Guest leaving due to noise. Feedback help

1

I’ve been a lurker here for sometime while learning the ropes, taking in some valuable information that I’ve implemented into my own home.

So I’m sorry my first post here is to serve my own purposes!

I’d love some feedback advice and maybe to critique the feedback I’ve prepared before I leave it.

After almost 30 happy guests and recently becoming a superhost, I’ve finally had my first disgruntled guest.

So 2 girls book for 2 nights, one flying in from usa, the other who runs her own airbnb, wanting a quiet place to rest after the long flight (Even though our place says noise may occur due to our baby)

They requested an early check-in which I obliged however they ended up showing up only about an hour before usual check-in time.

Here is the problem, the lawns are booked in to be mowed on a Friday so they’re looking great for the guests we usually have at the weekend, the most recent Friday it rained heavily so the mower man came to do them Saturday afternoon instead.

It is summer and it has rained alot this week meaning the grass is shin deep in parts in the space of 1 week. With a baby who plays in the yard daily (and it would totally drive me crazy looking at unkempt grass until next Friday) it was not a consideration to wait until next week.

I did warn the guest’s at check-in that this was happening but because mower man did 2 houses side by side, and the yards are quite large, the noise went on for over an hour.

Then there was my baby shrieking and playing on the patio next door, the kid across the street screaming at the top of his lungs for a time, dogs barking, all the usual suburban goings on during the day.

They therefore cancelled their second night to which I accepted without question. I don’t want people staying in my beautiful home who don’t appreciate it.

But then to add further insult, the evenings are usually totally quiet - but it seems my neighbour finally found somebody to be his friend and was in his backyard with a large bonfire talking loudly with his music up! Then cleans out his boat engine at 8am this morning. Lollol All of these things that don’t usually occur did so all at once for this guest that required silence! Just about every other guest has remarked about how quiet and peaceful the area is. You can’t win them all.

Basically, they’ve booked a quiet space and it was anything but. I recognise this was an issue for them but I don’t apologise for it, the noise I can control during quiet hours is a priority for me but I cannot have a 24-hour cone of silence.

So what feedback would you leave?

2

Did your guests specify in their booking request that they were looking for a quiet place? If so, in your shoes I would have declined the request and let them know that my listing is not particularly quiet. If they didn’t specify in their booking request that they were looking for a quiet place, I would tell them in the private comments that if there is something that is important to them it is to their benefit to verify it with the host.

I also look at guests’ reviews for previous hosts. If I find that they were unhappy with conditions that are the same at my house I let them know that they probably won’t be happy here and that I recommend that they cancel their reservation.

3

Hello happy, glad you are posting.

I see a couple of things here. First the early check in. There is some controversy about this from hosts, but I honestly don’t think it is a good thing to allow. It’s sometimes the sign of someone expecting this to be like a hotel.

If you have disclosed in your listing that noise may occur then the guest really doesn’t have a leg to stand on. You cannot control the neighbors at all so that is unfair of them to mention. You might have one day of loud noise from neighbors and 364 of quiet. You also have a right to enjoy life with your baby and as I know more than most, kids make noise. I had twins. I probably had the street’s loudest kid noise.

You cannot sacrifice family life because you are worried about guests who may object to a baby shriek.

Think about the last time you stayed at the Hilton or a Marriott. Did anyone at the front desk “warn”you about grounds maintenance? I don’t think so. I just stayed in my favorite mid mod resort in Desert Hot Springs. My room was over the pump room. And so what? It’s a hotel with 9 pools so there’s going to be some noise from pool pumps. Did I cry and whine and ask for a refund? NO.

Properties need to be maintained. Your guy wasn’t mowing for that long, let’s be real. And it was not during quiet time, 10pm to 6am right? So please, that is ridiculous.

We don’t live in a perfect world. You can’t schedule quiet to happen on schedule.

I live in a quiet area but occasionally things happen. I don’t feel like I should refund because someone started their chainsaw or weedwhacker.

I hope you didn’t refund them anything.

3 Likes
4

Oh you asked about feedback I just noticed. You mean a review?
I might not review this person.

But if you want to say something, it could be

Xxguest was not really a good fit for our home. She complained about noise even after accepting the terms of our listing which indicate family and suburban noise may occur. Next time I suggest she book a soundproof booth.

JUST KIDDING about the last line!!! :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

3 Likes
5

Hi Eileen,

Thanks for your assistance.
They requested “a place to shower and to relax after a long flight.”

Here is the thing, the neighbourhood is VERY quiet 99% of the time, we are a secluded suburb in a major capital city, it doesn’t get much quieter than this so close to the city, and most people leave feedback saying how quiet and peaceful it is with the low traffic and abundant birdlife.

As I mentioned in my post, it was a Murphy’s law culumination of circumstances on this occasion for this guest.

The mowing noise could be the only issue, but I’m sure they will make mention of all the other noise to further their point.

I disclose in my listing there may be potential for family noise, I have a photo depicting our house in relation to the surrounding houses to show how close they are, I’m completely transparent and believe I present the facts accurately for a guest to decide if the circumstances suit them before they book.

If it were me: a) Actually I honestly wouldn’t have minded. I’m too easygoing. And btw, during my last resort stay I was woken up by a leaf blower at 8am, I never thought to complain.
and b) I might have approached said easygoing host and asked for a solution.
But I’d probably recognise that maintenance stuff happens during the daylight hours in the suburbs, before everyone retreats inside in the evening hours to watch Happy Days on the TV!

I apologised and refunded, and neither I or guest made further issue of it. But how do I approach feedback?

6

I did refund them something, and without hesitation. Wahhh! I know this is a bad precedent to set for myself and other hosts - but I simply don’t wish for guests with a bad vibe to be into the beautiful old house I’ve poured my soul (and lifesavings!!) into. I know that is silly and will come back to bite me hard but I’m still relatively new at this. Hopefully I learn to detatch.

I love your style!
And I should know so much better - I was front desk hotel receptionist for 10 yrs! My boss denied refunds to guest’s who could not be contacted before arrival who suffered through a pre-arranged power outage for 24 hours. No lights, no electricity, no hot water. NO REFUND!

1 Like
7

I’m going to address this not as a host (although I am one!), but as a shift worker who often has to sleep during the day. Let me preface this by saying that I understand that stuff goes on in the day. People mow lawns, play outside, etc. I get it.

However, they were looking for somewhere to relax after a long flight. They found your place with its reviews mentioning quiet. While they were there, there was someone mowing the lawn for an hour, a baby shrieking, kids playing, dogs barking, loud neighbours talking, boat engines being cleaned. None of that is your fault, but it’s certainly not quiet!

If I had been this guest, I probably would’ve done the same thing and cancelled my second night. Not because it’s your fault, but I would anticipate with the second night will be just the same as the first. Sometimes things are just out of our control, and it makes it a bad fit for guests. The guest isn’t wrong, and neither were you, but through no fault of their own, this guest is not a good fit for your home.

I would refund for the night they didn’t stay. To me, that would be an act of goodwill. Chances are they would appreciate the gesture, and leave a better review that if you had not refunded them, or if they stayed the second night with the same amount of noise.

3 Likes
8

My listing is similar to yours as far as noise. I live in a suburb of Los Angeles, CA (which is known as seven suburbs in search of a city). For being in a major city, our listing is quiet. However, we’ve had some guests who live in rural areas who are surprised that we can hear our neighbors. Like much else, quiet is subjective.

One thing I’ve done that has helped is to supply disposable earplugs to our guests.

As far as feedback; I don’t know if you mean how should you respond to your guest’s review or should you say something in your review of her or in private feedback.

9

Please let me issue warnings to all who assume this.
I refunded someone who had a complaint about my room, not noise related.
I refunded one night, re cleaned the apartment at my expense and also bought brand new sheets for the bed. Despite all I did they STILL cracked me HARD in the review.

My gesture of refunding did ZERO to mitigate a bad review. I want to caution others from assuming that just because you refunded, you will somehow be saved from a bad review. You won’t.

4 Likes
10

Awe, I hear you. It’s hard not to take guest crap personally because let’s face it, it IS our house they are crabbing about.

If your guests wanted to relax after a long flight, they needed to book the damn airport hotel. Sorry but they do.

You cannot be expected to PROMISE quiet.

11

I know that you have had bad experiences with this. However, you can’t paint all guests with the same brush. I’ve refunded a few guests for remaining nights - they were good guests but for whatever reason their plans changed (ex. a course ended early). Every time it has been reciprocated with a good review and in a couple of circumstances, the guests have booked with me again or referred other guests.

If in every other respect they were good guests, I feel they had a reasonable concern. As a result, you should respond in a reasonable way.

2 Likes
12

And even then, they can’t expect silence. I had guests who booked a hotel near the airport for their first night as they didn’t want to deal with car rental and navigating Los Angeles after a flight from Indonesia. They could’t stop talking about how loud the hotel was.

I wish that light sleepers would learn to use earplugs.

2 Likes
13

It’s not just my experience. This is a business. So I don’t understand this mentality. Refunding for something that’s out of your control does not make sense. This poor person here refunding because there is suburban noise and a lawn mower during the day? Refunding even after she discloses there could be kid noise?

It’s out of her control and unreasonable for the guest to ask for her money back because a lawn mower made noise? Because a disclosed baby cried.

If the host had promised dead quiet in the middle of day and no kid noise and couldn’t deliver then maybe I would understand the refund.

It’s this type of thinking that has created the overly entitled class of guest we have now. And believe me, that is trouble for all of us. That is creating an expectation that we will be refunding if someone sneezes. Literally.

I just had a guest leave over Thanksgiving because they had allergies. Hoped I would find it in my heart to refund… because they had allergies.

Hello you blocked my calendar during a major holiday, took it off the market, could not re rent because this is a fly in destination. Yet I was being asked to write a check and pay for their holiday because they had allergies. Say what?

This is getting ridiculous my friends. If you want to refund because someone sneezed, go right ahead. But then don’t complain to me later about all the bad guests we have created with this kind of reinforcement.

2 Likes
14

I appreciate what you are saying, but isn’t that the game of life though? Have we really reached a place in time where we’ve lost our coping skills for scenarios that could occur in the course of our day and the world totally revolves just around us and our needs?

Do I need to disclose every possible scenario that could occur during a guest’s stay?

Where does it end?
Do hosts in LA mention that the “BIG ONE” could occur during the next guest’s stay, and maybe prospective guests should take that into consideration just incase before they book?
No, it could happen, but you’ve made a decision based on the facts, not the “what if.”

If I show my house tightly positioned between 2 houses (like I have done) and not in a field surrounded by 20acres of trees and waterfalls aren’t I presenting to the guest that they are occuping a house next to neighbours living their lives?

If they are basing their decision on past reviews, it would seem that this is an unusual occurence, There is no reason to believe it will go on for 48 hours?

Fyi this is my description:
Set in a peaceful bayside village close to all the conveniences one requires, yet feeling a world away from the hustle and bustle of busy city life, stands Sunnyside, our 1920’s beach cottage.

No where does it memtion they’ll be in a bubble of silence.
And despite requesting for quiet noise levels from guests in respect of my neighbours because it’s a quiet neighbourhood - we still have to live our lives.

2 Likes
15

This is it. I know they are still going to ping me in the review, despite me caving in. (So why do it? I see it now)

2 Likes
16

@Happyfrog
I agree with those who say a refund was not necessary. If they wanted total silence they should have booked somewhere in an isolated forest. But then they’d have complained about the animal noises or the wind rustling. You seem to know yourself that you were over-generous. Don’t do it again!

As for leaving a review, I wouldn’t stress over it. But whatever you do - DO NOT say that you gave them a refund! That is a green light for future bad guests to fleece you. Have they left a review for you already?

1 Like
17

Thank-you everyone. I wish I posted before I refunded the second night.

Here is the review I’m thinking of leaving - feel free for rewrite, not my strongpoint.

XXX and her guest XXX were very nice, the communication of their plans was excellent and they left the house clean and tidy on their departure.

Unfortunately, their stay was shortened with us as the daytime suburban noise was too loud for them for sleeping purposes after an international flight.

Our mowing man did the lawns on a Saturday rather than the usual weekly Friday due to the inclement weather the previous day, this was their main issue we’re assuming as they spoke to him about it. We have all the usual and expected neighbourhood noise as well. It’s the burbs’.

We would recommend XXX to future hosts as she was gracious and we had no conflict with her, but maybe only to those able to control their surrounding environment more strictly.

1 Like
18

Umm. Too kind. I usually discount any of the nice things about the guest the minute they become troublesome.

Also too much explaining about the mowing and inclement weather. Not needed.

I would see if they leave a review for you and if not, leave yours at the last minute.

More of like

xx guest wasn’t really a good fit for our home. They canceled and left early because they were bothered by noise during the day and they expected dead quiet in the suburbs.

Say nothing else about how they left things tidy or communicated. Those things don’t matter now that they became disgruntled.

Would you want to recommend them to us, your forum friends, dear happy frog?! If not please review honestly and cut to the chase. Don’t leave the review too early.

5 Likes
19

Hi Happy –

Your review is factual, but too long and wordy. You do not want to apologize, especially thing for things not under your control. “Not your circus, not your monkeys!”

"Guests were nice, they communicated well, and left the place clean and tidy. However, they cancelled in mid-stay and demanded a refund, because incidental suburban noise was apparently too loud for them.

3 Likes
20

Yes true, thank-you. I’ve seen it mentioned here to leave reviews at the last minute? What is the reason for that, and how do I know ) when the window will close?