Good point, about being cautious about referring to things mentioned in private feedback. 
I often write a quick and dirty neutral one if the so so guest has written me one and I am in a hurry to read it. Xx were good guests and left the house in acceptable conditionâŚ
Wow thanks so much for this insight. Very helpful and it was a larger group of girls (6) all around 20 or late teens so I am sure that was it. I couldnât imagine why someone would come to my house to bleach their hair!
Yes I love the rings on my oak tables from the wet glasses and I have coaster on every table yoo!
Best,
1 Like
How do you find these? I have a nice but slightly crazy girl staying with me now as an 8 weeker and we have different ideas on clean priorities. Sheâd like the floor bleached after each kitchen use. Iâd prefer the table mats were cleaned after food is spilled on them. Iâve tried looking on my phone app. Does it have to be on the full website? [quote=âcabinhost, post:36, topic:9423â]
Now as a host, I will hunt around to see if my potential guest has left any crazy type reviews for previous hosts. And this is time consuming, as even though the host leaves them a review, itâs possible they never left one for the host. But I have much more at stake with allowing crazies to enter
[/quote]
Thank you again for all the responses and advice here.
I left him the following review:
I thought long and hard before leaving this review, since I see that ____ is a highly-rated renter and host. I also have been asking other Air hosts about some of the things we found, and while opinions have been mixed, the general consensus is that at least some of the things about the condition in which he left the house were out of line. First off, I have reason to believe he had more guests than were allowed (6), as extra bedding had been pulled out of linen closet. Outdoor rug/furniture had (BBQ sauce?) stains. Cigarette/cigar butts found in planters. Damage to painted concrete front porch. Lots of other little things, some of which are to be expected when renting, other things that seem out of line. Overall, I was disappointed in the condition in which this group left our home, and am not sure that I will ever host again in the future after this experience.
He responded with this:
I really donât think you thought very long nor hard to leave me this review, you left your house as you still fully in it, food in the fridge no space in the closets, and 2 cars parked on driveway not welcoming any guests at all. You never met me or greeted me at your house. you simply left the key to the house underneath an ashtray in the back yard, if you were so concern about your house and carefully choose your guests, why not simply meet them or greet them first? Maybe you just wanted to fill what AirBnB is like, well you just did and you clearly not ready for the AirBnB community, All you had to do is reach out to me and I would have communicated with you on all of your concerns, but instead you choose to leave me this review, it was your decision and I respect that. But you clearly not ready to be a host. and I even left you a 5 star review hoping you will have ahead start. Respectfully, _ s.
He is right that I did not meet them to greet them, as I was out of the country on business. I did have my girlfriend acting as the manager in my absence, but she did not meet them on-site. This was a purposeful decision by me, as personally I would not want to interact with the home owner if I didnât have to. Perhaps this is not how most people think?
He is also right that my cars were parked in the driveway. This is pictured in my listing photos, and street parking is a non-issue, so I didnât think this would be considered a problem.
He is wrong that I left food in the fridge. There were a few condiments, but it was otherwise empty. Everything had been moved to my garage fridge, and the garage was locked. The freezer did have items in it, it was about half full.
re: closets - There are two closets in the master bedroom. I moved all my stuff to one of them so that the other was empty. The front bedroom closet was empty. The middle bedroom closet had stuff in it, though there was definitely room to hang clothing.
He did not address any of the points of damage. When I left the review, I also included a private message that outlined everything I described here in this thread.
Admittedly, I did not know all of the points of etiquette, since this was my first rental. I made a huge effort to make the place welcoming and (very) clean, and cleared up as much closet and fridge space as I could. My impression was that this is the deal with Airbnb - you are renting someoneâs home, not a hotel suite. There are going to be some personal effects scattered about. Is this not the case?
I made a claim for damages related to the front porch, and the rug and patio furniture stains. I fail to see how any of the points to which he took exception justify that damage. But, given his response to my review, I expect him to refuse, after which I will look to resolve this with Airbnb.
Man, what a nightmare.
Eeek. I would not have stated that you consulted with other hosts. But everything else, you had a right to say. Too bad if he left you five stars. He treated your home disrespectfully. I would rather have no stars than that.
1 Like
I would not have stated that you consulted with other hosts.
Why not? I wanted to convey that I wasnât trying to figure things out in a vacuum, and that bouncing it off of more experienced hosts seemed like the fairest way to arrive at a position.
The reason I would not have stated it is because he may well now be googling to see if you talked about this on online public forums. Thatâs the reason I would not state that I consulted with other Air hosts.
However, he did not deny anythingâŚso he is guilty as charged - good job!!
I see.
I thought about that, but ultimately decided that I am trying to be as transparent as possible and have nothing to hide, so I do not care if he finds this thread.
A good warning for hosts here not to rant too specifically about their guests. Sometimes I think that forum members forget
Good point! He sounds defensive to me with an angry attack to his first negative review. He did not deny one item in your concerns.[quote=âairking32, post:45, topic:9423â]
Man, what a nightmare.
[/quote]
He also seems to be stuck between 2 types of rentals: a whole house rental where there is NO trace of the owners (like my home) and one where they are literally staying in YOUR HOME with YOUR STUFF. He didnât rent a hotel⌠he rented your home while you arenât in it. Since he has many rentals he must rent out whole home vacation rentals with no owners present. He needs to understand the difference and not expect that youâre going to move everything out of your home every time you have guests. Hopefully your listing was clear about what you were offering.
I rarely greet my guests. Other whole homes Iâve stayed in just give instructions on accessing the home, too. It happens all the time. Itâs what happens when you go to a hotel⌠and when my daughter stayed in an Airbnb apartment. If the host isnât going to be on site the whole time I donât see what the problem is with you not greeting him. If youâre sharing a space, thatâs a different thing.
Thanks for posting the follow up. Sorry itâs been so upsetting.
His response makes me think that perhaps this whole matter could have worked out just as well a totally different way.
1 Like
Could you describe what that means?
I just had a similar situation, I wrote to the person (group leader), he apologized in no uncertain terms, and paid for the damages. Simple. It was a group also, so I learned to be more cautious in the future with groups, whose behavior sometimes tend to be more sloppy.
1 Like
Thereâs such a thing as too much info. I am afraid you went there in an attempt to try and look considered. Just for the record, you can look considered simply by using non accusatory language, you donât need to state youâve been seeking advice. Youâre allowed to have an opinion
Well I wonât be popular for saying this either (hey-ho) but I think your reaction is slightly over the top. In the first instance your priority is establishing your listing. And pricing it at a level where you can absorb a few issues such as these. Nothing got smashed, nothing got stolen, they maybe didnât treat your place as well as youâd have liked but overall nothing here was a huge issue and Iâd have encouraged you to see it as a learning experience.
2 Likes
I am not trying to look considerate, I am trying to be considerate.
I donât need to state that Iâm seeking advice? But I AM seeking advice.
Since you are new, you are officially cut some slack.
Once you have left someone a bad review, donât even worry about appearing considerate. Bad is bad. They wonât be happy with you.
When leacing a review in the future, just stick to the facts.
For this situation I might have just said unfortunately, I cannot recommend X. The house was used for a party, and the guests not only left the kitchen dirty, there were also stains on rugs and scratched floors.
1 Like
I said you were attempting to look considered (non-judgemental. I wasnât happy so I asked a bunch of people and they agreed with me. Therefore this is not my opinion only and therefore itâs fair I feel this way). In my opinion you didnât need to go so far in an attempt to justify your views on the guest. As I said youâre allowed to have an opinion, itâs the way you express that opinion that matters.
As to whether youâre a considerate host? No idea.
WellâŚI am proud of this new host for the review that was left. After re-reading and the explanation given of why he/she stated she consulted other Air hosts- it makes sense. I donât want to rent to this guest who is a host. He was disrespectful. And his response says it all. The guest is immature and all he could say in his defense was cry about how he wasnât greeted in person??
Bravo airking - many veteran hosts are too scared to leave a negative review so I commend you 
I noticed you didnât even mention all of the showerheads and other things that someone unscrewed.
So you really were being nice in the review. This guy had no control over his friends and didnât relay to them that they needed to respect your home.