Does is start with a V and end in an A?
I will never ever book through that company again.
RR
No, it’s not that company. I probably would have cancelled right away if it had been.
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I think every guest deserves a 5 star stay. And if a guest leaves us a 4 star review, and it’s due to things we either can’t or have no intention of changing, such as location or furniture not to their esthetic, we will turn them down when they want to return.
In this case it sounds like your 4 star review is due to them not having the right address, as it seems to change year to year or semester to semester. That isn’t going to be different next time you attempt to book.
This makes total sense except for the fact that you don’t always know why a guest decided to leave 4* s, and also because most guests are completely unaware that hosts and Airbnb considers a 4* review to be not okay.
Believe me, I’ve had conversations with wonderful guests who any host would be happy to have, who told me they’d been leaving 4 * reviews for places they liked and would book again, because Airbnb tells them 4 * means “Good” and they thought the host would be fine with that. They were shocked when I told them Superhosts lose that status for anything under 4.8 average and often will refuse a repeat booking from guests who left less than a 5* review, even if the guest was otherwise someone they would welcome back.
It’s a huge dilemma for good hosts and good guests that Airbnb misleads guests into thinking 4* is a good review. Unless you let guests know it isn’t, which many hosts are understandably reticent to do, not to seen as demanding a 5* review, a guest who experienced no issues, wants to come back and intended no harm by leaving 4* s can be punished by being declined, for something they didn’t understand and isn’t their fault.
I can understand declining a guest who marked down for value, because it makes no sense that they would want to book again if they thought it was overpriced. But a 4* location rating? Seems petty to decline over that.
And guests don’t necessarily see giving 4* as “marking down”. It doesn’t mean they were unhappy with anything or think you could do better. They are telling you it was “Good”. Only on Airbnb is Good not good enough.
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No. My issues were the stress from the conflicting communications (which address was right?, check out instructions not matching (one said to put trash in the inside trash cans, the other said to take trash to the dumpster), booked one room when I booked a four-room apartment), and the gag-inducing air freshener.
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We ask every guest that gives us less than 5 stars why. One or two in the 5 years we’ve hosted admit they thought 4 stars was good, and we could guess that by the review. Those I’d welcome back. We know their expectations, they know ours.
It’s the ones that complain about things that will be exactly the same if they rebooked that we don’t invite back. They deserve a place that meets all their expectations. They, and we, know ours won’t.
That’s why I’m confused PitonView wants to go back to a place where they won’t know the exact location, are given conflicting instructions, and hate the air-freshener. All those things likely will be there next time. If asked, the host may unplug the air-freshener a few hours earlier, but will that make it a 5 star stay? Why not go for someplace that is better?
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Thanks for further explanation.
What I understood from Pitonview’s posts is that despite the issues, it is the best available rental in the area for their needs, location and price-wise, and maybe in provided amenities. And now that they are aware of the issues, they’ll know what to ask for (unplug the damn air fresheners long before we arrive!) and what to check on if they book there again. Any listing is a gamble the first time you book it. If you book a different place in the area the next time, it could turn out to be worse.
“The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t” is a saying that comes to mind.
Sometimes even though a guest had legitimate reasons to not find a place perfect, it was good enough that they’d stay there again. For instance, maybe it wasn’t immaculately clean and the guest spent some time wiping things down that were missed, but the price was such that they don’t mind having to do that again.
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@muddy is correct. There are four separate parties in our group (two couples and two singles), and everyone else said “Book this again!” because of the location and the price. We paid under $100US per night per bedroom, while the nearby hotels were all $250 or more per room. If next year’s apartment is in a slightly different location but within a mile of this one and the same general layout and price, they will be happy.
I was the one that booked it and arrived first, so I was the one that dealt with the communication discrepancies (and the one to unplug the air freshener).
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If 5 of the 6 people would have given it 5 stars it seems particularly weird to give it 4 stars. I’d suggest you have another in your group book it for next year. As it sounds like you’d stay again, and still give it 4 stars.
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I fully understand that AirBnB considers the only acceptable rating to be five stars. If you read my original post, I was mostly looking for advice on what to put in the public review and what to put in private feedback, not what star rating to give them.
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I experienced the “wrong address” on a recent trip to Bogota, Colombia. The host explained it as an Airbnb error when initially set up, and he hadn’t been able to correct it. It wasn’t an issue for me other than a little confusing at first upon arrival, but correct address was 1 block away.
I do not understand you wanting to go back ever again after they misled. You are relying on sleazebags for your health and safety – how could you possibly put yourself in their hands ever again?
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Location, location, location. LOL.
Unsafe, unsafe, unsafe! 
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I don’t know that I’d consider the issues the OP described as having anything to do with safety. It sounds to me more like the management company is just lax and incompetent and not keeping listing addresses up-to-date, and the right hand doesn’t know what the left one is doing, or they are purposely doing bait and switch and then trying to explain their way out of it.
Neither of which is okay, of course, but just because a management co. is incompetent or misleading doesn’t equate to “unsafe”.
Personally I’m in Spark’s camp in that I wouldn’t want to put more money in the pocket of a business owner like this, but the OP is also part of a group who it seems is adamant that they want to stay at that place again.
I just wonder if the managers can be trusted not to put the group elsewhere than that same place they want to book again.
This had me chuckling. As a long time poster here, Piton, have you ever actually seen a post where the OP was provided the information they were looking for and not twenty other alternatives they didn’t ask for? 
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If they are untrustworthy – you still count on them (trust them, if you will) to make sure there are no “loose keys” in circulation; that the windows and doors are prowler resistant; that there are no rats or cockroaches; that there are no outstanding issues with electrical wiring. I wouldn’t trust a host who did a “bait and switch” to be diligent and trustworthy on safety-related matters.
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I know the threads go off topic, and it’s part of the reason I enjoy this forum the most. That’s why I only made one attempt to clarify my question and have just been watching the discussion since.
I love the old joke about how many forum members it takes to change a light bulb (Chuckle of the Day)
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This post is off topic and should be removed.
How hard was it for me to not post on the Chuckle of the Day thread and lift it out of nearly 3 years of slumber?
Very.
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