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@Magwitch I am one of the regulars here, who help hosts with their reviews. Both because I am an experienced host and as a large part of my day job involves writing, I have some experience in this area.
I would not say my suggested responses are as direct and pithy as @KenH’s, but I have helped hosts here to get their point across when they have had unhappy experiences.
If you looked at my listing you wouldn’t find negative reviews because apart from my first horrible guest (when I was too inexperienced to write an honest review), I truly haven’t had a negative experience that would make me want to mark a guest down.
I haven’t had guests who have turned up with more guests than have booked, I haven’t had guests who party and who are noisy at night, I haven’t had guests lose their keys, I haven’t had guests leave my kitchen or bathroom in a mess. I don’t accept third party bookings and always ask a guest who is accompanying them, when they book. I haven’t had guests try to check in early and if they leave late, it is with my agreement. My guests turn up when they say they will (apart from two, one of whom got lost and the other whose airline lost their luggage and just wanted to come straight here).
For the most part I have really enjoyed my guests staying with me and that is reflected in my reviews.
Of course I have had guests stain my linen or bedding or break the odd glass but I see that as a cost of doing business. I have had guests irritate me and sometimes wake me up (because I am a light sleeper when they come in late at night). However, I will take all that on the chin because for the most part I have had a great time doing this and the money is helping me do up my new house and have a damm good holiday this year.
I also think that you are less likely to have problem guests when you are sharing your home (although I know some here who share their space haven’t had great experiences).
I also put time and effort into vetting my guests to minimise the chance of me having a problem guest or a guest who isn’t a good fit for me.
He does, but someone reading the reviews they leave for their guests does take a little digging. One has to click on the guest name and then scroll down to find Ken’s review. Mags really checked all 168 of them going back years? Okay… that’s their business sitting I suppose. But making a post about it and calling Ken a liar is out of line. And given that Mag doesn’t post their listing so we can take a swing at it and her makes it even more out of line.
I do take your point on board @KKC and I also provided an alternative point of view for @Magwitch which is I too help hosts with difficult reviews but don’t have any negative ones on my listing, because I haven’t had guests (apart from he who shall not be named) who was my first guest that have bad behaviour that I need to comment on.
Having said that I don’t think @Mexican has the right to say that @Magwitch should post her listing. Each host here has the right to choose whether to do that. I had to remove a link to my listing after some weird stalker on here, used it to find me through my social media and started messaging me through it.
Yes I do, but I also make it a condition of booking that they provide a clear photo of themselves, have verified photo ID, tell me why they chose my place, plans for their stay, tell me something about themselves (profile) and who will be travelling with them.
What happens if a guest you are vetting does not answer some or all of your questions? It’s not a good sign, but if it’s a request, wouldn’t turning them down work against you? Have run in to this.
@KenH I offer my apologies for my previous posts. I don’t know what I was thinking, going through all your reviews like that. Well, I do know (what’s it called? displacement behaviour? when you start sorting socks because you don’t want to tackle an important task or issue?) but that’s no excuse. I’m sorry.
@KKC is right to say that it was uncalled for and not in the spirit of this community. @Helsi thank you for defending the right of everybody to remain anonymous on here, that’s very much appreciated. I will never share my listing on here for many reasons. That fact makes me even more sorry that I took advantage of Ken’s willingness to share his listing. I see that @Mexican is right that it’s not fair to pass judgement on others when you’re not willing to share your own place for criticism.
I wasn’t comfortable with a couple of guests who evaded my questions.
One CS said, No worries, you have not had any other uncomfortables for 3 months, and the other said " you know you can cancel this yourself on the basis of not being comfortable".
In the original spirit of the thread: I think the worst review I ever read was
“X and Y were ok guests. I do hope they recovered after bleeding all over our sheets”
I remember reading it on a group when the host was complaining that he wasn’t getting any bookings. A lot of guests are pretty savvy and check out the kind of reviews that hosts leave. I wouldn’t book with a host that left that kind of review, would you?
The only point I would add is that many of us on here will ‘pass judgement’ on others when we aren’t willing to share our own listings, but this is normally when we are asked to critique a listing.
I apologize for my lack of clarity. Again, it’s the terminology.
The guest needs to answer my questions before they book. Sometimes guests out and out ignore them. I reminded them and they did not answer. I have called Air and they have said, “Oh you could have cancelled” as if I were wasting their time.
Another time I called and the CSR said, “Oh, you haven’t had a cancellation in 3 months” and proceeded, but it’s obvious I am being measured.
. Have you had Air tell you that you can do the cancellation yourself? How would you respond?
. Do they measure your cancellations regardless of reason? I have 5 listings.
