Could I get some advice on responding to a bad review please? It’s my first negative 3 star review, so I know it’s getting under my skin.
Because of how my listings are set up, this is going to be the first review anyone sees for quite a while. To explain, I have two properties that are side-by-side in the same building. I have a listing for each individual property, and a listing where you can book both places together. It’s the joint listing that gets fewer bookings and where my negative review is. I currently have 8 reviews for the joint listing, with a bit over 50 each for the individual listings.
This is the review: A great location and clean flat, however the flats would of been cramped for 4 people in each. Complained to us about noise yet we could hear thumping and banging at 2-3am which disrupted our sleep. Robes are not complimentary so don’t take them or you will be charged.
I want to address their remarks about the banging and thumping primarily. I dispute that there was excessive noise that disturbed them at night throughout their 5 night stay. We do live above the property (stated in our listing), you can hear us moving about quietly, but we are ultra careful when guests are staying with us. We’re human, there may be an evening where we maybe accidentally drop something, but nobody has ever complained about noise from us before.
To add to the mix, these were a young group of guests who we had to ask to turn down loud music, and then ask them to not swear loudly outside the property on the public street. Then there was a debacle with them taking four out of six bathrobes that we provide for guest use while they are staying. I had to raise a reimbursement request before the group could tell me where the robes were as next guest was due to check in. This in particular seems to have annoyed them. Basically, they were pissed off with us anyway, and looking for something to hit us with. (They were fortunately still in the area and able to return the robes, and I did then drop the request.)
I would love to whack back with details of their behaviour but I know that can come across as petty and unprofessional to future guests. So I want to say something along the lines of “I’m sorry you felt as if you were disturbed. I wish you had said something to us at the time as you had ample opportunity during your five night stay to bring it to our attention. It is important to us that our guests enjoy their stay but we can’t help if we are unaware of a problem.”
I want to address the perceived problem, but can I somehow hint that these were disgruntled guests? I am aware that their own review reveals we had cause to complain about them, and that there was a bathrobe problem. (They said they took the robes because they thought they were complimentary. “It was confusing, as lots of places they are complimentary,” they said. Oh really?!!?)
Or maybe I’m being too sensitive and should just leave it alone? All the previous reviews are along the lines of “great place, fab, fab, wonderful” (paraphrasing). As I said, my concern is mainly that this one won’t disappear under other good reviews for a while.
Any guidance appreciated, thanks!