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So I had a guest instant book last night and responded to their initial email with my usual look forward to hosting you response.
Then I looked at his profile, 14 reviews including this one:
Hosts beware! This was a horrible experience for me as a Superhost to have GUEST as a guest. So much so that I decided to close down this listing and no longer host people in my home. After staying at my home for two day. I checked on GUEST mid stay to make sure everything was okay. He wrote me back that he had left and was staying at a hotel because he had locked himself in the bathroom and had to climb out the window to get out. Due to this, I guess my airbnb was completely “inhabitable”, yes, not having a bathroom door that locks apparently constitutes a place as inhabitable. He also made zero attempt to contact us while he was having this issue. He claims he didn’t have his phone in the bathroom but there was another guest staying there, he could have found a way to contact us before going to such extremes. When I got home, the place was left a complete mess, furniture moved around, bed unmade, pillows on the floor, dirty towels on the floor, dirty dishes out and ZERO check out done. He demanded a refund for ALL three nights even though he had stayed for two nights without issue. Btw, we have had zero issues with our door with past guests, so he broke and unscrewed our lock, left our screen off our window and trashed our place before he left.
GUESTs response to review:
To anyone reading HOST emotional response: please take a minute to read through the other reviews about me. My stay at HOST place was a nightmare and ended with me getting shut in her bathroom due to a faulty, old door and I had to climb through a window into bushes and go around to the front to get back in. Rather than showing sympathy for my situation, she has chosen to react defensively, but let that be a reflection on her and not me. I’m sure anyone who had to climb through a window to escape a bathroom wouldn’t have taken the time to clean the place and make the bed before retreating to a hotel. I’m glad my feedback was heard and HOST is removing this listing until some much needed updates/repairs are made.
The guests response to the review was measured and thoughtful while the host seemed a bit unhinged. The guests double blind review of the host was the only negative review they had written in the dozen reviews they wrote and they had 13 positive reviews.
The host has two listings and 300 reviews, one listing 4.5 and the other 4.75
I messaged him back with OMG just don’t lock yourself in the bathroom! See you next month:)
All in all I say the review system worked as intended here.
If I were to get locked in the bathroom I would probably freak out. I’m claustrophobic plus due to COVID lockdown weight gain, I highly doubt I would fit through a small bathroom window LOL
Sorry, but while the host being remiss about having a bathroom door that somehow got stuck (I don’t know how anyone can “lock” themselves in the bathroom- bathroom knobs are made to unlock when you turn the knob), I find the guest’s excuses for leaving the place a disaster to be ridiculous and make no sense.
So he says he climbed out the window and went around to get back in the front. Okay, now he’s back in the house again, with access to his phone. Why didn’t he call the host at that point? Why did he immediately need to move out? Couldn’t he have called the host at this point so the host could have come over and fixed whatever was wrong with that door? And he left but didn’t cancel and the host only found out he wasn’t still there when she did her mid-stay “how’s it going?”.
And what does his bathroom incident have to do with leaving the place a disaster?
While the host’s review is unprofessionally dramatic and emotional, I would never want a guest like this- I find his defenses for his behavior to be totally lame.
I’m 50/50. We all have had (or will have) the occasional unforeseen issue. I think it’s appropriate that a guest do their due diligence of notifying the host in a timely manner, and it wasn’t appropriate to just bail w/o notice or doing the agreed upon checkout tasks. Definitely the host is concerning (especially notable is the guest knew the review would be emotional). I’d have to relay my expectations in regards to issues that may arise before they stayed with me and if they’re cool with that then I’d be okay to host them.
Yeah, that bothers me. Even if they were rattled by the experience enough not to wish to stay, this wasn’t the mature way to handle it. And as the host, I would have understood and refunded that final day if they wanted to go.
The guests story is different, here is the review of host: Emphasis added…
Had a terrible stay at HOSTS place, it was not habitable and I ended up leaving early after getting locked in the bathroom which had a faulty door/lock and having to exit through a window. Terrible stay and she was very rude and defensive when I reported the issue and advised her that I’d be leaving and not finishing my stay with her. Super unprofessional and a lot of work needs put into this basement suite before it’s ready to be listed on Airbnb.
And this in the hosts review makes me think there was no lock/or not working
I guess my airbnb was completely “inhabitable”, yes, not having a bathroom door that locks apparently constitutes a place as inhabitable.
That plus the hosts low ratings overall and I chose the guest with 13 positive reviews.
Wow what a story and I believe the guest 100%. They had 13 great reviews. The hosts side does not add up, including his poor language. Superhost? LOL - not with those ratings, unless grandfathered during Covid.
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We agree that guests should contact a host for minor issues. Major stuff like this = toss the host under the bus with Air.
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If the same thing happened to me, I would be pissed and just contact the booking agency - they can earn their fees.
The host seems to be a rather hysterical nutjob. If I was at a place and got stuck in the bathroom and had to climb out of the window, there would be “ZERO check out done” when I left - I’d be too angry.
Guest said they notified host, but didn’t say at what point they did that. The host indicates she only found out the guest had gotten locked the bathroom and moved out when she did her mid-stay contact with the guest.
I’m not defending the host, who may indeed be rude and defensive, and has weird ideas, like the guest leaving without making the bed is somehow a breach of check-out rules, but I still don’t see how an incident like the guest experienced made it necessary to pack up and leave.
It’s like a guest packing up and leaving because they saw a spider and freaked out. The bathroom incident doesn’t warrant the guest’s behavior in my eyes. The host may have been easily able to fix the door issue, may have offered a discount for the inconvenience and apologized, had the guest given them a chance to.
The way I am reading it the lock did not even exist… The host seemed put off that a bathroom without a lock was not habitable. I am reading between the lines here but I think Air intervened and refunded due to no lock. Maybe the door got stuck, or the lock broke idk
At the end of the day the guests overall reviews were better than the hosts.
I have no concerns at all about the guest, they have 13 other positive reviews and write good reviews for hosts.
Now if there was more than one bad review, or the guest wrote bad reviews for hosts I would have considered cancelling the instant book.
They are not coming until late december, I will report back after they leave.
Oh, gosh, of course! . Thx for setting that straight for me.
Wow, yes, “someone” was telling lies! That’s the worst. I despise that more than anything. I bet AirBnB yanked the listing vs the claim they pulled it themselves. Who would ditch hosting (much less a Super Host) altogether for 1 incident of this caliber and 1 bad review?
OH, WAIT, but I bet there were more…we may never know🤔. Unless you unleash your super-sleuthing skills for us, @RiverRock!
I’m with the guest on this one. I’ve had experiences like this before, dodgy door lock / handles coming off. It’s not unreasonable to find yourself locked in, where the home is old, certainly not if you travel a lot, stay in weird places and have enough years under your belt.
I think the guest response was fair and measured, and the statistics of their good reviews to one bad is telling. I think the review system was perfect here, and I would be happy to have this guest.
For reference, when I hire tech staff online, I occasionally see scathing reviews. I check into it, find the indignant response from the worker, and questionable reviews from the former hirer. More than once I have specifically chosen staff solely because of their bad reviews, and the professional way they responded, defending themselves without attacking directly. I have found the loyalty from those who you give another go to is high, and I have had good results. Reviews are a good guide, but a bad review can mean this is a guest you actually want. Do your research is the rule, don’t see a bad review as bad till you understand context. How we handle problems is a better guide than those who have been lucky to never be tested!