Arrogant guest did not read any information.
Our Airbnb cabin is a retro style park home that has been stylishly updated. The description is very detailed and there must be about 25-30 photos of the interior, exterior, aerial views and a location plan. It is on a smallholding overlooking a lake.
When we get an inquiry I almost always reply with friendly questions about guests’ interests, jobs etc. As our property is in a natural wilderness area that adjoins a nature reserve, I need to ensure that our guests are nature lovers and not city slickers who expect rolling green lawns or are frightened of our small wild life!
In this ONE case, I did not ask any questions of the German guest… it was only a 2 night stay.
The guest contacted me excessively prior to the arrival. He obviously did not read our very detailed description, nor look at the photos. On arrival day he kept on contacting me for directions. My very detailed directions are on the site, I send them again a few days before arrival, and in his case I sent the again on the morning of arrival. Needless to say, he did not follow the directions and got lost. Every few minutes he would phone me. Then he started sending me photos of where he was. He even took a photo of our entrance gate which VERY clearly shows the name and number if the property. This couple were incredibly needy and were at our door asking questions every few of hours. All the information was in a booklet in the cabin which had been pointed out to them.
In addition, although we allow guests to use our private pool, they plonked themselves on the deck right in front of the open door where we were sitting. They lay there for a couple of hours, totally unaware of the invasion of privacy.
The cabin was left fairly clean, but not as clean and neat as our guests usually leave it.
We have over 60 incredible reviews. What a bombshell it was when we got a shocking review from him - cabin dirty (a lie), bed uncomfortable (mattress is 1 year old) and the “caravan was old”. This has upset us as it is the first time any of these issues have been mentioned by guests. Why did he not speak to us? We always ask guests when they leave if there are any improvements we can make or if anything that they needed was missing.
I have noticed that their awful review has not been published yet, despite me replying and submitting.
MY QUESTION: Does Airbnb notice anomalies and flag them for checking? If there is one negative review out if 60+ do they exclude it.
Grateful for any feedback.
Thanks
Jane from Highland Lakes, Wilderness, South Africa
Welcome to the entitled bastard guest who thinks he is getting a hotel experience and has issues understanding what an Airbnb stay is all about.
Were you his first stay?
His second stay immediately after his first - obviously touring South Africa using Airbnb. Yes - exactly! He treated the whole experience as if he expected to be waited upon… We are used to independent nature lovers who are grateful for all the information we place in the cabin. They read all the info and the magazine articles about the attractions here. This was a first… NEVER AGAIN will I not engage beforehand. I have gently “rejected” a few guests who were obviously not good fits.
Thanks.
Sorry to hear of your experience I do hope you left this guest an honest review to forewarn future hosts and marked him down to at least three stars so he can’t IB. @jhoskyn
If you want Airbnb to remove as an outlier you need to talk to them about it and open a case for them to consider.
In this case I would recommend a short, polite response to his review.
Personally I would have asked airbnb to cancel his booking. You sound like you have more patience than me 
Guests are supposed to contact the host via platform within 24 hours if there are any problems with the property and such. If they didn’t then there may be some wiggle room to get this review removed. Airbnb likes to make things very difficult so be prepared for them to say no repeatedly
I would stay with you! It sounds like the perfect place to tour SA from.
Entitled guests. It’s always a flag to me when the guest messages go on for too long. Just had that happen and called Air to resolve so I didn’t have to use my SH cancellation.
Air was fabulous about reading the thread and making sure I didn’t take a hit. It took 30 minutes, but they’re really trying to back up hosts now in CS Good luck!!
I am curious about having an outlier review removed. Ii was at 4.9 after +100 reviews and then got a 1 star and “worst place ever”.
Airbnb sent some information through about the updating of reviews policy recently as part of their host update newsletter, including consideration of removing outlier reviews. @justMandi Did you see it?
How do you know you got an awful review if it hasn’t been published? If you saw it right after you submitted your review of the guest, but you can’t see it on your listing, then it’s probably because of the way Airbnb sorts the reviews. They are sorted by country then date, and reviews from your own country will show first when you look at a listing. You may have to dig through your own reviews to find it now.
I did, Helsi, about reviews mentioning things that hosts have no control over, like weather, traffic, etc. But I would love to take another shot at this review. Thank you.
No there is something specifically about outlier reviews. Sorry can’t find the newsletter at the moment to screengrab for you. @justMandi
This is exactly right. If you can read the review then it’s been published.
If a German or perhaps someone with a German IP address looks at your listing they will see this review first.
As for not reading the listing, etc. That has always been a problem and will only get worse as Airbnb increases market share.
While there is a new review policy it doesn’t include anything about outlier reviews. Here’s a link to information on Airbnb’s policy of “moderating” reviews at this time.
My advice would be to let it go. You’ve already spent too much time fretting about it.
Hi @justmsndi
No I did not see it, but I am going to search now. Thank you!
Helsi if you are right about this then I am very, very grateful. Actually I am very, very grateful just for the input. Cheers!
The outlier review removal is being “considered” it is not in Policy yet. There have been many requests mentioned in the Airbnb community centre and none successful.
I wish you luck and would appreciate it if you could come back with the result, I think we all need to know if you can pull it off.
I received this but for some reason, it went into my spam box. I only saw it when having a (regular) clean up.
But I hope they keep to it.
Exactly what I was going to write.
I don’t quite get what the purpose was of describing the guests’ behaviour and ‘neediness’ but I do wonder why they would write things that aren’t true? Was there any sort of run-in with them?
We have never ever had any disputes or bad vibes with our guests. “Needy” means wanting constant attention.
Yes but that’s not what I asked. It was:
Well, @jaquo
I am out of here now… Our cabin is spotless - check all the reviews. I get the feeling you are implying that the guest is correct in his lie about the cleanliness? I am not in this forum to be judged, but here for the assistance that most kind members have offered.
Thank you to all the other members who have offered advice.
Over and out.