Upset by a negative Airbnb review. Should I do anything?

[Daddyjammy]

AIBU to be upset by the bad review we've just been given as guests? Worried it will impact on being able to rent other places.

Our family's always had great reviews from our hosts in the past and we try to be as considerate as possible, so this has quite upset me.

We had a lovely stay (won't mention where but in the UK) and left a glowing review of the place, which, to be fair was pretty immaculate when we arrived.

Checkout was supposed to be 10.00 which is at least an hour earlier than we've ever had before and we did try to get up and out in time but with two teenage kids we had managed to get all of our stuff out of the house and by the car by 10.40 and I was just doing final checks, cleaning kitchen and hoovering when the cleaner arrived. She was very curt with me as I was still on the drive but she was able to park on the road just 5 yards away then virtually threw me out of the house before i could even grab the (tied up) rubbish bags to put in the bin and recycling. We had hoovered the night before, cleared away all of our breakfast and generally tidied but apparently didn't put everything back in its right place, "moved artwork" (absolutely no idea what this could be) and left so much dog hair on the sofa it took an extra hour to clean (the dog, which we had checked was ok in advance, was banned from the sofa when we were there but may have got up there when we were out but we certainly didn't notice much hair).

Turns out the cleaner was the owner's mum so I'm guessing I caused offence by mentioning that she was "brusque" with us and maybe they're upset that we broke a dessert bowl, although I left a tenner to cover for this and offered more if I hadn't left enough, or that we accidentally used their Netflix account rather than our own (is that really bad form?).

Genuinely not sure if we sound like really bad guests and need to up our game or if we've come across a particularly picky host who expects too much from guests paying over £1,000 for a week with one bedroom and a sofa bed in a (quite nice) little house.

@ithinkilikeit

I think you're right. I've just seen your post and this is like a mix of all those threads! Good spot!

I’d feel pretty pretty mortified if I was discovered in an Airbnb 40 mins after I was supposed to have left. If early check out is an issue get everything packed the night before, leave clothes out and just throw the last bits in the car.

Using a logged in Netflix account is pretty minor though.

10 is standard hotel/b and b times.

I disagree; I’ve never stayed anywhere where checkout is that early. However, the time itself isn’t the issue - it’s that the OP was late leaving.

Is this a reverse?

I've just been away with four teenagers 13 - 17 age range, we left at 9.30am, all beds stripped, floors vacuumed and mopped basically left as we found it, in fact I think it was cleaner!

Having teenagers is no excuse and I usually like to blame the for everything

I wouldn't want you staying in my Airbnb I'm afraid, and would be very grateful to your previous hosts for giving me the heads up. Guests leaving late is unbelievably annoying and I would leave a poor review for that, but probably not the other things.

The desert bowl is not an issue, wear and tear/accidental damage is part and parcel of being a holiday home owner, describing the cleaner as brusque is not an issue (owners are unable see your review until after they have written the guest review). The moving artwork and netflix use are minor niggles and probable wouldn't have been mentioned if the real issues hadn't occurred.

The real issues are that you were late leaving which meant they had less time to clean for the next guests, and the dog hair resulted in extra cleaning to be done in the shorter time they had available.

If you had turned up for your stay and been told the property wouldn't be ready for at least another hour, because the previous guests had overstayed and left the property in a condition that required extra cleaning, what sort of review would you have left?

Where does teenage kids come into it? Are you one of those indulgent parents who let's them sleep in them when there's a time limitation? It should be easier to check out in time with teenagers, as they can help with the cleaning and packing up.

I'm astonished that some people support you in thinking that still not having gone by 10:40 is no big deal. The cleaner, related or not, has a life and a schedule. If she can't start cleaning until a hour later, she might miss an appointment or a commitment of her own. It simply isn't fair or right not to check out on time.

The review won't have reflected what you said about her, because neither party sees the review about them until both reviews have been received by airbnb.

You were unreasonable to use their Netflix. I don’t understand why people do this tbh.

You probably didn’t notice the dog hair because you’re used to it.

For one day, your teenagers should be able to get up and sorted on time.

Checking out a whole 40mins later is just ridiculous

@cherrybonbons

I struggle with leaving on time too Op. I think that makes me the devil in Mumsnet eyes. Actually it's hardly the biggest deal when, as you have said, you were leaving so hardly still in bed, and you spent £1000 for a week. I know prices are competitive but That's a huge amount of money. Netflix, I would say that's for the owners to delete if they don't want the guests using it.... I have been offered Netflix when I stay. Dog hair is ridiculous if allowing people to stay with dogs. I wouldn't worry about it. In the grand scheme of things, Netflix, dog hair and leaving slightly late is hardly the worst thing in the world.

But why do you struggle? I really don't understand?

If you know it takes you a long time to park up, why not just do list of it the night before? Or get up earlier?

It's like "oh I'm going to be late, so what, they can wait", so selfish!

You do realise that your being late might delay other guests getting in on time ? Yours may not be the only place that the cleaners have to get ready?

Leaving 40 mins late is very bad form in my opinion. I'm not surprised the cleaner was "brusque", you're not supposed to be there when she arrived.

The lateness is the worst thing you did in my opinion, but it's pretty significant and I'm sure would peeve a lot of hosts off as it can have implications for their following visitors.

The only issue would be not leaving on time so YABU in that issue. But using Netflix acct contributed to negative review? Pp talking about it messing with algorithms! Is that really a problem? Genuine question.

10am in late in covid times! The last 2 holidays we've had were 9am check out, which we managed with ours kids, when baby dd was just a few weeks old earlier this year. And these were self catering where we had to clean up before we left.

Are you sure your dog didn't knock some art work when you when you left the dog unattended?

Just here to see if it's the suggested reverse 🍿

Yep another one here who says 10 is a normal time and managed to get out with 2 teenagers and an almost teen by 9.30, washed/hoovered floors and bins out. 10.40 is taking the piss

Unfortunately I think you've given yourself a bad review in your OP! Chalk it up to experience.

Why is having teenagers an excuse for being late out? It's more understandable if you had a baby or toddlers but not for teenagers. They help you pack up surely?

^^
I thought this! Yes if you had a baby or toddler I’d be sympathetic but not with teens.

I don’t really like the system of the parties reviewing each other and it affecting ratings, as it seems to me that it can be subject to abuse. I don’t really use Airbnb though!

But it does sound like you weren’t very good on this occasion OP - I’d forgive the bowl of course but you should really check out when you’re supposed to, especially in covid times. Plus the dog hair isn’t very nice.

I'm with the owner, I'm afraid. 10am is a completely normal check out time, and I've never been anywhere that has a later one. We've always managed to get 5 kids out on time, so you had no excuse to be late. By being late, you've prevented the cleaner from parking near to the house so I'm not surprised she was annoyed. I wouldn't be bothered about the broken bowl, but the dog hairs are unacceptable, as is using their Netflix account.

Purely based on the late thing, YABU.

10 is standard. 11 is generous.
You knew checkout time in advance so you can't blame having teenagers. In fact, other than a major emergency, there isn't really a valid excuse!
If check in is 3pm as often is, and the cleaner couldn't start until 11ish, she could have been later getting to other things as a result (especially if she spent an extra hour cleaning the sofa) which could impact others and the next guests.

I don't think it's a reverse, and I don't see that OP has done anything really bad. We have never checked out on time and always had good reviews, although I appreciate things may be different now with extra Covid cleaning.

Blaming being late on teenagers? Come on, now.

The cleaner turned up 40 minutes after you were meant to be gone and you were still hoovering etc...and you described her as 'brusque' in your review?? You left yourself wide open there to a bad guest review and the fact that you can't see this for yourself speaks volumes.

You were totally in the wrong op.

I can't get worked up about Netflix (why did they leave it logged in it in the first place if they didn't want guests to use it?) but the dog hair on the sofa, the broken bowl and the fact that you were running 40 minutes behind and STILL hadn't finished would piss me off as a host.

I'm a dog owner myself so I know how strict places can be about dog hair, but you should have stopped your dog going near the sofa while you were out if you knew he wasn't allowed on there.

And why does having teenagers mean you were running 40 minutes late?

Reverse??? It sounds like you did a few annoying things:
Dog on sofa when not allowed causing extra cleaning
Checked out late
Weren’t ready to leave
Broke a bowl
Used their Netflix

I have teenager. Just. She’s 19. Do you think work would accept that as an excuse for me to be 40 mins late every morning ?