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We recently had some guests who left all their garbage all over the place, broke our no shoe rule getting carpets dirty, and broke a refrigerator component without mentioning it. They just left the pieces on the counter.
I thought for sure they left the place in this state because they decided they didn’t like it and were just being disrespectful. After all, other reviews of them mentioned they left the place “clean.” I expected they wouldn’t review us at all so I was preparing to “snipe” (an ebay term for swooping in and bidding at the last second) a review, posting at the last minute on the last day to review.
Well, lo and behold, they reviewed 3 days prior to the deadline so I reviewed today. Their review is about how modern the place was, great this, great that, enjoyed their stay.
My review is about the garbage, the broken item, and the broken rule, with a “can’t recommend.” I also gave them a bunch of private feedback about how Air asks us to rate guests’ cleanliness, etc. I feel a wee pang of regret over the situation but I was honest and now other hosts will know what to expect, and the guests will hopefully change their ways. I’m also thinking: of course they had a great stay! They did whatever they wanted and left us to deal with the consequences!
Anyone else have the experience lately of mismatched reviews?
I might have a teeny pang of regret but it usually doesn’t last long. In the end you will feel better that you reviewed them honestly and didn’t hold back. And then if you still have regrets you can remember all the times when you left a good review and they smacked you unexpectedly.
Yes, we recently had a mother and daughter stay for one night. At 10:20 A.M. the mother told, as opposed to asked, us that she would arrive at 11:00 A.M. to drop off her luggage. I told her that the guest room would still be occupied by the prior guests as our check out time is noon. She was disappointed that the room wasn’t ready and insisted on seeing it. She said she would arrive at 5:00 P.M. She arrived at 7:00 P.M. with no communication. They both drank milk out of coffee cups then put them back in the cupboard with milk still in them. They asked us to email them the address of the closest grocery store despite that it is in our guidebook. They went to a pharmacy instead then complained about the lack of fresh produce. They said that they would be back at 3:00 P.M. for their luggage. They arrived at 3:45 with smelly fast food. I had to tell them that I’d cleaned the guest room so they had to eat their lunch at the dining table. They ate on the couch. Yuck.
Their written review wasn’t too bad. The only negative thing they said was that our house is a bit old. They gave us four stars for Overall Experience, four stars for accuracy, three stars for cleanliness citing bugs and odors, five stars for Check In, Communication and Location and three stars for Value. I asked them to let me know what inaccuracies they found in our listing and to describe the bugs and odors so that we could address any issues. I haven’t heard back. The most galling to me is odors as we always leave all our windows and the back doors open and the low rating for value when she squeezed all the value she could out of me.
I would have no pang of regret on reviewing that mother-daughter duo! Sorry you had to deal with that. Putting the dirty cups back in the cupboard is downright weird.
I would have no regret. It’s not about being nice to each other, it’s about honest reviews. Bottom line, you provided a great stay and they abused the rules and were not good guests.
Thank you very much. By the way, if you want to see our new dog, Hendrix, take a look through the photos. He’s the handsome dude with amber eyes. Janie looks small by comparison.
I haven’t and I’m a bit surprised. Reading the forum I see people mismatching their review to their guest all the time, i.e., they post about the awful guest and then either don’t review or leave them a good review. Then they offer an explanation of this irrational behavior that shows they don’t understand the Airbnb review system. I guess I’ve been lucky.
I had a case with a mismatched review, but it was the opposite. I got my only 1 star rating so far, and I left them a nice review as there was really nothing special to complain, the guy seemed a bit full of himself but they left the place in order and there were no check-in/check-out problems. The guy slammed me for missing the bus for his daytrip, although I warned him prior to his arrival that the buses are not driving superoften and that it will be difficult to move around the region without a car. I also sent him a schedule in advance. In hindsight I would’ve denied his request, but I’ve learned since then. He also mentioned me and members of my family being unfriendly… He was trying to chat with my dad whose English is not perfect and the answers he got were short, I guess.
The point was that a) they were too cheap to rent a car and b) he was staying on several other places in my country prior to coming to my place and other hosts seemed to drive him around for shopping etc. Most of his review was a rant about my lack of helpfulness. I think he mentioned my apartment in one sentence max, and mostly he was complaining about the noise from adjecent apartment. There was a family staying there so I assume he was referring to the kid, not any kind of partying or anything. Not to mention that he didn’t mention anything during his stay so I was genuinely surprised after receiving the review. I guess it is hard to complain to the host to his face with “why aren’t you driving me around and pampering me”…
reminds of a news item I read many years ago: courts were clamping down on holiday insurance claims (in particular, Germany filed the most). Things like ‘holiday ruined when I spotted a frog near the pond’, ‘holiday ruined when I had to brake because of a pedestrian’, ‘startled by a dog barking’.
I bet there’s a huge reality gap between how much they enjoyed their holiday, but what they wrote down
Anyone else have the experience lately of mismatched reviews?
MOST definitely, but the other way around, mine was cordial hers was rude and nasty. I had a young lady and her boyfriend in town for a wedding. Still a really new host at that time. First thing she did wrong was book incorrectly. She thought that the day started at midnight so her arriving at 2 am was same day check in. UM Nope! So I had to adjust that and I gave her the day for half price as well (stupid on my part). Then I get another message, “OMG the hotel where we were going to meet so I can do hair and makeup for the bridal party fell through. Can I have them over to the house?” I let her, trying to be nice, it was a wedding after all. Again, stupid on my part, I was cleaning up bobby pins for the next week, they were hidden all over the place. They left “early” claiming they had an emergency they had to get home to, so they left a sink full of dirty dishes. But still, it sounded plausible and she apologized via the platform so I let it go. Whatever. I gave her a decent review, she was a first time user, so her profile indicated, so I was trying to be nice and cut her some slack. I get her review and she crucified me! 3 Stars overall 3 stars for accuracy = Amenities and Size of home (neither are misrepresented) 2 stars for cleanliness = Odors, Kitchen cleanliness, Shower (no odors before or since, Kitchen and bathroom were immaculate until they got them, also no complaints before or since) 3 Stars for location (SMH) 2 Stars for Value ($80 a night for a 3 bedroom house to themselves, median charge for that size is $150 a night) 5 Stars for communication and Check in Our home is an older home, well loved, not fancy, but warm, cozy and comfortable. I have plenty of pictures that accurately represent it and I had other people double check for me. I messaged this girl to ask why such a lousy review, how could I improve for future guests, she never answered. I vet my guests much more carefully now, I am COMPLETELY Honest in my reviews without adding emotion to it and other than my very first guest and this one it has been pretty good. I did have one other early on that checked in, claimed she and her husband had breathing issues, cancelled after being in the house a few hours and I got her a full refund (newbie mistake again, and she rated me 3 overall even at that. I thought that was pretty uncool since I got her all her money back and I should have at the very least, kept the cleaning fee since they did use the bed and the kitchen.
WOW! I guess I really needed to get the off my chest to others that understand! I know this topic is kind of old, but it really is an ongoing issue for many newer hosts. Thanks for letting me vent!
