Help re review response

I had a family stay a few weeks ago. They were quite needy and disappointed that the summer tourist activities were not available in early spring. Despite my cleaner and myself preparing the unit to a high degree of cleanliness the review complains of dust, and a needle on the carpet. How should I respond?

“Good airbnb property. Louise is great as a host and was very pleasant and friendly to deal with. She is very approachable and we had a great stay! However, I would suggest Louise to get a proper cleaning of her property - my family and I found the place to be a bit dusty and I found a needle on the carpet in one of the bedrooms.”

Was this a sewing needle? There’s a reason there’s the saying ‘it’s like finding a needle in a haystack’. They’re actually easy to miss because hoovers don’t always pick them up, and equally it’s not something you’d expect to look for on the floor.

It may have been a sewing needle as I was pinning a new duvet cover in one of the rooms a few weeks earlier. That may be why they thought it was dusty?

Uggg! This is the classic backhanded review… why preface it with something nice if you are going to slam… she should have left this in the private feed. Well you could try writing to her and ask that she edit the review. This is possible. Say you might be willing to refund the cleaning fee to make up for the disappointment of the needle, etc. but sheesh. I honestly don’t know how you can respond to this without sounding defensive. I hate this kind of review!

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Don’t comment on the review. Just move on.

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Hmm. If I stepped on a needle in a carpet I’d be pretty annoyed. They are easy to miss yet it’s a potentially serious issue. The dust seems to be endemic to the rustic cabin setting. I know when I’d visit a friend in the piney woods of east Texas the pollen was insane. It’s not a horrible review. Maybe ignore it rather than call attention to it? A cheery response like, “sorry about the sewing needle I dropped inadvertently,” to make it clear what kind of needle it was. :slight_smile:

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Thing is there wasn’t any dust. Only one bedroom has a carpet. Maybe I should remove it? Maybe they thought the needle indicated it hadn’t been vacuumed?

I don’t know what to do about that. Judging from what people post here, if something isn’t brand new people have a tendency to call it “dirty.” But if you get defensive and say “my cleaner and I cleaned the cabin to a high degree of cleanliness” I don’t think it helps you in any way. I’m also not a fan of apologizing when I’ve done nothing wrong. So saying sorry about the “dust,” doesn’t make sense. Unless you usually respond to reviews maybe it’s best to ignore.

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If it wasn’t for the needle, I’d ignore it.

I’d just clarify that it’s a sewing needle and move on! Soon high season will send her review off to the salt mines.

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‘The space is thoroughly cleaned between guests. I’m so sorry a sewing needle was overlooked this time. I’m pleased you had a great stay’

I do think it’s important to clarify what kind of needle. I wouldn’t want to stay if I had the impression there were old medical needles lying around, but if I read that response I’d just think it was a petty, nit picking guest

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I agree, it’s important to clarify the type of needle. If you were to respond, perhaps you could turn the needle incident into a little bit of a positive, and at the same time assure future guests this isn’t an everyday thing. Such as, “I do apologize for the sewing needle. I was pinning the new duvet cover I was making for the room and must have accidently dropped it.” This makes it clear that first, you are a hostess with the mostest, sewing custom duvet covers to make your space beautiful, but since you probably don’t do that everyday, it’s not likely to happen again.

I don’t think you need to nix the carpet, unless you’ve been itching to do so anyway. Carpet may contribute to dust, but it’s hardly the only cause. The rooms in our house with hardwood and tile get just as dusty as the ones with carpet.

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That’s a good response. I would appreciate feedback and editing on the following: The carpets in the cottage are older and sun-faded in areas, this might lead you to think they were dusty . As this is a family cottage and as long as the carpets are serviceable I don’t see a reason to replace them.
My sincere apologies that a sewing pin was left after I had been pinning a new duvet cover for the bed.

No I wouldn’t say that, I don’t think theres any need to draw attention to the old carpets. You could use phrases like ‘rustic’ and ‘cosy cottage’

I’d leave out anything about the carpets in your response. However, if they are old and faded I would replace them when you can afford it. Don’t point out a negative about your home that wasn’t mentioned.

Just apologize for dropping the pin.

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No no… do no make apologies for your space or admit to them being faded or suggest that replacement might be needed. The response Chloe gave above sounds perfect if indeed you were to respond. Remember… you are speaking to future guests, not the ones who wrote the review. Keep it brief. Resist the temptation to defend or make matters worse!

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This

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Any normal guest reading that review is going to presume the middle-aged mom vacationing with her family is talking about a sewing needle…

We all know those type of guests are few and far between!! :joy::joy::joy:

I would also clarify that is was a Sewing needle…as my mind first jumped to a different kind of needle

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I would agree, except this is staying where other paying guest have stayed. As a mother of 4 who thinks the best of people, my mind would go to a syringe needle…

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