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Post by cottagegirl on Nov 5, 2015 16:51:46 GMT
I agree! Leaving a review of your guests - good or bad - helps ALL hosts. We've been fortunate that I've only written one review that wasn't 100% positive (the guests needed a microwave, which was clear in our listing that we did not have one. They left our place smelling like very pungent curry food). I simply said they were friendly and communicative (which they were) and that due to their restrictive diet, they need a rental with a kitchen or microwave (which they do). Fair and honest I thought. Julie
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Post by CC on Nov 5, 2015 18:46:38 GMT
Right., Julie. Nothing wrong or negative with saying that.
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Post by snowflake on Nov 12, 2015 4:26:14 GMT
I had a guest who damaged my shower. I talked to them and they denied it. I filed a resolution centre request and they sent me a nasty message with a threat to leave a bad review unless I withdraw the resolution request. Now Airbnb sent me an email saying they have left a review and I only have 2 more days to review them. I called airbnb to tell them about the threat. Their response was :
"I have looked into your case with ABC. I do see what he brought up during the resolution negotiation is highly inappropriate, we certainly hope this type of discussion will not develop any further and you'll receive an honest review. Guests are indeed not allowed to threaten to use reviews or ratings in an attempt to force a host to retract any claims or ask for refunds.
Since the review is not out yet, what I am gonna do is to educate ABC about our review and extortion policy, prompting him to leave a honest review reflecting their real experience with the community. If in any case, when the review comes out, you determine it's a breach of our review policy, please write to us again and we will take into consideration to remove it or make our next move after reviewing. Otherwise, in the event review has not violated the guidelines, you can always leave a public response to the review to explain the reason, I find situations like this can often provide opportunities for your potential guests to see how you handle unexpected situations.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns and I will be most happy to assist you."
Now from my understanding once a guests threatens I don't think they would leave a good review even if I satisfied all their needs..I have no idea why airbnb is giving them another chance to rectify their review. I haven't reviewed them yet. Wondering if and what I should write. I doubt they will ever use Airbnb or that account again. TIA for your suggestions!
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Post by catalyst on Nov 12, 2015 9:28:47 GMT
We just hosted our first guest (she left the morning of 11/11, it's now the wee small hours of 11/12 here on the left coast of the U.S.) and I hopped on Airbnb right away to leave her a review. She was delightful, and I'd read an earlier encouragement to review your guests right away, as this makes them more likely to review you. Nowhere do I see an option to review her! I've made several visits to the reviews section and it still just says "Nobody to review right now. Looks like it’s time for another trip!" under "Reviews to Write." How long should it take before I'll have the option to write a review?
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Post by snowflake on Nov 12, 2015 13:56:05 GMT
They will send you an email 24 hours after the guest checks out. Then you get 14 days to review them.
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Post by High Priestess on Nov 12, 2015 14:45:10 GMT
Snowflake, I am sorry to hear about your guest threatening you like that. Indeed, extortion is forbidden by Airbnb policy, and guests who threaten extortion are generally dealt with pretty strongly by Airbnb and not permitted to write a review. However, not all the customer service people at Airbnb are responding to these things correctly. I would try to call back and get someone else to take care of your situation. Just call again and hope to get another Customer service person and start all over with the new customer service person, telling them that it's your understanding that when a guest is doing extortion, they will be blocked from being able to do a review. Keep at it until you get satisfactory results.
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Post by snowflake on Nov 12, 2015 16:20:13 GMT
Thank you Deborah! Will do that.
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Post by nancesf on Nov 12, 2015 17:48:10 GMT
Greetings from Potrero Hill, San Francisco, thanks to Deborah for directing me to this forum via her posts on SF Homesharers. Registered here early to thank everyone for their input. And Deborah for this well organized and friendly structure.
I write here to report that because of this particular post I was motivated to write a respectful but true review of some guests who were my most challenging in my 4 years as a host. While they had numerous very positive reviews, my experience was really really hard. I struggled with what to say. Here's what I wrote. If I were you, I'd avoid these folks IF you are present when you host.
Lounell and Neal's stay was, I believe, challenging for all of us. Very different than the planned 5 days in SF to visit their daughter and family on their way to Australia. They ultimately needed 7 days in SF given a change in their airline itinerary. In order to help out, I made an exception to my 5 day limit and extended their reservation. Given its size and layout, my place while very aesthetic and comfortable, is probably best suited for tourists who are out and about during the day and using the room mainly to sleep at night. Lounell had communicated that they'd mainly be at their daughter's home nearby visiting with their new grandchild. However, given the daughter's schedule and Lounell's illness, she and Neal seldom left my house. Since Lounell was in bed and sleeping much of the time in their room, Neal stayed in the kitchen which is in the center of my home. They streamed music or TV often 24/7, sometimes so loud it seemed their room door was wide open, although it was not. I know this was not their planned way to enjoy this time. Neal tried his best to be considerate as did I with the unusual circumstances. He was responsive when I asked him to use earphones to play music in the kitchen. They were certainly clean and responsive to my house rules. I send my sincere good wishes that they have a healthy and happy trip to Australia.
The way I decided to cope with what was very early going to be a problem, I decided to be the best host I could, while trying to set some limits. I survived. and I am thrilled to have my home back. Even burned sage to help cleanse the energy.
So fellow hosts, I did my best for you this time!
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Post by High Priestess on Nov 13, 2015 4:47:12 GMT
THanks Nance for writing an honest review. That does sound like a trying situation!
And welcome to the forum!
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Post by High Priestess on Dec 9, 2015 15:38:43 GMT
Here's a post from Jessa on Dec 8th 2015, reminding everyone of the importance of writing an honest review: Jessa ( jessa) Review Honestly For many hosts it's tough to review a guest harshly, they've entered a personal space and even if they were a bad force in that space, airing this in the open seems to make many hosts nervous. I hate it for one. Before reading host forums and understanding just why it's important to be truthful I never had the courage. The truth is, if you leave a kind review for a bad guest, in best case you are just not doing fellow hosts a favor, in the worst case, you are stabbing them in the back. I accepted a guest with two positive reviews, what started with me nearly blaming the wrong guest for a mess in my house ended with a missing persons case, exchanging of locks and entangling in a serious and tragic family dispute. Speaking to the two previous hosts I learnt the guest was an unstable alcoholic and had sheltered a homeless man and refused to leave the room at the 2nd hosts home. Why a host would review a guest who drags a homeless man into a shared home positively is beyond me, but it's a stab in the back from one host to another. Not everyone is fit to stay in a strangers home, a nice person can be a bad guest, I'm sure this guest is technically a nice person, but we do not provide safe houses for the mentally unstable, please let other hosts and airbnb know if a person is unfit to be a guest. Airbnb reacted really well on this I must say, and that's reassuring. Another thing I noticed with this guest, two hosts had reviewed her, she had not reviewed them. Check if and how guests review other hosts, this was a sign I missed hurridly accepting the guest. I hope airbnb will make it easier for hosts to see how their guests review other hosts. 4 comments•11 likes Queenie & Ted Wow Jessa! What a nightmare this must have been for you! I'm glad to hear that Airbnb offered support. Jessa wasn't a biggie for me, fortunately, new lock paid by airbnb, a bit of heavy cleaning in the room... I didn't realize I had a nutter here until after she left anyway... according to her mother who for some reason is keeping me up-to-date on the family drama (she came looking for her here twice the day the woman left with my key hence the missing person thing) she fled the country today... must have been a nightmare for the guy with the homeless man in one of his rooms though. Just why why why leave a kind review for a guest who sneaks in the homeless man from the street?... I think the guests account has been disabled by now. Maria Hey Jessa, what a crazy situation. I'm glad that it ended up ok. I take your comments to heart, as I struggled with a review a few years ago, in a suprisingly similar situation. I had a guest who was a host from Boston. That's the killer part for me, she was a host with lots of reviews from guests. This was in a shared house, so she rented a private room, and there was another guest in another room, the third room was empty and I lived a block away. The second guest calls to tell me that she doesn't feel secure in the house with a total stranger so she's going to cancel and leave immediately. Of course I rush over, and there's a street urchin kid sleeping on the couch in the living room. When I asked who he was, he told me that Guest A met him last night and invited him to sleep on the couch. Of course I instantly try to contact her, and she makes no bones about it. She tells me she met this kid yesterday, he had nowhere to go and since I had so much space she brought him back TO MY HOUSE. Not even to her own room, but to the living room, shared with another guest. After a series of calls/texts she still couldn't get what the big deal was, he was harmless. I asked her to come back and get her things (the young man had already left) as she was not welcome to stay. After changing the locks I called Airbnb to tell them the situation. When it came time for a review I struggled to write something that would serve as a warning but not be alarmist. This was in the days of non-blind reviews and I was still nervous about a retaliatory review myself. In the end, I wrote that this type of shared accommodation was not ideal for this guest as she did not respect my house rules and boundaries and while the rest of the situation was fine, I could not recommend her as a guest. She emailed me a pile of times to tell me what a bitch I was. Now that I've got more experience under my belt and know that the repercussions won't hurt me, my review would be 'CRAZY PERSON ALERT DO NOT ACCEPT BOOKING' Jessa Thanks Maria for sharing! An awful experience you had, glad it didn't kill your confidence! I've seen quiet some hosts around being afraid of hosting hosts. For such a long time I thought that a) I was the only host afraid of giving bad reviews and b) how will I get myself to leave a bad review on someone. With experience and reading perspectives people share in groups I'm seeing these things differently helga Thank you for sharing, Jessa and Maria. Fortunately nobody ever dragged a homeless person in (but for my husband, several times, lol). Just a 3rd party booking for a homeless as a good deed, which I refused and flagged. My strategy with bad reviews is to separate behavior from person, if there is to say something nice about a person, I say that do and be honest about the rest. I think on my first boss: "Never do a recommendation you can't honestly make, you jeopardize your own reputation by doing it". Sometimes it is very hard though not to tell a single lie, if there is absolutely no positive aspect to be found. Jessa I remember that anecdote! Good advice from your boss there Deborah In a case like this, with a seriously problematic guest such as you are describin, for the previous host to have left any kind of good review for that person, is very troubling. I will save your story Jessa, as an illustration of why honest reviews of seriously problematic guests are so important.
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