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I had a guest leave a 3-star review. Never had that happen before in 7+ years of hosting. He said in the review that the bathroom smelled and that the bedroom wasn’t as cozy as he wanted. He didn’t mention any of this during the stay.
Is it possible to contact airbnb customer support to question this review and maybe have it be deleted b/c it’s not accurate?
Thanks.
I would say that it will be an uphill battle. CS will say that this was their experience. Nothing you can really prove.
I leave a note on the kitchen table that welcomes my guests and the say that I want to earn their 5 star review. If there is something not right, to let me know so that I can make their stay 5 stars.
I think guests are reluctant to tell you their comments and it’s just easier to write it in a review.
hmm…ok…I’ve never tried leaving a note like that, but will try it now.
btw, the email I got from airbnb about the review said that an ‘issue was reported’ by the guest (regarding smell). Do I have to contact airbnb to resolve any issues reported by the guest?
I don’t know. It depends if it was part of the review or if they sent out an email about the issue.
This! We’ve had a number of guests do that to us as well. We even had guests who were raving about their stay with us in person, only to leave 4 stars due to a smoke detector that wasn’t blinking the way they liked it. Go figure.
There is nothing you can do. That’s how they feel or whatever they thought they smelled.
We had guests “smelling” fabric softener, or complained at least about the strong smell of it but the funny thing is that we don’t even have fabric softener in the house, nor did we ever use it in our short term rentals. There are sometimes guests who just make stuff up, sometimes to get a refund or partial refund, sometimes just to enjoy the power trip they like to be on. Doesn’t matter. Move on. There will be better guests again.
Reminds me of the time when a guest complained of the air freshener in the bathroom. (It was a night light) Given that I have severe fragrance and chemical allergies, I found it pretty funny.
To be fair, hosts often do the same thing. Let annoying things go without talking to the guests about it in fear of prompting a bad review, then write about it in the review.
Exactly what I was going to say. Every potential guest who reads reviews sees the odd outlier.
There’s no point in wasting your time contacting Airbnb about it. There’s no way you can prove that the smell wasn’t there.
And anyone - potential guest or Airbnb CS reading that the bedroom wasn’t cosy enough will automatically dismiss that as personal preference and not an issue.
I had a guest this season who left me my first ever 4 star review. (I’d had 100% 5* since starting hosting in 2016). He did say nice things about my place and me as a host in his review, but also misleading information, based on the fact that he had mobility, breathing, and vision issues, yet booked my place knowing it was an average 20 minute walk to town and the guest room is up a flight of outside stairs (there’s even a photo of them).
He presented his “cons” as “Things seniors and those with mobility issues should know”, even though those things are clear in my listing. He said it took him 40 minutes to walk to town (I’ve hosted lots of seniors, they all said it took them about 20 minutes), and said the staircase was steep (it isn’t- it is within standard stair riser height).
When he realized after his first day here that the walk to town was too arduous for him, he rented a golf cart, then complained that the road was too bumpy and made his back hurt. He put that in the review, too, even though it’s irrelevant to my listing.
He also gave me a 3 on accuracy, even though I pointed out during his stay that the things he was telling me were a problem for him were clearly mentioned in my listing, which he acknowledged at the time was true.
I had also picked him up at the bus station when he arrived, and even spent an hour and a half his first day here taking him shopping for food so he wouldn’t have to walk into town.
I was irritated, for sure, when I saw his review and rating, but I just left a response correcting his subjective “warnings” for the benefit of future guests, and taking the opportunity to mention that guests who have special needs should make sure to thoroughly read the listing info and ask for clarification or assurance that it will work for them before booking.
First time I’ve ever felt the need to leave a response.
Oh, and to add insult to injury, he cancelled the remainder of his 2 week booking that blocked a busy holiday week after 6 days. And he couldn’t figure out how to cancel, so sent a date alteration instead. As I had never had a guest alter dates during their stay, I naively didn’t realize that accepting the alteration meant it went down as new reservation dates, wiping out the original ones, so I got paid nothing for the remaining 8 days.
You’re going above and beyond which your guests appreciate (normally!!!). I always feel like that these additional details to perfection and to do everything to make a guest’s stay as pleasant as possible are quickly forgotten when guests seem to find a “hole in the matrix” in order to (try to) make a (negative) point.
A classic case of not properly reading the listing description.
A classic case of not looking at the photos.
A classic case of having handicaps and NOT verifying that the accommodation would be appropriate BEFORE check-in. Which would have been another opportunity to clarify things in a way they understand and to make sure everyone knows what to expect.
Unfortunately these are some of the guests that cannot be helped. We’ve (you’ve) done the due diligence but that is useless thanks to the indifference of some guests.
That’s bizarre - surely the two options are side by side? In fact, I think the ‘cancel’ option is right there up front all the time in the reservation details for guests and hosts
I’ve never been a guest, so don’t know how it appears on the guest end- I’m sure it’s not rocket science to figure out, but like I said, he was the kind of guy who needed a lot of hand-holding.