People don’t see the harm in taking food or sweets. Money is obviously something else. University was full of food thieves but money never went missing…
But there is harm if her kitchen and food are off limits. Food is expensive…If you had guests who stole your organic food stash you’d be furious I am sure.
I would be livid to discover a guest had stolen food or treats from me. So presumptuous!
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There is absolutely no difference. If hosts on here say that they can read between the lines and would deny a guest based on a comment such as “guest was not a good fit for me” - I’d like to hear about it. How many here would hit the decline button immediately? Probably close to zero.
I would guess nobody here would ever deny such a guest based on such a vague comment. And then are they actually going to ask the guest what the host meant by their statement? Likely not. So the bad guests continue on…
I think many hosts are under the impression that all their reviews left for guests are on display. They are not folks! Considering most future travelers do not even read rules, and considering the fact that many hosts have no idea how to find past reviews left by other hosts…it is highly unlikely any guest is poking around to discover what you left for a previous guest. There isn’t even a guarantee you left a review at all.
Imagine if our guests said reviews such as “accommodation wasn’t necessarily a perfect fit for me” - wouldn’t we love that? What does that tell the future traveler? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Do you think the “warning” will prevent all people to not book the place?
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Zandra, people do know they are stealing. It’s just easier to justify “well it was only food and not cash.”…
I don’t get it if hosts are worrying about hurting the guests feelings, or wanting to give a compliment along with the bad review. I say skip the small talk. It’s like if someone left a review for me that loved everything but the location. I would still think of it as a backhanded review. Why say so publicly?
Don’t mince words. Tell the facts, and the whole truth. Don’t sugar coat bad guest behavior!
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I agree with skipping the compliments if the guest was really bad. I mentioned about yesterday’s advice why I would include a “nice” compliment due to other reasons that would lessen the stress of the host. There are always exceptions, so I never take a hard stance for everything.
But honestly, I do believe most hosts are under the impression that all their guest reviews are on display. Oh goodness…I hope to not give Air any new ideas. But too many hosts say “but you will sound petty, etc. and not professional blah blah blah” - who cares?
Many people on homeaway forum give the advice to reply saying you were disappointed with guest stay not being positive, and glad they brought these issues to your attention blah blah blah blah. (even if the guest is lying) - Are you kidding me?? I would never in a million years thank a guest for blatantly lying. But I think many think it will look “unprofessional” to say the truth and tell the guest they are a liar.
If being “unprofessional” means tiptoeing around a guest instead of calling them on their BS directly - I want no part of it. I have more respect for someone who stands up for themselves. I think it is a side effect from the corporate world telling employees “now don’t complain because that is not the professional thing to do.” 
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No I totally agree with you. I just like the way your suggestion said the taffy ‘went missing’ not ‘got stolen’, because even though Ash knows, and we know, and the guests know that they stole it… I’m not sure there’s enough evidence for Airbnb not to remove a review that says it got stolen.
So I think your suggestion to say it went missing is a good one
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… how is what you’re saying different from what I said? I’m in no way justifying it …I’m saying people seem to make allowances for one and not the other. Of course it’s all stealing …
I took your comment “people don’t see the harm…” as meaning some may not truly understand they are stealing. I was just saying that many do know they are stealing money even if it is in the form of food. Because if they didn’t think they were stealing…then they wouldn’t do it on the sly.
I didn’t think you were justifying the behavior at all. I thought you were saying some people truly don’t think they are doing something wrong.
I think we are on the same page and I may have misinterpreted what you were saying…
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Maybe she left a bad review because she felt guilty about stealing.
At $4 each per night I cannot imagine her paying more for the bus than for her accommodations and then saying anything negative at all. She needs to get a dose of reality!
I hope you really tell it as it is in your review of her. Definitely mention the “missing item” but not in a way that would allow her to have the review removed.
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If I read that someone stole (or it went missing) taffy or another sweet, I would think that was petty. The value brings some context.
I’m keen to know what wording the OP settled on.
You don’t even have to say it was a bag of candy. You could say it was supplies belonging to the house that cost $40 to replace.
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“The bad guest I refer to above also broke a wine glass and didn’t report it.”
Right?!
I had a guest who broke a wine glass (clearly an accident) and hid it under the bed wrapped up in paper towel.
Why not just tell me? It was a wine glass for goodness sakes!
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This was Niya’s Review…
Good time. Being 3 females in the location of the home we felt uncomfortable because it seemed you were uncomfortable also or there was a lack of trust. The location spot of being 30 minutes from AC is false it took and Hour to get there.Any age of 18 wouldn’t be the best to stay. The Air mattress had to be inflated every other minute. More space would have been fine. The price set was the price of its value. Host is laid back but we wanted more conversations and more stuff to do as college students at our age, if host is in the tourism scene.
My review was basically what was up above. but this is what I said in response to her review…
_Niya - I do not say in the listing that my place is a half hour from AC nor has it ever said that - it is 45 minutes by car. I believe you took the bus which is an hour because you no longer had the zipCar. _
_As for the air mattress you put THREE holes in it while you stayed here and did NOT tell me. You tried to fix it yourself but kept the the air mattress filled with air. Since I have fixed the air mattress PROPERLY I have had others stay since your visit and did not need to fill it once. As a matter of fact - they have said how they can’t believe how comfortable it is. _
_In regards to not a good place for 18 year olds - I told you REPEATEDLY that it was OFF SEASON. Even when you first booked I told you it was off season. I can’t do much about the space - you asked to bring a third person and I told you I only had room for two with the Queen Size mattress. You said you guys didn’t mind and it wouldn’t be an issue. _
I have reposted my full review of your stay here…
_Niya and her friends seem to have been completely unprepared for their stay here. When she first contacted me and told me they were college students coming out for spring break - I told her that it is off season and not much to do at this time. She said it wouldn’t be an issue that they would find things to do - even if it is just hiking. They just wanted a place to relax. _
_About three weeks before their arrival she messaged me and asked if another friend of theirs could come along. I told her I only have a queen size air mattress and only have room for two people. She said they didn’t mind that they would work it out. Against my better judgement I allowed the third person. _
_When they first arrived they asked me if there was any place to rent kayaks. It’s the middle of winter at the Jersey Shore - the water is 40 degrees. Even though the only way to go kayaking at this time of year is with a wet suit - I looked up the rental places in the area and just as I thought they were all closed. _
_I discovered they had no car and were using a ZipCar. After the first two days but then discovered it was EXTREMELY expensive and they could not afford it for their 8 day stay. Niya called me up to ask me if there were any car rental places that would rent to 18 year olds. I told her that rental car places generally only rent to 21 or 25 year olds. She said Enterprise rents to college students so I gave her the two locations around me. She called me back and said the wouldn’t rent to them either and then proceeded to ask if they could rent MY car. I said no that I do NOT rent out my car. A few minutes later they called me back and tried working out a schedule for my car even though I had already said no. _
_Because they had no car now - the next day they stayed in the room the entire day. They couldn’t figure out the NJ Transit website to get the bus schedules online which I had provided to them the first day so I made a special trip to the bus station to pick up paper schedules of the various buses. _
_After they left I discovered they put three holes in the air mattress at some point. They attempted to fix it without telling me nor telling me about the holes. They seemed to have been trying to fix it while keeping the bed inflated. _
While personally they were friendly and nice because of all the other headaches these are the first guests I have to say I would not rent to again.
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Sorry I disappeared - but I was cut off from commenting because a new user can only post so many messages in a day. I don’t like the review - but I don’t think it is going to affect me because I recently had a seasoned AirBnB couple stay here and actually when they left they told me that was one of their best experiences. I did just contact them about the air mattress to make sure it was okay and they said it was extremely comfortable and they had no issues with it at all. They stayed for five days so if the air mattress was loosing air “every few minutes” they would have known it. She hasn’t posted a review yet, her boyfriend who booked the room is from South Africa has the flu and is still jet lagged.
JD, I love the review you ended up leaving! Glad we could help you sort out your feelings and you expressed them perfectly in a review!!! They sound like high school girls rather than college. The pressure to rent YOUR car is almost comical!!! As for their review… is English their second language? Were they exchange students? I forgot to ask that. Sheesh. Next time you will know better… trust your judgment. When they first asked about things to do in the middle of winter and kayak renting and such, you should have declined them. Red flag!!!
They go to college in Pennsylvania - I think Penn State. Her profile says she is from Washington DC. I couldn’t decline her - because she instant booked, and she didn’t ask me about the Kayaks until they got here. That was after several times of telling her that it was OFF SEASON. I did have concerns from the moment she booked though - but then I looked at her LinkedIn page and she seemed like she had it together. Do NOT trust what people put on LinkedIn. 
Here is her response to my review of her - this doesn’t include the nasty text messages I received from her that I sent to AirBnB where she is cursing me out…
If you are comfortable with someone who doesn’t like critiscm for what their presenting nor someone helping them fix to what you could see has been tried to fix before,then my best regards . Doing construction on a house while you have customers. Not Guest! Is a No Go. A 3 was my nicest review. As I said it had an odor and when you first walk in its not presentable. Even with being an 18 year old I wouldn’t want to go there.
As far as the so-called construction - I told them that I was having new windows installed. The windows that were replaced were all downstairs and they were upstairs. And everyone has laughed at her claiming that there was an odor in my house. I wouldn’t be surprised if the room smelt though with the number of bags of trash they took out of there.
And remember - she paid $12 a night for THREE people here. When I talked to AirBnB about it earlier today, the person could not believe it.
BTW - this is what her LinkedIn says and going by this - I thought she would be more mature and why my initial concerns went away. Also - I keep thinking it was Penn State they went to - but it is Harrisburg University of Science and Technology she goes to.
Majoring in Management and E-Business , BA
Vector Marketing Harrisburg University of Science and Technology
Washington, District Of Columbia 216 216 connections
Niya [lastname] has been an elite student, volunteers in the community, and handles positions in Leadership. Graduating from IDEA PCS in Washington, D.C. with a $20,000 scholarship from the Economic Club of DC, and a Full Tuition scholarship to attend Harrisburg University of Science and Technology in the Fall of 2016. Leaving IDEA PCS with a 3.43 GPA and the Battalion Commander (Cadet Lieutenant Colonel) of the Army JROTC at the school. With being apart of the Diversity Club and Anime Club. With none of the less keeping interest in The Deanwood Community in Washington, DC and the Metropolitan Area of DC. With many accomplishments throughout her High School Career she looks forward to a career in Project Management in the construction field with a BA in Management and E-Business.
What I find amazing is that she is supposedly going to a science and technology school and lives in Washington DC but couldn’t manage to figure out how to use the NJ Transit website to obtain bus schedules. I had a couple right before this who were from Germany - never been to the US let alone NJ - and they managed to figure out the buses all on their own. I didn’t even tell them a thing because they never asked and had it completely under control. They were also in college - although possibly graduate since she was here doing research for a thesis paper.
Wow… this is unbelievable. Reminds me of what my son, (who got a prestigious internship on Capitol Hill for one of our senators) said. That many of other interns were so helpless they couldn’t do a simple Word Document or figure out a spreadsheet and made nuisances of themselves asking the legislative staff simple things. Mind you, these kids were chosen from some of the best schools in the country.
How can a girl like that get into penn state, let alone get all those scholarships! Hahah yes. She cant be bothered to figure out the NJ transit system. Little brats!
This is what she texted me today after she read my review (note that I edited her cursing a bit - at least the F word )…
Niya:
If I wanted a memoir or an editor and chief about my where abouts i would have a publicist. But based off what i can say you can kiss all of our ass.
Niya:
You as a grown man , I would’ve rather had your dog to be the host. Or your brother. Cause obviously you are a person who can’t he trusted and i will tell that to every upcoming person you have. F$ck your air mattress f$ck that money i paid for your raggedy place. You need to tell people the truth about your place its disgusting you have many rooms and you planned to watch our every move. Smh pitiful . What do us not doing anything one day have to do with you. Or us asking about your car. I’ll choose your brother and the dog than someone who believes they’ve done a lot i should’ve gave you a 1 star . Your disgusting. Your house stinks. It was a mess we couldn’t wait to leave . Our families disapproved of it once we explained about you. Your a disgusting couch sleeping tomato paste eating 30 minute drive lying computer slob. Straighten up and clean up before you step into comments. You wrote so much because you had to explain your wrong doings. Fake ass
Me:
Best of luck
Niya:
Best of luck towards your brother and dog their loved from us. Youve already been dismissed.
The reason why there are two back to back texts from her at first is because I didn’t respond to her, so she sent me another one. After her last one where she says “You’ve already been dismissed” I felt like saying “then why do you keep texting me” but I just let her rant and fume that I just ignored her ignorant comments.