My review for the place with the aggressive horses

I had the exact same thought, @KKC - “dang, I work so hard sweating over making sure everything is clean, then go on vacation and live in this? I gotta ease up!!” But that’s not me, and I know it’s not you, either!!!

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How’s this?

The property has free roaming horses that have no understanding of ‘personal space’ so were in our face every time we walked outside, even putting their noses in our dinner. They have no fear or shyness around people as horses usually do so can be intimidating if you don’t know how to handle them. However, Celeste was immediately attentive to my concerns and moved them to a fenced area for us.

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How frustrating @dcmooney I do wish guests would be a little more honest in their reviews. Can you give us a link to the listing?

This is a tough one… And no matter how many positives you add to it, this review as written will come across overly negative. If it were me, I would definitely soften and shorten the negative parts. I would keep those to one line perhaps and then in the private feedback please be very very honest. I might say something along the lines of, House could have been somewhat cleaner and horses more safely maintained but overall this was an outstanding family stay.

Someone mentioned giving the host a chance to remedy rather than slam in a review. When I had a guest mention a cobweb in a review I was horrified, as I am obsessively clean and dont know how I could have missed it. Well After she left I went on a cobweb hunt, and couldn’t locate it but then did see it way off in the top corner of the bathroom…kind of hidden!!! It was nowhere near as bad as your cobweb… I asked the guest to revise the review as it came across like yours --great stay… BUT… , but and said if she had seen a cobweb I had missed based she could have told me and I would have reduced the cleaning fee for her.

Did you pay a cleaning fee? I have to laugh when I see $105 as being a bargain rate as that is what I am raising my holiday rate to and am already worried it will scare people off. :smile:

If you didn’t pay a cleaning fee and your purpose is to let the host know about the cleanliness by all means do it it in the private feedback! I have so appreciated guests who have let me know things I can fix in the private feedback!

AIso, since you are a frequent Air user, you know that potential hosts can easily look up your reviews to see if you come across as nitpicky and may refuse anyone who posted something negative.

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Helpful perspective; thanks! One thing that frustrates me as a guest is to see properties with less than 5 stars but see nothing in the reviews that tells me what the problem was.

What do you think of this, @konacoconutz

“…It is not clean; however, we were happy to be there and enjoyed the house so much we were able to overlook it.”

Some other hosts that have experience with horses have advised I report this listing as the behavior of the horses is very dangerous. Other horse people I’ve spoken with agree that it is a very dangerous situation. So I want to be clean on what was distressing about the horses’ behavior

@dcmooney, after seeing those photos and hearing of the staph and black mold on the shower curtain, comments about cleanliness lacking in the public review are MORE than justified. And she gets a 2 for stars!

While I understand @KKC 's logic about trading cleanliness for price, I don’t think that’s the area she should be cutting back on. She’s running a horse farm, so I’m sure she’s really busy, and yes, as we all know, keeping a house clean is HARD, but that place is not just disgusting, it’s dangerous to your health! That pink stuff? It’s not just bacteria, it’s staph.

Since you asked, the horse part of the review is good. I’d just take out these words. have no understanding of personal space so. They are animals, so of course they have no understanding of human’s need for personal space, and I think you get your point across with the “in your face” part. :slight_smile: I’d also get rid of as horses usually do. Unless they are wild or have been mistreated, most horses are very comfortable around humans.

I am being picky, I know. I tend towards being very verbose myself, as you will see with most of my posts, and I feel like I have to tell the whole story in gory detail in order to be understood. My husband makes me edit and figure out how to say the most in the least words; usually a good thing in instances like this where you risk losing your audience if it gets too long.

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This sounds good. Then you give low stars for cleanliness. Plus tell her about it. By the way, I have 4.5 stars…always have, probably always will. And if you look at my reviews there’s absolutely no reason why people have rated me like this.

Regarding the horses, maybe that was a one off and she forgot to secure them?

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I mentioned the ‘as horses usually do’ because, according to some experts I’ve polled, this indicates a significant issue when a horse has lost their fear response. It puts them into a dangerous frame of mind “I’m not afraid of you and will hurt you if you cross me” which is EXACTLY what the horse demonstrated. What if we weren’t knowledgeable to know that a horse baring his teeth, flattening his ears, shaking is head wildly while huffing was dangerous? One more move on my husband’s part and we could have had a very serious injury.

But your comment about ‘personal space’ is spot on and redundant.

With your suggestions:

The property has free roaming horses that were in our face every time we walked outside, even putting their noses in our food when we tried to eat outside. They have no fear or shyness around people so can be intimidating if you don’t know how to handle them. However, Celeste was immediately attentive to my concerns and moved them to a fenced area for me.

Also… If you do decide to keep the negatives in put them down at the bottom where they won’t be seen unless expanded.

I don’t think she just forgot. While we were still thinking they were just friendly she was standing there talking to us and the horse kept trying to get into my face. She said “oh, I don’t really like them being up here in this space” as she repeatedly had to push him away. This one particular horse was badly abused before rescue so I think it’s relationship to humans is askew.

Being a horse owner myself I would have to agree with this. Anyway, I would not appreciate neiher known or unknown horses in my face, showing signs of aggression or fright around me or my company. Friendly animals under supervision of handler/owner on the other hand is a splendid experience.

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How do you know? Don’t you have to identify staph through a microscope?

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I know you are torn… But you have to think about what your goal is… And that is the tricky part. You could also consider writing something to Air in the private “Is there anything you want us to know about this host?”

I haven’t seen the listing… Is it sort of billed as a ranch cabin? Not that that would excuse the dirt, but it may explain it?

You could also use the word “rustic” in your review too…

@Chloe Mold can be pink and orange. I’ve had it on my shower curtain before. Thing is, it’s not hard to clean and shower curtain liners can be bought cheaply. When mine get nasty I buy a new one and use the old one as a drop cloth.

It can also be minerals in the water.

In truth I don’t know it is bacteria. I sciency friend of mine once said it was, and I’m going on that.

Sometimes when you spray it with bleach, it turns orange… I assume you are killing it.

Staph is everywhere… It is something that lives on our skin. Certain climates and environments can promote it. In Hawaii in the summer, for example, everyone think you get increased incidents of staph from the ocean. But in reality it’s usually an open cut where the staph can wash in if you go swimming. And then become infected. You shouldn’t go in the ocean with an open cut or wound. Especially in the summer.

I don’t think you can just state she has staph on her shower curtain.

Liners can be washed by the way, and come out as good as new!

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yep, I have three in rotation, and they are washed when needed.

What really trashes them here are the mineral deposits in the water. It’s not worth the time and vinegar to get them looking clean.

In Hawaii they get moldy fast. I found a new brand that is thick, clear plastic and doesn’t get nearly the mold as the white ones do.