Taking reviews with a grain of salt

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We often read of hosts accepting guests that had a history of 5* reviews only to have the guests turn out to be major PITAs.

Or of hosts being wary of accepting guests who have a less than 5 star rating and a review which mentions some bad behavior.

I recently had a guest who had about 4 reviews on her profile, 3 of them positive, one which said she smoked on a no smoking property and left cigarette butts strewn all over the ground.

As this guest had communicated very nicely in her request message, I decided to ignore the outlier review, and accepted her booking. I might have asked her about that bad review before accepting, but I don’t care if guests smoke outside and provide a comfortable chair, table and an ashtray on the balcony outside the guest room. I figured if she was disrespectful and smoked indoors or threw butts in the yard, as a homeshare host, I knew I wouldn’t be reticent about saying, “Hey, girl, use the smoking area and ashtray, please.”

Well, she turned out to be a lovely young woman who doesn’t smoke!
When I mentioned that I had seen that review, she sort of scoffed, said that host was either nuts or had confused her and her group with some other guests, because not only has she never been a smoker, no one else in her small guest group had been either.

If a guest has more than one review mentioning unacceptable behavior, of course that should be taken seriously, and I wouldn’t be inclined to “give them another chance”, but if a guest just has one outlier review that wasn’t responded to (my guest had not responded to that review), don’t be afraid to ask them about it, rather than reject them out of hand.
Hosts can sometimes post misleading reviews, just as guests can. And reviews by remote hosts who never meet their guests or personally inspect the property after guests check out and only rely on what their cleaner tells them, as my guest said was the situation there, may post reviews that aren’t as trustworthy as those of hands-on hosts.

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Because I’ve always used instant book, I don’t religiously read previous reviews - only if I have time. But if I see a review that mentions some issue that bothers me, then I mention it to the guest at the meet and greet. For instance:

“I saw the review from the host in Miami that said you’d been really noisy. You won’t do that here, will you? Our quiet hours are…” Or something similar to that depending on what the poor review said. Another example: “That review that said you left wet towels on polished wood furniture … there’s a line just steps away from your apartment so you can dry them in the sun - clothespegs are in a basket under the sink… oh and there’s a laundry room…”

These are being helpful as far as the guests are concerned.

When I’ve mentioned past reviews I’ve sometimes had a similar response to that of @muddy’s guest - that it wasn’t them because they don’t have a dog / don’t dye their hair / don’t have a motorbike / whatever.

Others have admitted the error “oh yes, we were a bit too noisy when we stayed in Miami. It was our first time with Airbnb and we didn’t realise … but we see that your quiet hours are 11 until 9 so don’t worry…”

For new hosts, or for those who are too timid for whatever reason to confront their guests, it’s a basic and easy concept to follow - just talk to them.

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People are also much more likely to admit responsibility for something they actually did do in the past if they don’t feel they are being attacked or admonished.

When you are matter of fact about it, mentioning the past review but in the context of “There is the clothesline”, instead of “If you do that here and wreck my chairs, you’ll get charged for damages”, they don’t have to falsely deny the past review, because you aren’t putting them on the defensive.

And another psychological tactic to encourage guests to be honest if questioning them before accepting is to preface your question with “I know there are always two sides to a story, so…” or “I know that there are some hosts who are overly critical or aren’t clear about expectations so…”.

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I prep both apartments myself, I don’t employ cleaners. And I don’t get bent out of shape if guests leave their breakfast dishes in the sink, don’t remove every scrap of trash, (they usually forget the bathroom trash can anyway) move furniture or any of the (to me) minor issues that bother other hosts.

Host expectations vary so much.

I’m pretty sure that there are hosts who will disagree with me but I suspect that a lot of host / guest problems occur because of a lack of personal interaction. It’s so hard (for me anyway) to get the casual friendly-but-firm approach in writing - for example, in the house manual. It’s much easier face-to-face.

I know that these days many hosts are looking for a completely hands-free business that can be run remotely which to me, can only be done by using an experienced, local co-host.

Something I really object to as a guest is being ticked off by a series of laminated notes - complete with exclamation marks usually - from a remote host. “Do not flush toilet paper!” “Turn off all electric appliances before going out!” “Do not leave dirty dishes in the sink!” “Do not park in the driveway!” “Empty ALL trash before leaving!” “Do not open the windows!” “Do not move the furniture!”

I know, I know, but it makes me want to DO those things. It’s like seeing a keep-off-the-grass sign…

It’s so much effective during the house tour to say in a friendly way “Oh, by the way, if you could do me a favour and make sure that you don’t leave dirty dishes out? Here in this climate, the ants love it. I really appreciate your help, thanks”.

If guests understand the reasons for a certain preferred behaviour, they are more likely to act accordingly. So ‘dirty dishes attract acts’ is so much better that ‘do not leave dirty dishes!’

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I say much the same regarding food in the bedroom. “So this is the tropics and there are lots of insects. If you have food in your room, it will likely attract ants and maybe even a cockroach- they are endemic here and I don’t like to use poisonous chemicals. Even an empty cookie wrapper might only take 10 minutes to attract a small ant army. I’m sure you don’t want a bedroom full of ants, so I like to make guests aware before it’s a problem.”

And yeah, those sticky notes are so tacky. Once saw a tiktok video where a young guest had filmed her room full of sticky notes. The host even had notes stuck on drinking glasses dictating which glass was for water and which for keeping a toothbrush in.

There were tons of comments saying the host must be a crazy nutcase and asked for the listing link so they could avoid the place, but the guest was nice and said “Whoa guys, I just posted that because I found it funny. The host is actually very sweet and the place is clean and comfy, she’s just old and fussy. Not a big deal.”

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Yes, diplomacy goes a long way! Being a home share host, I’m fortunate to have one on one communication w/ my guests. Last week I had an 80 yr old guest, who was traveling for the first time since losing her husband. I didn’t realize this until her third day, & she mentioned that she was “having to learn how to do things on her own.”
Long short, I had lost my brother a week earlier, & was in a major brain fog. The guest was really chatty, & I was dealing w/ stressful details, not wanting to babysit this guest.
I finally asked my better half to “deal w/ her”, as I didn’t have it in me. As she was checking out, I realized that I’m the host, & need to shelve my own “stuff”, & be professional. It was good for me to remember that I’m here to make sure they have a good experience in my home, regardless of my own situation. We hugged as she departed, and she assured me I helped her navigate a difficult situation. It was humbling, to say the least!

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You’re still here? Get a life.

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Classic rage-baiting video to get views and aim to be viral at some point. Show me the listing and I rest my case.