That’s the way now, isn’t it? Just deny, deny, deny.
Without seeing the host’s listing, it’s hard to know if a complaint like that would be unwarranted. If a host describes their place as “secluded”, and doesn’t make it clear that they live on the property, within sight of the cabin, I could see guests who had no bad intentions being a bit miffed. Like a young couple who envisioned spreading out a blanket and making love outside under the stars. Secluded, to me, unless it is clear that it doesn’t mean there are no close neighbors, would mean there is no one within seeing or hearing distance.
Not that even if it wasn’t described well, it’s an excuse for the guests to be pointedly unfriendly and glare at the host for giving a friendly wave. That’s just weird.
haha, probably! did she attack you ?
her place looks awful, cheap but not cheerful, and she gets overnighters who are desperate. the complaints seem pretty valid, many are the same. She reacts very poorly to people who dare to call her on cleanliness, or even her attitude and ranges from calling them idiots, entitled and all the way to racists! She comes across as unhinged.
what? haha, i spent an hour scrolling through and reading her reviews and responses, with a mixture of horror and giggles. I mean, we all want to let rip at some guests sometimes, so it was like a form of escapism.
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ah, we talk about this a bit in our family, as i don’t mention “secluded” in my listing at all, but for city people it’s still wonderfully quiet and peaceful. A lot of people have this strange misplaced notion that they can have a cabin the woods, but somehow still have normal plumbing, electricity and internet… and phone service.
but damn if you haven’t given me a good idea here… to create a nook for some nooky in our pine forest . And can Chesky make us a new category for that amenity! haha. “star-bathing”
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It was maybe 6 months ago, so not sure it’s the same host. She definitely got stroppy with everyone who responded. I can’t remember what her listing looked like.
And there’s that host from Paris, who was all over the CC a couple years ago. He runs what is essentially a flophouse in Paris for single men, seems like mostly immigrants who come there to work. He has 4 bunk beds in 2 rooms, so 8 guys to a room, 16 people, and only one bathroom. I don’t know how that can even be legal. His guests have to leave by 9am every morning, and aren’t allowed back in until 7pm.
He has like 1000 reviews, and the worst reviews I’ve ever read, even though most of them aren’t more than one short sentence. One guest said the host was “cold as a prison door”, another said “Bipolar host”, one said just “Run”. He also has good reviews, but they are all from the same guests, over and over. I think that even if someone wants to stay for a week, or two, he makes them book for 1 or 2 days, continuously, and write a review every time. Then there’s another host in Paris, and there are multiple reviews from both of them on each other’s review pages. It might be the same guy, with 2 profiles in different names, faking his own reviews. And he keeps creating new listings for the same place, so the bad reviews aren’t visible on the listings, only on his profile. And he advertises them as private rooms, even though there are 8 guys in a room. The whole thing is totally scammy.
But he was answering tons of posts on a daily basis, with the most terrible advice, and kept getting called out by other hosts for it, and getting reported to the mods. His English was abysmal, but that didn’t slow him down at all- half of what he wrote was wholly unintelligible and he would try to seem hip by using colloquial English expressions, but getting them all wrong. and he changed his profile pic every other day. I’m not sure if he got banned from the forum, but his frenetic activity seemed to come to a screeching halt at some point.
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my life has been reduced to me spending time reading reviews on bad listings and laughing at the creative comments.
it has to be, i won’t say her name. She’s been posting again recently and said a few odd things so I looked at her listing, and then her reviews, and thus fell down a rabbit hole.
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I very rarely respond to guest review unless it’s something that was inaccurate and you need to correct - IE Steps but I wouldn’t mention Grandam, Keep it to just a line or two.
I wouldn’t mentioned the stove. If it’s really finicky then get it fixed but don’t mention it.
Also, as previously states you should mention in your listing that you live next door. This will also help with people booking place to party.
Take this as an opportunity to update your listing to be more accurate but as Jaquo said it often brings more attention to The Who you are as a host.
Good luck
Or guests who don’t have bad intentions. I like a secluded place and if I discover that the listing has been misleading (i.e. the host is next door) then I would mention it in the review. It’s important that listings should be 100% accurate and that the guest won’t get any unpleasant surprises.
I’ve written here before about a neighbour (next door to my apartment, directly opposite one of our rentals) whose listing said that the place was ‘a twenty minute stroll to the beach’.
In fact, it’s at least 45 minutes if you’re strolling - very brisk walkers might manage it in 25 - 30 minutes but I’d class them as athletes.
The owner of another apartment (right next door to one of our rentals) described his place as having water views. I spoke to an irate guest who was annoyed about the deception as the only way you could see a tiny smidge of the canal was if you were sitting on the loo.
I’ve stayed in several rentals that have been disappointingly nothing like the listing. Those hosts should pay attention to one of our mottos here at this forum - under promise and over deliver.
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AT no point in my listing is the word secluded used. And while I do not specify that I live right next door, (it is NOT the same property, it is right next door but a separate property) it does specifically mention “friendly neighbors.” I do make a point of mentioning I live next door in the context of being helpful. How would I even mention living next door in the listing? If someone was planning to abuse the rules and wouldn’t have booked if they knew I live next door, too bad for them.
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Say in your listing: "No shared spaces; I live next door, so I am available to you 24/7.’
I have “your host’s apartment is just steps away so she’s on hand to help you with anything you might need.”
In that case, it shouldn’t matter that the review said it wasn’t secluded. Your listing wasn’t deceptive so it’s nothing to worry about.
In the “Other Things to Note” section, you can say, “I respect my guest’s privacy, but I live right next door, so am readily available to help you out if you have any questions or need any help.”
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I just have an aerial photo of the farm layout, so you can see what’s there.
Visuals are always good. Especially since so many guests these days seem to act like 3 year olds, who can’t read yet and just look at picture books 
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haha, exactly! We do also mention we live on-site but we all know only 20% of guests actually read the fine print.
I would fight HARD to get this review removed for lack of relevance and accuracy. Look up the rules on Airbnb and be ready to quote from their TOS. Ask to escalate. If indeed there was no grandma, you have the right to get it removed for being misleading, irrelevant, and inaccurate.
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Hi everyone, new user here, this looks like a good place for my first post!
You can safely ignore any review that doesn’t use capitalization or punctuation, especially if it reads as if was written by a stoner. A reasonable person that reads the review will realise the reviewer may not be reliable or honest.
In addition, anyone who believes a review like that is not someone you want staying at your place!
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“Visuals are always good. Especially since so many guests these days seem to act like 3 year olds, who can’t read yet and just look at picture books ”
As in children crayon books?
So you think stoners are not reliable or honest? And that poor punctuation is a sign that a review isn’t honest? Sounds awfully judgemental to me. Not everyone is educated or particularly literate, nor fluent in the language. That doesn’t mean their review is bogus.
But for sure, there are reviews that sound ranty or nutso, I think most people would dismiss and therefore don’t require a response, especially when it’s an obvious outlier among the host’s other reviews.
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Hi muddy,
Thank you for the warm welcome to the forum, it’s good to be here!
I think you know what I meant by my post, but if you want interpret it as some sort of red flag to be argued with then that’s your choice, you do you I guess.
It’s usually pretty easy to tell if imperfect language or punctuation are the result of language issues or other factors. The approach to take as a host for any review is pretty simple. Read the review, assess it based on your experience and the information you have at hand, then either ignore it or if you still think it’s necessary respond accordingly. My advice for the review in question is to ignore it!