Guest wants to return after leaving 3 star review

[KKC]

@lagunafairway

Have a chat with the guest and explain how important it is to landlords to maintain high feedback, and that you were upfront in the listing about there being no wifi, and would the guest be prepared to withdraw their previous feedback,

I had a guest give me 1 star overall on accident. Since her written review was an effusive endorsement of my place, including a declaration that she would be returning

I contacted her. Out of over 600 reviews she is the only guest I contacted about their review. She said it was a mistake and she would contact them. As you can see, this was back in 2017 so policy has changed…or maybe she didn’t care enough to bother.

[house_plants]

@muddy

If they weren’t 5* guests, why would you mark them as such?
How does pulling your 5* review of guests help you

It does not benefit me in any way.

I’m doing this unselfish act to help the Airbnb host community by making it difficult for these guests to book in the future.

90+% of the guests leave me five star reviews. If they were clean and considerate, I will leave the five star reviews. Leaving a less than five star review is inconsiderate behavior.

I don’t want to enable guests who want to destroy my business destroy the business of other hosts.

[muddy]

You’re not helping this host, you are hindering. If the guests were 5* guests aside from your irritation that they left you less than 5* stars, I would be happy to host them. Just because they rated you 4* s doesn’t mean they will rate all their hosts that way and not all of us are so hung up on ratings.

The occasional guest leaving you a 4* rating isn’t “destroying” your business, nor do guests who leave 4* s “want to destroy” your business. If they wanted to try to destroy your business, they’d leave 1*.

[house_plants]

@muddy

The occasional guest leaving you a 4* rating isn’t “destroying” your business, nor do guests who leave 4* s “want to destroy” your business.

It could very well destroy my business. Things happen that are outside my control. For example some guests leave bad reviews because of sargassum on nearby beaches. I need insurance of large number of five star reviews to protect myself from things outside of my control.

[lagunafairway]

I guess luck plays a part in this too. Sounds like you did everything right, the guest was happy, and yet you still got 1’d.

I previously used an Airbnb alternative for an aussie holiday home and recall the value of repeat customers who would come back year in year out. I guess you have to find a way of resolving things if a repeat customer isn’t helping your feedback scores.

I guess another issue is that for some people a 4/5 might be their idea of an excellent rating, and 3/5 may mean “meets expectations”. Our expectations are all calibrated differently.

In your position I doubt the occasional poor mark would make a difference to users as it sounds like you have already built up an excellent record.

| KKC
March 8 |

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lagunafairway:

Have a chat with the guest and explain how important it is to landlords to maintain high feedback, and that you were upfront in the listing about there being no wifi, and would the guest be prepared to withdraw their previous feedback,

I had a guest give me 1 star overall on accident. Since her written review was an effusive endorsement of my place, including a declaration that she would be returning

I contacted her. Out of over 600 reviews she is the only guest I contacted about their review. She said it was a mistake and she would contact them. As you can see, this was back in 2017 so policy has changed…or maybe she didn’t care enough to bother.