Trying to Avert a Bad Review

[Liane0]

I am trying to avert a bad review for one of my listings.  One thing that annoys me the most are guests who tell you everything is good and they are having a great time when you check in on them and then leave a bad review or mention items that could easily be reslved immediately.  Such is the case with guests that I have just had leave.

When they first contacted me, they asked for a discount on a different, higher end unit.  I gave them a price, but it was out of their budget.  I offered (and probably should have seen the flags then) to help them out if I could.  I contacted another one of our owners and through several communications etc, worked out a discounted rate for this guest who was new to AirBnB. 

Our standard check in is 3pm.  She wanted 9am.  I told her that it was not possible as I had previous guests and needed to prepare the unit.  I agreed that she could drop her stuff at 12 and come back.  She showed up at 10.  I let them in the unit to drop their stuff and after about 15 minutes of lollygagging and letting their children go into the unprepared rooms to change, they left.  When they returned, I checked them in and went through the property and the rules.

I checked in with them later that day and the following morning and everything was "great" and they were happy. That evening, her husband told me that the air conditioning had not been working very well in the master bedroom.  I contacted the repair guy immediately and he was there at 8:30am the next morning to repair it.  Which he did.

When I checked in with them later, they told me that their toilet was clogged.  I arranged for that repair as well.  At that time, the woman told me that she was going to leave us (the Property Managers) a great review, but not the property as it has "not been well maintained".  As this is a reflection on us, I asked what she was referring to and she told me the shower was weak in the one bathroom.  I had that checked and repaired the same day as well.  As my partner was there fixing that, he asked what else was a cause of concern and they said that the bed was uncomfortable.  It turned out that a couple of the slats under the mattress were loose and so he fixed that.  While he was there, he overheard them talking about leaving a little early to go and visit another area of the country.  I suppose their children were getting bored, but I don't know.

That evening, I messaged back and forth with her trying to explain that I prefer that we have the opportunity to fix small problems as opposed to not knowing about them and receiving a bad review.  She didn't have any other issues, or so she said.  I pressed and she asked if I wanted a list of "frustrating" things about the unit.  I responded that suggestions are always welcome.  She did not expand on the matter.

The following afternoon, after I had advised all of our guests that we would be out of town until the following day, she sent a message that her kids had locked themselves out of the one bathroom.  I asked if it was an emergency or if it could wait until we returned.  I also explained how to unlock a bathroom door lock from the outside.  She said it was not an emergency and could wait until the following afternoon.

The next morning I received a message asking when they could check out.  I knew they had talked about going somewhere else for the end of their trip (but she didn't know that I knew that), but I asked why they were leaving 2 days early.  It was then that she told me that ever since the clog (3 days earlier) that the bathroom smelled and they couldn't take it anymore.  This was after another follow up that everything was now "good" and "thank you for your quick response".

I really do not know what to believe and wonder if she is preparing to ask for a refund or what??  I think that they were looking for a hotel-like accomodation for a fraction of the cost.  Or perhaps it was an unreal expectation of the unit itself.  I believe that she had her heart set on the other unit (she all but said so before she booked) and was disappointed that this unit was not as well-appointed.  These are private homes and we are very transparent in our listings for each unit separately.  Our photos are current and all amenities are listed clearly. 

No matter how I review her, it does not show up in the listing, so the listing will have a bad review.  Only my response to her review does.  I would like to tell my side, but it sounds like I am being petty with guests that just wanted to enjoy their vacation.  I want to **bleep** this in the bud, but don't know how.

Any input is helpful.

[David-and-Fiona0]

It sounds like you did everything right. This again highlights difficulties with guest who ask for discounts. I always see this as a red flag and I refuse outright. There is very little you can do other than if she provides a poor review simply state that your other reviews are exemplary and maybe they are not suited to AirBnb accommodation. Then move on. Good luck

[Liane0]

I have now started doing that with requests for discounts.  We do not own these units and manage them for out of country owners, so we really have no say on the price without a lot of additional running around for approvals.  And yes, looking back, they almost always backfire. 

Thank you for your input!

[Clare0]

@Liane0 Sounds like you fixed everything this guest complained about, but my question is, why did so many things go wrong?  In your post you acknowlege fixing all these things so it makes me wonder if you have properly evaluated the condition of the airconditioning, toilets etc.  in your listing.  

Preventative maintenance is the key.  Make sure you are aware of problems before the guest is.

Your response to a previous review (the one about the ants) was well written and appropriate.  As a prospective guest I would completely understand.  If the guest you are talking about leaves you a bad review, which you have no control over, the best you can do is graciously acknowledge and perhaps thank the guest for bringing problems to your attention and say that they have all been fixed.  

That said, you don't want reviews to be a litany of things that didn't work or broke.  You need to make the investment necessary to bring your listing up to the expectations of your guests. 

Ok, enough of the lecture.  Let's talk about the guest in question.  Many veteran hosts will tell you it's a big red flag when guests are asking for a discount...they tend to be the biggest complainers.  Here's a helpful link about red flags on guests:

http://globalhosting.freeforums.net/thread/455/red-flags-hosts

The article is rather long, but well worth reading.  Remeber, it's your property, your rules and you have them for a reason.  If you can accommodate early arrivals, baggage drop offs, fine.  If not, don't allow it. I didn't look at your House Rules but hopefully you've clearly explained when a guest can do these things.  You've set the rules so you can manage things in an effective, efficient manner.  Stick to your schedule.  You are the person in charge. 

I hope this helps a little bit.  If you have more questions, ask away!

[Brittany1]

Wow @Clare0 Thanks for sharing that Red Flags article. That was fantastic. Just today I've spotted two of those red flags in my inquiries.

[Clare0]

@Brittany1 You can thank Deborah who wrote it and sometimes posts here.  She is the most expert host I know and when she speaks I pay attention.  Glad you learned something from her hard work!

[Brittany1]

@Clare0 I haven't figured out how to tag someone in a post that isn't already a part of the conversation. I've mentioned Deb and Dave's community help guides multiple times and everytime I want to tag them they don't show up. What's the trick? I've double checked to make sure I'm writing the name write, etc...

[Clare0]

@Brittany1 yeah, that's unfortunate since it would be nice to tag people even if they are not part of the conversation.  I'd like to tag Dave too sometimes on a post I know he would be interested in.  I understand that they are making some changes to the Community Center. Maybe that will be one of them!

[Liane0]

Hi Clare

thank you for your input. We do check all of your units weekly and after each check out, but some things cannot be helped, especially if we do not know about them.

In regards to the toilet, the plumbing in Costa Rica is not as high of a standard as in other more developed countries, so we advise all of our guests not to throw paper or femeinine products in the toilet as it may clog and we provide lined garbage bins for paper disposal.  Throughout the country there are signs asking that people do not flush paper.  In this case, when the toilet was plunged, there was a ton of paper that came out, so we simply re-explained the need to flush sparingly. 

The air conditioner unit was working fine with the guests who had left the previous day and we had never received a complaint about the bed from a guest.

I guess what I am trying to say is that we do our due diligence with our inspections and followup with the guests, but sometimes people do not tell you something or the expectations of one guest may be different than another.

But, yes.  We have learned a lot in the past year and one thing that I was not doing before that I do now is to look at previous reviews for guests.  Unfortunately in this case, she is new to the community.

I will wait to see what she says and respond accordingly.  But I will also give a review to make other hosts aware.

Thanks again

[Brittany1]

@Liane0

It does sound like there are a lot of things going on with your apartment but also this guest sounds like a real piece of work. Your first mistake (in my opinion) was to let them in early. It seems that everytime I bend the rules for a guest it backfires or just leads to more wants and needs. So we've pretty much stopped bending the rules all together, even when it would be easy for us to do. I clearly state in my rules that early check-ins will not be accepted. And I remind guests multiple times before their arrival that they are not to show up 1 minute before 2pm. We've only had one show up early out of 220.

You definitely bent over backwards to fix the problems and make this guest happy. And my guess is she wouldn't have been happy even in the nicer unit you offer. Some guests are like that. When reviewing the guest I would be honest and professional without "airing dirty laundry". And you can respond to her review in the same way.

The guest sounds better suited for a hotel with full time concierge service.

Good luck.

[Kathleen-And-Paul0]

Unfortunately there are a few guests who, as one person stated, are better suited to hotels. They don't quite grasp the concept of AirBNB, especially where they are sharing someone's home and booking a basement suite.  Out of over 124 guests we've had two reviews that were less than 4 stars and two or three guests complained about sound from upstairs (we have hard wood floors).  We're not sure how to avoid this, short of putting in pricy ceiling insulation which would also lower the basement ceiling. What else can we put in the listing?