How to rate a "screamer?"

1

A five day tenant just left. Her morning and late night screaming from the bedroom forced me to move from my bedroom in my apartment upstairs to my guest room. And even then I could hear her. She left the apartment in otherwise OK condition except for the sheets! I have never had reason to give someone a bad rating but I would not
wish this person on anyone. Comment?

2

Wow what a crazy guest! For the sake of other hosts I would write an objective review of what happened. Good news is they can’t see it until they have also reviewed you, so they can’t respond out of spite.

3

Actually Tom, they can make a response to what you post, and in fact call you a crazy liar or anything they like.

4

I did not give the “screamer” a review. I did not want such a review to reflect on the My rental

5

Tom,
I felt really guilty for not reviewing “the screamer.” She is now free to use Airbnb without any guidance to other hosts.
I also have a bit of a problem saying that a guest left a bit of a mess. Does anyone leave bad reviews?
Marcy

6

I’ve had all kinds of terrible experiences, and haven’t yet even left what anyone would perceive as a lukewarm review, for the same reason you just stated - fear that people will see it and think I’m a nasty person that’s too hard to please. I think this is also why so many guests that have reviews that seem fine (particularly if they only stayed in apartments without the host there) turn out to be inconsiderate guests. Just because they left an apartment clean doesn’t mean they would be aware of keeping noise down, not coming in drunk at all hours and making a racket etc. I just never know how to write a ‘bad’ review without feeling like I come off sounding like the bad one.

7

Correct me if I’m wrong, but neither party can see the review until:

a) after both you and your guest have left a review
or
b) at the end of the 14-day review period

At which time either party can respond to the review. That being said…yes they can call you crazy, or a liar. Nobody likes a bad review, but a bad review can sometimes (I stress sometimes) help your situation. Especially if the reviewer is making outlandish comments “you’re crazy, you’re a liar”…it’s all a matter of how you respond.

Folks that respond thoughtfully to a negative review can actually generate more “business” .

Hope I am making sense…

8

Yes, we all read that article. But when it comes down to it, who really wants to deal with it? How to really put it? Will you turn off people by accusing someone of being messy or loud because other guests might think you’re judging them the whole time and may feel uncomfortable in your home? There are so many things to consider about what you say in a review, and how that may make prospective guests feel about booking with you. No matter how it’s put, people may just think you’re too hard to please or too judgemental.

9

What I am trying to say is, if myself, a normally confident and communicative person feels uncomfortable enough to avoid giving honest reviews, how trustworthy is the review system? I have found it to be quite a let down in many regards. Many guests with good reviews have proven to disregard checkout without communicating, leave a pigsty, seem to have no clue as to how to be basically respectful in a home and other issues. In the end I just have to accept this is more the norm for the newer guests of a certain age group who think we are a cheaper hotel but nicer, and don’t really think about how to be a good guest in a home, because they had only booked in private apartments or in law type set ups previously, and don’t even bother to think about it being your home and things that you care about.

If you start letting people know in reviews that ‘hey, this is our home by the way, and how you behaved was disrespectful’, there’s a very good chance other guests just won’t come. Why? They’re really looking for a cheap hotel experience. They don’t really want to stay in someone’s home where they’ll have to be aware and respectful. That’s kind of like being at your mom’s for the weekend.

10

Hi, I am beginning to feel the same way. If hosts are not reviewing guests honestly, then what is the point?

Perhaps Airbnb needs to give us some help here. And I may write in my Profile that I WILL give honest reviews.

Marcy

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11

Lol Marcy. That’s quite awesome. I like the idea actually! Maybe you could couch it in humorous terms, but also so they know your being real, something like:

What happens at ‘name your place’ does not stay at ‘NYP’. I take reviews seriously, and although am an understanding and welcoming host, expect respectful guests. Any guests that don’t follow the Golden Rules of polite conduct will find it ends up on their review. Please read my house rules. We don’t write them to cramp your style, as we want you to enjoy yourselves but because we want our home to be a great place for everyone. Happy planning.

Whoops. That wasn’t funny. Guess it’s not my gift.

12

This is a real problem leaving honest reviews for guests. I’ve always had a problem with it and I’m so glad to see that others are feeling the same way! I thought it was just me. But now seeing all of you thinking this same way, I know we really can’t trust the host reviews of our prospective guests… which is very disappointing.

I too have not wanted to say anything overtly negative because I don’t want future guests to be afraid I might leave a bad review for them. The few people we’ve had who weren’t ideal guests I just opted not to leave a review.

We should all write Airbnb about this and suggest that they have a section where hosts can write a review that only other hosts - who have been contacted by the guest - can read. So if a guests contacts me in any way through Airbnb, I can then see their previous hosts’ honest reviews.

Another problem is that almost every guest we’ve booked in the last year just registered with Airbnb in the month they make the booking with us. So they don’t even have any reviews. We’re flying totally blind here. Fortunately, I haven’t had any real bad experiences yet - but you know one is just around the corner.

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13

You are right, but one way to make sure to leave a review that won’t prompt them to do something in return is to leave the review at 11:59pm PST on the last day of the review period. Have it all written up beforehand, do a cut and past into the review window and hit submit. This was actually suggested to me by someone at Air, who encouraged me to leave a review for my guest from hell.

As for the screamer review, I would definitely say something. It could be very general such as “xx was a disappointing guest. She was excessively loud and noisy in the middle of the night during every night of her stay. In addition, she didn’t leave the room clean. Sadly, I cannot recommend XX to other hosts.”

14

I can’t really go along with the waiting till the last night to do it. The one time I tried it I got the timeline incorrect for the guest in the UK and it prompted the exacting, insidious, pompous ass to leave a review in turn which was mostly positive but had some backhanded complements as expected. Secondly, it simply doesn’t help the issue that a bad review left by a host can make us seem like an unkind, judgement all and harsh person whom no one would want to stay with, no matter how awful the guest was. Unfortunately a prospective guest will just imagine themselves being critiqued harshly. It’s not worth it, which is why there are so few negative reviews, even for the awful guests out there.

15

So, if those types of guests see your reviews and decide not to stay with you - you’re probably just avoiding the worst types of guests! The kinds of people who would do the kinds of things you mention in your review won’t bother to stay with you! It’s win-win. The quality of your guests should improve, as guests who know they don’t get drunk, make a lot of noise, come in at all hours, or leave your place a mess, won’t mind staying with you.

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16

What happened to the sheets??

17

There’s no point in the review system. As the majority of the air reviews are ‘nice’ I started of that way, writing something pleasant, in case people thought I was a horrible person. But now, I am more honest. Im never nasty, just factual.Everyone needs to do this, so the review system can be more trustworthy, especially for hosts wanted to filter out the stinkers. Little things like maybe, not putting dirty dishes in dishwasher away, sometimes i will look over and not mention it if theyve only stayed 1 night, but maybe put in private feedback for guests. It depends on how long they stay, if i’ve asked them a couple of times to put their dishes away, but they just ignore me, then I will mention it in review, as this just makes them disrespectful. I have guests staying at the moment and they are driving me up the wall, taking two hour showers at near midnight, and the other night, we caught them doing a whole load of laundry in the bath, using my expensive shampoo! I dont know why on earth they didnt ask to use the washing machine! Then they lied saying they were cold and wanted heat on but it was actually to dry all their laundry! I will be mentioning this in the review, no matter how sweet and friendly they are!

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20

"XXX was a pleasant person(if its true). Communication and setup was easy. Left the room relatively clean… but the screams… oh the screams… I thought she was possessed. She would scream in late nights which woke everyone up. I had to move to another room to sleep and even then I can still hear the screams.

Would not recommend unless you like screams.

Thanks for booking XXXX…

Thanks bye."

cleaniness - 4
communications - 5
follows house rules - 0

thumbs down

2 Likes
21

Hello all,

I don’t leave a review at all in cases like this. I just had one. The guests were incredibly nice. He was an MD from South Korea, and when he booked he offered to look after my son who at the time was studying abroad. I thought that was so sweet. He and the wife were honeymooning. When he got here, he could barely put a sentence together in English. I know from experience this is always trouble… They took lonnnnnng showers (and again at 2 am!!!) and left a HUGE mess of trash… All their take-out items, like Mcdonalds and starbux, cans, bottles, and a big load of trash for just two days.

I know they literally could not read the house rules.

Yet they were so nice. They looked like two movie stars emerging from a limo when they arrived. Very very sweet manner. This is just a cultural and language thing. I won’t rate them badly for the trash and mess and showers because I keep think about how nice he was to offer to help my son abroad. So I’m just leaving no review.

I don’t understand the need for some hosts to whitewash reviews. I only leave them for stellar guests or for terrible guests.

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