I guess it had to happen sooner or later, it’s the law of averages …We had a very difficult guest who ended up leaving a very bad review. I’m not going to go to much into the problems we had but just to say that this guest had the same room, the same warm welcome and paid the same rate through airbnb as our past happy guests had in our twin room. For whatever reasons there was no pleasing this one.
This is not a post I want to write, but I feel its important to let others know how to deal with it if a guest leaves a bad review.
It all happened on the same weekend we received our Super Host status from Airbnb. A real bitter sweet weekend! The guest had stayed with us for 3 nights with a friend and during their stay were very distant than our usual guests. Not a problem, some people are private and want to keep themselves to themselves. We left them to it and had brief talks, just checking everything was okay with the room and asking if they needed anything. Every time the reply was ‘yea fine’ type of thing.
Upon leaving it was told that she was less than satisfied. Everything from the location of the room, to the noise level of our kids and everything in-between had been a problem. I was completely taken aback and felt very upset. How could this person come and stay with my family in my home and speak to me in this way implying that we were trying to con her. I have to say, if it wasn’t for the 10 glowing reviews we had had from previous guests in the room, I would have quit airbnb right there!
Fiona too was also very upset when the guest left and we knew we had to reach out to airbnb and advise them of the situation. They were excellent and quick in their response and let us know they understood that sometimes there will be guests who won’t be happy, and that it sounded like this person thought they were staying in a hotel and not a host’s home. Airbnb also attempted to reach out and communicate with the guest directly but to no avail.
A few days later the review came in coupled with a private review and well, it just broke our hearts. What had we done to this person? Why did she feel that we had wronged her so badly. Friends and family around us were telling us not to take it to heart but it was hard not too. We’re passionate about airbnb and our home and this was something we had not planned for. We knew we had done everything for this guest that we had done for previous ones, all who had left great reviews.
Whist Airbnb would not remove the review as it did not break any of their Review Guide Lines. They did however let us respond to the guests review, so that when prospective guests read the bad one they can click and see our response to the review which we feel was written well and without bitterness.
So, what do to do if you find yourself in a similar situation and the guest has posted a bad review that you feel is unjust?
- Take a deep breath and write down exactly what happened. This way you can look and see if there was anything you could have done better so you can learn from this moving forward with guests.
- Contact Airbnb by email and send them the details of what happened.
- Don’t sit and worry about how this will effect your over all ranking (We forgot this step and it was not a fun few days)
- Read your past reviews. They will cheer you up and remind you that you are doing a great job at hosting.
- Do not write your reply straight away or their review. It will come across bitter. Take your time and respond in a professional manner.
- Talk about it with your partner or friends. Its good to share a problem.
- Read your reviews again! If your hosting well, reading these will really help to know its not you, its them!
- Don’t take it to heart. We know, it’s hard not to. But you can not please every one! That’s the bottom line.
Dust your self down from the bad experience. It was a bump in the road for us and something we hope will not happen again, but if it does, we’ll be prepared.
Of course, if you getting bad review after bad review, then perhaps your not cut out for hosting and should seek an alternative means of an income and meeting people……
For us we have our first Airbnb guests back staying with us for a few days, which has brightened our mood and reminded us why we do this.
Good luck folks.
Phil
Do share your nightmare guest stories in the comments below.
'It Happened…A bad review!' have 26 comments
June 15, 2012 @ 1:27 pm Aisling
Very good! Love how it ends with faulty towers!
June 16, 2012 @ 1:31 pm Fiona
Thanks Aisling, Fawlty Towers is just classic isn’t it. Nice to see the funny side:)
June 15, 2012 @ 3:55 pm Guido Diepen
Sorry to hear about that. I think your advice to read the other reviews is a really good one. I remember when writing our review, it was really difficult to not copy any of the praise and positive points of the other guests because pretty much everything I wanted to write down had already been written in other positive reviews 🙂
Just read the other reviews a couple times more and you will forget all about this one 🙂
June 18, 2012 @ 9:46 am Phil
Thanks so much Guido. It was reading reviews from gusts like yourselves that really helped us dust our selves down.
We’ve since had 2 guests book and stay since this review has been up, so I guess they saw straight though this person. One of these guests left the most amazing review for us and the room. So its onwards and upwards.
June 15, 2012 @ 7:02 pm annette
Hiya… don’t worry about it guys. Having lived in a hotel run by my parents, I can assure you that this won’t be your only difficult guest. Some people thrive on looking for things to complain about and it speaks more about them than you!
You are great hosts (as proven by your other reviews)… notch this one up to experience and wishing you every success (and nicer guests) in future!!
xxx
June 16, 2012 @ 1:34 pm Fiona
Thanks Annette, I remember the hotel in Ballymote, Co. Sligo so well and loved the time I spent down there with you all. Your parents are amazing, how did they do that.. run the hotel with 7 kids… Legends:) xx
June 20, 2012 @ 12:32 pm Bonnie
We rented out the top apartments in our house overseas when we were living there and had some right ones staying with us – my favourite was the man who complained at the end of his stay because his bed was not facing west and he did not want to wash in cold water – apparently turning on the hot tap was beneath him!!! Dont let it get you down – those are the guests who will be your dinner party stories for years to come xxx
June 21, 2012 @ 5:49 am Christine Cuccia
Hi, Fiona and Phil,
I’ve been meaning to write you, directly, after my stay with you in November but, well, let’s just say life got in the way … in a really unfortunate way, but that’s a story for another time.
Anyhow, firstly, congratulations on your AirBnB award. Honestly, I’m not surprised. I loved my stay with you, Charlotte and Jack. As it was my first, and so far only, AirBnB experience I fear the bar has been set too high for stays with other hosts. Maybe I’ll use that in my future queries, “Do you have a Super Host badge like Fiona and Phil? They were my first hosts, you know.”
Secondly, I haven’t read the review to which you refer but as you write, law of averages … . It’s kind of like that first scratch in the new car. In some ways, I hope you can both breathe a small sigh of relief and know you’ve weathered that first ding. Of course, I think the authors are probably the types who are naturally unhappy sorts who will find issues where there aren’t any. Shake it off and move on.
And, lastly, thank you again for making my stay in Barcelona such a happy one.
Best,
Christine
July 29, 2012 @ 1:15 am James
In my experience sometimes if you’re too nice it can backfire. We had a lady stay as our first guest so naturally made a big effort. She seemed to take this as a birthright and inspiration to push for more, we ended up compromising on the price and then she wanted to overstay, for free. No review as yet – its important to be fair but firm as the old saying goes. Some people, fortunately rare, see kindness as weakness. They can’t understand your actions so assume there must be a hidden catch. Any potential guests will be able to see the real story from the guests previous reviews and yours. Love the farty towels video by the way!
James
July 30, 2012 @ 8:45 am Phil
Thanks for your comment James,
Your right, being to nice does have its down fall. We always tell our guests to make themselves at home. We had one who took it literally and laid out sprawled on our sofa leaving us to ‘perch’ on our small chairs in our living room. But as you say, its only some people like this and the majority have been excellent guests.
Great you loved the Flowery Twats video.
Thanks,
Phil
August 24, 2012 @ 1:24 am Mike
We have a small guesthouse in Bali and we are on Airbnb and Tripadvisor. After getting 40 great reviews in 1 year and getting the certificate of excellence we got our first 1 star review. It was so disappointing and heart breaking for us.
“Some people, fortunately rare, see kindness as weakness.” That is so true and it something I struggle with. I always give in to people, but my wife is very good at being firm with guests.
I think in our case all of the great reviews built up a huge level of expectation for the guest. Perhaps they don’t typically stay in our stay our style of accommodation. And the other thing which really annoyed me was that they hadn’t written any other reviews of places they stayed.
Fortunately it hasn’t affected our bookings in any significant way.
January 26, 2016 @ 8:08 pm Gabriel
I’d like to give my opinion as a guest, noy as a host. I have recently stay in an apartment in Berlin for 7 days. Everything was OK. I have met the host and talked just a few times. At the end of my stay AIRBNB asked me to write a review. I wrote a very positive one (which was in fact real). At the following days the host write a very VERY negative opinion, talking abouy dirty floors, garbage everywhere, and what is worth, advicing other host not to take me as a guest.
So…What happend there?! What to do when all things the host has wrote are a kind of lying…or ay least a very subjetive point of view.
I write the host two times with the “chat” tool of Airbnb, but he has never again reply me.
Other reviews of hosts were always good, but now, I have a very, hard, and undeserved negative opinion that I not deserve. At least, I need more details about “dirty everywhere”, I am not asking him to change the review (I dont know if is possible in Airbnb).
What do you recomend me?!
Best regards,
Gabriel
March 30, 2016 @ 8:20 pm Terry
Dear Phil and Fiona,
I really sympathize with your experience. We stay in Airbnb all over the world and use it and Tripadvisor to find places from Saigon to Punta arenas. Reading the negative reviews first, I’d discount one lone idiot like you had and see if there was a pattern. Reading the positive reviews, I’d also see if there was a bit of honesty in them (like noise level, esp. or that the bathroom was shared when I thot it was private, etc).
Have to admit that the 14 days often passes when we SHOULD have left a review and did not. Now we are owners of a couple Airbnb/VRBO sites and anxious about the reviews we get.
You’re lucky you had the buffer of many good reviews before getting that nasty one. It would be nice if people could see that this reviewer was simply a jerk or jerkesse by posting something about their trail of tears stays. I’d be willing to be that your place was not the 1st time that this person wrote an unnecessary and untruthful review.
May 19, 2016 @ 6:02 am alisoun
Thank you for this. After 25 great reviews I got a horrific review from some rather obnoxious guests. I did not review them because I felt that old, if you can’t say something nice don’t say anything at all, and then they trashed me to the full extent of the 500 words. I was devastated Thank you for putting it all in perspective.
February 10, 2017 @ 3:41 pm Phil
Hi Alisoun
Obnoxious guest are the worst! Thankfully they are few and far between.
We’re really so happy to hear from people how have found our post helpful.
Just keep watching the video. Gets me every time.
June 22, 2016 @ 6:29 pm fernanda stange
Just had my first bad review in a year. I am heartbroken, but reading your post made me feel a bit more hopeful again. Thanks
February 10, 2017 @ 3:22 pm Phil
Sorry to hear, but we’re so pleased that you feel a bit better. Dust yourself down and watch the video a few times. You’ll be fine and enjoy the great guests and the reviews they leave.
August 10, 2016 @ 10:50 pm Scott
As a renter – and now a host – I’m not going to do, as a host, what I’ve seen other hosts do. And that is, to argue.
If someone leaves you a bad review. Don’t argue. Don’t write all the bad stuff they did. Don’t tit for tat. Don’t drag yourself into the mud.
Because, when you do, you’ll look as bad as they do.
If the renter complains the room is too small, kids were too loud, you’re too far from the bus stop and the neighborhood isn’t what they expected, then do this;
ACKNOWLEDGE what they said, address it briefly and then mention what steps you’ve done to make your listing better.
“Jane. We’re so sorry that your stay wasn’t all that you had hoped for. While we’ve done everything to keep our kids as quiet as possible, it seems that you expected less noise than our regular patrons. We have talked with the kids and we’ve renewed our efforts to be quiet and respectful.
Regarding the neighborhood and the distance to the bus stop, we have updated our description to be even more precise so that future visitors will have a very clear understanding of our neighborhood. And, we exactly measured the dimensions of the room and posted them in the description.
Again, we’re sorry that you weren’t satisfied. We hope to be better for our other guests and we thank you for your constructive criticism and that it has made us better hosts.”
You write something like that and the guest sounds like a raging lunatic, no matter what they wrote. People who read this will perceive you as REASONABLE, will read your other reviews and will book with you. After one or two more positive reviews, the outlier review looks even more like a nut.
I’ve seen hosts who reply in kind to bad reviews and it turns me off and I just book with someone else. No one wants drama on their holiday. You post a reply like the one above and people will perceive your venue as a drama free zone.
Good luck.
August 10, 2016 @ 10:52 pm Scott
please edit:
should read – “Jane. We’re so sorry that your stay wasn’t all that you had hoped for. While we’ve done everything to keep our kids as quiet as possible, it seems that you expected MORE noise than our regular patrons. We have talked with the kids and we’ve renewed our efforts to be quiet and respectful.
September 2, 2016 @ 6:54 pm Kathryn
Wow…after two years of hosting I just got my first bad review and I needed this to get myself to feel a little bit better. Thanks for posting your feelings and helping me get through this bad time.
February 10, 2017 @ 3:29 pm Phil
Hi Kathryn,
So sorry to hear you got your first bad review. It sucks, no 2 ways about it.
We’ve a few under our belt now and I would love to say it gets easier…. But it’s still a sucker punch.
We’re glad our little post helped you out.
Onwards and upwards 🙂
September 6, 2016 @ 8:46 pm hilda lam
thank you so much for sharing.
i just had similar situation and she asked for full refund. after talking to airbnb, I told them exactly the situation, airbnb decided to give me a “one time courtesy”, so they refunded the guest instead of making me refund it.
However, it is not fair to me as a host who even offer to give them proof and another guest’s( who stayed at the same time) statement… it also not fair to the other person who they blame of stealing the keys that they have lost themseleves(they lost the day before the guest even arrives)
I was bothered by it for a few days, couldn’t believe airbnb just believe whatever she says by the photos that was obviously can be easily staged by them…
anyway, now I am just gonna take it easy and see how much longer I can and willing to stay with airbnb.
February 10, 2017 @ 3:34 pm Phil
Keep going!!!!
Airbnb have had our backs so many times over the time we’ve been hosting, but they have also sided with the guests a couple of times. Even when we feel hard done by.
They have to go with the ‘evidence’ the guest has sent through to them and make a decision.
It sounds like you’re hosting a few guests at a time. That must bring its own type of hosting issues.
Hope hosting is all going well for you now.
May 29, 2017 @ 5:22 am ang
I just got my first bad review …and I’m new to this… I spoke with the guess every day and ask how was it going , same respond good, on her last day she sneeked out without even a good bye, that was my first light bulb moment she booked with 2 others total 3, brought another person who stayed pass checkout and I did’nt say a thing complained about stuff on the utensils, and there was a new dish washer, complained about the plastic on new appliances most of all complained about the bed and bedding…. which she cancled the cleaning day… she said I had roached…. this is a big surprise to me …I want to see other reviews this person has written
June 8, 2017 @ 5:46 am Madeleine
Dear Phil,
Thank you for this article. I’ve read it several times and have often thought about it. It is so obvious that you care! And it helped me prepare for the inevitable shock of the low blow.
I am a new Host and have accommodated 25 trips in less than 3 months. 22 are 5-star. But the one that stands out was a similar guest who stayed for a month. I never saw this coming. The rant in the Private Message section went on for 2-300 words, and it was personal.
My response was probably too long, but I stuck with the facts. Crowding? Not at an average of 3.55 people per night (and 2 full baths) in my home. Messy floors? It rained 16 days out of 30, and the kitchen floor is white. Hey, stuff happens. Not suitable for long term? Not many reviews on this room, because it’s constantly booked for months at a time.
I then asked the obvious – why suffer for a whole month? In my opinion, there was no reason why two intelligent, well educated professionals should merit a 2-star review. And that I upheld my 5-star opinion of her, and wished her well.
It’s now been several years since your bad review. Do you still get them, and how do you manage them? What new approaches have you taken to nip potential nasties in the bud?
Cheers!
January 14, 2018 @ 4:14 am OhioOhio
Just got my first bad review. It was stinging. This was after 136 great reviews. It makes me want to give up on airbnb. Mostly, the cleanliness of the house was questioned which can be a death knell for a host.