Guest with 3-4* rating but reccomended? Whazzup with that?

[Sally221]

We just finished de-axing our bodyspray dousing last guests' stank & I have a new a booking for a guest who is reccomended by 2 hosts but was rated 4 in each category except follows house rules  where he was given a 3. How is this possible? What does a 3 mean regarding a guests conduct? I know how bad it would be if I got a 3 but I'm confused- I would not reccomend a guest who rated a 3.

If it's about smoking & I catch a whiff I will manually flip on the smoke alarm- it worked for a naughty child during a long ago sleep over & I'm not going to  do another decontamination clean up this week .I hope it was just confusion on the host's part, but I am a bit worried, Sally

[Letti0]

@Sally221  Did you approve the guest or was it an instant booking? With a 3* rating in all categories they would not have been allowed to  instant book anymore. This was not a favor to other hosts only giving them 1 - 3*. The host should be listed I would send her an inquiry and they should be able to address the issues with the guest that they had. Then if they are not something you are willing to deal with call AirBnB and get the reservation cancelled, have them read what ever the other host said in your messaging system and state you are completely uncomfortable with this guest. 

[Sally221]

Bravely or foolishly, I allow  instant book  with new unreviewed guests. Both the reviews for this guy were full of praise & I can't tell who gave the low stars or why this fellow got these "grades" .Is there an rubric for how to rate guests  somewhere on the site?

It is just for 1 night but so were the stinko guys so I am nervous. I will try to get a response from the host in L.A. My fall back plan is to flip the upstairs smoke alarm on manually( it's hella loud) if I catch the first bit of smoke via the heater vent, I have a sensitive sniffer.  I hope this is all much ado about nothing tho! Sally

[Letti0]

@Sally221  We can set off the security alarm by trying to open a door or window. It's loud also. Call to security company first to tell them we are testing the alarm system, so please ignore for the next hour. We have not used this option, but we have it listed on our cheat sheet as a way to find guests we are sure are smoking inside the house. Someone on the Air Hosts Forum I believe suggested it about a year or so ago in a post, so it went into our cheat sheet notebook ;D

[Victoria567]

A 3* for a guest means the same as a 3* for a host.

[Sally221]

They turned out to be a darling group of millenials who were tidy, respectful and mercifully unstanky, whew! Maxim mentioned the strange household dynamic at the L.A. airbnb they'd stayed at- diplomatically I said nothing, but they get all 5s from me and I'd have them back anytime (assuming we are still hosting but that's another thread!)

[Kelly149]

@Sally221 the “recommended by host” only has to do with the Thumbs Up/Down

after that you have to decide how you feel about the stars. The ‘can’t IB with 3*s’ that @Letti0 referred to will only hide them from the host that gave the 3*. The rest of us could still get stuck with them. 

I once had cs cancel an IB bc a host gave Thumbs Up (which let them IB) but then noted that they were slobs. I might would have let it pass except for the horrible note the guest wrote responding to the review. 

[Sally221]

 I just stopped letting unreviewed people instant book. I had thought of myself as a gateway person for airbnb- ours isn't a stand alone unit so  we were performing the due diligence & educating people about how airbnb works without the risks run by on off site host.  Now, within a week, we had super stanky guys & clueless woman & I had first hand experience of the horrors of airbnb support, yikes!  I'm still reeling from the brand new guest who gave us a 2 for accuracy as she thought she was booking an entire unit, there's nothing can be done as the system is automatic, according to Jerome the support person. I'm realizing it's time to either woman up and start using the platforms where I have to dun the guests myself or just rent out the downstairs rooms to grad students.  I wish airbnb would get it together,  I do love hosting but I'd rather leave on a high note while my rating is still okay