Airbnb guest rating help

[Eric Canning]

I just had my first guest ever with my new Airbnb. I'm not off to a good start. I want to leave them a bad review but my place has zero reviews and I don't want to get in a war with my first guest. The issues were they parked on the lawn. There's snow on the ground so I just threw this as a misunderstanding or they couldn't see where the driveway ended with the snow. They were over an hour and a half late to checkout, left the thermostat at 80 degrees (the house is in Wisconsin so it's winter but 80 degrees???). Left a mess and a stove burner on. The kitchen reeked of gas. I did already refund them the cleaning fee before the checkout because my fireplace was out of order. I'm not looking for money back but I'm torn about giving a truthful rating to warn the next host. I want to be honest but I have zero reviews and don't want to risk a bad one from these guests. Any tips on how to handle this from the folks with experience doing this? 

[Shashi Varma]

@Eric Canning

Background: My wife and I are Airbnb superhosts with a few properties in the Poconos.

We’ve had our share of troubling guests:

- People who blast music at 2 AM and wake up the neighbors (our units are in an HOA so security is dispatched immediately)

- People who don’t know how to operate a grill and nearly burn down a portion of deck railing

- Late checkouts

- Bacon grease on the walls, or crayons, or both

- Clear evidence of weed and cigarettes being smoked inside the property (we have a strict, no-smoking rule)

- Planters thrown from the deck two stories down, and lamps broken (same guest for both)

- Holes in walls that obviously look like they came from a boot (drunken)

I’m telling you this because we have opted not to review any of these guests negatively; rather, we don’t review them at all. Instead, we reviewed each situation to figure out how we could prevent it from happening again. Late checkouts? We modified our canned “checkout reminder” to send at 8 AM so it’s the first thing the guest sees, along with instructions like “turn off all AC units / heat / lights”. Novice grill operators? We leave a printed guide to the unit for our guests, including detailed instructions on operating a grill safely (along with instructions for everything else in the unit). Kids with idle hands? Use semi-gloss paint on walls for easy cleanup. Damage to the property? Take pictures like you’re at a crime scene, and submit for compensation via Airbnb immediately.

You can’t change people, only how you deal with them.

When we first started out, we made a decision that we would be more flexible in terms of our guests reviews and ratings. Many hosts require that renters are 25+ in age, and / or put down a security deposit. We didn’t use these requirements, but instead tried to price smartly for the quality of our property. Bad pics with low prices = bad guests booking at the last minute, likely treating your place like crap. As we developed our systems, hosted more guests, and learned more about the business, we became a bit more discerning. Now, we require Government ID verification, and price competitively for a luxury rental. You’d be surprised how well that works to entice the “right” type of guest. We have had no major issues since.

The point is that we developed our systems to combat or resolve *most* of the troublesome guest behaviors. Nothing will stop a person from smoking weed in your bathroom, or parking on your lawn. But with tightly-managed systems, marketing to the “right” guests, and a genuine interest in providing a safe, clean, and enjoyable space for your guests’ enjoyment, you can be a successful host!

It’s up to you if you want to leave a bad review for your first guest. Leaving stove burners on can be pretty serious. But, if nothing burned down, you can move on without the bad review, and build this into your check-out guidelines including the time and what the guest is required to do. Maybe, consider some smart home tech to monitor for emergencies.

Long reply, but hopefully of some help to you. We are still very much novices ourselves and learning with every stay. Good luck!