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I just had a 4 to 4.5-star guest. They already have a 4.5 but all the written reviews were good enough. But now I understand the 4.5. They were decent guests EXCEPT they left a very messy kitchen, food in disposal (no-no due to septic) and > average towel/sheet stains, a broken knife (tip already bent so freebie), a broke dishwasher part (fragile and expected it would not last) & a little light on the comm BUT (2) they used only 1 bed and paid $$$ (& seems even removed shoes).
Due to #2, I can tolerate a whole lot of #1.
So, I want to leave a factual review but I donât want to offend them. I want them back & I think any other host would be cool to welcome them.
Now, a bit moreâŚ
Clearly, they had an issue with the oven door (easily fixed if theyâd reached out, instead they used force and broke somethingâŚthat I repaired, so no big) and the ice maker - cubes were frozen together so wouldnât dispense; clear signs door had been left openâŚbut was it them or the stay before? I consider these items to be my fault as I did not confirm they were working before check-in. So now, Iâm a tad hesitant to review them because I donât want to be marked down for the ice and oven (they have yet to review me).
For now, Iâm planning on staying with the 4.5 w/ âWe would gladly host X and Y again!â and doing the last-minute review. I know many hosts would like to know the details behind a 4.5, but at that rating level and since Iâd host them again, do I really need to spill all of the beans and jeopardize a future rebooking?
If you give them a 4, any future rebooking is jeopardized. Similar to, would you want a guest back who gave you all 4*?
A 5* wouldnât be fair to the next host.
So just be honest.
Even I donât like the sample review I wrote! I hope someone can do better than me. Sample review:
I would welcome xxx&xxx back. Overall they were reasonable guests. I wish they had called me about difficulties with the oven door & dishwasher before forcing and causing minor breakage.
Address the freezer open & exit kitchen problems in private feedback
Iâm shocked you think any other host âwould be cool to welcomeâ guests you stated left a very messy kitchen, food in the disposal, stained linens, broke your oven door, a dishwasher part, the icemakerâŚ
I certainly wouldnât nor would most hosts I know.
Please leave an honest review they deserve from your description thatâs a 3/4 for cleanliness.
And tighten up your cleaning/check out regime you should know which guests are causing damage.
You must have gotten so used to truly bad guests that these seem good in comparison. I would definitely not want these guests. Money is not a fair trade for disrespect in my world.
WHY would you want these people back? The money? Ugh. Easier ways to make the money with nicer guests.
This. In the beginning of my hosting, Iâve been left the retaliatory 3* with nice words and Iâm sorry I didnât leave more honest feedback. I wouldnât wish these people on another host.
Seriously, WHY would you want them back? Not me. 3* across the board and a âwould not host again.â
Let me know when you hit this one 100%. You ALWAYS check that the dishwasher components are in their spot & functioning correctly, all drawers are on the track & working, the icemaker is letting down (now on my list), all battery-operated items like clocks are remotes are functioning on all options (yep, missed one time that a battery had been removed). The list goes on. SOMETIMES we ALL miss stuff, even when itâs on the to-check list. Keep it real. I have all 5-star ratings to date on ABB and VRBO (easily lost, I know & takes a bit of luck combined with all that hard work) butâŚI feel pretty âtightâ.
I have had some HORRIBLE guests, mostly in the beginning and the first COVID summer, but I described them based on my, thankfully, usually 5-star guests. Maybe that is the issue?
Usually, dirty dishes are not left in the sink. Usually, more mature guests (read seasoned homeowners in my mind) know what to do about little issues like the oven door or even the ice maker or would be more careful about letting spinach leaves slip down the disposal (probably would have turned it on & âdisposedâ of the evidence so I would not know ). I do usually get some stains, but at least since it was just 2 of them it was limited laundry so I wasnât too bothered. I said the dishwasher part was bound to break as it was made poorly/too fragile. And, I also said the ice maker may not have been them. And even it it was (who hasnât left the door ajar by mistake?), do I ding them for not knowing what to do about it or not calling me? Itâs sticky ice. I dumped it. No damage done. I wonât know if they ding me for it until I read the review they may or may not give me. Maybe they are just easy-going and were un-phased by it.
I feel like they are âin trainingâ and I will find a way to kindly share with them privately how they can improve. I thought all alongâŚthese folks are like my twenty-somethings. They are making some money but have only a wee bit of life experience. And, it showed. Iâm not mad at them, just is what it isâŚlike a youngest with a sweet new car that doesnât quite know how to take great care of it yet. They can do better BUT they are not the worst I have had. AndâŚyesâŚit was a good deal of $ for the work/issues, relatively speaking. I have had âscorched earthâ guests (i.e. they will NEVER enter my home again) and these guys, they are far from that. I even re-read what I wrote as it clearly it came across way harsh. It IS a detailed list but when weighted, it is far away from the worst things people can do. And, I believe they were not trying to be careless. I could tell they âtriedâ but they can do better. Iâll let them know that.
Good thoughts, @Annet3176. While they were not 5-star, I definitely prefer them over liars who try to sneak unpaid people in or who smoke or do unrepairable/costly damage to my place.
These were medium gripes that I think do reflect the 4.5 they already are carrying. Yâall have convinced me of that.
I meant to include this in my other response. Iâm sorry. I donât think they were trying to be disrespectful. I think they are a tad clueless and clearly didnât read the checkout instructions as they did things they did not have to/are instructed not to do (like put away used throws, which I do not prefer they not do or put the towels in the laundry room, for example) and didnât do things they should have, like load dishes in the dishwasher/hand wash the few items that are not dishwasher safe.
In retrospect, Iâd trade having to wash their dishes for the fact they didnât wear shoes in my house (I can tell by how dirty the floors are).
Honestly, I cannot tell if (1) I am too harsh/expect too much, (2) if Iâve had mostly really great and really bad guests such that âaverageâ guests throw me for a loop, (3) or if I my biz ethics are in question because it seems I can be âpaid offâ to overlook a few things
Anyhow, even if I didnât agree with everyoneâs feedback, I took some pearls away and I appreciate the input (although I may have taken some personally âŚstillâŚbecause, well, I work REALLY hard to be a great host). Yaâll helped me decide how to proceed. Thank you!
All hosts have different standards and different tolerance levels. And thatâs why reviews, from both hosts and guests, must be factual.
For example, if I see a review that says that the guests didnât take the garbage out, or left dirty breakfast pots in the sink, Iâm fine with that. But if I read a review saying that the guests were noisy then Iâd be most unhappy about that. Everyone is different.
I donât really understand this. You donât want to offend them, which to me is an strange attitude, but youâre perfectly happy to not warn future hosts about them?
That seems strange.
Bear in mind that a lot of guests donât even read their reviews (I donât when Iâm a guest) but to put the off-chance of offending people against letting other hosts know isnât really how Airbnb is supposed to work.
I work very hard to hit the mark with each stay and suggesting I have a loose process because I missed a couple of not-so-obvious items this one time was a tad insulting.
But hey, I asked. You gave your opinion. I gave my opinion about your opinion. We can agree to disagree. That happens a lot around here.
I still appreciate you chiming in as it all comes together to help me pick the best course of action, so I still thank you
Mmmmm, if it sounded like I am âperfectly happy not to warn future hostsâ then I left you with the wrong impression. I am looking to be fairâŚand honestâŚand preserve a potential relationship. I am looking for balance.
Itâs like you said, all hosts have different standards and different tolerance levels, so I want to communicate about them fairly. For example, I do think what I consider a âvery messy kitchenâ is likely another hostâs âaverageâ mess.
I have decided to publicly write that while not all checkout procedures were followed (i.e. dirty dishes left in the kitchen), overall this was a good guest and they are welcome back with us. I will ding cleanliness and house rules. I must overlook the ice as no harm was done, the oven as I cannot be sure it wasnât my fault (mechanism likely not attached correctly) & any stain stuff was âbiz as usualâ, really. Overall, a 4.5 feels right based on all the positive and negative details, shared and not shared.
Thanks for the perspective! I didnât realize guests donât worry about reviews as much as hosts do. Must be nice. I recall the guy I gave a 3 to still had a 5 average when mine was factored in and stayed with a host less than a month later despite my very honest written review.
Reviews are for other hosts. An honest review is the only proper thing to do. Leaving things out, or writing it in such a way to âbalanceâ it is only making Airbnb more difficult for us hosts. Training guests to do the right thing is part of the hosts job.
âPleasant guests who were respectful of most house rules, unfortunately failed to read or follow minimal check-out instructions (left a quite dirty kitchen). I would welcome them back if they paid attention to this next time.â
I donât quite understand your perception re an âaverageâ kitchen mess and a âvery messy kitchenâ. One either cleans the kitchen after use or they donât. There is no such thing in my book as an âaverage kitchen messâ.
If we are talking about a few breakfast dishes they didnât have time to wash in order to check out on time, and a few crumbs on the counter, I donât consider that a mess at all. Anything beyond that is disrespectful.
I have had several young guests who always cleaned up immaculately after themselves in the kitchen.
Youâre not their mom. Seriously. While as hosts we can explain things to our guests, I think the amount of cluelessness was willful.
They broke stuff instead of calling or messaging you. Theyâre the online communication generation. They donât read all the rules but they can certainly use the phone thatâs always in their hands.
I sense that youâre emotionally involved with them as theyâre like your kids. And I get it. I wanted to adopt my last guests and keep them, buy them the house down the street⌠And they were fabulous guests.
BUT youâre not their mom, youâre their host and I would NEED to know their clueless level and lack of communication.
Be factual in your review and warn other hosts. We need to be able to make informed decisions about how we manage our listings and guests.
OK Mom, Iâll try and be better.
Youâre not their friend or their mom. If they get offended by the truth, thatâs a life lesson for them. If they donât come back you can still book with other folks who will pay you the money and not break something.
And you know⌠donât worry about their review. Youâre a stellar host and that will show.
This.
As someone has worked with people in sales and project management who do the same thing with prospects and clients based on the fact that they would like to âpreserve a potential relationshipâ instead of seeing the writing of the client/prospect using carrot and stick on the wall and betting on the âmaybe,â I understand what youâre saying. And I disagree. Was that too many analogies in one sentence? sighâŚ
Anyway, betting on the âmaybe potentialâ is not, IMHO, great business sense. It wastes time on the âmaybeâ instead of using energy to attract the clients/guests you really want.
I also sense youâre feeling a bit frazzled after these folks left. Wine Iâm headed in that direction now.
My rental and my personal home are on septic. I use my disposable daily but I donât put food in it intentionally as itâs harmful to the septic system. A little occasionally wonât hurt but in a rental I have to say ânoneâ so I only get âsomeâ. And, I get the drinkers who toss their cookies sometimesâŚhave to account for them adding to the âsomeâ .
So, the disposal is there for those times when small food particles get down there by accident or if the sink is draining slowly it gets things going.
There is prominent info in the House Rules about it. Thereâs a discrete but obvious sticker on the switch.
I agree with NordlingHouse; anything that requires a house rule to prevent what seems logical (putting food into a disposal) is a rule that needs to go. Disable or remove the disposal. Leaving something in place that is potentially hurtful to your property is foolish and looks to a guest, when they are called out for using it, as a trap.
, I can tolerate a whole lot of #1. 
). I do usually get some stains, but at least since it was just 2 of them it was limited laundry so I wasnât too bothered. I said the dishwasher part was bound to break as it was made poorly/too fragile. And, I also said the ice maker may not have been them. And even it it was (who hasnât left the door ajar by mistake?), do I ding them for not knowing what to do about it or not calling me? Itâs sticky ice. I dumped it. No damage done. I wonât know if they ding me for it until I read the review they may or may not give me. Maybe they are just easy-going and were un-phased by it.
âŚstillâŚbecause, well, I work REALLY hard to be a great host). Yaâll helped me decide how to proceed. Thank you!
Iâm headed in that direction now.
