I vote you don’t respond and let it go.
We have what many people might call a “luxury” home, particularly compared to most of the homes in the neighborhood. But I think of luxury as being the Ritz-Carlton: plush carpets, gleaming chrome or gold fixtures, marble, air conditioners quietly keeping everything an even 72 degrees, multi-hundred-dollar sheets, maids in uniforms delivering oh-so-thick-and-plush towels, and bellhops rushing to take my luggage.
So instead of calling our home “luxury”, I call it “serene, updated, spacious, well-equipped with a friendly and helpful staff” . I decided long ago that the word luxury created expectations an open-air house in the Caribbean with a local lady who cooks and cleans and her nephew that cleans the pool and maintains things just couldn’t meet.
So true. Example: We have a guest who stays with us about twice a year. She lives on a boat and stays with us when her boyfriend is in town. To her, a queen size bed, a tub instead of a cramped shower, a full kitchen instead of a cramped galley … all these are a luxury for her.
On the other hand we have regular guests who stay with us who have a home that has been featured in prestigious design magazines that’s almost the size of Buckingham Palace. (Exaggeration…) So they are roughing it when they stay in our apartment, it must seem like camping, but they come back year after year.
It’s a one man’s meat thing.
Me too apart from that freezing 72 degrees 
As you generally don’t respond to reviews I’d not respond to this one as a follow up will stand out and only draw attention to it. Best to just let it get buried amongst all your other great reviews over time.
That sounds sooo like my Mother-in-Law.
I would use the words spacious and comfortable.
Some very rustic cabins are not comfortable, but yours obviously is.
Personally I think it sucks that you would need to remove the word luxury because some people don’t know how money works. Your nightly rate and capacity would suggest a good deal for what you get. And I believe you when you say you are the nicest home in the area, it’s lovely. So either they want a good deal or they want their definition of luxury, which is it? For $250 a night that would get you a small room at the Hilton here. The luxury hotel I would love to stay at for our wedding anniversary charges $1,200 per night. And that’s for the cheapest 2 person room. If they want that definition of luxury they can pay those prices.
Sorry, it’s the first one for me when I click on the listing. (USA). I wouldn’t worry about her “not luxury” comment. I just stayed in a mini mansion on the historical register of places at a rate 4 times yours. The house was gorgeous and clean. We loved the flowers outdoors. Yet there were water rings on some tables. The exterior is badly in need of a paint job. The soaps provided were not generous or luxury and neither were the linens. We barely had enough TP. No condiments, etc provided except the cheapest coffee imaginable. However I still gave 5 stars and a highly complimentary review.
and you lose half the exclamation marks!
Is your luxury hotel Jade Mountain in St Lucia? That’s their starting rate, too.
Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur!
Evidence that there is no correlation between the amount of wood on the walls and how luxurious it is!
I was going to reply the same thing. Perhaps your guests were expecting marble bathrooms, handmade wool carpets, expensive furniture, a masseuse, crystal glasses and a bottle of bubbly waiting for them in the room or butler services, I don’t know. This review is pretty good. remember when you reply to a review you do it for future guests. this is a pretty good review. let future guests to look at your pics and description and decide for themselves. I’ve stayed at cabils like this and no, I wouldn’t say it was luxury. it is basically like my house but only way bigger. And my house is not luxury.
flat iron for the hair. i burned mine too a tinsty bit
Its absolutely luxury…
I would not even comment about that part of their review. I would just thank them and glad they enjoyed their stay. There is no point of starting argument about someone’s opinion about luxury .
Don’t respond, it just draws attention to the review. It’s overall a very nice review. Too bad you didn’t get 5-stars for the value and quality of the property.
I agree with others that subjective words like “luxury” or “comfortable” can be problematic.
I’m not personally a fan of knotty pine and wouldn’t consider it a luxury material. Maybe the guest feels the same, but she got what she paid for. If she wanted mahogany panels she could have paid $$$$ for one of the Airbnb luxe houses.
I think the problem with using luxury is that it is so relative. If a guest had stayed in Park City or Gatlinburg at a luxury cabin, it sounds like you think their experience might have been at a higher level than you provide. Although yours may be luxurious compared to your local competition, some guests may be anchoring their concepts of luxury to cabins in other locales. Yours may come up short in such a comparison. Your guests are unlikely to see the other ones in your area so they can’t make a local comparison. I would shift the label for your listing to upscale and perhaps mention touches of luxury (e.g., hot tub, sauna, grill, indoor and outdoor fireplaces). It is clearly upscale and I think that label won’t set up guests to expect higher end place than you are providing. That said, your place looks amazing.
I would respond but use it as an opportunity to highlight some of the features you know this guest used that future guests would enjoy. Perhaps something like, “Thanks for your review. We are so glad you got to enjoy the hot tub and sauna and took full advantage of the grill and the two fireplaces. Our goal is to provide those touches of luxury that make staying at our cabin even more enjoyable.”
I understand your feelings. I got a little annoyed when a guest said our studio was “about as expected”, though he did also say it was clean and comfortable. We all want glowing reviews and our spaces are close to our hearts after all the work we put into them!
But really its a pretty good review over all. And I think most people reading it will see all the positive things mentioned and just roll their eyes at the bit about it not being luxury. Your pictures look lovely.
As someone said below “luxury” is a subjective term. One person’s luxury is someone else’s mediocre. Luxury may set an expectation that you can’t live up to based on what they want - despite all the amenities you provide and size of your unit.
I know this from personal experience, as I used to describe one of my units as luxury and one of my guests (fortunately did not leave a review but told me privately) did not think it was luxury because of the way the outside and surrounding neighborhood looked. So I removed the word luxury in my description and haven’t had a problem since.
I agree with others that while gorgeous, it doesn’t have lux finishes. I see a lot of floors without area rugs, no pictures on the wall, or other items that finish a luxurious listing (white faux deer head? Twigs in a big vase? ) The review isn’t that bad, it’s a reminder to under promise and over deliver.
Thank you all so so much for all the helpful suggestions and kind words. Last few days a guest has really rattled my mental state because she’s shocked and upset that our MOUNTAIN CABIN in the MOUNTAINS is not on a flat road (her words). She kept comparing it to her own condo on the beach… I’m trying to let that roll off my sleeve but so far I’m just not very good with this stuff… (Of course she was also flabbergasted by many other things, such as the fact we are 20 minutes away from the nearest Walmart, and 20 minutes away from her son’s wedding venue. Never mind I never lied about where we are and have told her no less than 5 times from the beginning to now.) I’m always trying to find ways to prevent the same issue from happening again, but this is about the third one we’ve seen (they all come from the beach areas) that would be shocked at the fact our cabins with mountain views aren’t on flat roads. (Our roads really aren’t that bad as we are near the base of the ridge, and my neighbors that live on the top seem to do well with their rentals too!)
I’m going to change the wording about “luxury”, as I agree with what you all have pointed out. I’m learning everyday through this business, even though a lot of times those lessons weren’t pleasant. I still constantly have to be reminded that we are all different. And I can’t even seem to imagine what they might have assumed. And worst of all, they assume they are right and everyone else would agree with them, and I’m wrong.
Can you all tell I’m about ready to quit… lol