To think the host shouldn't be contacting me about my review?

[MargaretMorris]

I stayed in 'an apartment' 3 weeks ago via booking.com which turned out to be the bottom area of a woman's house. A bit misleading.

Anyway 2 weeks before she contacted me to ask if I would mind cancelling and paying her privately as booking.com was causing her issues. I found this annoying and couldn't anyway (non refundable)

I left a nice review and she has now text me asking why I only awarded her 7.5 for cleanliness. AIBU to think it is totally inappropriate for her to be contacting me? The reason is it was presentable but didn't look like it had been cleaned before I came and the rug was covered in her dog's hair.

We never actually spoke on the phone so she must have just had it saved I suppose.

If you want to text her back and you're under no obligation to do so, then list the reasons as you've done in this post.
7.5 isn't a bad score. If someone's place looks like it's had a quick whip around with a feather duster rather than a deep clean, it's not going to score a perfect ten.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask for feedback. You don’t have to reply

@Winniewonka

If you want to text her back and you're under no obligation to do so, then list the reasons as you've done in this post. 7.5 isn't a bad score. If someone's place looks like it's had a quick whip around with a feather duster rather than a deep clean, it's not going to score a perfect ten.

I didn't think it was a bad score either @Winniewonka !

I'm happy enough to say what I said here but worried she might turn nasty or get into a big dialogue about it.

@SukonthaM

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask for feedback. You don’t have to reply

Hmm I don't know. Surely the review IS the feedback? I left comments too.

I can't help feeling there is something inherently rude about following up with a text. Maybe I'm wrong! It's never happened before.

If she doesn’t ask for feedback she can’t improve though. Surely asking is a positive thing?

Unless your review stated that you took points off for cleanliness due to dog hair on the rug, then how is she to know this? I think she was just contacting you to find out where she can improve. I don’t think it is unreasonable for her to contact you. It is actually nicer than writing a comment online saying “thank you for your comments, sorry you didn’t find the apartment cleanliness to your standard, however it was professionally cleaned prior to your stay to Covid safe standards.” Which is basically calling you a nitpicking ninny in public....

Ok fair enough. I think it was obvious a deep clean hadn't been done. That's why I don't want to get into a dialogue about it as she might feel offended.

I'll maybe one send one message and leave it at that.

I agree that the review is the feedback and if she can see she lost points on the cleanliness then the onus is on her as the owner to go in and actually have a look at what can be improved. It shouldn’t have to be spelled out and directly contacting the OP when the booking was done through a third party (ie: booking.com) is inappropriate.

If you can be bothered, I'd reply something along the lines that its out of order/not common practice to hound/contact a guest who booked via a 3rd party. But also point out the issues and hair etc- then block her number. No more dialogue.

As it is clearly an issue with you I would send one response to her message giving her the info about the dog hairs. Then instruct her not to contact you again and block.

Its common now to be contacted like this and everyone considers anything less than five stars as livelihood destroying. I think hosts get a lot of business through booking. Com but it must cost them more or something - she's trying to use them to get business but not pay them.

Can you edit your review with a little more detail so it's clear why you scored 7.5?
I'm not sure if that's possible but it's something to consider.

We had someone asking us to cancel and rebook directly. We didn't because we would potentially lose any refund possibility or it might have been a scam. I think that the real reason is that booking.com can take about 30% commission and the property owner was trying to avoid that.

I think it’s perfectly reasonable for the host to contact you. Presumably she is looking to improve for future guests and some info from you will help her achieve this. . Of course, you don’t have to reply, but if you can do so in a constructive way, why not do so?

I’d respond saying why you marked that score but also say you do not want to be contacted again, then block.
I work in an industry that gives your customer the opportunity to score 1-10. 9-10 gives me 100%, 7-8 gives me 0% and 1-6 gives me -100%. It is frustrating however I don’t think when people give a 5 as they feel neutral, the implication of that poor score. Before knowing our system (and I always recognise it in requested reviews) I would have thought 7/8 was good.

Does she or the booking website advertise her as being a covid safe clean place?

If so and she isn’t I’d be telling both the reasons I was not best pleased. It would be bad if her next guests were shielding for many months and they ended up catching covid from her place the first time they leave their own house as she doesn’t clean to nowadays standards and a previous holidaymaker had it with no symptoms.

Does the thread have her email about paying cash on it? If so I’d be tempted to reply to her on the same thread and copy in booking.com.