Is this review too petty?

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Hi Folks,

I guess I haven’t been around much recently. How are things? I notice that many of the icons are missing from posts, they specifically seem to be those colored letters. Including mine. What happened?

I’m in the process of writing a review for guests. I’m working in last minute mode. Airbnb tells me I have 13 hours left to submit the review. The guests have not reviewed me, and it doesn’t look like they are going to.

In the past I would probably not have reviewed these guests, because they seemed nice, but weren’t ideal. However, I’m going to try going on a honesty kick for a bit, and see how it goes.

So, please comment on the following review. Does it sound too petty? is it too detailed? I’m really tempted just not to leave a review.

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Review date: 28th February 2019

xxx and xxx visited for a couple of days during their trip to India.

We did not really meet after the initial check-in, but they seem like nice young people.

They were good guests. Communication was good, but could have been better.

The booking was quite last minute - the initial booking request (in Spanish) was 8 pm the evening before arrival. After my initial reply and request for further information, I did not hear back again from them until 12 hours later, the same day they were due to arrive - I think they emailed me from an airport on the way here. Overall, it was a bit too tight for me. I think an IB listing would have been a better fit.

They told me that they would be leaving on a late train, and I even agreed to hold on to their luggage, even though I do not normally do that. But then early on the morning of departure, I was informed they were on their way out of the door, without having heard anything about it from them, and managed to intercept them for a few minutes. But it would have been more considerate if they had told me in advance that their plans had changed.

They were respectful of house rules, though the room could have been left tidier.

Cleanliness 5/5, Communication 4/5, Observance of House Rules 5/5

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I personally would give them the benefit of doubt because when traveling wifi is not always available.

3 Likes
3

Sure, but they could have made a somewhat earlier booking. Like before actually being on the road.

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There’s not much other hosts can glean from that. Only you have control over the availability and booking period. I’ve had guests book or instant book and then want to check in 20 minutes later. If thats how your availability is set, thats how people will use it. If you need 24 hours advance notice, you can set that up. Generally these last minute guests are always more disorganized with their communication, changing plans last minute etc.

2 Likes
5

I don’t think it’s too petty, it’s informative. I’d make it much shorter though. There are things that I don’t need to know as a fellow host, for example you speculating on where they were when they emailed you about a stay.

1 Like
6

You mean the " think they emailed me from an airport on the way here" bit? What else would you leave out?

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I don’t use Instant Booking because of issues like this. I like blocking the day before and after a reservation. If Instant Booking is not working well for you, you can go into settings and remove it. I know AirBnB pushes IB on us but I don’t care for it.

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Sure, but if guests actually wait to book till they are actually travelling, it’s not so great for the host. If you are going to book the day before, at least try to stay in contact to answer followup questions. Otherwise the host gets sucked into the guest’s last minute scheduling, if you see what I mean.

1 Like
9

I’m not using Instant Booking at all. What made you think I do?

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I think it’s much too long I’m afraid

And some of the comments are irrelevant.

I ask all guests to confirm check in when the book, if they hadn’t I would have texted them or got Airbnb to call them rather than waiting for them to confirm check in time on the day.

Don’t offer to hold luggage, point them in the direction of left luggage places.

The only thing i would mention is, that you had agreed to make an exception of keep their luggage for a full day after they checked out.

You were disappointed that when they had a change of plans that they didn’t let you know and it was only when you bumped into them on the morning of their departure that you found they had decided to leave then and there without letting you know,. Respect house rules, generally clean. (what was wrong with the bedroom by the way?

1 Like
11

After my initial response went unanswered, I contacted Airbnb to tell them to respond. I think Airbnb probably did, because I heard back from them soon afterwards. But during that period I didn’t have any contact information for them, since the booking hadn’t actually been confirmed.

Not a lot of options in the city. I think they were planning to leave by night bus because they couldn’t find a train, and luggage could have been an issue. Then they got a last minute opening, or something. I was just trying to be helpful. Possibly a mistake.

Quite a lot of litter strewn around the room. It looks like they left in a hurry, but that’s consistent with everything else.

Maybe I’m being too fussy, but most guests seem to manage to clean up after themselves, at least in a rudimentary fashion.

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I agree, the original review is too long with some irrelevant parts. I would why it’s relevant that the guests didn’t take the host up on the offer to hold luggage—does that make them a bad guest? I would simplify it and say that the guests didn’t communicate well about their arrival and departure plans, thus causing the host to rearrange his/her own schedule at the last minute.

2 Likes
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I usually don’t do review re-writes or suggested reviews because I think reviews should be in the host’s voice rather than a professional review writers but here’s how I would edit:

They were generally good guests despite poor communication. The last minute booking was was 8 pm the evening before arrival. My request for further information, was not answered until 12 hours later. Since they were unable to communicate, an IB listing would have been a better fit.

_Also they said would be leaving on a late train and I agreed to hold on to their luggage, in spite of my usual policy not to do so. Early on the morning of departure they changed their plans and departed without any notice that they wouldn’t need me to hold the luggage after all. I would have appreciated more notice of their change in plans. _

They were respectful of house rules, though the room could have been left tidier.

14

Not bad as such. Just inconsiderate.

15

Thanks @KKC. That’s a good effort. But why is some of it in italics, and some not?

16

It’s nice to see are from you, Faheem. I noticed too so I finally uploaded an avatar!

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?

Does this mean no more colored letters?

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I don’t know. The same reason your letter F icon has disappeared I suppose.

19

So… Gremlins in the Machine?

20

Most sensible answer. I tried to edit but can’t get all the text to italicize. But I was just intending to put my edit in italics.

1 Like