How to Manage Bad Reviews for Your Airbnb: Dealing with Negative Feedback
If you’re an Airbnb host, sooner or later you will probably receive a bad review. It’s inevitable, and no one is perfect. But how do you deal with negative feedback when it comes? Is there anything you can do to mitigate the damage? In this post, we’ll give a few tips on how to manage bad guest reviews. Read on to find out more!
Show me someone who likes dealing with negative feedback and I’ll buy you lunch! Or send you a cookie… But negative feedback doesn’t have to ruin your life or your experience hosting short-term vacation rentals. When I started hosting on Airbnb I felt like even the slightest constructive criticism was like being broken up with and publicly humiliated. After all, I was pouring my heart into my Airbnb business and when someone gave feedback it was a stab to the heart.
It didn’t take long to realize this was a crazy way to think about guest’s reviews and I needed to harness feedback to inspire me to improve my Airbnb business not break it. Before we get too far along in the process we really need to define constructive vs critical feedback and which one helps you make money.
Feedback Is The Key To Success
Feedback is essential for businesses to succeed. It provides valuable insight into guests’ experiences, allowing you to identify areas where improvements can be made. Studies have shown that customers who feel as though their feedback is taken seriously are more likely to become repeat customers.
What Kind Of Feedback Is Good?
Constructive feedback is the feedback that is designed to help someone improve and it is usually given positively. It’s meant to be helpful rather than harmful. Bear in mind that not all people are great communicators and tone of voice is difficult to convey in a message thread so someone might think they’re being gentle and they’re throwing barbs. Constructive criticism is given by people who want to help rather than harm. The Airbnb guests taking the time to give this type of information WANT YOU TO SUCCEED.
What Is Bad Feedback?
Critical feedback is the feedback that puts someone on the defensive. It is given with negative intent and is often vague. It’s hard to take this type of feedback and use it to improve your business. Running short-term rentals you are very rarely going to get specific negative feedback about yourself as a host. People aren’t going to say “Riley is an idiot” they’re going to say something like “the hot water was broken and Riley told me it’s 100 degrees outside so stop complaining about the hot water.” Negative feedback on Airbnb, VRBO, or any public booking platform is always the non-constructive kind. I’ve never seen a single bad review where someone genuinely cared about the business they were reviewing succeeding.
How Do You Get Feedback From Guests?
We’re naturally so fragile about the review process from customers, guests, and people in our personal circles that we’ve built systems to avoid them, and everything about the way we portray ourselves discourages it.
Let’s stick with the professional side of things here: If you ask guests for feedback they will give it to you. It’s as simple as that. Don’t be weird, defensive, or apologetic about your request. Just ask them the day they arrive how everything is, and after they leave how their visit went. There’s some nuance you can use but just adapt this approach and guests will gladly respond.
What Do You Do With Constructive Feedback
If you ask a guest how their visit is going and they have a suggestion that’s easy to implement, like an extra pillow or fixing the ice maker, go ahead with a quick response and do that during their visit. Thank them for letting you know and ask if it’s alright if you drop over to “fix, change, etc…” whatever they say. If it’s something more significant again thank them and decide whether you want to schedule whatever they suggested after checkout.
The bedrooms in my first Airbnb back up to the woods and are on the second story of the house. When I bought the house it had old broken pink mini blinds which I promptly removed and threw in the closest garbage can. I’ve always liked waking up with the sunrise so adding expensive curtains hadn’t even occurred to me until a guest asked for a stapler to take a spare blanket over the window. I was horrified at the thought! I also realized I could get pretty nice-looking black-out curtains from Target for around $25 which solved everyone’s problems.
These types of suggestions aren’t a personal insult to your hospitality. They’re recommendations for how you make your guests stay more comfortable along the way.
What Do You Do With Negative Feedback?
The dreaded bad review finally happened and you open your email to see someone describing in great detail how your home didn’t meet their expectations, the toilet was clogged, AC was not cool enough, and because of all that their spouse divorced them on the spot. The divorce led them in under two weeks (the review period) to lose their jobs, and develop a substance abuse problem. Then they call you out by name and beg all future guests to avoid your Airbnb if they want any chance at a positive future.
This is where my imagination always goes, but it’s always more boring than that. Someone will say: they didn’t sleep well, the house wasn’t clean enough, saw a cockroach (our personal battle in the Southeast U.S.), the noise outside gave them a headache, etc. The way these types of bad Airbnb reviews will vary based on each angry guest who is writing it, or how closely they paid attention in their writing classes.
These reviews sting the ego, but you have to work hard to not let them ruin your life. Just by reading a mundane article about negative reviews, I know you care about your home and your guests so you have to let it roll off your shoulders and move on. Ask yourself what could you have changed or done differently. Sometimes the answer is nothing, but just as often there WAS something you could’ve done better. Hear the feedback, implement what’s useful, and forget the guest as quickly as possible.
How To Respond To The Bad Review Of Your Airbnb
Your public response to a public review is NOT for the guest who left the review, but rather for everyone else who’s going to read the review including Airbnb support, and other guests who are thinking about spending their hard-earned money on your vacation rental. You want to sound calm, sane, and honest. Let me say it again:
Remain calm
Sound sane
Be honest
Start your response by thanking them for their review and apologizing for their issues. Remember you’re speaking to future guests so you’re not falling on the ground begging for forgiveness you’re saying “Thanks and I’m sorry. I’ve spoken with my [cleaning team, carpenter, HVAC company], and resolved the issue to prevent this from happening again.” If they didn’t mention it ahead of departure you could say something like “I really wish we had heard from you during your visit. We would have done everything possible to resolve the issue.”
Take Action To Prevent Future Negative Reviews
Once you have dealt with a negative review, it is important to take action to prevent future bad reviews. Is there something that needs to be updated or repaired? Is there a problem you need to bring to the attention of the next guests checking in so they can make other arrangements if they don’t want to deal with whatever the issue is? You should also make sure that your listing description is clear and accurate so that guests know what to expect.
Don’t Ignore A Bad Review
It can be tempting to ignore a bad review, but this is not a good idea. Ignoring a negative review will not make it go away, and will only make you look unprofessional. It is better to deal with the issue head-on, and show guests that you are committed to providing a great experience that will lead to a good review in the future.
Can You Erase Or Hide Airbnb Reviews?
Once a review is submitted it cannot be erased or hidden unless you believe it violates Airbnb’s review policies. If they find that the review violates their guidelines, they may remove it. One circumstance you want to be aware of and avoid at all costs is a guest threatening you with a refund or they will leave you a bad review, OR offering a guest some kind of compensation in exchange for not leaving a review. This is a bribe and it clearly violates Airbnb’s policies and your account could be suspended.
Can A Guest Edit Airbnb Reviews?
Yes, but only for 14 days after the review is left, and before you as the host leave your review. After that, it becomes a permanent part of your profile. If you feel that a review is inaccurate or unfair, you can reach out to Airbnb’s customer support and they may be able to help mediate the situation.
Do Airbnb Hosts Have To Review Guests?
Hosts also have the opportunity to review guests after their stay. Although it is not required, it’s highly recommended to write a review within 14 days of the guest’s checkout. This keeps you active on the platform and mostly helps other hosts make informed decisions.
In Conclusion
Bad reviews will happen if you’re hosting long enough on Airbnb or any other short-term rental platform. One of the most challenging things about getting started is that you are most likely to receive negative feedback when you are just starting out. The easiest way to improve your hosting is to focus on prevention rather than cure. If you’re always putting out fires you’re not preventing them from starting in the first place. Ask your guests for feedback before they check out so you have the opportunity to fix any issues that come up. When you respond publicly to bad reviews remember you’re not changing that guest’s mind because they can’t change their review anyway. If you take on this negative feedback firsthand, it will lead to positive reviews in the future and bring new guests along the way.
