Review Response Help Requested

First off, this is for my house so is a shared bedroom. Nick instant booked. It was $42/night for 3 nights (normally $35 but was a day before booking so I had raised the price), $20 cleaning fee, and $15/night house trained pet fee. He had not read the House Rules until I asked for his vet records and pet fees to be paid prior to arrival. I have had 23 5 star reviews, 4 4 star reviews and now this 2 star review (which included 2 stars for cleanliness and value, 3 stars for location! Never less tan 4 stars anywhere on true reviews that stayed (have had ones on false reviews for people that didn’t even stay but they were removed). I don’t really care too much about reviews at my separate house but in my own home I find this very disheartening! I guess I shouldn’t have told him I left him a great review and asked him to do the same…lesson learned for sure!

Thanx in advance for any feedback and review assistance. I am surprised how affected by this I feel. Especially since I wrote this review:

“Nick was a pleasure to Host and I recommend him and his dog, Stennis, to other Hosts. I welcome them back anytime.”

"My first Air BnB experience that wasn’t great. I was waiting to move into my apartment and had to find some place last minute while at work, I wish I had stayed at a hotel instead. Although Kelly had mentioned she had a headache and wasn’t feeling great one of the days, I think it’s fair to give an honest assessment for my time I spent there.

The host wasn’t welcoming, and besides the room being nice and clean, the place was a wreck of boxes and everything being basically inaccessible. When she wasn’t there, her dogs, although caged, barked constantly and having a dog with me in the bedroom, it made him uneasy.

There was a weird, uncomfortable vibe about basically everything. Even before arriving she asked about thirty questions and made me take a picture of all my dogs medical history. A load of laundry would cost five dollars, and you’d have to check with her (and probably fill out paperwork) to borrow as much as a spoon. I have a feeling like she’s even going to tack on additional charges after my leaving.

She also reacted completely irrationally when I got back from a long drive and let my dog out in the backyard (where he was supposed to go) and screamed at me because she let her dog out while my dog outside like that was my fault. I considered leaving that night because it upset me so much, but I took off at 5am the next morning.

I understand she did have a headache, but overall I would not recommend this as a place to stay for anyone, especially those traveling with a pet on the off-chance she’s not feeling well again it would not be worth it at all"

He says I wasnt welcoming but he gave me 5 stars for check-in and thanked me a few times during the stay (until the last night when he no longer spoke to me after the dog incident).

My listing indicates that the private Guest space is ready and waiting for their arrival but the rest of the house is full of moving boxes and the like. He did at least give me a 5 for accuracy. Actually it is only the dining room as far as what is visible to Guests, the rest is behind closed doors so everything he would have been allowed access to was accessible.

He never once told me that my dogs were barking the one afternoon he was there only about an hour after I left (proof with cameras and smart lock log).

He never indicated any weird vibe until the dog incident when he just didn’t speak to me any more before checking out the next morning as planned.

In his opening message his last line was “Please ask any questions if you’d like to:)” I only asked him 1. to send me his dog’s vet records (this is in the House Rules); 2. What he expected his schedule to be - I did have to ask for his expected schedule for the second half of his stay because he only told me about the first half when he responded; 3. What can you tell me about Stannis? Is he house trained? Crate trained? Noisy? Get along with other dogs?" and 4. “Also, how would you prefer to pay the pet fees?”

I had forgotten until now reading back in the messages that I had told him (as I do all my Guests) to give me 30-60 minutes notice of his arrival. He gave me 10 minutes so I had told him he would need to wait about 20 minutes at the house. As it turns out he pulled in right in front of me and blocked me from putting my car in the garage (he didn’t follow the parking directions).

My House Guide indicates laundry is $2/load for washer and $3/load for dryer but that I will do it for FREE if I can include it with mine to make a full load. he never once indicated he wanted to do any laundry, paid or free.

He wouldn’t have had to check with me (or fill out paperwork) to borrow a spoon. In fact I had provided a spoon, a bowl, a mug and napkins along with his breakfast and k cups as well as dish detergent if he wanted to reuse. Ironically he never ate any of the breakfast or used any of the k cups.

I have a feeling he has read reviews from my whole house listing where people have been charged for leaving their pet poop in the yard. I have a fee for that in my whole house listing but not where I live. I should in the future though as he never picked up the poop his dog left in my yard.

I had told him during the day he could put his dog out in the back yard because I was going to be gone that afternoon. When he got home at 9 pm he put his dog out without checking with me to be sure I did not put my dogs out. Since we both couldn’t be home during daylight we did not get to do a doggy Meet & Greet so if my dogs ran into a strange dog in their backyard they could have been very protective. Luckily, he told me as soon as he walked in the front door without his dog…at which time I yelled NO!!! and ran out to the back yard to get my dog to prevent any issues. OI also had no idea if his dog would be aggressive to a strange dog coming up to him in the dark. I then explained to Nick that since it is my house I let my dogs in and out all the time and that he cannot just do that without being sure that I was able to keep my dogs in. I also said that nothing happened so no harm no fowl, just next time ask first.

If he was so upset that he might leave I wish he had told me, even if he didn’t leave.

He states he left at 5am the next morning. He actually left at 5:30 but that was his original plan anyways. I feel like contacting Airbnb and providing the smart lock log to show his false statement to see if that alone would be enough to get them to remove the review.

The day that I had a headache I had not interacted with him except to tell him and respond “No thank you” when he asked if I wanted him to bring in the packages that had been delivered during the day.

I immediately messaged him after receiving the review that I was shocked and asked him if he might call me to discuss but of course I will get no response.

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“We thank Nick for his feedback and will take his experience into consideration as we continually strive for complete guest satisfaction. As shown from previous reviews, this is not a typical assessment of the guest experience we provide and are proud to offer”

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Thank you. You don’t think I should at all address the fact that there are many untruths? I feel like your response admits that everything is true in the review.

How do others feel?

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High road, don’t sink to his level.

It may be worth it to try and get and get it removed as a outlier

Good luck

rr

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Asshat, thank you for your feedback I am sorry you felt a bad vibe. I appreciate your feedback and will consider doing laundry for free going forward you entitled piece of st. Fk you

Hmm, maybe that is best left here…

Let it go, put your effort into getting Air to remove the review under their new “outlier review policy” for what it is worth.

RR

Edited to ad, ima little drunk rn

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I didn’t realize that there was really an outlier removal policy. I will definitely try that…

as soon as I am finished getting through with my latest 1 star review from a Guest who didn’t stay at another listing removed. I was told it would be removed but that a case manager would contact me within 24 hours to do it as they were not authorized to do so. Funny thing was I had forgotten about getting it removed until I had an inquiry today to book that listing for 6 weeks. Having the review showing on top that said “Find somewhere else.[…]” didn’t seem to phase this Airbnb newbie…

hilarious review responses when RR is drunk! lol

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It is getting harder to get a review removed, even having a guest cuss at me in private feedback I couldn’t get the review removed along with lying in his review. Unless he breaks the TOS terms it is near impossible. Good Luck!

His review is awful but it is a he said/she said situation. good luck!

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@Cindy_Turner_Dodd lying is against TOS though, isn’t it?

Except for the things I have proof that what he says is it true…I will try getting it removed. Any suggestions for response if, like you predict, I am unsuccessful in that endeavor?

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Just answer honestly but non-conflicting. …like what Brandt says… or briefly describe the situation but without emotion. I would make a suggestion that if your pets have issues interacting with other pets you might want to go Pets Not allowed for your own sanity.

If I could respond without emotion on this one I would…I can’t so have asked for help here.

My pets can interact fine when they are properly introduced and under my supervision. I have gained dog care and dog training clients from how well my dogs are trained and how well they behave with Airbnb Guests. That I allow pets is a big part of my draw.

However for them to be just turned loose in their own back yard with “invading” strange dogs, in the dark, with no supervision, I cannot take responsibility for what may happen. And what kind of responsible owner would think that doing so would be smart!?

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@Brandt has given you the perfect wording for the review Response.

His Response does address the untruths, but without saying "Liar, Liar!

I’m not a big fan of responding to reviews because the response often comes across as petty. But in this case something should be said, and @Brandt said almost exactly what I would have.

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@Militaryhorsegal I agree and always try to do a meet and greet. However guests with small dogs, we have two kelpies, always pick them up which is the worst thing to do. Small dogs are often more snappy. Our dogs love everyone big or small. Agghh bad reviews!

@Militaryhorsegal I’m surprised that you’d want to do your laundry along with the dirty clothes of guest…am I being too fussy?

It’s about conservation and efficiency. Their clothes are much less likely to be worse than my barn clothes…

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I understand and respect your position but I would prefer not to do so…

@MissMiami Which is why I have no problem letting people pay to do their own laundry. It does cost money in water and electricity, plus makes it so I can’t use those facilities during that time.

Please note this is only in my shared home. At the whole house listing I don’t charge for them to use the washer and dryer and I don’t bring my laundry over there to do theirs with it.

A little off topic but I have a related story. The other day I put one of Airbnb room blankets in with a load of my clothes. The next day when I was tearing down the bed to turn over the room I found one of my socks stuck to the blanket. I don’t think the guests saw it, they already gave me a over the top great all 5 star review. But I thought “what if a guest pulls back the blanket and finds a pair of my granny panties!?”

Out here in arid El Paso TX I understand the need for water conservation but I don’t want a mishap so will have to be more careful on how I mix loads in the future

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I think you aren’t charging enough. It’s common here to charge £7 which is what a local laundrette will charge with soap or drying.

@Helsi. Ironically I have never had anyone ask to pay to do their laundry but once (previous Guest to this one actually) who I was happy to put hers in with mine. Got a great 5 star review from her and I expect she will be back as her travels put her here.

When I folded them I learned why when I had had laundry done while overseas that it would come back folded inside out…while folding I didn’t want to take too much time or make the Guest feel I was being nosy about turning it right side out

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