning!”
My VERY next guest stated in their first message to me that they love donkeys. I had not responded to the previous guest’s review, so BOOM! There ya have it! Just sayin’…
5 Likes
I had a boyfriend once with a temper. We visited a boat once and he hit his head on the way in. It definitely put him in a bad mood thereafter. Not suggesting this happened at your place but maybe he has bumped his head too many times…
I had one not as vicious but in a similar vein.
That we were surveiling the woman and her partner in the back yard from the main house. Nope
That the pool wasn’t salt water. Nope.
Can’t recall the other complaints. I addressed each one logically and objectively.
As others have said , the best outcome would be to have your revenge review removed.
Best of luck !
3 Likes
Victory!
Got a great update for you guys.
I’ll be back with all the info later.
4 Likes
Man I wish you were on the way to Denver.
1 Like
I could be, but you’d have to detour! Seems you got a ticket in this neck of the woods, didn’t you? 
A pretty big detour! And I have friends to visit along the more direct route. But one of these days…
Going to Denver in Sept for a Red Rocks show, then to IN, KY and back to TX, then home to my corner of TX.
1 Like
Busy girl! Enjoy the time off💃
any update?
xoxoxoxox
1 Like
I had a similar experience. Called Airbnb. They took time to review our listing and confirmed that the complaints did not match our listing (as with you and the comment about hanging objects). They also acknowledged that the guest did not read the description. The guest complained about things explained in the description. Airbnb removed the review!
6 Likes