Dinged on location - damaging review

Thanks for the encouragement @Yana! That made feel a whole lot better :slight_smile:

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I hate it when guests complain about the weather in a review. It’s irrelevant and is it my fault that it rained all weekend?

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We also like to 'treat ourselves" every now and then when we are travelling but only if we can get pick something up on a special deal. When you are travelling for a while it’s nice now and then to feel the luxury of a top end bed with soft pillows. I have been taken back to the luxury of those from the Best Western Premier in Sofia, Bulgaria just by typing this!

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I once stayed in Fairmont in SF for 160$ in 700$ king suit. They also gave me early check-in at 8 am . I didn’t leave that place for 24 hours.

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Now I am really jealous!

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I just had a friend over for dinner and asked her if it was okay if I smoked while she was here. She was like “it’s your place, of course I don’t mind”. But I don’t do it if friends are here with their kids.

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When Airbnb ask guests to rate location are they asking; ‘how handy was this house to the activity you are in the area for?’ or are thy asking ‘how safe is the neighborhood?’ or how handy is it to bus/train/airport shopping centre, restaurants?’ Maybe Airbnb could be more specific with the question or take that question out all together as the guest chose where they booked.

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Yes we’ve had discussions of this before. It’s a duff category.

I find that whenever a guest has special requests (or asks a zillion questions) and I give them what they want, they almost always ding me on something in the reviews.

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I wish they would be more specific! I was recently dinged on location for not being downtown, when it is very clearly a cabin in the woods. People are idiots.

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Just lurve the location rating, guest looks at it on the map, they look at all the 5 star reviews, they choose it, only 1 of 19 entire hone rentals and then they whine about the location!
Drives me spare! You picked it! Live with it!

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very frustrating. I have this line in my ‘more about the space’ section.


Admittedly, one would have to click the ‘more about the space’ headline but I regularly get dropped a star on value and accuracy, with a comment abut how small the 2nd bedroom is.

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Had (jetlagged) Americans over. At 8:30pm I asked if I could call to check on them.They said to wait an hour as they were out. At 9:30 I asked if they were back. No, they were now going to look for something to eat in a village nearby. There are two pubs, a shop, a playground there, not sure if there’s even a church, small place. Luckily there was a Chinese restaurant open late that they got into at 10pm, but shops close at 6, restaurants generally 9pm. They gave me 3 stars on location, probably because of this. (one of the brochure categories is Food)

Dear Petrelli,
You can’t please all of the people all of the time. Here are a couple of tips we use: Always ask your guests during their stay if they need anything, or" how’s it going?’ Then, on the day before they check out send them a message thanking them for coming and asking if anything needs attention. I say something like this: “Thank you for booking our studio. We’re sad you have to go and hope you enjoyed your stay. We value feedback from our guests and reviews are important, so we would love to hear if you have any suggestions or if anything needs attention before putting it in a review.” It won’t always work, but it might give some of them a chance to tell you instead of writing it in a review. And, they will appreciate that you asked for their feedback.

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As the other answers have pointed out, there’s not much you can do to avoid guests like that. Though, what you can do is make sure that you describe the location in detail in your description. That way guests will know if it will suit their needs.

I used to work on a cruise ship. One day in Barbados it rained for 15 minutes, but it was still 30c outside. Guests returning to the ship complained. I just shook my head.

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