Thanks for the advice. It’s funny how people differ. This has happened to me as a guest, and the first thing I did was check the listing to make sure I didn’t make a mistake/misunderstood and only after I was sure did I ask the host. Never crossed my mind to mention it in a review without first addressing in person. Regardless, I have decided to do just that - accept he is a jerk and move on. I just regret that I stated that I would host him again. Next time following my gut and not accept the reservation in the first place… We live and learn!
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My sympathies. I just received my first 2 star review and an angry review with a long list of complaints. I decided not to reply bc the writer did a great job of making herself look crazy. I knew she would leave a bad review bc I was turning down her daily list of special requests but in the end I’m the one who kept her $2k:)
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Please don’t! If their complaint is valid, address it and maybe give them something as a small token of apology. But if they just whine - giving them treats just rewards that behavior and trains them to keep whining wherever they go and become the entitled guests we all hate.
Think of guests as animals - give them treats when they beg - they’ll keep begging even more and be a nuisance.
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The reason the three elderly women were staying in my downstairs Airbnb guestrooms is one of the ladies was to scatter her deceased husband’s cremated ashes on a nearby mountain the next morning. They were not in our mountain-forest area for a “fun trip.”
I thought they needed a few free cocktails to help in their grief.
I was responding to 170onRidge, not commenting on entertaining or consoling guests because the host enjoys the interaction. Big difference between being a kind human being and succumbing to “extortion whining”
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Agree. Buckle up for the 1* lunatic in the future. Been there done that just keep pushing on.
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Always keep this in mind in relation to unfair shitty reviews 
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You have just confirmed my suspicion (see my prior post on just this subject) that you should never try to reassure a guest who mentions ALLERGIES that your place will be ok for them.
Especially allergic to dust!
When anyone mentions allergies my strategy is now to say that I cannot guarantee an allergen free environment.
Having said that your place must be great I agree with others you have surely gotten off lucky with 4 stars for such a jerky demanding guest.
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That’s interesting Airbnb told me I should reimburse 50% of the price of a stay to guest who complained about a slow internet. I do not claim high speed internet on my listing i just checked the ‘free wifi’ box.
Only person who gave me anything 3 stars was a couple who gave 5 overall but 3 for Value.
To my astonishment, because this was one of my first guests and I stupidly agreed to anything and they complained about the price of airport transfer. So eager to please I agreed to pick them up at the airport for 50!euros (two hour round trip drive, gas and parking for my husband, taxi would have cost them 80) and I also drove them back to the airport at the end of their stay for FREE (same 2 hour inconvenience) hoping for a good review.
They were I guess annoyed about the 50 Euro fee, instead of paying 160 euros had they taken taxi both ways.
This is a bit different than giving a free drink, but I won’t be doing that anymore!
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Unbelievable, guests complaining about something being close to the building suggests something not right in their head. Good Internet connectivity though is necessary. I can understand and sympathise with you though, it is the broadband companies who are culprits and you get stung. I suggest you to get better high bandwidth fibre optic connection. Some people get really worked up if bandwidth is bad.
I used to get upset when guests gave me less than perfect reviews, especially when they were unfair. But the more reviews you get, the less one review makes a difference. I try to listen carefully to suggestions from guests but ignore the overall review score from the guests and not get too worked up about it.
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Oh but if only I had that option!!
Perhaps things have changed since the last time you looked at it? Sometimes, people aren’t notified about new services.
These two companies may have a newer offering for you? CenturyLink or Charter Spectrum.
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I have been, actually. The only one willing to put in even a cable line was Charter Spectrum and that took months. It went in this week. I live across the street and my WiFi reaches the house w an extender for my purposes (video doorbell and home energy monitor) but was not enough for a person to actually use. It is the only one to service me. They service the houses on either side of my new foreclosure across the street but they have such a haphazard infrastructure it is ridiculous. Fiber is still a looong ways off out here in the country of NC adjacent only to military reservation training areas…
I’m confused. They provide service to several houses across the street, but not you directly? Or did you get high speed cable in your house, and trying to extend it across the street to your bnb?
FYI - there are directional wifi extenders / antennae that do a really great job with clear line of sight. The install is slightly more tricky as they must be aligned properly, but they do tend to be pretty reasonable. “Regular extenders” are usually only for helping signals reach other parts of the same house.
At least you are finally close to a high speed solution after all these years. It was the same for us, when we lived in the country. Years of slow isdn then finally cable.
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Same here. Rural mountain towns do not have those options. We also get intermittent gliches in service during the monsoons. Is that something I should put in my listing info under internet service?
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Absolutely you should. You’re evaluated on the accuracy of your listing. We stayed at a place for a few days last year and my intention for the whole time was to work. The internet didn’t work when we got there and still didn’t work when we left, despite the host assuring us that it would be fine ‘soon’.
Your listing needs to underpromise and your place should over-deliver.
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Anything that could pose an issue for guests should be mentioned in the listing description, be it noise, unreliable internet, a steep flight of stairs, etc. Some hosts just write up their listing descriptions to make it all sound absolutely perfect, but in fact, most places have a few warts along with the positive. It’s best to make those known.
I don’t have high-speed internet and occasionally it doesn’t work at all- it is cell-based and also metered, not unlimited. Like you, I don’t have other options. So I make that clear in my listing- that there isn’t the option to stream anything, watch Netflix, but fine to do email and surf the net a bit. I say that if a guest requires internet for their work while they are here, my listing is probably not the best choice, although there are places in town where they can order a coffee or a meal and use the internet connection.
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Good advice. After reading everyone’s responses I decided to reveal the possible internet failings and mention the possibility of power outages during the monsoon. Happens every summer. Lightening strikes and no power for 3 hours. Sometimes its a tree that falls on a power line or catches one on fire. Two years ago a squirrel (I am totally serious) chewed through the main internet cable and the entire town and adjacent communities were without cell service and internet for more than 8 hours. Several months later a backhoe operator snapped the cable while digging and we were without service for most of the day. Maybe I should state “I can not be held responsible for acts of God, wild animals, or human acts of stupidity.” LOL
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