If you are getting nothing but bad guests or negative reviews, you really need to ask what you are doing wrong to attract either.
3 Likes
I wish I had the answer. I donāt know. Sure seems unfairā¦ completely unfair. If you find the answer, please share.
You assume too much. I was asking for assistance here in resolving the review problem with a few. What I have received is attacks.
Your comment is incorrect, foolish and not helpful.
This is why I wash every dish between guests. I am amazed at how often I find a dirty dish put back in the cabinet.
I thinned out the number of dishes I leave in the house too. There is a bar with assorted barware. I removed most of the barware to reduce dishes I need to clean.
1 Like
The comment is correct, astute, and very helpful. It reflects what many of the hosts here have come to understand - it is up to the host to fix the issues that guests bring up. They are experiencing a hostās failings, and they are reporting them to the world.
2 Likes
We couldnāt possibly wash everything between guests. One of our houses is for 12 people and we supply at least 24 of everything. 24 side plates, 24 dinner plates, 24 bowls, 24 mugs, 24 coffee cups, 24 knives, forks, spoons, teaspoons, 24 champagne glasses, 24 water glasses, 24 white wine glasses, 24 red wine glasses, 24 plastic plates, dishes, tumblers etc for pool area. Not to mention pans, casseroles, serving dishes etc. We would have to employ someone just to wash up!!
It all kind of depends. My 87 year old father doesnāt participate in Social Media at all & doesnāt own a computer or smart phone. He was shocked at the information available when we googled his name. It may depend on where you are & if youāve done anything to trigger a change in public records.
What appeared:
-Full name
-Approximate age
-Address
-Obituaries where he was named as āX was survived by zā
-Property records - past homes & recent home purchase including amount paid
-Past listing as a farmer/seller at the Farmerās Market
-Where a nephew tagged him in a Facebook post
-Speeding tickets (itās been awhile since he got one - nothing over 35mph now; when he was test driving his new car I made sure his driving was safe but it was like riding in big white Hyundai turtle.)
How does this work, then? Guests are faced with possibly unwashed dishes?
Mine are. It is a full home listing with a well equipped kitchen. There is no way to wash every pot, pan, mixing bowl, cooking utensil, knife, plate, bowl, cup, wine glass, etc.
1 Like
We rely on guests to be responsible and 99% of them are.
2 Likes
If I am a guest, and if the place is not up to five stars, but my private communications with the host make it sound like they will fix the items and make it five star, I will not leave a review. Any review I leave would not be useful to the next guest after they fix the problems.
As a hosts I look at it the same way. If my communications with the guest that leaving dirty dishes is not what we were expecting, and they take that as constructive criticism, then I donāt leave a review. If they argue that they paid for cleaning, and expect hosts to rewash every piece of cookware between guests, well yeah, I do include that in their review.
We do check every cupboard between guests, but if they hide dirty dishes in the middle of the stack we probably wonāt find them.
I am firmly in the camp of always leave an honest review. You have no control over whether the host fixes things or not. A review in this situation might say something like āBert is a good host who is committed to being great. After we chatted about xxx being fixed/changed/installed/removed, etc, he said he would take of that for the next guest. In addition the place is very clean and has plenty of amenities. I would stay with Bert and Ernie again after these small issues are addressed.ā
As the next guest, I would be alerted to the issues. What if Bert doesnāt fix the problem?
And same with leaving guests honest reviews. You should be reviewing what they did at your listing not skipping a review in hopes they will do something at the next listing.
4 Likes
I second that. There is a regular poster on the CC who is a host and travels a lot as a guest. Said he used to just leave private feedback, trusting that the host would act on it. Then heād see that months later, guests were still mentioning the crappy mattress, threadbare towels, lack of bedside reading lamp, poor cleaning, etc.
4 Likes
Reminder - it is GUESTS who do the things that are found by the next guest - dirty stuff in drawers, unclean dishes in stacks, etc. It is up to the host to figure out a way to mitigate the guestsā poor actions. For example, if dirty utensils are something that guests leave, then provide 100% cleaning. I have hundreds of plastic utensils I was given years ago from a friend - I leave those out so I do not have a cleaning situation. Of course, I do not recommend buying plastic ,but that is MY solution.
As always, if guests bring up an issue, it does not make THEM bad guests - it reflects on the previous guest, of course - but if a host fails to figure out a solution for the future then it is 100% on the host. One host here actually said they have no solution to guests finding dirty dishes in a stack, and complained that they were called out on it. Not fair to blame the victimā¦
The way AirBnb punishes both hosts and guests for bad reviews, Iām not sure giving someone who intends to change their experience for the next guest or hosts deserves to be forever dinged.
In the above scenario the guest did not receive a 5 star stay from Bert and Ernie. Should they give Bert and Ernie 5 stars? Or should they give them the three stars they earned?
Just to clear this up for anyone reading, Airbnb doesnāt āpunishā hosts or guests for giving bad reviews but for getting them. (Iām sure that this is what Charmed meant but I misunderstood at first 
)
3 Likes
I guess I didnāt make myself clear?
Reviews arenāt given for future changes. Itās a rating of the experience you had already. What you think and hope the guest or host will do in the future is completely irrelevant.
Yes.
I agree with jacquo that punishment is the wrong word.
As a host I can take into account if a guest has seemingly changed. I have a guest staying today who only has a 4.5 average with multiple reviews. Thatās a bit concerning but I donāt see any red flags in the written reviews. Maybe that just indicates that she has stayed with several 
hosts who canāt be bothered to do their part for the system. Or maybe she changed. She also indicated she stayed here with a friend and liked it. I recall the pair of friends who stayed earlier this summer. So Iām hosting her, Iām not āpunishingā her.
My example is a few years ago we booked a super host apartment. Our plane came in early and we found ourselves with lots of luggage at the square where we intended to stay. We settled in a cafe across the square and while having a leisurely lunch counted up the balconies to the apartment we believed we booked. It looked lovely.
Thirty minutes later some young girls came running toward the building. A few minutes later we saw them throwing stuff from the balcony back into the apartment. Another few minutes go by we see them coming out of the building with hastily packed suitcases, and a cleaning crew is now on the balcony. Note, this is over three hours past checkout time. Our checkin instructions we have received that morning says we checkin in about an hour.
After slowly finishing our meal we gather our belongings and drag them across the square. We reach the front door a little after checkin and are greeted by the cleaners, who āneed another hourā but are happy to store our bags in the closet. A quick glance gives me the impression those girls, or whomever rented the apartment before us, trashed it.
When we return a few hours later we find 1) a broken dining table. 2) way more leftover food and liquor than Iāve ever seen, 3)dried candle wax all over the kitchen and living room furniture, and 4)a 3x4inch hole in the floorboards. The linens are clean, the floor has been vacuumed or mopped, the counters are wiped down, but there are stains and weird sticky places. There seem to be missing throw pillows and other decor pieces. It looks like they did the best they could given the limited time they had.
We talked to the host, who was away on a business trip, and he managed to have a new table delivered while we were there. He had a board put over the hole in the floor, and said he will get someone in to fix it. Through the week we scraped most the candle wax off of stuff.
Now, if I reviewed that property on the platform he would have lost superhost status because of what Iām assuming was one set of terrible guests on the rare week he was out of town. And the weird thing about the Airbnb reviewing system is every host is one really bad guest away from having their listing tanked.
No they arenāt. Some hosts who are just getting started are in danger of a bad review setting them back. Hosts who already have numerous sub 5 star reviews may be in danger of another one dropping them below the magic 4.8 for superhost. Hosts who donāt get a lot of bookings have a harder time recovering from a bad review than hosts like myself who get a lot of bookings. But there are things hosts can do to recover from that and superhost status can always be regained.
If you had said that one time you didnāt give a host a bad review because of things outside his control I probably would have scrolled on. Making it sound like not giving reviews is sound policy advice is what is was challenging.
Yes, and maybe your assumption is correct. I still would have reviewed this host in case my magic assumption wand didnāt work. By not reviewing him you didnāt reward him for all his effort in trying to rectify the situation. OTOH, Iām not sure why the cleaning crew is arriving 3 hours past check out time to clean. Anyway, I wasnāt there, you want to give the host the benefit of the doubt, thatās fine but Iām still not convinced that not reviewing was the best choice.
Not really. Although I often say that Iāve never had bad guests, Iāve had less-than-perfect guests who have left the apartments in a condition that has made me sigh.
In the example of the host who was away on a business trip, his co-host should have dealt with the problems efficiently and promptly.
Most of us have had instances when there has been some problem or other when the guest has just arrived or on their first day and if these things are dealt with promptly, the host can get a great review.
That said, I admit that I get impatient with hosts who are scared of a bad review or of losing their superhost status. Yes Iām a superhost and if I lost it Iād probably think āoh buggerā and get on with the job.
Iāve never had a bad review but a few weird ones. But over the years when Iāve asked guests why they chose to stay here no one has ever mentioned superhost or great reviews. Honestly, guests arenāt daft.