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We just had the most unreasonable guest. Here’s the background. We had just lowered our nightly rate and had a guest make a reservation for 8 nights. This also gave him a 10% discount for weekly stay. We also had 5 days during the stay that we had missed in the adjustment to our rates which we made all the same across the 8 nights. This took another $10 per night off, for the 5 nights in the middle of the week. This guest then emailed asking if we could give them a better rate, which we declined. They booked anyway, and upon arriving at our mountain home, they emailed to say the A/C was not working. This was the first time it had been turned on for the year, and the outside temp. was 61 degrees. It fell to upper 40’s that night. We immediately replied and had our HVAC company out and system fixed before noon the next day. Temp’s still not in the 70’s yet. At the end of the stay we had said that we would reimburse for the A/C out of service, but then we noticed on our camera that looks out to the driveway from our front porch, that they had a dog that was not listed in their reservation. I emailed that I would not require a pet fee, in lieu of giving money back for the A/C issue. This guest did not harm the house and left it in good shape, so we had no choice but to give them good ratings. Lo and behold he gave us a 4 for communications and a 4 for value. We answered all his emails within 8 minutes and resolved the A/C issue within 16 hours. He rented our house for less than $50 per night per bedroom, 2 of them being King bed, master bedrooms, yet giving us a 4 on value. He also threatened to complain to AirBnB about the camera on the front porch that looks out onto the driveway. (which I relayed to him that it was in the listing and did not look into any private areas)
My question is how can I respond on the Public Response, to let other hosts know to beware of this guest. It is obvious to me that he was looking for reasons to extort money from us, as well as tried to hide his pet so he wouldn’t be charged for the pet fee. He also threatened to claim to AirBnB that we spied on him with our cameras.
You’re asking for suggested wording on a response to this guest’s review, right? If so, it would be helpful for you to copy and paste that review here.
Also, please copy and paste any review of this guest you made. That way we can be consistent.
I think the place to do what you want was in your review of the guest. What did you say there?
The public response to the guest review is the place to reassure future guests, unemotionally and succinctly, that any items of legitimate concern have been fixed/addressed.
What?? Just because a guest doesn’t damage the house and kept it in good shape they deserve to get ‘good ratings’?
You had cheapo bargain-hunting guests, and if there was no need for the AC because of low outside temperatures, wasn’t it obvious that they were after a refund? But the HVAC company still went out - you still said you’d reimburse them.
Thank you for your review. We appreciate your unique perspective and the opportunity to address your concerns.
We’re thrilled to hear that you found our nightly rate of less than $50 per bedroom, including two king master bedrooms, lacking in value. We strive to offer exceptional accommodations at competitive prices.
We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the temporary A/C issue during your stay. Rest assured, we promptly resolved it within 16 hours, even though the outside temperature was a chilly 61 degrees.
We also appreciate your discretion in bringing an unlisted pet along. To express our gratitude, we waived the pet fee you conveniently overlooked in your reservation.
We regret that we didn’t meet your expectations and hope you find accommodations more suited to your needs in the future.
“Public Response”??? Do you mean your review of the Guest? Have you already done that? If you have, and you have seen their response, the LET IT GO! Do not respond to their review.
There is a 99.5% chance that the guest will NOT read your review. If you have NOT written their review, then we can help you craft a shiort, simple, truthful review of the Guest so other Hosts can see what Guest was doing…
The place to make other hosts aware of a guest’s behavior is inthe review you write for them, not by leaving a response.
Responses to reviews guests leave you appear on your review page, not the guest’s. Other hosts will not be aware of what you write in a response, unless they happened to cross check to see how a guest who wants to book with them has reviewed their past hosts.
Review responses are intended for future guests reading your reviews. And they couldn’t care less about some past guest’s transgressions or some drama you had with them.
Public responses to reviews are used to correct misinformation or indicate that you have fixed a legitimate issue the guest mentioned in their review (never respond to anything a guest told you privately in the public response), for the benefit of future guests, not for other hosts.
And responses should be as brief as possible, non-emotional, non-aggressive, not defensive. Just facts presented in a professional manner.
No one seems to be really reading my question. We have already given a review. I’m sure you are all aware that you don’t see what they write about you until you both have written a review. My problem is NOT with the review, but with the Stars given. I want to write a Public Response to the irrational reasoning with the stars we were given. Also, he was a good guest as far as we knew. No issues except for complaining about the A/C. Which even though it was cold outside, he was correct. They left the house clean. It wasn’t til he graded us that we have issues and that wasn’t apparent until after he left and we left our review. I want other hosts to be aware of the vindictive scoring (Stars) that he gave.
It’s not the review that I’m upset about. It’s the Stars given. I am not wanting to debate his review. I am wanting to show how vindictive he was with his scoring (stars) and let other hosts know he is one of those that unless he gets a free stay, he is going to be a PITA.
Do not write a response talking about the star ratings the guest left. It will be a detriment to you. Future guests will be wary of booking with you if they think you are going to publicly rake them over the coals for the star ratings they leave.
No one can see the star ratings an individual guest left you, only the averages. Let it go.
If you want to educate this guest as to how the star ratings work on Airbnb and how they affect hosts, so that hopefully this guest doesn’t do this to future hosts, do it through a private message.
And next time you have an unreasonable guest, please be honest in your review- that is how you warn other hosts. The reviews you leave should not be dependent on what review or rating you anticipate the guest leaving for you.
If a guest’s behavior during a stay is such that you wouldn’t want to host them again, that warrants letting other hosts know about that behavior, regardless of whether the guest left the house clean or not. You can say they left it clean and also that they did other things which weren’t great.
I would personally be much more upset about a guest fussing over the unnecessary AC, when the temps didn’t warrant AC, than a guest giving me a 4 star rating for comms and value. So I would want to know about the former, and not care about the latter.
