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How to deal with difficult guests
The topic I am bringing, is not often in our guesthouse but once in a while happen.Difficult guests sometimes come and challenge your system to provide the best ever service.In our experience, we have a wonderful employee that deal with decency and education difficut guests but sometimes the situation goes beyond.
It dependes of the circunstance but my strategy is not to engage in trouble with client.Usually I grant discounts or I endeup not charging the service that they are complaining.
Let me know how you deal with those difficult guests, What is your strategy.
Thanks guys: Juan Carlos
I find you always get the one guest who will express their satisfaction with everything but when it comes to rate their stay it will be less than 10? How does Booking.com see a sudden drop in a rating when it has been good by everyone else except this one guest although they were not dissatisfied?
Well, mcclaridge..... maybe compared to other accommodations these guests stayed during their journey - before or after us - the rating is lower than expected ......even though we had the impression that we receive a higher score according to their comments during their stay or on departure?
Hi all
I have been reading through these comments, and can relate to each and everyone..it would appear that we are all in the same boat!
However, the question that I would like to put out there, is how does one get booking.com to pull a seriously nasty review? (Or why do they allow publication in the first place?) This time last year, I had a guest from hell who utterly destroyed my accommodation. I immediately marked her down for misconduct, however booking.com still published her damning review - which by the way, had absolutely nothing to do with the accommodation, just her own actions. I had many replies from booking.com saying they do not tolerate bad behaviour etc, yet to date, her hateful review is still up! I feel totally blind sided by bc, who promise us all the protection but no action was taken at the time at all, (apart from some meaningless emails) and no follow ups were done either. Surely we are able to request a review to be pulled? Especially after one year?
If anyone can help with regards to this, it would be most appreciated.
Yes, that is exactly our question as well. We have been graced with good guest so far but had a few close calls ( dealing with one right now).
what we don’t like is that guest can rate and review anonymously....
....what’s more annoying is if they hammer you with a bad rating without commenting (bringing your average down as some sort of revenge or retaliation), we have no way to reply and defend.
AND we are not a fan of the new rating system. Recently got a 10/10 but the over all was lower (not devastatingly but still).
Neither of this makes any sense what so ever!
I had an awful Guest who sneaked in an extra person , assured me they were not the type to make noise and would probably go straight to sleep after the gig ans were in their 40s . The reality : 2 couples in their 30s who took speed and talked loudly and made noise all night long . They had a two day booking but I informed booking of their conduct which was noted as gross misconduct and booking cancelled the rest of their reservation - so far so good ! However in practice what happened next was unbelievable : instead of kicking them out immediately , I allowed them to stay until check out time ( bc they were wasted and could have harmed themselves or others on the road ) . Upon check out the guest then cancelled the reservation ( huh? How could they when booking had cancelled already? Bc the guest cancelled even after staying one night with an extra guest I got ZERO payout .. and the guest was able to leave a damning review littered with lies . When I called booking I was given a different reply each time … I’d get fulll compensation , I’d get a cancellation fee , the review would be removed bc the guest cancelled , bc of gross misconduct bla bla bla … in the end the review is still up , no payout and still getting the robot reply via extranet . Booking needs to start offering better cover and support to hosts like air bnb. It seems like they want to cash in on air bnbs idea but without the policies such as guest scores , bad behaviour and compensation .
booking.com customer care is simply non existent .. just a bunch of human bots .. sad but true
Hi!
Sometimes, it is difficult and very frustrating to contact support team .
Please BDC find a solution to this issue for the benefit of all of us.
Hi Glassworks
It happens to us all, aww heck I was accused of walking into a bathroom while a guest was in the shower and what she said in her review was so not true, of course I told b.com at the time it was all lies but they would'nt listen and let her review go ahead and be online. Regardless if they are good or bad reviews, once they are 2 years old they automatically come off your review page...so you only have 1 more year to wait to get rid of that nasty review. I totally agree with you, b.com should help us more and listen to us but they dont. They favor the guest more than us. And if b.com is reading this...well honey..it's true!!
Glassworks...just rise above it and dont let it get you down, we have to be very thick skinned in this business. I was use to dealing with the public in my previous occupations but in this hospitality business, people (guests) can be very nasty indeed. We do see some good people but when they turn nasty it can be very scary at times. Another time I had 2 women staying and DANG they scared the you know whats out of me!! I was glad when they left the next morning, I reported them to b.com and thankfully b.com did block them from ever making another booking at my place, but if any of the nasty ones come back...I wont let them in as by law in my country..I have the right to refuse admission.
So chin up... :)
me again ....the top I've ever experienced was, that someone could write a review on tripadvisor who never ever came over my doorstep...... all I could do was, leaning back, sleep over that and respond very careful, so everybody who was reading my comment, knew, that this was fake.But - it was there for ever.
Lucky that with Booking.com at least the guest writing a review stayed over. If I ever received a bad review ( I managed some guesthouses until today) I did the same thing - didn't write back immediately I slept over the miserable situation and by the end of the day I "used" the bad review for marketing. Sounds funny but it works.
Ireland-BnB
Thank you so much for your reply and the laugh! I am sure your showering babe was an absolutely breathtaking beaut! Thank you also for the knowledge that that previous persons comments shall be deleted within another year..Sheez, I shall plod on..
Thank you also Martina Stoeker for your input. All much appreciated and nice to talk to fellow "sufferers!" Hahahaa
I wouldn't mind denying entry to the guest, who is very problematic from the very start. But then what to do with guests, who smile at you, say everything is OK and after they leave the destructive review will follow.
As it seems to me people are scared to "bother" host in order to stay at the property stress-free or maybe they are just this kind of people? Who feels excited, when they do damage to someone for no reason and dance salsa on someone else's bones?
Martina, do you reply to the guest addressing his complaints when you use the review for marketing or you just use this space and possibility to market to everyone?
Glassworks...no she was as ugly as sin lol But I'm not that way inclined anyway, even if she looked like a super model.
Martina ...There was a big thing in the News about 2 or 3 years ago where TripAdvisor was onto people who had multiable accounts and were leaving lots of reviews (good or bad) for the same place and it turned out they were either staff or friends of the establishment and in a few cases ...guests who just left a mean nasty review in the hopes of getting a FREE stay as an apology from the owner.
One restaurant owner in Dublin Ireland got a very very nasty review a good few years ago and he took the person to court where it was then the guest said he only left the nasty review with the hopes of getting a free meal from the owner of the restaurant, needless to say he didnt and the judge fined him quite a lot of €'s LOL So thankfully it back-fired on him lol
Does TripAdvisor allow to write review without staying and paying? ?
WOW !!!..everyone, incredible stories.and I complain about the guest who leaves the Balcony door open during the night and a small small cockroach comes in and she gives me 7.5 for cleaning !!..THIS IS NOTHING compared to all of your stories, I am sure it will happen to me one day....but let's be positive...HAPPY EASTER to ALL........Very best Michael and Rita.
Ireland B&B
If she's a SUPER Model ..call me !!!! hahahaha.BUt its a long way to go from Aussie....and yes there are some nasty people out there
No Michael...trust me hun, she was the guest from HELL !! LOL But I googled her name and any where she stayed she left a bad review every where so I took comfort knowing I wasn't the only one. If you were lucky she'd just leave you a 1 star and no comment, but she wrote a book on me LMAO I never answered her review. As they say...let sleeping dogs sleep ;)
Katerinka12 - yes with TripAdvisor, you can leave a comment with out ever having been there or have ever made a booking there and in some cases...with out ever having been to that country...strange but true. And I dont think those reviews ever come off.
Can anyone open the topic How to deal with difficult hosts? ?
Dear All
when we deal to guest to keep in mind that "Guest is God" and try to keep every-time "Honey" ;)
I hate it when booking.com wont tell the guest that they need to be honest with guest reviews,
some guests write silly things, and i think guest reviews should be scrubbed, or limited to what they are allowed to say on the website.
we encourage the guests to complain to us. Give us feedback.
one guest said she ran out of toilet paper - why did she go to the supernarket and get more..? across the road - a self contianed apartment - did not ask us either. we were annoyed the guest put it on as a comment - it was fickle ***. not important but it implied that we did something wrong.
we compalined to the guest about it in sms writing. NO abuse towards the guest.
"faulty" Guest reviews and third party bookers are the biggest problems we get.
has to be a system of win - win designed.
some guest are very hard to deal with. unfortuntately
Guests can make a fuss out of nothing. I have instructions for location in my listing but I also send more definitions in arrival letter. My property location for most of my guests is not very easy to find. Most of them comment that with right guideness given from host property was found. One said we were lost. Gave me 7.5 for location.
Cheers!!!
I thought the rating for the location means - if you are too far from the village...... not the driving directions given??
Our guests still get sometimes lost because their GPS leads them in some other directions.But this is actually not a reason to rate a accommodation with/for bad location. On the other hand - it's all up at Google map, isn't it? So, why not allocate the accommodation before making a reservation, can't blame anyone if it is further out than expected. Something I try do understand. We made a reservation for a farm stay and as there where no street signs of course in the middle of nowhere Google Map leads me, another way but still we arrived, very late. It was dark in the meantime, we where tired and so on. But this is not a reason to give a bad rating to the accommodation for location, I choose it ! But send an email so they change their location on Google Map.......
If your location is not accurate on Google maps, create a Facebook business page with accurate location and the name of your property. After some time Google will pick up this address. So, it will be easy for the guests to find you.
As for location ratings, I think some people who travel don't really know where they want to be. When they are in place A, they dream about being in the same time at place B. And for some the best location means having taxis waiting for them right at the entrance. Even in the province...
One of my guests complained that she still had to walk from the airport to apartment. When my place is closer to airport than 5 star hotels in our area. What can I do... I replied stating the fact, that the property is the closest to the airport and 5 star hotels charge at least double. By the way, she had to walk 300 meters or 4 minutes as per Google maps...
Hi Martina great attitude towards a fake review - in the beginning years of my business i took each review very personal but as I grew in my faith I knew I was doing my best, thus it has less impact on me emotionally - I also take my time responding to each review - as I have 4 rooms i have time to make notes of guest too - thus on their form or my PC I jot down things about them and respond likewise - it is hard but taking the emotion out of it let one look with pity on the reviewer itself - as finding fault all the time that person must have a heart very heavy of unhappiness. - especially reviewers with no face or picture - aaag no - I do pity them and pray for them.
Good point about using a fake review for marketing - I had a guest coming to my place just to come and have a good laugh about someone's very bad review as the guests stated - we must also remember that people does not always believe bad reviews as they are aware that all owners will for sure do their utmost to give our best to each guest - thus if we cannot learn or grow our business from a review then do not take it to heart - as we also ask guest to talk or text if they need something - and yet they do not and review that shortcoming if any...
@IrelandBnb i love the story about the restaurant taking the reviewer to task - brilliant hey - I suppose the "boy that cried wolf" will always be truthful from that moment on... it gives me moments to ponder on especially those fake reviews we have received on google starting last year and we get so often. Have not received one on Tripadvisor though thus cannot respond to that one.
I had a good laugh about the guest writing a book about you because of her experience at your place - well there you have it ,she created that in her mind as she needed to get words and material for her book - be joyful about it and if the money roll in ask for your cut of it - as you inspired her, he he he dear - Yes i also check the reviewers details especially those that really takes us down in their reviews - and 99% of the time they have very low scores for wherever they went - I actually one day went to search online where a bad reviewer were staying - and low and behold felt extremely sad for this person - so reviews are just not always about our experiences to guests but also how they view themselves - and then project their unhappiness upon us and their stay - so lets always give our best and do hope we hit the happy nodes of our guests. We are representatives of our business and we cannot make everyone happy that is a fact.
Yes Katarinka I also fell victim to fake reviews even if guests did not stay with us - I then actually do respond that the guests have never been to my place and google has never taken them off - but Booking.com did. I have contacted google about it but had no response thus far - yes hope the reviewer reads the comments i had about him.
Leanne I had the same experiences regarding guests that can kiss your feet and hands whilst they are there and yet leave a bad taste or low score review - I actually went to research a few establishments in the area and they said they ask their guests to review them before they leave - they actually have their marketing manager sit down with them - to handle the things they were not happy about ( if any at all ) to make sure that all their needs were met - and has never ever had a bad review - they have a 9,9 rating thus - I actually do not want to follow that advise as I think a guest feel pressured - so let whatever review roll in... I do understand why we must ask them to review whilst they are there - its a good marketing tool for sure.
Each age group summarize their down side of a place differently. i have experiences that the millenniails will look for extremely fast wifi and super quick shuttle services as whereas the older generation not moans as much about being unhappy about things - not sure how all of you experience the different generations.
Great news for you Michael to be fully booked on Easter weekend - we only have 2 guests - actually a lower occupancy rate than in 2018 but not complaining as I then get a wonderful chance of attending all the festivities at our local church as the services in itself is a full program already. Do enjoy your guests - they always welcome
Madclaridge - very good point. what was their response to your follow up to them?
Hello Benita Cyster..many thanks and happy easter.we have had an incredible Feb/March and April with only 11 days empty over the three months..Magic !! and May at this stage looks brilliant.All positive stuff and I Love reading all the stories..wow !! some are amazing !!!..Good luck everyone.Talk soon.
I might be very philosophical here, but people feel those fake reviews. Do not stress over them. People are not easy to cheat with anything fake. They are survivors, after all ?
"they actually have their marketing manager sit down with them - to handle the things they were not happy about ("
Yeah, sounds like a pressure ? It really depends on the type of the property and person, who can communicate with the guests. I was afraid of "privacy" and "personal borders". Wrong. Of course, I respect privacy. But I noticed that people love to communicate with me. The more I communicate, the more they leave wonderful comments, comments that I had never thought I can have.
You can influence the possible good review on Airbnb by creating House rules.
Ce sont toujours ceux qui payent le moins cher, qui se croient tout permis, j'ai augmenté mes tarifs contre ce genre de problème, et lors de nos promotions tout est spécifié en supplément et je n'ai plus aucun problème.
Quand les gens laissent la maison sale, je prend des photos et je déduis les frais de ménage de la caution puis ils sont bloquées dans l'extranet et je remonte les informations.
Je ne fais pas de réduction s'ils ne sont pas satisfaits car je n'ai jamais eu ce problème, c'est plus des gens qui sont très sales, vu que la maison est impeccable je leur fait la remarque et leur rappelle que je ne suis pas un hôtel.
Katerina of course we should respect guests privacy. As you have mentioned in another thread communication is very vital and yes guests love to discuss their problems and worries while visiting a new place. They are always interested to find out and explore new things to do and to discover places and happenings that only locals can suggest and are aquatinted with. By communicating both parties can achieve experiences and knowledge.
Wish you happy moments.
Hello! Levuemer nice to have you here in this forum.
Wish I New French... I love your language is so romantic...
Unfortunately I don’t, so please repeat your question in English.
Cheers mom amie...
Wow, I have just finished reading through all these messages. I dread the day that i get a bad behaved guest!
We have been open now through booking.com only for 16 months now and the worst we have had is bad feed back from grumpy old people (who say they are a young travelling couple! What a joke)
So if they lie about that, then really, should we believe anything else they say???
I leave a pad a pen in the room for any feed back on anything, whether nice comments or things we could improve on for future guests. The grumpy old ones write nothing, just complain in their review, the nice people write nice things and great ideas, these we actually act on and thank them for their input, it has made us make a few changes since we opened.
So I just figure that you cannot please everyone, but I can please 99% ??
Leannemccarty23, thank you for reading all messages. I hope you can serve as good example to other forum readers.
You can use Age limit on Booking and simply do not accept old people, if they bring you so many problems. Why not ?
Hi. need some advise. I am new to Booking.com
On friday night, my dreaded fear happened. My guests, booked as 5 people in a terrace house, had a party. Noise level aparently awful for neighbours,. The neighbours said they could not count the number of people that entered and left the property all evening until early house of the morning. They checked out late and 9 people were seen leaving house at this stage. The house was left in an awful state, 3 black refuse sacks of food and rubbish has to be taken out of house. 7 broken glases and table light. they just trashed the place. Drink stains on carpets and bedding. the guest initlially answered my phone call and when i said how she left my home.... she said she thought it was just a rental... implying it was ok to treat it that way. No harsh words were spoken on phone and she agreed to pay for breakages..... but has since ignored my calls and text. I reported this to booking.com and blocked her from booking again. Now she has cheak to leave an extremely negative review of my house which is all lies and no doubt because i reported her behaviour.
The review is total lies. Can anything be done about this?
well of course not, because all you will get from booking is " comments don’t go against our policies"
then a link thonteir stupid policies,
then the cheesy advice :
"Instead, we’d advise you to reply to this review (if the guest has commented). That way, you can express your point of view fairly and clarify the situation for future guests".
no matter how many times you write , or how bad your guests behaved, that's the copy paste you get
When I read a story like yours, I love it because it is a challenges for our customer service.
I think you are doing the coorect piece, political part which it is reaching the community, dennouncing the abuse and sharing with others like me, and that is very supportive.
We, as owners, do not want to have a nightmare guest like you did.Have the initiative is something to your favor, report it first to booking.Write your story and reported negative actions of your guest.
Demand to remove the review based on lies, prove your case .Try to make an agreement to your nightmare guest, tell him to remove the review and you won't take any action against him in pages like: Who is your guest.This is something fair.
If things do not work to this point, report it to the police and I do not know if you have cameras and take it as prove and no one wants to take to this level.
It is painful but sometimes happen, go for it my colleague.Do not get dissapointment.
Katerinka,
You can cancel their booking, Simple.
Be stern. Be Firm.
Tell them its your property and its your rules.
Its either your way of the highway as they say.
We just tell people if it avail they can have it earlier.
Then they know where they stand. Simple.
These are our house rules: (feel free to use)
We get the guest to agree and sign off when they book. no sign off - then they don't get in.
There has been a phone number and an SMS number that you have been given if you need to contact someone during your stay.
First aid and Fire items have been supplied for your use if necessary, that are located in the kitchen/ dining area that is well signed and accessible.
If you have a longer term stay, there is a washing machine, dryer and ironing board supplied in the apartment for your use.
Enjoy your stay and the apartment, and please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any concerns or require any assistance during your stay.
Catriona,
take photos,
report it to booking.,com
have you a person to support your ellagrations..?
if so,. contact the police and a lawyer,
and I personally would charge their credit card for the damages and the clean up.
but send the guest an invoice first for the damages and clean up.
tell the guest your going to charge their credit a card.
not sure what country your in - so may be different
FUTURE BOOKINGS.
make sure they are a genuis member and if not, get their ID drivers licence when they book.
then again, we have had a problem with a genuis member too.
personally, i don't think booking.com support their accomodation providers enough
We have had problems too. Our lawyers are writing a letter to booking.com.
and we are setting up Little Hotelier.
It's not a common thing in Ireland or the UK (England) but it is in most parts of Europe as I use to do a lot of travelling through Europe (driving) and it was very common that I'd have to hand up my passport at check in and I'd get it back when I check out. Maybe some of you who are having problems with guests could ask for their passports or drivers license ...photo ID ?? Maybe if they know you have their passport or drivers license they may think twice about trashing the place, as well as having a deposit/bond. Just a suggestion.
In Australia, most hotels and motels ask for a drivers licence ID when you check in.
The Hyatt and other International Hotels take a credit card swipe of $1 as a bond. - to validate and test the card to make sure they can raise a charge for damages
we don't like the idea of bonds.
As we don't rent out the property as a Holiday Home anymore, only for BnB - because of exactly the points mentioned - I would actually ask for a deposit. Not everybody has a credit card or wants to use it too.
Katerinka I could'nt agree with you more about the display of house rules/policies on all OTA's including the very loose ended Airbnb. For years I have displayed all information about our house rules and even though on Booking.Com they have also to agree to the terms and conditions prior to booking they still all have a dose of selective amnesia when it suits them However, the protection is that the information is there in Black and White. However, with Airbnb a very recent case of the guest arriving and admitting on arrival he had broke the rules by' turning up with more people than they had booked' for because 'no one ever bothered' He did not get access to the property and went away and cancelled. Next minute he writes a review and now I have to write one back I contacted Airbnb and they say they can do nothing about this in fact whenever there is a problem with Airbnb they do very little about it because of the very reason you state they get more commission from the guest. I have never had many problems with Airbnb until this guest and my how it has opened my eyes to Airbnb as being totally irresponsible otherwise why let a guest write a reivew about a property they have not stayed at. I will be responding to the review ofcourse and it will also reflect on Airbnb.
The best quality guest is the guest who books direct as you strike up a valuable relationship with them knowing what they like and what they don't like an what their expectations are. I tell all guests who book to book direct in the future and I am pleased to say a lot do.
Absolutely, put everything in writing. Whether it is texts or e-mails always have the back up.