Some of you are soooo good with wording, either for a difficult review or for a listing. So I’m here for your ideas. A recent guest (four ago, but still has the next to last review so far) wrote a totally false review. I appreciate constructive criticism but this was totally fabricated. i took other hosts’ advice and did not respond by addressing her comments specifically. Am beginning to wonder if I had to a point.
In a nutshell, she said that my Little Mountain Cabin was 'directly in front of ’ my house. (and repeated " and I mean RIGHT in front"…Which is falsehood # 1. It’s ridiculous and simply not true at all, the cabin is way off to the side of the property and you don’t even go by my home to get to it. Going on to say, because of that, I ‘watched them all the time’ so much so they had to stay inside. That they had ‘no privacy at all’. Well, they were not even here during the day, and I most certainly cannot ‘watch them’ as my home and the cabin are well separated AND screened by trees. And I hardly have time to watch my guests, lol! They were digruntled because they had ignored a couple of important house rules and I was forced to kindly intervene. And they were difficult people as well.
However, my issue is:
How can I (or should I?) put some kind of wording my my listing description that draws a clear enough picture to contradict this crazy woman’s statement? It would seem odd to me to post a picture (I already have a slew of the views, area, cabin, etc) of my house and front yard and if so, say what in the caption? I have attracted people because of the seclusion of my farm, and have then been complimented many times on the privacy and seclusion of the cabin, and that I was nearby in residence should they need something. But that’s after they’re here. I want to make sure that prospective guests can be assured (if they read her review and since it’s new, they will) that the cabin IS private, and located on it’s own space away from me on the farm, and not to be concerned about what she said.
Am I worrying for nothing and just hope her review soon fades into the sunset of new ones? Or does someone have some ideas?
If you want, the listing is Little Mountain Cabin at Shadows Drifting Farm where I’ve tried to say something simple in regards to this issue.
Thanks, I’ve learned so much here!
She sounds like a very paranoid person. Her review speaks volumes about just how petty she is.
It figures she’s new to AirBB as well. You left her an honest review. She’s a slob. I like the response you left to her untruthful review. If I was to come across her as a potential guess I would
definitely pass. Your property is BEAUTIFUL!
thank you so much…it helps…You always wonder what a potential guest is going to think…
I think she probably knew that she disrespected your property by leaving it a mess so she decided
To slam you. She seems mentally unstable to me. That review will get buried soon enough. It won’t matter to potential guests because it’s so crazy.
Find somebody with a drone to take a nice aerial photo that clearly shows the cabin and it’s surroundings. If you don’t want to pay a lot, see if you can find a local kid to do it cheap.
She might’ve been watching a TV show about the Ozarks and when she saw trees and read ‘secluded’ that equaled 100 miles from the nearest human to her. You might want to specifically define how secluded this property is with an empirical measurement like how many buildings are on site, how many people live there and how far away from this cabin.
At your suggestion, I looked up ‘Little Mountain Cabin at Shadows Drifting Farm’ and saw that last year you had another guest complaint about privacy but overall you have high ratings. It might be that the kind of listing is attracting guests who want the kind of isolation you get in Alaska or something.
Put how many yards/meters/paces it is from the cabin’s front door to your front door.
This would help people like me who are terrible at judging distance using visual information like a photo.
How did you know they were breaking rules?
I thought about that…but unless you SEE it, the footage will be misleading. The cabin is totally screened from my house except when a guest gets out of their car. and even then the house is about 250’ away to the SIDE of the cabin, and set back so that I cannot see anyone on their front porch, in their front yard, or at the table and fire pit… even if there were no trees… I don’t trust some people to ‘get’ what 250’ is, as it’s true, to some ‘secluded’ may mean the Alaskan tundra.
Truthfully, I’ve on gotten that one other (in over 140 guests) comment on that and that guest was a ‘difficult’ personality, although I got along fine. As the reviews state, most everyone else finds it very private, and the farm IS very very secluded as the photos clearly and accurately show.
As for the rules, these folks came into the livestock area, and headed towards the barn (where I was 'watching them by finishing up building my chicken house hundreds of feet away from the cabin) without prior arrangment for me to accompany them, an insurance requirement AND my requirement due to me having livestock, chickens, etc. I don’t let ANYONE, friend or otherwise , wander among the animals without me. So I gently reminded them that I would be happy to show them around, but that I had to accompany them. They declined my offer. They then informed me that they were ‘headed to the creek’ out into the woods…they had no clue where the creek was, and again, my house guide clearly states I must accompany them. Husband would not even speak to me, standing rather defiantly out in the pasture. This ticked them off, I knew it but too bad, I had to do it. …I knew when they arrived the day before they were going to be a bit ‘off’ but no worries, I didn’t interact with them after that except for this instance…and then the garbage all over the floor…so I didn’t expect a good review and didn’t care but was concerned about her statement of where the cabin is and what my target guest would think when they are looking for a private space.
I am the only person here and I was cautioned to NOT say that, in this day and age, as it could encourage trouble if someone knew I was alone. But perhaps I can risk that. I do state that I only have one other neighbor who is about 1/3 mile away.
I shall entertain the drone idea. I do have a shot, but it’s not good as it’s from the back of the farm showing all my farm buildings (it’s a working farm) and equipment. I can get one that is more ‘artistic’ I’m sure…Have a friend…It will be accurate and if the cabin is ‘too close’ in some folks mind, then so be it. I’m booked well and so far anyway, it seems to attract the ‘right’ people…just worries me that her review creates a very erroneous picture…
Next time, please put the URL of your listing in the message. I’m having trouble finding it on Air, in part because you also don’t list city and state.
Looking at your listing which looks amazing that first review does initially stand out but anyone reading the next one and then the next few will see it as an outlier. The photo shows it is nowhere near another house and if she means “overlooking” but from a distance then so are many properties in the country. I think your reply was short and sweet.
If you google ‘Little Mountain Cabin at Shadows Drifting Farm" and then choose the Airbnb option it will come up.
You’ve got lots of great reviews so nothing is broken and there is no need to run around changing your listing or hiring drones etc for this outlier guest who has now left anyway. Move on, you’re doing great.
Well, after searching for 15 minutes I found the listing, and the place looks very nice.
Your response to this woman is far too brief. You should have explained what you did here, that she tried to visit your farm and the creek without a guide, both which are required by your insurance, and that she was not truthful about being able to see the cabin from your house. Remember that other hosts will want to know about her entitled behavior. If you can still edit your response, you should change it to clarify the misunderstanding.
I didn’t see anything in the house rules about visiting the barn or creek. It needs to be in the house rules!
I know it’s hard when you pour your heart and soul into something you love, but you’ll see the advice here over and over, you really just need to let it go. Looks like only 2 “bad” reviews out of 104. That’s still impressive and I wouldn’t change a thing until you see a trend that indicates you need to make a change.
Well it is in the house rules, and repeated in the rules left in the cabin.
“9. If you’d like to come to the barn to meet the critters, gather some eggs, or veggies from the the garden, or explore areas where the animals frequent, I’d love for you to join me! And you’ll need to please make specific prior arrangements with me, per insurance requirements. I’m happy to show you around and introduce you! Just text me!”
I did think about commenting about her untruthfullness, but it seems the general advice is to not give it credence if the statements are obviously silly or made with rancor. It’s hard to judge WHEN to comment on each ‘accusation’. I do think I should have said more but, I don’t think I can ammend it, can I? All I would say is that her statement was blatantly false about the location of the cabin and that I, of course, do not watch my guests. Don’t whether I should go into ‘why’ she became so disgruntled. I think her husband was disappointed on arrival and he was a rude brute of a think, so maybe he made things unpleasant for her and she took out on me…who knows.
I agree Brian, and truthfully, I had let it go so to speak until a really communicative, really enthusiastic guest who booked for later in July suddenly cancelled without a word. She had really been into chatting up a storm via the message system and was so excited about coming. it was several back and forths, excellent communication. For someone like her to cancel without saying a word (usually I get something from the guest) got me to thinking…Paranoid me! I’m sure just a coincidence…
Thanks guys, AGAIN, am still learning, and so appreciate the input!
Sorry, but your rule doesn’t read like a rule! “IF…join me!” “You’ll need to please make specific arrangements with me” doesn’t sound mandatory.
Better wording would be “I’m happy to show you around the farm, but my insurance requires that you always have me accompany you when you visit areas on the farm where animals are present. Your booking will be immediately cancelled without refund if you break this rule.”
The rules shouldn’t be written to make guest feel good. They should be written so that they can be enforced, either by you or by AirBnB if you need them to help you. Both the rule and the penalty need to be clearly stated.
good point…I’ll change that
I would not worry about that review at all, one iffy review amongst good ones tends to reflect more on the person leaving the review than the recipient, as it does in your case. It certainly would not put me off visiting, though sadly the fact that I live half way around the world would. 
Your response is also perfect - to the point and without overly defensive hysterics.
If that review puts anyone off visiting your place because they can’t interpret it objectively then you probably don’t want them as guests anyway, look upon it positively - as an idiot filter. 