Rating guests: remind me what matters to others

I usually leave a review whether or not guests do. Usually “x and her friend were great at communicating before check in, polite and friendly while they stayed, and left the room in good shape” unless something stood out. I’ve been known to call people fantastic if I’m feeling charitable.

Our most recent guests were… fine? Like, there was a small blood stain on the (brand new) sheets, but they didn’t try to hide it (new metric, thanks @Evelyn) and I was able to get it out with dish soap and gentle, circular massage.
They were in and out at odd hours (and i think they did laundry at 2 am), but none of that is (currently) restricted activity… and when one locked the other out he didn’t make a fuss, just slept on the couch. They asked to change their check in time that morning, but were very polite about it and I was able to accommodate them with no trouble at my end. As we listened to them take (really …thorough) showers, my dear husband actually said “it’s going to be hard to review them, isn’t it?”

At least they didn’t let my cat escape? (Thanks, previous guest, for new rating metric- how often do you let the cat escape during one stay)

So yeah, what do you, oh future host, want to know about my guest?

(Just got my 4th booking for May, closing the rest of the month off. But June and July are empty. Crickets. Gotta have faith a faith a faith ah… and mess with my calendar)

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If I had a home like yours I’d want to know about odd hours at a minimum. The rest is just hosting I think.

You will fill up with last minute guests.

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All I care about really is:

a) That the guests were quiet
b) That they left the apartment in great shape
c) Checked out on time

So I don’t care if they didn’t take the trash out, left dirty linen (all part of the job) or left a few glasses that needed washing.

So if I see a review that says (for example) ‘Guests were quiet, checked out on time and left the apartment in great condition. However, they didn’t take the trash out, there was a bloodstain on a sheet and they left a few dirty glasses’ I’d host them.

So just review honestly with the good points and the not-so-good. Then potential hosts can decide for themselves.

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Oh please don’t say publicly that they left bloodstains :frowning: That is so harsh and embarrassing for guests (unless it’s crazy and obvious disrespect for the property, eg. they clearly slaughtered a pig on your bed and danced on the remains without a care for your Oxy bill). One approach to reviewing is the “best suited to…” route. For example, “X was a fine guest, good communication and friendly on check-in. Best suited to hosts who don’t have quiet hours”. Something like that? I’m debating my latest review - lovely girls but honestly, being asked to give basic directions and advice at midnight on the last night of their stay has cost them a stellar review.

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Yeah, every time I roll my eyes at blood stains I remember the balled up bedsheets I left behind at a rental in Florida many years ago. Maybe not a full grown pig, but a small one…

Cough cough

I’m much more mature, now.

Cough.

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Oh, so it was YOU!

Kidding :slight_smile:

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lol, you bad person. Personally, unless the guest was extremely difficult or hostile or blatantly disrespectful and dirty, they get an ok review from me. This is the hospitality business, stains happen - part of the job. They are paying money to stay. I recently looked at the Airbnb community forum and was amazed at the number of hosts posting nonsense, like they are some kind of god’s gift and guests should be kneeling down in awe at their listing. Just ridiculous.

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I haven’t looked there for ages but it was just the same then.

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You and me think alike! Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for calling out truly bad guests and supporting other hosts but some of the stuff hosts expect to happen is nuts. I take the piss out of Air support staff but, honestly, if I had to listen to some of the inane whining from hosts I too would be doobied out of my head, telling them they’re awesome and…oops, so sorry we got disconnected!

edit to be clear, not aiming this at you @Alia_Gee or anyone else on here, it’s simply a general observation.

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It’s cool. I whine. :smile:

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I’m not a fan of blood stains, but I don’t know how they can be avoided (nature’s way of playing a joke on women). None of the other things you mentioned would bother me. My husband and I are sound sleepers so we tell guests that they are welcome to come and go as they please. Once our dogs have met the guests they don’t bark when they come home. I don’t mind guests taking long showers. I find them relaxing myself and we have a tankless water heater which supplies unlimited hot water. Do you mean that they requested late check out or that they had told you a time, then changed their mind? Either way, I wouldn’t be bothered. Personally, I wouldn’t mention any of this in your review unless they broke your house rules. To me, everything they did is typical of being on vacation and having a good time with no particular schedule.

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I hear you. Some guests are just annoying people. You can’t put your finger on it, and can’t say what it is exactly but you find yourself in countdown mode. It happens!

I probably would not leave a review for them at all. You don’t have to you know.

If they do leave one for you, write something neutral in response and just mention some of the annoying things in the private feed.

Just say, I didn’t want to say it publicly but…

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I often include language about being “gracious,” “appreciative,” or “considerate,” etc. Personally, I don’t mind it when guests make requests as long as they are made in a pleasant manner that doesn’t feel demanding (and as long as they are cool with being told no).

Sheets will get stained, I would never mark guests down for this!

I have read very neutral reviews, “X was a fine guest – arrived on time,” and have declined. If a review omits comments on cleanliness or tidiness, I also decline.

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I too wouldn’t mark a guest down for stains on the bed; blood, chocolate, makeup and fake tan are not unusual.

Lomg showers seem wasteful so I would be less happy about that and the out of hours stuff (for example using the washer at 2am) would make me want to leave a 4 star review.

Your Oxy Clean bill or your Oxy Contin bill!

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

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Letting the cat out is our greatest nightmare and our only real “Don’t do” rule If a guest were to let it out then we wouldn’t bother reviewing them, we’d just murder them and put their body in the Canal outside our back door.

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We even installed a second door, so the porch is an airlock and easy to catproof. Guests. Sigh.

Luckily, it was raining pretty hard so by the time husband got home the cat was hanging out next to the porch steps just pissed he hadn’t gotten back sooner. “What is this dampness falling from the big ceiling, and why are you allowing it to bother me?.. thank Bast you’re here.”

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You reminded me about that forum, so for amusement, I read some Host posts over there as I drank my morning coffee. Oh my! It is quite shocking how little some people know about hosting and they are already booking guests into their spaces. I know that AirBNB wants to attract as many hosts as possible to replenish the churn, but based on this morning’s reading, maybe they should consider a “training course” online, with an actual test of knowledge before they allow hosts to go live. The problem with what I read today is, AirBNB is also loosing the guests that stay at these places; not just the host.

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Good idea and it would be pretty easy to put up some ‘host education videos’ that are accessible from the dashboard.

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I keep reading articles about how Air feels like they have maxed out the home sharing business and want to move on to other travel stuff and even into airline flights now. Can you even imagine??

But why move on to all these other offshoots, when the home sharing business has still so far to go and they need to work on some issues here!!! something so basic and great as the video education mentioned above would do so much good?!!!

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