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For those times when you really want to respond, but you (wisely?) decide to Let It Go.
I’ll start:
Jane,
Thank you for your 5 star review. I’m a bit perplexed, though, by your private feedback comment (“One tip might be to assure that people know they must be able to climb stairs”).
The second sentence of the listing describes it as a 3rd floor unit. A few paragraphs later it explicitly states, “You will need to be able to climb stairs in order to enter the apartment.” There’s also photos of the building and interior stairways included.
Do you have any suggestions on how I could make it clearer? The stairs should not be a surprise to anyone who has actually read the entire listing, which I ask my guests to confirm (as you did) at the time of booking.
I’m not quite sure why she was pissy about the stairs in her private feedback, as the review itself was almost gushing. As I look back on her communication, there were subtle things – nothing that would rise to the level a “red flag“ – that I now see were clues. All in all, not a bad guest, just an entitled one. Oh, well…
I had first time guests last week that clearly didn’t read the listing or my messages. At check in, asked about breakfast in the morning (not an amenity, I also state that in writing within the listing as a reminder, and my welcome message walks them through coffee/tea in the morning, and indicates there is room in the refrigerator for their food items). Then got the review - 5 stars overall, and 5 in every category except 4 starts for accuracy, with a private note stating they weren’t told I had a dog, and she’d be greeting them. Granted, the review could have been worse, but there are two pictures of my dog in my photos, it’s clearly stated multiple times in my listing and within the House Manual of the Guest Resource section, and I also send along a message if I’m not home for their check in that indicates my dog will greet them at the door, will likely bark, but will be wagging her tail, and be anxious to greet them.
I did reach out through platform messaging to address his note, and he admitted to not reading his messages leading to his stay and must have missed the info in the listing (I cut and pasted the sections outlining my dog, and that she’d be greeting them). Also, I state to keep the door closed as she’ll be tempted to sneak off to the neighbors . . . I watched the check in from work on my Nest cam (its presence is stated in my listing at least twice) and they left the door wide open when retrieving their luggage.
Some ppl just don’t read/review the listing/pictures/messages. We all get them, sadly. I did contact Airbnb concerning this as I’m fed up with new guests, not verified, and not reading listings/messages, then getting dinged in the review. To be fair, I’ve also had the occasional seasoned guest who didn’t fully read the listing/messages. Airbnb told me they consider a new guest’s first stay to be “an education” to Airbnb. I told them I’d no longer accept unreviewed guests without gov’t ID/selfie verification.
I have used this tactic a number of times as a way to educate myself as to what I can do better. It also makes them think about how they came to that review/star rating, and to consider if it was fair. I’ve actually learned a thing or two by using this type of message (like adding more storage space in the guest bath)!
No, it sounds pretty clear. Even when stuff is clear you will get people who just don’t read/ understand/ pay attention. If it’s not generally an issue, then consider it an outlier and leave your listing alone. It’s kind of like making a house rule after someone does something annoying. If it isn’t likely to happen again, then I don’t need to make a house rule for it.
Yeah, this was just snarkiness on my part. Because I’m pretty certain that there actually isn’t any way to make it clearer, and I basically called her out for saying she had read the entire listing before booking when she didn’t.
Dear Superhost…you picked our 5* private room only, independent stay because of status, our accommodations and the ability to self check in. Hence, when you walked into a situation you were uncomfortable with and were intimidated by you immediately sent a msg via the app, however you didn’t even give us time to reply before calling ABB and lodging a complaint. Then within 15 minutes you received a message from me followed up by a phone call in which you promptly barraged me with insults and then hung up on me. Subsequently you call ABB back saying I had yelled at you…BTW ABB took our side as we responded within a few minutes and had the issue resolved within 45 minutes of your first message. Oh yes, your miserly 55 reviews vs our 953 makes you an expert. If you are such an expert you would know that you can not discriminate against age or race as you suggested. Keep up your good work…from one SH to another SH.
Yes this just happened last weekend…she arrived at 10:15 pm to a unauthorized “party” (which really was just a small group of individuals watching a sporting event on TV. Of course we removed the individuals from the home and ABB cancelled the booking and refunded her stay. We were even going to pay for her hotel stay but she hung up on me before I could get a word in edgewise. And no I have not yet written the review however it will be on point and definitely not written as above…
She rented a single room in our 3 bdrm home that utilizes all 3 bdrms for our guests. Each room is rented out separately with the living & kitchen available for use for all guests.
Ah, so the guest arrived to other guests but those guests had unauthorized people while watching the game and so she considered this a party, of which was not at all what she had signed up for. I see. Too bad she hung up on you…
Just about everyone doesn’t read the listing, and then pines about the rental they wish they would have paid for.
For us, we put it in the here they come message, our dogs, their names and that they will indeed greet them. And the dogs are the hosts, as well as we are. We couldn’t live without our dogs.
But you will find that guests who hate dogs will book dog sites, to complain about said dog, to show you they are the emperors and you the loyal host subjects, just live there and must make the place exactly what they expect. Attention. I’ve seen guests shiver at the sight of a dog. You gotta realize, most of these folks have never even seen a dog larger than a toy.
