Need help editing "negative" review

I think being too short on details robs the OP of the chance to really tell her story.

1 Like

I agree that brevity is the soul of wit. The thing I question is that when guests are disagreeable; Airbnb hosts default to saying that the guest is better suited to a motel or hotel. This is correct if the problem is that they didn’t want to pin down a check in time, they want matching furniture, they want room service, they want their room cleaned daily, they want an attached restaurant, etc. Sometimes the guests are just rude and their demands are no more suited to a hotel or motel than to an Airbnb listing… Hotel/motel employees are no more deserving of being treated rudely than we are.

3 Likes

As long as it’s in the trash, that’s fine by me :slight_smile:

1 Like

I don’t think it is necessary for the OP to tell her story, nor to offer an explanation why the guest wasn’t suited to a private home versus a hotel. Leaving such a short review with so much left to the imagination is a real kiss of death for them. Furthermore, such a ‘review’ makes it impossible for them to retaliate nor are they offered the chance to even rebut anything in particular.

3 Likes

IMHO you should use the text which konacoconutz gave you at the start of this discussion. Don’t be ambivalent. Don’t soft peddle. Tell it like it was!

2 Likes

Except for the sex trash part. But thanks for the vote of confidence Ken!
I don’t think it’s fair for hosts to expect other hosts to read through code language. What constitutes hotel suitability for one host might not be the same for others. Once a girl enquired for a same day check in. One of her reviews said she was smoking in her condo in Maui. Truly helpful to know exactly what she did so it’s not vague. Declined.

3 Likes

It is not really ‘code’, it is really intended as a total dismissal. Like they say, different strokes for different folks.

1 Like

Were they first timers? If so, I would add a line about that somewhere in the review:

Couple X were a first time Airbnb guests and were clearly unfamiliar with what that entails. I hope they spend a little time educating themselves on guest etiquette and be more courteous with their next host.

2 Likes

No, they weren’t first timer. But they had a bunch of weird reviews (not very clear/written by non-english speakers) from the same people, and two good ones, which is why I took them.

Sounds like they need a dose of Kona’s bad medicine. There’s not enough info for hosts to go on with what they currently have in their reviews. By adding a clearly worded review into the mix, you’ll be making it easier for the next host (if there is one).

1 Like

(Call me sheltered but I’m still stuck on “ropes”…eek!)

1 Like

I just left them a review, probably not the review that some would have liked, but as a host, I think I would be concerned to accept them after reading what I wrote. I feel it was justified.
On the other side, they left me a short but nice review. Oh well. Now, I wonder what kind of response if any I will get from them.

When I left a bad but accurate review, the woman was so mad at me. Airbnb instructed me to leave an honest review and if she contacted me, to let her know that she would have the opportunity to rebut my review under it, and to explain to prospective hosts that she would be well behaved, follow the rules, etc. She said she needed to come back to my area and couldn’t afford a hotel and she would pay me to remove the review. I declined. That was over a year ago and she has no new reviews. My guess is that she simply opened a new account (as I have seen hosts do). Good luck! You did the right thing.

I think the problem with recommending short, generic reviews is although this might work for seasoned hosts, it doesn’t for newbies.

When I started I didn’t realise these sort of comments were a warning.

I think the OP should mentioned that she waited up till the early hours for a guest that kept changing their check in time, then didn’t turn up or bother to let the host know.

The hotel comment could be a closer for her comment.

3 Likes

Personally, I always rather speak (and think) conceptually in these matters than speak specifically because then oftentimes a line-per-line argument enthuses about each detail and the central point tends to get lost in the shuffle.

In this case, the total disregard of time and abusive consequences is the main issue, so I rather say “The guests were very inconsiderate of the concept of time and IMHO are better suited to stay in a hotel with 24-hour service” versus “the guest said this, but did that” type of review, which is an immediate candidate for line-per-line arguments.

It’s a different style, and is not for everybody and doesn’t have to be.

6 Likes

Would you share it with us please?

I don’t know…the insult would be having them leave them in the sheets, or on the floor, or stuck to the walls…

1 Like

Yes, wholeheartedly agree -

I think, avoiding saying that they were bad guests is key. We just say “this was their style, and it didn’t suite me”.

I like the words ‘not a good fit’ or as @Mearns says - “better suited for a hotel with 24 hour services”.

I was reading reviews of a guest that stayed at a listing I’m about to visit (I don’t know why I did so). THREE hosts said “we did not have a good experience…it took us many extra hours to clean…filthy…food stuck all over the kitchen and all over the walls…” But interspersed were good reviews!!! But why did host #3 rent to a guest who already had TWO very reasonably, intelligently written BAD REVIEWS?!

Either they did not read the reviews and it was IB