There was only one guy at school that I really hated. His name was Chris. He taught me a lesson.
Chris was arrogant. He was conceited. He was destructive and cruel. I put up with him because friends seemed to like him. I wish I hadn’t now.
Years later a friend told me Chris trashed the Airbnb they stayed in. For no reason. He just wanted to wreck something. He was like that. He always had been…
But he was also cunning. Chris got his defence in first. He left the Airbnb Host a bad review, to make it look like it was their fault. Like there were two sides to the story. He claimed the place was in a terrible state when he arrived. It wasn’t.
I learnt from him when I did The Great Airbnb Experiment. Every time I got a guest who was less than ideal I still gave them a good Airbnb Guest review. I know it’s not how it’s supposed to be done, but it works for me and this is business.
But what if they are like Chris? What if they leave me a bad review despite all my hard work, despite being bad guests, despite the fact I’m leaving them a good Airbnb Guest review? I put too much into my Airbnb to let that happen.
So I pre-empt it. I drop them a message after they check out and the cleaner has been in. I thank them for taking such good care of the place, even if they didn’t. I thank them for being such great guests, even if they weren’t. Then they know I’m not going to rat on them. So they don’t get their defence in first, like Chris did.
I can’t bring myself to write this to them directly. So I let an app do it automatically. But it’s all the same. They still get away with it.