I see your point, Joan. I would have to come up with a wording that does not sound petty, and whenever I read host’s responses, in 90% of the cases they sound like it.
So I’m a bit careful about how to phrase the whole thing…
After 274 reviews, I don’t review guests unless they review me first. But neither do I ask my guests for reviews. It’s demeaning.
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What is your reasoning? Your review of the guest is not for you, it’s for future hosts.
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You know that I totally agree! I really believe that hosts who do not review their guests are being unfair to their colleagues i.e. other hosts.
You don’t want to warn us about problems? You’re happy for us to deal with unruly guests? You are so remote from reality that you really don’t care about other people?
This selfish attitude is what causes so many problems for fellow hosts.
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Alas, yes, some of us unfortunates can have a rather severe allergic reaction to cat dander. Speaking of my own experience, my mom always had cats at home when I was growing up and I never had a problem playing with them and getting their hair all over my clothes etc. Then I moved to another country in my 30’s and happened to go to a friend’s place for a birthday party. A few minutes after I got there, I started feeling a bit short of breath and within minutes, I went into a full blown asthma attack and had to be taken to the ER where I was injected with a bronchodilator and given oxygen till I stabilised. I was told that I had suffered from a severe allergic reaction most probably to cat dander. I hadn’t known the host had a cat and when I checked with them later, they said that they actually used to own a cat which had bizzarely disappeared of its own accord (as they do!) a few days before the birthday party which I had attended. So there was actually no cat present on the premises when I had my allergic reaction, but there must have been remnants of its hair on the soft furnishings like sofa, carpet and curtains which I came in brief contact with and immediately broke out into wheezing like an asthmatic!! The next time I had a reaction was even more weird…I went to the movies and a few minutes after being seated, I felt short of breath and had to beat a hasty retreat. I can only surmise that at some earlier point someone with a cat at home may have sat on that seat and transferred some cat hair from their clothes to the seat…or maybe the stranger sitting next to me was a cat owner and I was breathing the allergen trapped in the fibres of their clothes? Who knows!!! Luckily for me, I was referred to a homeopathic practitioner who treated me over a period of 6 months and “cured” me of the allergy. Happy to report that since then (about 5 years ago) I have suffered no further episodes even in the presence of cats, which is rather remarkable, methinks. And to put a nice Air B n B hosting spin to this whole story, a month ago, I hosted a couple and the husband told me about how he had suddenly developed an allergic reaction (sneezing, followed by wheezing) to their cat which they had owned for the last 7 or so years! I passed on the homeopath’s contact details and just yesterday I received a lovely thank you card from him to say that indeed, the remedy was starting to work and he was slowly but surely showing a less severe reaction to having the cat around. 
Your reaction to the person sitting next to you in the cinema is key to the case here. The person might have had dander on their clothes.
In my situation my guest would be unlikely to get dander on them because the cat is only in the kitchen which has no soft furnishings and is wiped and vacuumed with a Miele Cat and Dog cleaner most days. They don’t have to touch the cat, even though he is friendly. The guest could also have breakfast at a cafe.
The thing is I previously hosted 4 other guests from the same workshop with no effect on the teacher.
Yikes! She left your place tidy and left you a thank you note and you’re going to leave her with a bad taste in her mouth by guilting her into a review? Not a good idea. If I had stayed with you and received several messages from you, I wouldn’t be a return guest.
I do know your frustration. My first airbnb has been going for almost two years now and, probably, half the guests have left reviews, even the guests who were amazingly positive and loved my place. I guess that’s why we hosts are very proud of ourselves when we finally accumulate a lot of reviews! It means we’ve been at it awhile.
Hang in there and, remember, your guests don’t owe you a review!
Jill in Washington state
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Does Airbnb solicit reviews from guests because they drive me crazy with their automated emails to me asking me to review my guests! If your guest is being reminded by Air AND being reminded by their host, they may just decide that the whole Air experience is like being pecked to death by a duck.
Jill
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Yes, same emailed reminders. Hosts get additional reminders because they check their Airbnb every day and the reminders are on the dashboard. A guest, particularly if their trip has ended, is not on Airbnb every day.