Post by High Priestess on Oct 15, 2015 16:09:23 GMT
Vicky shared Oct 15 2015
Low rating from an unreasonable guest
I had a guest booked 3 nights with us. In the last night, she let me know that they had made a mistake when booking, and the flight actually was 1 day later. She asked me to stay 1 more night. So I let her to stay that night free of charge and only charge her for the cleaning fee (extra) since I already organised -and paid for a professional cleaner.
(Moreover, we had a gap 2 nights between her reservation and my next guest, and my policy was 2 nights stay minimum. That mean when I agreed with her to stay 1 more night I had to forfeit the next night which may cost us much more than the cleaning fee).
Unfortunately, she gave me 3 star overall review just because I charged her the cleaning fee (which we both agreed on).
Can't explain how sad I am at that time
(.
Is there anyway we can appeal to Airbnb to remove the rating ? I have full conversation history in Airbnb message.
Or should I respond to her review on Airbnb so that my future guest can know a bit the reason why I got that low rating?
Kirst
Wow, that sucks. I have no advice, as a new host. But would recommend cross-posting this on Hosting 911. They've been helpful!
Kristi (Kristi)
I would be short & simple in my review. Just state that she was more than willing to pay the cleaning fee since you had extended her a free night.
I learned my lesson with giving a free night myself. I had another Airbnb host stay with me twice we got along super well. The second visit she booked 3 nights and realized like your guest she needed one more night, I gave her that night and asked her to be out by 8:00am she said no problem. In the early morning hours (3:00am) her and her boyfriend have a loud argument, woke us up and I worried about my neighbors. I actually was worried too if they would throw something at each other and break something on the one night I didn't have my Airbnb coverage. My husband asked them to be quiet, they did and the next morning she apologized. Lesson learned! Don't go out without the Airbnb umbrella!
Bertina's House
Is the bad review visible or did she write nice things but leave 3 stars?
Kristi (Kristi)
I didn't see the bad review either but I did see your rating. I loved your reviews. Vicky your listing is beautiful, very clean and just perfect. I would suggest 2 things.....write a profile about your self so people know who they are renting from and have a few friends write a reference for you. That way the bad review will look dim after they hear all about you and have more positive things to read. It all looks wonderful and I would love to stay at your place. I wish you all the best.
Andrew (andrew)
It's really unfortunate that this rating happened at a time when you have only 2 other reviews, but it will very soon be diluted by all of your future reviews. Airbnb's policy is not to remove reviews unless they violate specific terms, which are listed here: www.airbnb.com/help/article/546 . I've never heard of a rating being removed. At some point we all get star ratings that feel unfair, and there's not much we can do about it.
I don't recommend offering free nights to guests just because they make a planning error - as you can see, the efforts and sacrifice aren't necessarily rewarded in the end.
Deborah (High Priestess)
I really agree with what Andrew said about not recommending you offer free nights.
There is nothing, unforunately, that any of us can do about unreasonable or vindictive star ratings being given by guests. There have been many threads posted on the groups about the craziness of some guests' ratings -- for instance, a guest gave a host 1 star for accuracy, because, she said, "your place is actually much better than you described.!" [Image of host tearing own hair out goes here] ANother guest gave a host a very low rating because she didn't serve breakfast, which that host never promised, and had said nothing about breakfast in her listing. But the guest had had breakfast when she stayed in a regular B&B and so was angry that she didn't get breakfast.
I believe that for reasons like these and many more, there are flaws in the star rating system as it stands now. But the reality is, the star ratings that we are given by guests can't be removed, unless the entire review is removed for some reason.
In a situation I experienced recently, written about here :
www.globalhosting.freeforums.net/thread/470/guest-wrong-arrive-gives-ratings
my guest never arrived, never stayed at my house, but stayed elsewhere because she got lost on the freeway, and then wrote a scathing review of my listing, including 1 star ratings in 2 categories and 2 stars in another. Fortunately Airbnb CX removed that review AND the low star ratings she gave me, stating that guests who dont' stay at a place aren't permitted to review it. But, if she had actually stayed at my house, I'm pretty certain she would have given me low ratings anyway, because her exceptionally entitled, demanding attitude suggests that. She is a host herself, and one of the comments she mentioned in her ridiculous review was that I was not going to offer her breakfast with her stay (I have never offered breakfast to guests) like she does at HER listing.
So, unforunately we can't control demanding, vindictive, or spiteful guests, so do your best just to avoid getting them in the first place. One common theme I have found is that the younger newbie guests actually are much more grateful and appreciative than the older guests, particularly those who are hosts themselves. One of the regular forum members actually wrote a blog about how hosts should beware of host guests! (Of course, some hosts will be great guests)
Also, be careful about responding to a review that doesn't have any critical comments in it, if that is the case. People who look at the guest's review will have no idea what ratings she gave you -- -those don't show up for the public to see in connection to any review -- so it would not be a good idea to respond to RATINGS when you respond to a review. Only respond to what is actually written in the review, not what readers cannot see there, otherwise you could end up looking bad.
Now put this behind you and look forward to your next guest!
Low rating from an unreasonable guest
I had a guest booked 3 nights with us. In the last night, she let me know that they had made a mistake when booking, and the flight actually was 1 day later. She asked me to stay 1 more night. So I let her to stay that night free of charge and only charge her for the cleaning fee (extra) since I already organised -and paid for a professional cleaner.
(Moreover, we had a gap 2 nights between her reservation and my next guest, and my policy was 2 nights stay minimum. That mean when I agreed with her to stay 1 more night I had to forfeit the next night which may cost us much more than the cleaning fee).
Unfortunately, she gave me 3 star overall review just because I charged her the cleaning fee (which we both agreed on).
Can't explain how sad I am at that time
(.Is there anyway we can appeal to Airbnb to remove the rating ? I have full conversation history in Airbnb message.
Or should I respond to her review on Airbnb so that my future guest can know a bit the reason why I got that low rating?
Kirst
Wow, that sucks. I have no advice, as a new host. But would recommend cross-posting this on Hosting 911. They've been helpful!
Kristi (Kristi)
I would be short & simple in my review. Just state that she was more than willing to pay the cleaning fee since you had extended her a free night.
I learned my lesson with giving a free night myself. I had another Airbnb host stay with me twice we got along super well. The second visit she booked 3 nights and realized like your guest she needed one more night, I gave her that night and asked her to be out by 8:00am she said no problem. In the early morning hours (3:00am) her and her boyfriend have a loud argument, woke us up and I worried about my neighbors. I actually was worried too if they would throw something at each other and break something on the one night I didn't have my Airbnb coverage. My husband asked them to be quiet, they did and the next morning she apologized. Lesson learned! Don't go out without the Airbnb umbrella!
Bertina's House
Is the bad review visible or did she write nice things but leave 3 stars?
Kristi (Kristi)
I didn't see the bad review either but I did see your rating. I loved your reviews. Vicky your listing is beautiful, very clean and just perfect. I would suggest 2 things.....write a profile about your self so people know who they are renting from and have a few friends write a reference for you. That way the bad review will look dim after they hear all about you and have more positive things to read. It all looks wonderful and I would love to stay at your place. I wish you all the best.
Andrew (andrew)
It's really unfortunate that this rating happened at a time when you have only 2 other reviews, but it will very soon be diluted by all of your future reviews. Airbnb's policy is not to remove reviews unless they violate specific terms, which are listed here: www.airbnb.com/help/article/546 . I've never heard of a rating being removed. At some point we all get star ratings that feel unfair, and there's not much we can do about it.
I don't recommend offering free nights to guests just because they make a planning error - as you can see, the efforts and sacrifice aren't necessarily rewarded in the end.
Deborah (High Priestess)
I really agree with what Andrew said about not recommending you offer free nights.
There is nothing, unforunately, that any of us can do about unreasonable or vindictive star ratings being given by guests. There have been many threads posted on the groups about the craziness of some guests' ratings -- for instance, a guest gave a host 1 star for accuracy, because, she said, "your place is actually much better than you described.!" [Image of host tearing own hair out goes here] ANother guest gave a host a very low rating because she didn't serve breakfast, which that host never promised, and had said nothing about breakfast in her listing. But the guest had had breakfast when she stayed in a regular B&B and so was angry that she didn't get breakfast.
I believe that for reasons like these and many more, there are flaws in the star rating system as it stands now. But the reality is, the star ratings that we are given by guests can't be removed, unless the entire review is removed for some reason.
In a situation I experienced recently, written about here :
www.globalhosting.freeforums.net/thread/470/guest-wrong-arrive-gives-ratings
my guest never arrived, never stayed at my house, but stayed elsewhere because she got lost on the freeway, and then wrote a scathing review of my listing, including 1 star ratings in 2 categories and 2 stars in another. Fortunately Airbnb CX removed that review AND the low star ratings she gave me, stating that guests who dont' stay at a place aren't permitted to review it. But, if she had actually stayed at my house, I'm pretty certain she would have given me low ratings anyway, because her exceptionally entitled, demanding attitude suggests that. She is a host herself, and one of the comments she mentioned in her ridiculous review was that I was not going to offer her breakfast with her stay (I have never offered breakfast to guests) like she does at HER listing.
So, unforunately we can't control demanding, vindictive, or spiteful guests, so do your best just to avoid getting them in the first place. One common theme I have found is that the younger newbie guests actually are much more grateful and appreciative than the older guests, particularly those who are hosts themselves. One of the regular forum members actually wrote a blog about how hosts should beware of host guests! (Of course, some hosts will be great guests)
Also, be careful about responding to a review that doesn't have any critical comments in it, if that is the case. People who look at the guest's review will have no idea what ratings she gave you -- -those don't show up for the public to see in connection to any review -- so it would not be a good idea to respond to RATINGS when you respond to a review. Only respond to what is actually written in the review, not what readers cannot see there, otherwise you could end up looking bad.
Now put this behind you and look forward to your next guest!
