Pays weekly LONG term - 1st ever guest said: "I don't do reviews."

22

No no no carrots. This guy is already abusing your hospitality. I get it because I’m not so good with boundaries myself and always want to help, but washing a guests washing is a no no. His responsibility even if you allow him to use your machine.

You need reviews, and you need to get them in a short period of time while your boost in in effect.

He needs to be gone by then of this period and you then need to accept some shorter stays to increase your chances of getting a few reviews under your belt.

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23

Hi @Anne_Noble,

Just my 2 cents. I agree with what @konacoconutz, @KenH, @Zandra, and others said. But perhaps that’s redundant. :slight_smile:

Bottom line - you need to be careful with people, and especially strangers. If the guy is refusing to leave you a review - that’s imo called being a jerk. I wouldn’t tolerate it. My guests frequently don’t leave reviews after saying they will - I usually ask them to unless I’ve had problems with the guest and am not planning to leave him/her/them a review. But I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone outright refuse to leave a review. It takes like 2 minutes, and what are they losing?

And in STR you really need to generate a reasonable amount of continuing activity, or the site will soon forget you exist. And it seems to me your current rental has both the disadvantages of short stay and long stay, with none of the advantages. You’re getting long term low rates and the uncertainty of short term. And unless you are very experienced, don’t go off the site. Airbnb’s protections are not great, but they do provide some deterrent to bad behavior. Among other things, the guest knows you can leave him a bad review, so that’s some incentive to behave himself. It sounds like he’s been behaving himself so far, but there’s no guarantee that he will continue to do so. And as @konacoconutz has said, the risk of squatting is real and legally protected, at least in the US.

And don’t leave a computer or phone in a room with strangers. You never know what they might do with it.

Also, if you want to post a link to your site (if you are comfortable doing so), people here can give you tips about improving your listing.

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24

I would simply get over the fact he won’t leave a review. Not all people are Web savvy and maybe he is simply not at ease with technology (maybe someone else help him made his booking at your place).

Second, I’d simply tell him you have another AirBnB guest booked for a higher rate starting from XX/XX. Given him a decent notice, like a week. Stop being his maid/mommy or I may move in to live like this for 20 USD a day. :slight_smile:

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25

My guess is that most guests will not want their host hanging around in their room while they are gone. Just letting you know for future guests, as it seems this guy doesn’t mind.

Anyway, I would get a review out of him. Let him know that because you are renting to him for a longer period of time, it prevents you from getting reviews from other guests. I would not let him tell me “I don’t do reviews.” No way. Not after I was out there shoveling snow for him and doing his laundry. :smile:

I would call him down for waffles and not let him have any until he sits in front of me and leaves a review…lol. Tell him to pull out his phone or computer and walk him through the steps so that he leaves you 5 stars in every category. Then I would even tell him what to type out :wink:

The two of you seem on very friendly terms so I think he would do it if you pushed the issue in a lighthearted manner.

Edited: inserted appropriate lol and smiley/winky faces due to subsequent posts

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26

Hmm, I’m not sure that’s a great idea. Airbnb explicitly forbids coercion with regard to reviewing. What if he complains to Airbnb about it?

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27

Yeah…I know you aren’t suppose to coerce your guests into leaving reviews…lol.

But considering they are under a friendly relationship to the point she is doing his laundry, cooking him breakfast, shoveling snow, etc. - I would still bring it up in a lighthearted manner.

I would also point out to him that I am saving him 12% of fees that he would have had to pay Airbnb. I highly doubt this guy is going to all of a sudden start searching for a way to contact Airbnb to report the host about a review. He won’t even get off his ass to shovel snow, and is letting a woman do it for him…ha!

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28

Hi @cabinhost,

Yes, I forgot that the guy is now booking outside Airbnb. And yes, I suppose it’s unlikely that he’ll complain to Airbnb. Regardless, I’m not sure being aggressive about a review is a great idea. I usually suggest to people that they write me one (if I’m planning to write them a good one), and leave it to that.

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29

In this situation, my goal would be to get him out asap and start fresh with new short term guests. Please share your listing so the experienced hosts can help you tweak it to maximize your income. There is an art to Airnb hosting that the adverts don’t tell you. Guests can be very different in what they want from hosts. We can’t give them everything or we’d be burnt out or broke.

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30

I would never suggest for anyone be aggressive about getting the review.

I mentioned doing it in a lighthearted manner. Of course if there’s never the “perfect” opportunity to bring the subject up, then by all means don’t bring it up. If it makes it too awkward, then don’t bring it up. I would be capable of feeling out the situation and trying to coax him into leaving a 5 star review for me. And make sure he doesn’t screw it up in the process :smile:

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31

@Anne_Noble:

If I recall, you jumped the gun and already submitted a review on the guy and given him 5-stars. There’s not much incentive for him to give you a review at this point.

I agree with the masses, send the guy packing ASAP since there is absolutely no benefit in letting him stay. Your new host boost will soon be over, a lost opportunity, and you will have nothing to show for it.

And I know you’ve got the message but I’m dying to say it…stay out of his hamper! (ha!)

Addendum: Sorry @faheem…I made a mistake in replying to you. I didn’t know how to delete it.

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32

Hi @cabinhost,

No offense intended.

I’m sure you would. :slight_smile:

33

The guy is now booking outside Airbnb but is still in time to write a review and therefore could still choose to play unfair and complain.

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34

Anne used maximum replies for 1st day as new user. This is from Anne’s husband’s (co-host) profile…

We got up a few hours ago, and that guest worked night and left a few minutes ago. He pretty much gets up, eats a little something, talks to us a little bit, then leaves for his job, M-F, like 3pm to 3am, but sometimes has to work weekends, in the next town over. I’m undecided about cutting him at end of this week, but Anne now wants to. (which I think has a lot to do with joining this forum, yesterday.)

She sent me the link to this thread, and I’ve read most of it… I talked to him about the reviews this morning and he said he would do it.

We realized from the beginning that the guest wanted to stay 10 days, which was by default suggestion to list as maximum, although we never expected that. She showed me the request and I said okay to it. (We have doubled base fee and changed to maximum stay of 5 days, to avoid this type of guest.) When he explained how his job worked, we were kinda like “uh, okay…” and apparently he had spent the last 2 days driving from Alabama, to the New England region of US, does a lot of travel for his job, and is just kind of expected to be in a place with a couple days notice. We read his profile, reviews and asked a list of extensive questions, and it wasn’t even confirmed until after meeting him.

From Anne: "It worried me right away when he didn’t confirm the fee until he was standing in our driveway and fully explaining, and he started talking to my husband about the cash idea, right away, and I was like “WTF…???” Then my husband went and talked to me about that, mainly because of my hearing impairment and this person’'s accent, I wasn’t as much a part of the first convo, but when I understood I was like “Um, no, bad idea…” Both of us are new to this, and I want to get this straightened out so we don’t get busted any further.

Oh and he knows how to book and how to use the app. According to what he has said he prefers Craigslist. (I would never put up housing on there!) Then, why the hell is he looking for young, naive, newbies on here to take advantage of?!?! Also, I did make a rule list written out, but maybe it was not extensive enough. I wrote it before he got here. :confused:

The reason I did his laundry is because he is working this weekend, all nights, and I don’t currently have another job. He did ask about using the laundry machine and dryer earlier this week, and I had said okay and showed him how to use them, especially since they are new and the dryer has a computerized menu. (also all of his clothing looks 5+ years old, so I didn’t feel any worry about damaging anything… plus I had helped him with the machines a few days prior.) …and we provided the pop-up mesh hamper.

I don’t know where else I could put that computer. I leave it turned off, put the keyboard and mouse on top, but occasionally use it, when he is not here. We told him that from the beginning, and he was okay with it. I’m rather certain if anyone touched it, they wouldn’t know what to do, because the laptop screen is totally bashed and plugged into another monitor. LOL.

Is there a way I can change my screen name in here? I could be AnneRunner5 or something like that. :slightly_smiling_face:

One of yall asked me to post my listing on here… is that safe?"

35

I wouldn’t coerce someone who said they don’t write reviews in to writing a review. If I were coerced to write a review I would write a negative one and mention that it was coerced. It’s possible that the guest has a reason that’s embarrassing to mention for not writing reviews. Maybe he’s illiterate, dyslexic, etc.

If I were in the original poster’s position I would tell the guest that the stay needs to end as I need to have several short stays in order to get reviews.

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36

Oh please…

I joked about witholding waffles in a lightheared manner, and as soon as he wrote his review he would get them.

Seriously people…lighten the hell up!

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37

@cabinhost you know better than to tell us to lighten up. Dun dun dunnnnnnn! Cue ominous music …

Ok fine it was a joke I can take that but to be fair wasn’t obvious …

38

I will go back and insert the appropriate lol’s so that it is obvious. :smile:

39

He can definitely write, although his English is not great. I wrote and sent extensive list of questions before submitting pre-approval, and then the guest sent a paragraph length reply, answering all of the questions. So, yes, he can definitely write. I’m not sure why he “doesn’t like the framework of the AirBnB” but it concerned my wife, Anne.

40

I hope he said he would leave a “great” review and knows how important it is for you to get your first 5 star review??

Yes, it is safe to post your listing here. Keep in mind the forum is open to the public so anyone can search it.

I’m not sure what you mean by changing your screen name. You don’t want to keep one for yourself and a different one for your wife?

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41

Yes, I can do that for you. And up to you whether you want to post the listing.

I am wondering if this guy is taking advantage of your wife because she is hard of hearing.
Keep in mind what we said about losing protection when you go off platform and have not signed a lease with this person. That is WAY MORE worrying than whether he writes a review or not!

If you like the guest and want to keep him around, I would suggest telling him he can stay but on your terms. Rebook him through Air. No other options are available.

And for crying out loud, your wife has to stop doing his laundry and shoveling his snow!!! :smiley:

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