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Our space is a two family flat and we live in the lower apartment and Airbnb the upper apartment. My husband and I are hanging out in our living room and a car pulls up out front and shortly after my phone rings. It’s the guests that are checking in for the night calling to inform me that there are people in the house they rented. I explain that the upper apartment they rented is empty and that we live lower unit as we very clearly state in our listing. They were not happy. They hung out in their car for a minute, I’m guessing to actually take the time to read our listing and then check-in.
They checkout the next day leaving trash and dirty dishes all over. We noticed some decorative throws were missing. I didn’t go after them for extra cleaning fees or replacing the missing throws, they were inexpensive and I’d rather replace them than risk a bad review. I wait till the last minute and gave them a not great review and never got one from them. During that 14 days we didn’t have any other guests.
We had started to notice our shared entryway was smelling a little off, and couldn’t figure it out. I thought maybe we had tracked something onto one of the rugs, cleaned them, but the smell was still there. Turns out the guests had dumped about a gallon of water into a container of dry cat food we keep in the entryway to feed the stray cats in the neighborhood. Between us feeding the cats leftovers so we hadn’t got in there, the lid of the container being pretty well sealed, and the fact that our entryway is pretty cold in the winter it took us 15 days to discover the surprise they left for us. Man did it smell terrible when I opened it that first time.
Seriously, who even thinks to do something like that…
NO. Never ever not address this because of a potential bad review. I don’t want my decorative anything going out the door and I certainly don’t want these people!!!
THIS is why you go after them for the throw pillows and if you can still add a reply to your review, state these facts, report them to ABB, and send them a Message saying “I was far, far too nice and didn’t go after you for stealing my pillows but dumping water into the cat food container was just wrong.”
And as a host, I hope you clicked “would not host again.”
I know for a fact that I’m reviewing the guest who just left honestly. I just need to find the words that are less "OMG never host this person in a home-stay! Slob, deliberate, willful and flagrant refusal to follow HR. Purple stains on towels, food in bedroom, smoking in bedroom. Shifty! Better suited to a hotel doesn’t begin to cover the gaslighting of “you showed me that,” or “I know, but…”
I left them a bad review that covered the trash and mentioned that we had items go missing. I don’t want another host to not be aware of their behavior. I definitely checked the will not host again button.
I love that button. I use IB, but guests can’t if previous hosts have clicked that button.
I’m on the fence between 2* and 3* across the board. Guest was a PITA from the first communication and willfully disregarded repeated requests to cut out the crap.
It’s not “passive aggressive.” It’s “unwashed ahole.” It’s “colossal seeping wound.” It’s …
Well, you get the point. I’m glad you gave them a negative review.
While it’s true that you have to weigh whether it’s worthwhile to pursue getting paid for something is worth the likely inevitable bad revenge review, it’s sad to me that hosts are so terrified of a bad review that they allow jerky guests to get away with totally unacceptable behavior.
I appreciate your leaving them an honest review. I know it’s scary to do because you don’t know what they will write about you. We recently had someone do an IB and when I looked at his one review it was just awful. I was grateful to the host who explained how rude the guest was and how they trashed their rental. I would never have known. Immediately called Airbnb and cancelled the reservation.
I’m a much bigger softie than @NordlingHouse and I was thinking all 0’s if it were possible.
@casailinglady, please do 1’s or 2’s. I did 3’s for my worst guest ever and that dude still had an overall 5 due to ABB’s janky guest math. I regret not giving at least 2’s and he wasn’t as bad as yours…all the game playing and “in your face” disrespect. We hosts see those stars before they read anything written & they carry weight.
Nope, only IB hosts. The rest of us who require that guests send requests aren’t privy to star ratings. We rely on honest written reviews and really dislike it when hosts mark way down on star ratings and then wimp out on leaving an informative, honest written review.
And even if I could see guest star ratings, they would carry very little weight, because they are completely subjective and offer no explanation. Which is something I learned from this very forum.
It was on this forum where I read a thread where the host was asking for feedback on what star ratings she should give a guest. The responses ranged from 5 stars- “Seems like a normal guest to me” to 2 stars- “No way I would ever want a guest like this”.
You’ve mentioned that before…I keep forgetting. That’s crazy. More ABB manipulation to try to make you IB. Sigh.
I didn’t mean to imply the written should be a no match or treated lightly. I just feel like mine were ignored.
I’ve checked up on my clowns and it seems they motored right along, hosts happily accepting them.
The only thing I could guess is they see the “janky-calculated” star average and ignore the well-written, highly collaborated upon ( ) review about their trespasses.
‘Word soup’? How disrespectful. I could say as this poster as said in other situations that it is a ‘shitty’ comment, but I will not emulate this ‘member of our community.’
The OP made an important post with real concerns, not ‘word soup.’
You’re a riot. I agree, it’s 2* because it was just so gaslight egregious. She would look me in the eye and without blinking try to twist everything back on me. “Well you showed me the linen closet first.” I replied, “No, I showed you the bathroom with the towels right up there on the rack first. Thanks for letting me know that I’ll leave the linen closet out of the equation instead of last.”
I understand.
I’ve actually dodged a couple of bad guests by reading the reviews after an IB and am so very, very thankful for the honest hosts who wrote what actually happened and did so calmly and professionally.
I have 14 days to review her. Last minute. 2* across the board. I’m still finding empty food packets in the bedroom and crumbs… Grrrrrrr. And that smell of cigarette smoke …
I did edit my original post because it was unnecessarily wordy after going back and reading it. I come from a background of writing critically about art and sometimes forget to simplify when communicating in other areas. I guess it’s one of the hazards of my education, haha!
Thank you! We’re all human, and get caught up in our emotions. That’s one of the reasons I often wait a few days before leaving a review for a guest. Sometimes I was just having a bad day and the tiniest thing can frustrate me, when in all reality it was really nothing.
Yes, that’s true. But purple streaks on my white towels and makeup on said white towels, hung damp on the wood door (covering the hooks…) when there are perfectly good black Makeup towels in the bathroom…
I guess I’ve been really lucky the last 5 years. This is the first guest to put purple streaks on the towels. I’ve read the horror stories…
Now I feel like I have to flip the mattress just to make sure there aren’t any more surprises.
Plus, she opened a desk drawer that needs a key to open and rifled through it. Oy.
) review about their trespasses.