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I booked an Airbnb late last month. Turned up and it hadn’t been turned over. Beds unmade, unwashed dishes, mugs etc in the kitchen, bins unemptied, wet towels on the floor and an unwashed bathroom. Contacted her and there was no response for over 2 hours. Tried to find clean bedding and cleaning stuff, there was none so called Airbnb who relocated us.
The host did call around 6pm - first contacted her at 3.10ish pm and offered to show me where stuff was but we were already at the new place. Plus we were travelling with all the children - 3 under 4 and I needed to feed them and put them to bed.
Now she has reviewed me. I was not going to review her as we chatted afterwards and she was so apologetic. Said the cleaner forgot to turn up and she was away. I can’t lie in the review so it wouldn’t be in her favour to review me.
Hi Joy,
Just so you know, this is a forum for hosts. There may be other forums for guests.
That said, your story is the kind that makes good hosts cringe it is important to us that all hosts provide a good experience for their guests.
As far as the review is concerned, I would encourage you to NOT review her if you feel what happened was probably a one time, honest mistake. My hope is that is the case. I also hope she gave you a great review for being calm and responding well to her apology - also for having Air relocate you. I am assuming your payment was transferred and you are not at any financial loss.
If you subsequently find she gave you a negative review for requesting a relocation - then it is time to call Air again. Have them review the case and request a removal of the review.
Just a reminder for you and other guests who find this forum - all contact with hosts should stay on the app/platform rather than in phone calls. This protects both you and the host.
I’m surprised that either of you could review if you didn’t stay.
Still, if you can review her, I’d suggest that you’re honest. It must have been an awful experience - especially with three small children in tow. Other potential guests should be warned. And you can also say how apologetic she was - give people both sides of the story so that they can make up their own minds.
I wouldn’t want to book with a host who was away and has the sort of cleaner who simply forgets to turn up - there’s a lack of basic organisation there.
Last minute/same day cancellations can review. One of the reasons is exactly this…you show up and the place isn’t ready. If you can’t review then there is no way to let the world know this awful thing happened. And it is awful. I’d hate to have this happen to me as a host but if it did I’d suck it up and take the consequence which should be a bad review.
Please review honestly. Just state the facts as you did in your post here.
Thank you K9. I would be mortified as a host too. I host remotely with a 12 hour time difference and I ensure I’m awake till the cleaner has cleaned after the last guest and my phone is next to me when I have check ins. In the last 9 months of hosting, touch wood the cleaner has never dropped the ball.
She sounded very contrite and was very apologetic hence why I feel it was a one off.
It probably is. Just like the guest I had whose dog had a runny poop accident in my guest room. She notified me, cleaned up as best she could and told me upfront she would pay for professional cleaning by whatever method I preferred. And she did pay as soon as I sent the request. She got a thumbs up for all that but the accident still got mentioned in my review of her. BTW, she’s stayed with me a second time already.
Sorry I can’t agree with your advice @Terryathome.
I don’t think it’s likely the host left a positive review (they are unlikely to own up to having a guest turn up to their place in a mess and them not being available to help) . If it is negative - Airbnb as we know are highly unlikely to remove it unless it breaks their review rules.
The guest would be left with a negative review and no way of countering it if they took your advice and chose not to leave their own review.
OP as a host I am sure you are used to writing reviews, just be honest and factual about what happened and express appointment that the host wasn’t around to resolve the situation.
I find it curious that the host has raced to submit a review. While the Pollyanna in me hopes the host has written an apology (and accepts responsibility) for her housecleaner dropping the ball, I sadly predict that won’t be the case. How can she defend or volunteer the fact that she was unreachable for the first 3 hrs. after you arrived?
In 7+ yrs, I don’t ever recall reading a review where the host publicly apologizes for such an oversight.
You would do well to give an honest review based on your family’s experience.
She has left it very last minute actually. The review period ends tonight. I wonder if she thought it ended yesterday as she left the review last night. I woke up to an email notification this morning.
I’m thrown as we did chat again through the app after we were relocated and she wished us a nice holiday and that hope it was going better. I will leave her a review now
I would review her using pretty much the exact wording you used in the first paragraph of your first post. If you wanted to, you could add a few sentences at the end saying that she was very apologetic and it seemed like a one off incident.
As a guest, I would want to know that this host is not always on site, doesn’t effectively oversee her cleaners, and took hours to reply on check in day. While I’m sure she was mortified and apologetic, there are some issues around how she managed her listing that I would want to know about before I booked.
Yes, sadly, cancellations may review each other. Totally absurd.
Please tell the truth about is host. Yes it was a one off, and she apologized and you can say that in your review.
Pretty crazy. How can a guest be evaluated that never stayed? I can understand a guest writing a review in the instance the OP was talking about because the guest has experienced the rubbish ‘hospitality’. But what could the host have to say? ‘This person was really understanding when we hadn’t prepared the place at all for them’?
I do get an impression about what the host was like and his/her standards from this:
The host doesn’t control guests very well! Or respond to urgent messages in a timely fashion.
If the guest cancels within 24 hours or after arrival they can review. So lets say your place is all set and the guest arrives and doesn’t like it for whatever reason. They literally come in look, turn on their heel and walk out.
Well here is me eating my words - a lovely review.
But I am glad you left an honest one. There is no excuse for her not having a co-host available as she knew she wasn’t going to be around during the check in period.
I know a couple of people on here take it on trust that their outgoing guests are going to clean up after themselves and do this successfully with clear guidelines around expectations. However, having the sort of guests who don’t even wash up their plates and generally leave the place in a mess, is why I would never consider it.
What a breath of fresh air to see such a nice review from her! It would have been even nicer if she offered a complimentary night stay in the future to mitigate the unpleasant experience and inconvenience of having to relocate…but hey, who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth.
(See, my statement stands: hosts never apologize or accept responsibility in their reviews.)
