I do understand your point. However, Air states in writing that Reviews are not even required to be Factual. So, certainly stating Relevant Facts is all fair game.
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The Guest can notify a host and give them notice or just stay quiet and state their honest review later.
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The host advertised a kept lawn and provided an overgrown mess. “it is what it is”. The guest is not remotely required to call them out on it. Similarly, the guest has no obligation to give a host a chance to rectify poor cleanliness, especially when it is abundantly clear that this was not merely the cleaner “missing something from the very last guest”. If this had been the case, instead of the long-standing caked-on mess, then I would very likely agree with you. A clean stay is rule #1.
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This host is simply a bad host and will deserve any poor review they get. That will be their call to action to step up their game and deliver a proper stay.
I think you can say whatever you want in your review as long as it does not violate review standards (biased, irrelevant, contains threats, advertising, private information or other prohibited content), and you can ding the host on stars to whatever extent.
What would be difficult would be to get a refund, which I think is what the Airbnb policy cited is directed toward.
I stayed, in spite of the problems and issues so I have no intention of asking for any refund. I believe I may, in a private message, point out to the host that if I had complained to AirBnB that a listed amenity —especially something important like WiFi— was not available I could have most likely gotten a partial refund of the cost of my stay for the dates it was not available so they might want to fix that before another guest encounters the same problem.
The host had a typed, laminated note on the fridge about the high iron content in the water, explaining that was what the blue tank next to the stove was for. There were also rust stains in the tub, etc.
They and the smell and WiFi and all of it should be mentioned in your review. YOUR TASK IS TO BE HONEST NOT NICE. Honesty is what other guests need.
I would have camped in the car with my pet before staying at that hellhole. That farmer should not be hosting because places like that mean new guests will never book with AIr again.
Really? I’ve never seen that. Can you link to that statement on the Airbnb site?
Why did you give 5*? You’re not doing any future guests any favors, the same as a host not reviewing a guest appropriately. While amenities are advertised as available or not, I’d definitely leave feedback stating that the host needs to make improvements.
I would have had an asthma attack. Not sure what your recourse could have been aside from a hotel?
Leave your review at the last minute so the host can’t retaliate. Or reply to their push-back and say “Host always makes it the guest’s fault yet their reviews state that the issues are never fixed.”
Her place is dangerous. Seriously - rummaging around in the dark for keys that don’t work? Broken boards that you can fall through and break a leg? No explanation of a water filtration system (Like @JohnF I can deal with water issues as long as it’s potable), possible flea and tick infested overgrown lawn? Filthy oven? Moldy smell?
I’ll help with the mold - airing out the cabin does NOT get rid of mold, only the musty smell. Black mold can kill people.
I wouldn’t have been able to stay. I’m not risking an asthma attack and a trip to the ER because you couldn’t leave an honest review. (Post-PE survivor, so I’m acutely aware of mold and mildew).
OMG!! Do they get “sparkling clean” comments too? This place needs to be booted as a menace. UGH!!
And I don’t want that farmer’s food, either. Imagine the conditions of the hen house and other areas of food prep. >skin crawls<
@Rolf While I agree that technically, the protocol is that guests report an issue to the host to give them the opportunity to correct it, I don’t agree that nothing should be mentioned in the review that hasn’t been brought up during the stay.
If the host had a cleaner who fell down on the job, then reporting the issue makes sense- the cleaner could be called back, or the host come clean it.
But the host lives right next door and cleans and looks after the place themselves. They didn’t “forget” to clean the oven, nor forget to mow the grass, etc.- they obviously just don’t consider those things to be important.
As one of my guests, who uses Airbnb a lot, once said to me, “You wouldn’t believe the crap some people list and actually expect money for”.
So in this case, I think it’s acceptable to mention the issues in the review even though the guest may not have mentioned all of them to the host, as the host obviously had no intention of scrubbing the oven or cutting the grass.
agreed. But the slippery slope here is when guests ‘expect’ things that are NOT gross or obvious omissions. For example, altho it was mentioned 3x in my listing recently, A guest reviewing said they were ‘surprised and disappointed’ that a stove was not offered in my home and gave me a lower star rating. Hey, I am sure this guest could have been ‘surprised and disappointed’ that there was not a masseuse at their disposal or a gourmet chef.
I say make guests responsible for their comments (as airbnb suggests) and also make the guests feel the pain of their actions, when whining.
Well, as far as this thread goes, we aren’t talking about things that are expected even though they weren’t offered- the issues @Keugenia is grappling with for the review are all reasonable expectations- that the oven listed not be filthy, that the nice yard pictured not be totally overgrown, that there be water to drink which is clear.
And many of those people don’t think it’s crap.
Once someone posted their listing here asking for feedback. Although about 80% of us thought the space was cluttered, the host was adamant that it was his home and he didn’t see anything wrong with it.
“On the plus side, the bed was comfortable, it was quiet and the host attempted to solve the problems brought to their attention. On the other hand….
The cabin itself did not appear as advertised. The grass was knee-high and the shrubs were overgrown and were being choked out by toxic trumpet vine. There are some maintenance issues to be aware of, the back porch has some rotting boards and the oven is one of the dirtiest I have ever seen. It took days to air out the cabin’s musty oder. The first two days the water was cloudy/turbid, additionally, their well water has a very high iron content.
According to the listing there is Wi-Fi available. Toward the end of my stay the host bought one gig of data for Hotspot enabled Wi-Fi which provided about 12 hours out of my seven days stay. My cell was only able to recieve one bar service.
Perhaps these issues would not be a concern to everyone as it is a “rustic cabin experience.” My dog is afraid of fireworks and we were there to get him away from the noise in the city. My dog enjoyed the stay. Me, not so much. "
Your words a bit shortened - this is what you told us. Please tell the host and future guests. Especially since it was not a barganed price place.
This is why I always urge fully honest reviews.
There have been so many people in recent years who have thought that Airbnb is easy money (haha) and who have no idea what it entails.
They decide to ‘do Airbnb’ without having a hospitality bone in their body.
Of course, all great hosts were new at one point so I’m not saying that people shouldn’t give it a go, but it does none of us any favours if slipshod work and lack of attention to detail are allowed to get by.
Here’s a little story from me as a guest May 2020, staying in a one room cabin with my 2 cats for what was supposed to be 6 weeks while I was house hunting in a nearby area.
The place was small, the longer I was there the more I realized the place had not had much attention in a long while.
The host was a really nice person and lived on the property, but at one of the heights of Covid, not very tuned in. If I had a problem, she would come in, no mask and I would go outside till she’d fixed a problem.
Then, came the swarm of termites which I’d never seen before and I eventually messaged her about it and she came over to deal with it. Told me she would schedule a termite person after I was gone.
Had something come up and didn’t hear from her for about 24 hours. She finally announced that she had a fever and other symptoms and was isolating, no one else in the family was affected. I freaked out.
Then she announced the termite people were coming the next day and I would have to leave while they treated the place. I asked her to wait, I didn’t want to be around toxic chemicals and she said she couldn’t.
That was the last straw, isolating because of ??? and I’m going to get nailed with chemicals. Told her I was going to leave early and asked for money back for the time I wasn’t going to be there and she agreed.
I’ve stayed in lots of Airbnb’s in this country and others and I’d never written a bad review. This was my first bad one and I just told it like it was. She wrote one for me and when it published, it was up for maybe one day then she removed her listing.
The place really needed a thorough update, things had been neglected.
@Keugenia
You asked for feedback. You got it! You are an experienced host & guest. You know what information is important and you would need both as host & guest. After digesting all this feedback, I’m sure you will do what is needed.
Maybe neglected is the word. When I first came she showed me some outdoor seating behind the cabin. Near that very spot she pointed out the biggest poison ivy vine I’d ever seen growing up a tree.
There was no room to put anything because they had continually left things that weren’t needed.
They weren’t paying attention.
You are on it! I started a post then before finishing decided to delete it. Then some how I accidentally saved it.I didn’t mean to waste your time. But I appreciate a response!