I left my first bad guest review

I absolutely agree…but hard to be on the receiving end. Especially when the feedback is false, as in, the location, isn’t what it is. Eh tu, we shall overcome, and carry on.

I have been a superhost for a year and a half, and I didn’t think it made a damn bit of difference until recently. They give you special treatment as a superhost when you call customer support.

When you call, the system has you punch in your phone number, and if you are super host, then they put you at the front of the line, and your call gets answered IMMEDIATELY by someone who is pleasant, helpful and speaks English. That’s pretty awesome.

Other than that though, it hasn’t really made much difference in the whol Air BnB experience.

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That’s sad. This is why I’m glad my situation allows IB and pretty much allowing everyone. I’m on-site, so if you’ve been approved by prior hosts you can IB. If we communicate back and forth once or twice and you don’t appear scammy or to be not reading my rules, then I approve you. I’ve heard so many stories of people being turned down for a variety of reasons. But just like guests don’t understand the rating system, some hosts have burned other hosts by being over-nitpicky of good (but different from their) places. I’m at the point where I only read previous reviews if the initial contact makes me worried.

I know what you mean. We are in a fabulous location yet were marked down on location stars because the road to the beach has construction work taking place. Now that was unfair - I have no control over local construction work. Next time work is taking place I don’t think I’d have a lot of luck if I wrote to the city and said ‘please don’t do this. I have Airbnb guests and they might mark me down.’ :wink:

We’ve also lost stars for value even though the apartment right next door to our own rental costs $100 per night more. Guests will be guests!

That’s cool. Haven’t had to call yet. I’m deaf and use relay for calls. Will be interesting to see how they handle relay calls, if necessary. My success on business calls using relay is about 50/50…many hang up calls. Also a factor in that my success in my endeavors into business have been so successful, guess I’ve been very lucky with patient guests and customers plus acceptance of new technology in communication.

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Welcome @IrishRose

@gardencrone, There are numbers for AirBNB on the front page of this site. We are not superhosts, but we have found AirBNB helpful. Sometimes we have had a to try several reps before we got one who was effective. They’ll remove your comments, but not her comments.

I think by her positive review and poor reaction, it seems like she wasn’t aware that you were not happy and you may have caught her off guard. Did you tell your guests at the time that they weren’t allowed to have day guests, etc.?

Re produce, I find it incredible how people do not appreciate the time and effort to create good food. They either think it should be free for the taking or if in a supermarket, really, really cheap. It blows my mind.

I don’t understand the “ongoing” nature of the reviews. They reviewed you. You reviewed them. Done? right? I know I am allowed a response to a review, but I have never seen a response from a guest to a host of that review. Is that allowed? I can see why you would never want them back.

And there’s the rub. Since there was no mention of not taking garden produce, wearing of strong cologne (one of my house rules), and no guests without approval, the guests really can’t be faulted for engaging in the aforementioned. As for the religious stuff? It would annoy me, but it’s just what some people are into and you just have to smile and walk away from it.

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Yup. Hosts don’t set clear rules and then are surprised when things go wrong. This is why IB can work well for many people: they are clear in their expectations. All the messaging and vetting in the world won’t help you if you don’t have clear rules and make yourself visible enough (security cameras, being on-site, etc) to enforce them. Air won’t help you, you have to protect yourself.

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It’s part of the hosts’ learning curve. It took me a few experiences of hosting guests to fine tune the few rules I do have. It’s made a big difference in lowering my stress level.

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I’m still not following the OP reasoning for wanting the review removed. Didn’t she say the guest left her a good review and she left a bad one? Or does she want the responses to her bad review removed? That’s no big deal if the guest left bad responses to your negative review. Her potential guests won’t see that.

I think she wants to remove her guest’s good review because she commented that she wouldn’t welcome them back and an online fight ensued.

But not a visible one?

I think quite a few of us are confused about you wanting the review removed. Many of us are under the impression that the guest can leave you a review. And then you can make 1 reply to that review. But it sounds like you are saying that the guest can reply to your reply. Is this the case? If not, then I am not understanding why you want either review removed.

In your reply to her, you said you didn’t appreciate them taking the produce and the daytime guests. That should work in your favor, as future guests will understand and hopefully oblige.

The review you left for her isn’t on your listing page. It is highly unlikely a traveler is poking around to see what reviews another host left for their previous guests. I would do this only because I am a host and understand the system. But many hosts themselves don’t even know how to find out what previous reviews were left for their guests.

Unless these women were of some culture where it is normal to help yourself to random gardens…I just cannot comprehend how not one of the three adults didn’t say “maybe the host (who lives on the same property) uses this food to feed his/her family.” Unreal!

Most people who have herbs and produce, tree fruit for their guests to help themselves…they will say “please help yourself to blah blah blah.” I hope none of my guests assume that the flowers in the yard are for their use to pick and make bouquets. Sigh…

Agreed! We have fruit trees with literally more than we can eat, and I wouldn’t mind guests helping themselves to the odd apple or plum, but to fill bags of them?? Without asking? I can’t see this being polite in any culture. The host shouldn’t have to point this out. It’s a bit like someone taking your large bottles of shampoo from the bathroom. Use what you need but don’t take it home!!

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Sorry for not explaining well enough. She left me a 5 Star review at the end of which she asked to come back next year. I responded (without realizing that my comments would be made public) saying not a chance would I allow her or her friends in my home again after stating my reasons. Mostly it was the heavy perfume/cologne smell. I was frantic to get it out for the next guests. I thought/guessed that they broke house rules and smoked in the apartment and were hiding the smell of cigarettes.
YES she is able to respond to my response to her. As long as it is within the allowable time frame.

A guest CAN reply to a reply YES These show up on the reviews of my Airbnb.

It was my vegetable garden. It was not a public area. You would not go to a neighbor’s house and steal from their garden. That is essentially what she and her friend (who was not a guest) did.

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Do you have info in your guest profile that you used to try and book an Airbnb for yourself? That might be why you were declined as I see that a lot. I don’t decline these guests though I just ask them some questions and ask they update the profile- none were actually aware it was required.

But then again maybe other hosts declined them and I won out!

I see before you said you are deaf, if that’s in your profile I would be HORRIFIED if someone declined you for this reason. Maybe they were scared they would be able to communicate. Your sound like you are pretty smart and good at overcoming communication challenges.

And then can you respond to her response to your response to her feedback? This could go on for 14 long days lol:laughing:

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