When checkout time comes, nothing dampens the journey of hosting like having to summarise an experience with a bad guest. Thankfully, bad bookings are few and far between. The many pleasant bookings you’ll enjoy will greatly outweigh the negative ones. In this article we’ll discuss how to review a bad Airbnb guest properly.
Learning how to leave a bad guest review properly helps make Airbnb a better place for everyone.
You have a duty as a host to make sure that you look out for all the other hosts. As such you should warn them of any bad guests who display behaviours that aren’t welcome on the platform.
Why reviews are important
Would you be happy if another host just wiped their hands of a bad guest without warning you for next?
The review system is so important on all hosting platforms because troublesome people do exist.
Serious rule breakers have no place in a short term lets. Hosts can face significant loss or damage caused by bad guests so it’s vital that poor behaviour is called out.
After some situations it can be difficult to know if you’re overreacting or if you should just let things slide.
I completely get this, sometimes feeling like you’re potentially stirring up trouble just doesn’t seem worth it.
For example, if the guest left towels strewn over the floor, you might want to just overlook that and still review positively if the rest of the booking went relatively well.
For most hosts we can let minor things like this slide. However, if you felt the guest was sloppy to the extent that you wouldn’t like to host them in your home again, then it’s likely that other hosts won’t want too either. If this is the case, then you need to make sure you leave an appropriate comment.
Airbnb is very clear with guest expectations. You can use this as a guideline to know how to base your review.
You can read about whether you’re overreacting by reading my article “How messy is too messy” here. Sometimes the lines of what is appropriate and what isn’t can be blurred. Especially when you are running a business and want to stay professional so I think it’s worth a read.
Examples
Every hosting experience is different, so there is no one size fits all response for a review. However, you can leave a balanced review by mentioning something positive the guest did before then mentioning the area that the guest was poor on.
You can then follow this with a note on whether you would host them again. This way, it softens the review without making you come across as wholly negative.
For example, a light comment on a generally messy guest would be:
“Amy was great at communicating during her stay, however there was considerable additional cleaning required in the property which was worth noting. Based on this, I sadly wouldn’t host again.”
“Adam checked in and checked out on time and without issue. However, sadly some of the house rules weren’t followed, downstairs windows were left open and property unsecured, some of the linens required extra washes and most of the living room furniture was rearranged without putting back.”
“Sam was very pleasant with communication, but cooked food was dropped on the bedroom carpet which required lengthy cleaning and there were lots of wrappers on the floor and by the bed which weren’t tidied up. Our house rules request no eating in the bedroom, so we were disappointed this wasn’t followed.”
For more serious issues, your reviews can be written like:
“Unfortunately, guest smoked in the property which is against house rules. Additional cleaning was required due to smoking, and this delayed further bookings at cost to us. I cannot recommend this guest and would sadly not host again.”
“Guest did not clear up their dinner plates or takeaway boxes which were still left on the table when they left. Empty cans left on floor throughout, clump of hair from hairbrush left on side and not put in bin, spills not mopped up. Cleaner had a larger job than our appropriate cleaning fee covered. I would host again if improvements were made otherwise hosting this guest is sadly unviable.”
It’s usually worth noting, such as above, whether you’d host again based on that experience as this can be very telling to other hosts.
Some guests honestly have no shame but refrain from adding details that would embarrass, shame or humiliate a guest.
What not to do
There’s no right way to leave a bad review comment but there is a wrong way. Refrain from leaving an emotionally charged or hostile review – even if you feel the situation warranted such a response in the heat of the moment.
A public review can be seen by everyone so leaving a short but professional comment is really important. It’s important to just state the facts of what occurred and leave out any emotion.
When a bad guest goes and we’re in the angry phase of a clean-up, it can be easy to want to leave a heated review. If the booking has caused you particular distress, walk away from it for a while until you’ve calmed down.
You have 14 days from the date of check out to leave a review of that particular guest. After this, you are not able to submit a comment.
Guests can’t see your review until either this 14-day period has passed or if they review you back. Once both guest and host have reviewed, both comments will be visible to each party.
If you’d feel more comfortable (or if you suspect the guest could anticipate a bad review and may retaliate) you can wait until the final moments to leave your review instead.
Any harassment sent to you after the booking once the reviews have been published can be reported to Airbnb to deal with and in most cases they will ban or remove guests who continue hostility from the platform. You can also just block guests if you don’t want to host or deal with them again.
‘Guest Better Suited to a Hotel’
Even though reviews are frustrating to fill out and you want to just mark them down and move on, don’t use the above phrase. It’s a well-used review term to summarise a poor experience and often when host and guest have had a dissagreement.
But this doesn’t explain to other hosts why the guest was poor, only that the guest experience was negative. The guest could have a legitimate reason for a complaint, for example if some of the amenities promised weren’t provided as advertised or if their expectations promised to them fell flat.
I don’t doubt that some guests are better suited to the style of trips that hotels provide and can have demanding and entitled expectations outside of what Airbnb or VRBO trips are designed for.
But hosts are unable to make fair and informed decisions based on a review such as this so make sure you clarify why this may be the case.
Not reviewing at all
Reviews aren’t compulsory and sometimes both guest and host can forget to leave feedback after a booking has finished. It’s important to review every booking to give other hosts as clear of a picture of a guest. This will give them an idea for when they look to book in future.
Sometimes however, no review is a review.
I get suspicious of profiles with 2 or 3 stays with no feedback entirely. This is very unusual given how friendly and cooperative the Airbnb community is. Some hosts may have had a slightly negative experience with the guest and decided to just move on from it.
This can seem like the easiest way to deal with bad guests and avoid confrontation. Especially if they haven’t left you a review already, but I would refrain from doing this.
Once you’ve left a review, you can block the guest for the future anyway.
Would you host them again?
During the review process, Airbnb will ask you the simple question of ‘Would you host this guest again?’.
The result of this question isn’t shared with the guest directly. However I believe selecting ‘No’ may trigger a reminder of Airbnb’s guest expectations to the guest. I don’t know this for sure but based on previous experience of selecting ‘No’ I think this might be the case.
Once you’ve hit the review button, shrug it off, move on and focus on your next booking. Don’t let the negative experience of a bad one dent your confidence for hosting the next one.
There are so many lovely guests on Airbnb that you won’t have hosted yet. All of whom make hosting worth it in the long run.