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I don’t have cable and I don’t have time to read magazines, sometimes not even those I subscribed to, let alone stuff I’m getting for free!!!
When I don’t toss them in the recyclables unopened I leave them in the room for the guests.
I agree ABB should stop printing these. Who’s reading them anyway?!
Don’t EVER quote me partially to distort my meaning. I listed money laundering as one of a spectrum of possible explanations.
@justMandi One question though: why is your price so low? I agree that lower prices attract the bottom feeders or undergraduates who party.
Is the competition so fierce where you are at? However even in other countries, poorer that US, for example, prices are higher.
Hi @justMandi I was already in that situation and I know how helpless you feel. I was offered to remove the written review, but not the one star on the overall ( clearly retaliatory). So I request that the written review not be withdrawn, so my honest review of the guest also remains on his page, to alert other hosts ( she started a fire in the apartment)
I think I should have insisted at the time. But it’s all so draining and painful that I left everything as it was.
Sorry this happened. It’s my worst fear.
You seemed really frustrated when you posted The guest who knew too little. Even going so far as to say you were “rather unpleasant” to the guest.
For the benefit of other hosts, looking back, would you have done something differently in dealing with him that could’ve avoided this? I hope you address this in your article.
My first thoughts are:
Suck it up for the clueless guests because it’s the hospitality industry. Downside: we all have bad days, triggers, etc. and let’s face it, figuratively “biting your tongue” hurts more than literally. We also don’t want to open the door for a guest to start taking advantage of us.
Turn off instant booking since your rules for booking (magic word, photo) don’t align with Airbnb’s instant booking rules. Downside: lower search ranking which could mean lower income.
Obviously my primary focus is on getting the review removed. But based on the experience of other hosts here, we all walk a slippery slope. All they care about is going IPO. When you publish on websites like In, it’s going to affect them.
In theory, $19 a night should attract the worst. In reality, its a temporary special, and that unit has been very popular for us. And you are right; it probably was too low. We have had short terms and long terms.
Hi Brian, all of us have to take inventory in terms of our role in it. And I agree. I was “rather unpleasant” when the co-host freaked out on finding an unflushed toilet.
But as far as the “magic word” is concerned, I see no issue with IB.
I would however very much appreciate knowing how to escalate this in Airbnb. As in, going higher and higher up. Thank you.
You are not understanding the most important business principle. It is why we get insurance or screen prospects.
RISK
Of bad review or assault or property damage or drug making or many other things.
You are not making $19, you are risking your business for peanuts. You are trying to get less than $600 a month if fully booked where you pay all the utilities and create extreme risk.
There is most definitely a risk attached to any business. $19 was the wrong price.
I’m VERY VERY tempted to cite your case if I can figure out how, in my Motion to Reconsider (to the appeals judge in my case against Air). This is the galloping problem with our lack of recourse and appeal in cases of defamation, delisting and damage.
Please do. I think a lot of people would be surprised to learn that we are not in the hospitality business. We are in the review business. And the metrics we are expected to achieve are way beyond routine reviews.
On the other hand I look at probabilities. Over 25 five star reviews. Guest had a previous 5 star review. I honestly thought the poor communication was a language issue. AS you say, it’s a risk.
This is the unfortunate truth of the way Airbnb uses the metrics from their review and rating system.
RAISE YOUR RATES! $19 a night? Where are you? Low prices get you problem guests!
Just complain on the AirBnB Twitter and they’ll call you!
In my Motion to Reconsider, I literally want to veer away from the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments (demanding due process), precedents, contract law and just put an Appendix that says:
"Would it freakin’ kill AirBNB to have a place (some buttons) on its Host Dashboard to report
“And have these investigated and and rectified within 24 hours by some non-idiots in a new Treat Your Hosts Right Department.”
NordlingHouse, I do encourage you to read the posting in full. The listing is a couch surf. And this is Hamilton, not Palm Springs. It had +25 five star reviews.
I applaud your bravery. What is amusing is that a relatively young company can tie up their legal minds for a very long time with cases like this one. They need to assess the value of that. Most of the time it’s “pay up and move on”. But they seemed focused on “follow the money”. Well, there is no right or wrong in an out of court settlement.