Don’t do that it is a security risk. Get a lock box.
Sadly, we can do everything right as hosts, but some things are beyond our control. One of these is the niceness/nastiness of guests and another is an act of God/the local Council/neighbours. If your guests seemed nice and you did all you could to smooth things out for them then I don’t see why they should leave a bad review, although, knowing you are new to the game they might mention “teething troubles” perhaps.
Last year we had a very chic, elegant French couple (not Airbnb) as guests. The day they arrived, the water company also arrived to replace some older pipes in the road JUST OUTSIDE OUR HOUSE (nowhere else) along with jackhammers, dust and a team of loud Spanish workmen, starting at 8 every morning and assuring us that the would be finished in a week!
Then the aircon decided to stop working (33 degrees centigrade outside, falling to a cool 28 at night …) though luckily we got that fixed the next day.
I offered to refund the guests and find them alternative accommodation ('cos we all know how picky the French can be …), but they said no, they loved the apartment, they were out in the morning and the work stopped by 3.30pm when they wanted to relax by the pool. They wouldn’t even accept the 20% discount I offered them!
No review, since they weren’t Airbnb, but Madame sent me a very nice note afterwards thanking me for the “efficient and generous” way I had dealt with the problems! So you see, guests do sometimes realise we are only humans trying to do our best for them!
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Well the water heater went down too, related to the water having been off. Got that fixed within an hour but damn. Ready for the first booking curse to end. Only solace is the guests are lovely, and have said several times that we are taking good care of them, all evidence to the contrary. So fingers crossed.
I got a hilarious (to me) inquiry tonight. “I have a question. We are interested in booking your place but you have no reviews.”
I answered nicely but lol. What does she want me to do/say? It’s not even a question!
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We have no reviews because we are new.
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Yes my response was basically that. “We are new hosts, currently hosting our first guest. We have several bookings in the next week so hopefully reviews will be forthcoming. In the mean time, I am happy to answer any questions and there is detailed information and photgraphs in the listing.”
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You’re doing great!
My guess is you’ll be superhosts very soon.
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One way to avoid having your utility services turned off if to put your bills on autopay. Then you don’t have to think about them and they are always paid on time. Make sure you have overdraft protection or maintain some reserve though.
That sucks. On Sunday our power went off and there was nothing I could do as it meant the water pump also went off. I went up to Maccas and bought us all a coffee. They left early after me apologising profusely. Fortunately for me it was my 200th guest and not my first. If it was my first I would offer them a full refund and ask them not to leave a review. Don’t panic. It will get better!
I just had a cow break down the fence and come into my backyard. And my favourite chicken died! These urban condo peeps don’t know what we go through in the country.
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I had an old horse that was on the verge of either dying or needing to be put down. I was afraid it would happen some day when guests were staying because my rental has a full view (a quite lovely one) of the barnyard and would see the not so delicate manner in which horses are disposed of if they happened to be at the house. Fortunately it happened on a weekend when I had no guests. Part of farm life and I would have explained it that way (guests know they are staying on a farm) but no one wants to see that.
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Yes it was on auto pay! They had the wrong zip code though so the payments weren’t running!
Good grief what a dilemma! I’m glad it ended up okay, except for the horse I guess.
At my place dead chooks go into the bush to be recycled by the local critters and dead dogs are buried under the front lawn overlooking the sea. I don’t know how I would handle a dead horse.
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Things happen … but I don’t think you have to pay for their hotel. They can just cancell and move on.
It involves a backhoe and a real big hole.
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Oh my goodness 
UPDATE! They left a review. 5 stars overall, no mention of the issues except to say responses were helpful and quick! She did dock me 1 point in cleanliness, mentioned a dust and a dish in the cabinet she had to wash before using, but she messaged me saying she meant to leave 5 stars for that because it was just a minor nitpick and could I edit it for her ( I WISH!) So that’s sort of a bummer. But I think it will be ok- those are supposedly private anyway right? Current guests asked for a corkscrew which I apparently forgot but I brought one over pretty quick. So eventually we will get there lol.
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Good job. Don’t worry about a missing star here or there on the categories.
Egads! LOL. I hope there’s a bottle opener in the rental, or on the corkscrew.
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I know! Yes there IS a bottle opener! Actually I thought there was a corkscrew too but apparently not. Maybe the baby took it out and hid it somewhere while i was cleaning today…
Alls well that ends well. Yet you will get some guests for which everything has going seemingly perfectly and they will knock you out of the blue on something you never thought of. Glad these guys were nice!
No, your four stars on cleanliness will show up, it’s not private.
Really? She mentioned a dirty dish and dust in the review? Do these people live in perfect houses? I wonder what company thinks when they come to stay with them. Honestly. 
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