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After 5 years of great experience with airbnb I had my worst guest ever! This person was a professional complainer, he even complained about the street trash collectors and why I didn’t have a full length mirror?? He was insisting that our photos are made the way that causes misleading impression something really insulting!! I just used an iphone,no special lenses and my listing is very detailed and has even the exact square feet of the studio.
It was a horror week as every day I had plenty of sarcastic,impolite messages that were stressing me out. I am the kind of host that when my guests asked me if I had a toaster I sent them one from amazon within a day. I am always super polite and sometimes I take the blame even if I am right just to keep things calm. This person broke me, and due to his attitude I didn’t want to give him anything.
So he opened 2 cases against me (first time ever I had a case) on the 1st he wanted to stay in the place for free although he had plenty of complaints. I told him that I would give him the money of the days that he didn’t stay if he could find something else closer to his needs. I just wanted him out of the house asap and even proposed other places around but Nooo he wanted my place for free.
Airbnb threw him some money to stop complaining and instructed me not to give him anything but of course he continued annoying me every day non stop. One of the lights in the bathroom broke while he was there. Our concierge refused to go back in the studio to change it as he was very impolite so he decided to open a 2nd case against me for everyday he had a problem to shave.Of course he didn’t win any of the cases but it was really stresfull and insulting for me.
After he checked out, he left me a horrible review and airbnb due to freedom of speech doesn’t want to delete it. The review is full of lies and it is obvious as all of the rest are great. Ok I also left him a bad review and it was my 1st bad review to a guest but as a guest he can just delete his account,he has only 2 reviews, what can I do? Airbnb instructed me to leave a reply and I did so, but you can see my answer only on a desktop and not through an app so if a guest wants to book our place from his iphone he will see just his review and not my answer which means freedom of speech to the guests and not hosts. My first reply was too long so you would see half of his review and my huge reply. I asked airbnb to change my reply to 5 sentences and thankfully they did so now it doesn’t drag so much attention. That’s also a tip for my fellow hosts,never leave a huge reply
My next 2 reviews are in different language and in the app are not translated in english so the 1st review that you notice is his. After this review was uploaded I had no other inquiries and it is the first time as this place is in Paris Champs Elysses and it was constantly booked. I have lowered the prices but unfortunately there is no chance, still no inquiries
Airbnb has been pretty nice but as I see one bad review can literally destroy you. I really had to cancel this reservation and avoid the review! If that doesn’t get solved I will need to add the place to other platforms like booking.com or find one tenant for the whole year but it is really a pity as I preferred airbnb. Any suggestions always welcome!!
Have you checked your stats to see if anyone is even looking? I have nothing happening right now, but no one is even looking, so I know it’s not my listing.
I shop airbnb all the time and I would never give that review any credit, especially if the other ones were positive. And though I don’t speak many languages, usually, you can tell if a review is positive or not. And aren’t your stars still very high? If people see 5 stars and one crazy review, they will understand.
Is anyone else seeing a sharp decline in bookings/inquiries?
Thank you so much My stats on July are 79 Views, 1 Request and 2 Bookings. In the past there were a lot of people that were booking in advance so I usually have some bookings for later but this time I just have one booking for October and it happened before this review went live. 25 May- 30 July I was fully booked, sometimes I had a check out and a check in the same day and most bookings were arranged in advance. I really hope that you are right and it is just a slow month. I will check the next days about August and see if anyone is checking at all Thank you so much!!!
Don’t worry about it. I was afraid when this first happened to me as well, but then I got some awesome guests that tipped the scale toward 5 star reviews. I even have some guests talk about how hilarious the bad reviews are. People like this guy are being laughed at by the world because they are definitely crazy.
Thank you so much!!I think that this guy was a professional scammer. There were cases of guests in the past that wanted to cancel and asked for full refund but I never had anyone asking me for full refund while he was in my apartment. I really hope that you are right guys and it is just a slow month.
I’ve had multiple guests try this one on me. They are used to companies caving into their desires. I definitely call them out on it and I never budge. If you want a refund you have to leave and I don’t do it unless they have canceled and i’ve rebooked. I used to be nice too, but it’s not worth it. People will take advantage.
I just think people are not traveling right now. Summer is ending, vacations are done, people are settling in and will be starting to plan fall weekend and holiday trips soon.
Let me know how it goes. I’m in a bit of a panic about September, too. Every time my phone chimes with an email I grab it, hoping for a message about a potential booking.
Like @Sarah_Warren said, maybe people’s thoughts are just toward school right now.
I think he was just trying to scam you for a free room. I would not give a refund on days used but would encourage him to find other accommodations. There are a lot of people that try to get free food, rooms, etc., by complaining. People may be more successful with this scam on Airbnb because hosts are afraid of getting a bad review if they do not give in and offer a refund. I have a family member that does this type thing and it makes me angry.
How many reviews you have alltogether if you hosted 5 years? If most of your reviews are great this one should not make any difference. May be its just a coincidence that your place is not booked. I would call Air again and talk to higher authority about the nut case
Out of curiosity, what do the reviews, left for him by other hosts look like? Is he a serial complainer? Is there any hint that he is like this or has been?
I’d recommend leaving a public response to his review of you. It could work wonders for you if done tactfully.
Don’t you think August is usually a slow month in Paris? Although I sympathise about your horrible guest, I think there are all sorts of reasons you might find bookings slow at the moment. Those of us in the rest of Europe are continually told how Paris closes down in “le mois d’aout” so we get the idea that there’s not much going on …
Also, one can’t discount the effects of terrorist activity, particularly on heightened French security measures and therefore hold-ups at borders. I think many Brits, for example, who might have been thinking of coming to France will have been really put off by the terrible 12-hour queues at Dover last week.
I am sure this one nutcase doesn’t have the power to destroy your business - hang on in there!
Yes. And if they only have your review or even one or two more, they would have no reason to keep their account. But possibly due to “verifications” they may not be able to create a new account.
The NYTimes is reporting that the tourism numbers in France are down by as much as 70% at hotel chains and popular tourist landmarks. There was a long article in the Sunday Times (just got to reading that section this morning) so your location’s lack of bookings may be part of a larger trend.
