You’ve cleaned to within an inch of your life, painstakingly ironed a heap of laundry, plumped cushions, and tweaked every area of your house to make a good first impression only to be slapped with a one, two, three or even four-star review at the end of a guests stay. Here’s our guide on how to respond to a poor Airbnb guest review of their stay.
It stings a little more when it’s out of the blue. Especially if they hadn’t voiced any concerns during their stay, as is often the case.
Unfortunately, even though we may have put the effort in, guests have bad stays. Sometimes these are out of our control.
Salvaging the situation
We all know that anything less than a 5 star rating is a punch to the stomach for your Airbnb metrics (and ego!). Airbnb in particular frustratingly assumes that anything under 5 stars wasn’t a perfect stay. This is true no matter how harsh or unfair a guests comments are.
The fear for hosts is that a bad review will negatively impact potential future bookings. Whilst this is true if you have a fair few of them, wording a professional reply can actually do the opposite. Showing your professionalism and care can encourage people to book with you.
Take a moment to plan a response
It’s natural for a glaring set of low stars to make you see red. Your immediate instinct will likely be the desire to leave a cutting comment in response. When that red mist descends and your fingers hover above the keyboard about to bite back, the best advice is to walk away. Sleep on it and come back in 24 hours with a fresh head.
This will give you time to think about what they’ve written. Plus it will also give you time to calm down and get over it before you pen a reply.
Demonstrating how fair and reasonable you are in a public response offers an assurance to new guests that the host is calm, collected and not a confrontational hot head.
This offers reassurance and comfort to a would-be guest.
Whilst its true that it’s human nature for guests to seek out and read the only single bad review you’ve recieved and consider that over the hundred glowing ones, you now have a chance to really win over a potential future guest.
This is particularly true if the poor review left for you by the guest was unnecessary or a tad unfair. Other potential guests can see through unreasonable reviews. In most cases they will be able to read clearly when some people are just too hard to please. This is often the case even though they won’t know the full details.
As long as the images of your listing are up to date, the description is clear and amenities are accurately listed, reviews are often the result of a guest not reading what is being offered at the time of the booking. As such, disappointment on arrival is the biggest killer of a 5 star review.
Both Airbnb & VRBO allow you to respond publicly to reviews on your profile. Your response will vary depending on the nature of a guests complaint and what you are offering. Always remember to respond to every poor or negative feedback you receive – no matter how ridiculous the review.
How to respond – a formula
I always follow a similar rough response such as:
- Start by thanking the guest for their review.
- Follow by apologising for the guest’s disappointment or alternatively that you are saddened to hear of their poor experience. An apology shows professionalism. The ‘saddened to hear’ line shows the reader that they didn’t bother to contact you about it beforehand. This is something which is very important when taking a review into account.
- Finally, mention briefly that you’ve taken onboard the feedback and have implemented changes. For example, if a guest complains about the lack of towels or toilet roll available, mention in the response that more can be provided on request or that you now supply extra in the property.
- You can leave the review short and sweet. Reiterate your thanks again to the guest for helping to improve the experience for future guests.
The Power of Feedback.
You’ll likely find any negative review someone leaves you unreasonable. But as there are always two sides to a story, hosts often get the raw end of the deal. In instances where the guest has left a particularly unfair or unfavourable review or in some cases downright lies, politely correct the incorrect information without giving a barbed response and without calling them a liar.
Sometimes guests aren’t aware of the full picture before leaving the review. For example, if the guest claims there were no towels available instead, you can politely point out the location of towels and that they were in fact provided. You can then inform that you have now moved them to a more obvious location moving forward. Be sure to only mention the facts without allowing emotion to contribute.
If the review is particularly unfair or untrue or if you feel the guest had unreasonable expectations that were clearly explained beforehand on your listing information or discussed via messages, you may be able to get Airbnb support to get it removed. Contact Airbnb host support and explain and they’ll be able to make a decision.
If the guest didn’t stay and instead left a bad or mediocre review, call Airbnb and ask them to remove it. A guest that didn’t physically stay is not permitted to leave feedback.
Low rating stars with no feedback
The most frustrating review is a low rating of 1 or 2 stars, but not much information written by the guest as to why this is or no contact from a guest during the booking. This type of review isn’t helpful to other guests looking to stay.
You can say something like:
“Thanks for your review, I’m sorry to see it wasn’t an enjoyable stay. Sadly I didn’t hear from you during your booking so I could assist or resolve any issues and I couldn’t find any issues when you left. If you have a moment, please do contact me to provide more information so I can investigate..”
If however the guest has provided 5 star ratings for every category but just a low score overall, it may have been done by mistake and you may be able to ask Airbnb to review the feedback or remove it for you.
Complaints about Cleanliness
If this is a one-off complaint in a section of 5 stars cleanliness reviews, I wouldn’t be overly worried. When you get used to the turnover process, your cleaning regime happens like clockwork. You’ll learn what needs cleaning and how often other areas need a spruce up.
However, if you are receiving several mentions regarding a lack of cleanliness, your property may not be up to the suitable standard you think it might be. Like beauty, cleanliness is in the eye of the beholder and everyone’s idea of appropriate cleanliness is different.
It’s hard to gauge what a guest’s expectation will be. Sometimes cleanliness can be perspective rather than accurate. For example to some eyes older or dated furniture styles can seem grubbier than more modern styles. This can be the case even if both are immaculately clean.
If it’s just that you’ve missed a spot, you can respond by saying:
“Thank you for your visit, I’m so sorry to hear of this – I will speak to cleaner and make sure this is resolved for future bookings.”
Alternatively,
“Thank you for your booking and for providing this feedback. We’ve implemented new cleaning practices and rest assured this has been resolved moving forward.”
Complaints about the Mattress
By far the most difficult review to respond to is a guest complaining about the bed comfort. This will either be too hard or too soft for that particular guests liking.
Sadly, just like the tale of the three bears, everyone has a preference of what they are used to. Just know, it’s impossible to please everyone.
Frustratingly, the most important part of an Airbnb or short-term rental property is ensuring the guest has a good nights sleep. A good nights sleep will encourage good reviews. Likewise a bad or disturbed night can make a guest grouchy. A tired or grouchy guest is more likely to unknowingly criticize other parts of the property. This can dampen their otherwise pleasant experience.
An example response would be:
“I’m so sorry to hear of your disappointment with the mattress. I completely understand everyone has a sleeping preference when it comes to mattress hardness/softness. I’ve now added a mattress topper to allow for a much softer sleeping experience and this can be removed for guests that prefer a firmer mattress. Many thanks again for your review and for staying with us!”
Alternatively, if there isn’t an issue and is just a picky guest, you can omit the statement about implementing changes. Instead you can say something like:
“I’m so sorry to hear of your disappointment with the mattress. I completely understand everyone has a sleeping preference when it comes to mattress hardness/softness so I’m sorry that this wasn’t to your liking. Many thanks again for your review and for staying with us!”
Complaints about Noise/Road traffic.
Another frustrating review can be complaints about road noise (or even lack of) at night. Again, guests are used to the environment they sleep in at home. As such a city centre location can be a whole new experience for someone to get used to. Especially if they’re used to sleeping in the countryside.
You can respond to these views by saying something like:
“Apologies for this, as we’re a city centre location there may be some road and pedestrian noise on occasion. We’ve added disposable earplugs to our amenity kits for guests who aren’t used to this kind of environment. The good news is that we’re within walking distance of some great local attractions/facilities! We really look forward to hosting you again and many thanks again for staying with us!”
Whatever your guests gripe, a bad review can in fact be a positive opportunity. It allows you to demonstrate to potential guests how you handle situations when problems arise.
As with anything like this, brush it off and don’t stew on it! Accept the feedback. Take comfort in the fact that good reviews will inevitably follow and drown out the bad ones.
Once you know how to respond to a poor Airbnb guest review properly, you’ll find they won’t do as much damage as you fear.
As long as you are constantly improving and doing the best you can, sometimes you just can’t please everyone!