This is an excellent piece of advice. It gives me a lot to think about, and I appreciate that it exhibits the same measured, intelligent approach you are advocating.
Please donât do that. Just describe the behavior in your review so we can judge whether itâs a problem. Even if I donât find it offensive, I would still like to be forewarned.
Iâve only given a few negative reviews and they involved violation of smoking rules.
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Just had to chuckle to myself. After reading everyoneâs comments it hit me - this is what hosting is all about! We all walk in different shoes. There are things that work for some and things that donât. I appreciate the differences.
What made me chuckle was that I recently had a guest who, I just knew, wasnât going to give me a good review. Her written comment was simply âNo commentâ thus not stating anything specific that was a problem, but left 2 and 3 stars. I had another guest during the same period who just loved the place! (I share 2 bedrooms in my home). I was so pissed, that instead of writing a response (which wouldnât have made any sense, as she hadnât said anything that I could respond to), I simply sent her a note through the platform thanking her for the GREAT REVIEW that she left me! âKilled her with kindness!â She wrote back confused about my message and thanked me for my professionalism. I just left it at that.
@house_plants what ever the reason, Iâm glad that you stood by your policy. Iâve often given refunds, whether or not I could rebook. The few times I didnât was because one guest just didnât show, didnât respond, and after 2-weeks went to Airbnb for a refund. One other time was weeks after the guest checked out. She must have been staying somewhere else too, because I hardly saw her. In both cases, when I said âNo,â to Airbnb, they stood by me!
Iâll end this by saying that I tend to lean towards the ânot leaving a negative reviewâ side of the spectrum. The closest Iâd go is something like @muddy suggested. Itâs been a while⌠is the question still asked, âWould you host this person again?â I think this is the most important question of all. In the 8-years that Iâve been hosting, Iâve said, ânoâ in less that a handful of cases. And I agree with @Deanna_Hargreaves who noted, âother hosts might not find their behaviour a problem.â I ask myself, âIs this a situation that would offend most people, or is it more of a personal perspective on how someone should behave as a guest?â
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Our consequences of a guest writing a bad review is they donât get to come back. Really. The one 4 star review we got this year complained about the rug shedding when they moved the furniture around as well as a few other very picky things we fixed. We responded to the review that we took that into consideration and replaced the rug, and updated the pictures.
She tried to rebook for the next year. We said no. We told her it was obvious our place was not a good fit for her group.
That plays into my thoughts when writing reviews when Iâm a guest. If Iâd like to stay there again itâs 5 stars. Why would I want to stay in a four star place?
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Not really. All that saying you wouldnât host them again accomplishes is that they canât instant book with you again. It doesnât help other hosts at all.
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OH! Right⌠I forgot. Thanks for the reminder.
She had last-minute jitters because of rising cases (I remember clearly what was going on around Christmas â some of my own family agonized at the last minute over their travel plans (some cancelled, some didnât)⌠perfectly understandable).
She asked you and Airbnb if she could cancel, you both said âno,â she accepted that and didnât âpunishâ you during a stay you yourself describe as âunexceptionalâ (i.e. no problems) and left the place clean
.
I canât see anything in there that would have convinced me to give her anything less than five stars. Iâve had guests over the years that were dicks â but getting cold feet at the last minute during a week when case numbers were going crazy is not âdickâ behaviour.
Honestly â I think the *** rating was a punitive over-reaction to having to deal with someone who was not doing anything malicious â she was a nice person (âunexceptionalâ stay, âcleanâ) who was increasingly afraid of travelling in light of the nightly reports on TV news.
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I appreciate your explanation and I can now see that I made a mistake in giving her a 3* review.
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So⌠now what?
Maybe because they took your suggestions into consideration and actually fixed some or all of the issues??
It also prevents them from Instant Booking w a host who requires positive recommendations from other hostsâŚalthough I suppose it is possible that it is only within the last year or whatever timeline AirBnB might useâŚanyone have any experience woth this to know if it âtimes outâ or not?
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Iâm not so sure about that. I have read hosts saying it only prevents that guest from IBing with that host.
Yes, I do know that. But suppose that 2 hosts have said they would host them again and 1 said they wouldnât? Nowhere is there any indication that one ânot recommendedâ would prevent the guest from IBing with other hosts.
And hosts have also been told by Airbnb that only a 1* rating is considered to be a negative guest review.
Ok, that is your interpretation, which is obviously different than mine. I use the criteria and have received requests to book from many people, some that obviously had do not recommends from previous hosts.
No, it stops guests from using IB with any host who has the only positive reviews from other hosts option checked. If you never want them back at your place, you have to block the individual guests.
I actually know this based on a recent guest interaction.
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Any host that has that option as a guest requirement for IBâŚ.
House rules⌠donât allow guests to move furniture around. Donât want someone moving the bed to a different wall and then leaving it there! Donât want torn up rugs or scratched floors. Nope! Itâs in my rules.
I have an update with a similar incident from another guest. He asked for a refund, I politely declined and didnât debate the refund policy with him. He came, stayed and left the place in ok condition. This time I gave the guest a five-star review. Not arguing with guests about refunds has served me well.
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