hey youtube this is richard founder of
short-term rental secrets and
Airbnb super host on this week's video I
want to share a little story with you
that just happened to me last week and
in a nutshell look we hold ourselves to
such high professional standards and our
hospitality is in our blood and we want
everybody to come and have a great time
when they stay with us and give us a
great review right well when you hold
yourself to that standard just realize
you can't take it personally when
somebody is a little bit underwhelmed or
disappointed or even just not happy at
all it's going to happen there's some
people on this planet that you just
can't please no matter what and the key
messages don't take it personally don't
get down on yourself just rectify the
situation and I'm going to explain to
you exactly what I did and how to do it
but keep moving and keep moving forward
because rock right behind that person
it's somebody who you're going to
delight and smile and that's key so let
me tell you what happened just last week
so last week I had a guest I was
supposed to check in they flew in from
Turkey and wouldn't you know it they
checked in at about eleven-thirty p.m.
on a thursday night and I got that
dreaded text which was hey Richard were
really not happy with the place this
isn't what we were looking for and so I
happen to be awake and i replied
immediately as i always want to do and
encourage you to do and i said well
what's the problem and they said the
place is disgusting it's filthy it looks
like somebody else has been staying here
and it wasn't clean between guests and
somebody's been sleeping in the bed and
I scratched my head and said you know
that's impossible the same cleaning team
that's been cleaning for me for
personally for a decade plus and
cleaning my Airbnb for years was there
just that day and so unless something
really crazy happened that I was unaware
of it just sounded implausible like it's
just not possible so I texted my maid at
the same time while I was dealing with
the Airbnb issue and she assured me that
she was there and everything was fine
and everything was clean and everything
was orderly so I had that basis I had
that for a fact and I just went back and
forth with my guest from Turkey and here
were her complaints the bed was crinkly
is what she called it she said they
found hairs in the bed
you know the TV didn't work and just on
and on and I said okay well let's slow
down the bed was crinkly can you send me
a photo she sent me a photo and I'll
share it with you and what that meant
was my maid had actually washed the due
day and didn't iron it we're not the
four seasons and if we have a same day
turn around or whatever the case maybe
we're not goin two iron every single
sheet and every single duvet that's not
the level of service that we provide but
we do clean and we do make the bed and
nobody was sleeping there and she didn't
send me a photo of any hairs in the bed
so I don't know if that would existed or
not but in my own mind I'm thinking well
gee you know even at the Four Seasons a
cleaning lady could have a hair that
fell out but there's no way there's
somebody stay there the bed wasn't made
and it wasn't you know clean that's just
not right as far as the television was
concerned I said maybe you hit the wrong
button and you change the input I'm sure
I can get that working but no matter
what I said and no matter what I
explained to her she just wasn't happy
and so she said listen we're not going
to be staying here we're going to move
out in the morning and we want our money
back and I have a strict policy which
means that unless she gave me seven days
notice I have the legal right to keep
all the money but at the end of the day
I don't really want to be you know that
kind of guy or keep the money if they're
really not happy I want them to enjoy
their time and their vacation and feel
good about Airbnb and feel good about me
and while I'm doing this for profit
money you know she was saying to give
her back the two nights that she was
leaving and I would pay the one night
and I thought we'll figure this all out
let me speak to Airbnb and I also wanted
to go physically look at the place the
next morning so I said let's pick this
up the next day she continued to text me
and say we're really not comfortable
here we're leaving tonight we want all
of our money back and you know please
confirm that you're going to give us all
of our money back because we're leaving
right now and this is well after
midnight so this is now friday morning
and I'd blocked a space for the three
days and there's no chance I'm going to
rent the money rent the place and just
seems very very abnormal and I just
couldn't understand it so fast forward
to the next day I went over to the place
and sure enough there was a very clean
bed the bed was made the photos of them
to share with you or actually photos
that the guests sent to me so she's the
one who was like highlighting all of the
proud
and I'm the first to admit that the
duvet could have been ironed and looked
much more orderly and you might see that
in the four seasons or a five-star hotel
but again that's not the level of
service that we do where every single
check-in and check-out we watch the due
day and iron everything but it was
perfectly clean and you'll even see
throw pillows on the bed and everything
looked orderly and sure enough the
television was on the wrong input so I
fixed that so you know in my mind it was
kind of like gee I don't understand what
they're so upset about maybe they
thought there was an extra bedroom or
maybe they thought there was an extra
bathroom or maybe they read the
description long and instead of
admitting it they were just going to
lash out on me and try and make it seem
like you know the place was not ready
for guests and it was just an awful
experience and so in a nutshell I ended
up keeping them one night that they you
know checked in and then I gave him back
to nights and I kind of thought that
that was more than fair and speaking
with air being me they thought that that
was just generous I didn't need to do
any of that but it seemed like the right
thing they do and so that's what I did
now here's where it gets interesting so
I left I did nothing more with that
property except as I was walking out I
saw one light was out in a in a room
that was rarely used inside changed one
light bulb but the guests from Turkey
that were complaining about it had no
idea that that light bulb was out now
the very next gas to checked and i think
in 48 hours after again there was nobody
there there was no cleaning team we did
nothing different they checked in this
was a family of four from England and
the very first text I got from them was
we love the flat the place is amazing
and now that's much more in keeping with
sort of our hosting profile and what
people feel when they come and stay at
our flat and that's what I love about
Airbnb and those are the kind of guests
that I love having in my home and that's
the standard what I experienced what
this family from Turkey is abnormal it's
happened to me I think two or three
times in the course of hosting over
years and hundreds of people but it does
happen and when it does happen it sort
of hurts and makes me say ah this is
what a pain and I can't believe it's
midnight I'm dealing with this and so on
and so forth but the point is the
juxtaposition that was one guest the
very next guest a pleasure a delight
super friendly super appreciative they
love the flat the place is awesome
couldn't be happier
and that's what I want you to keep in
mind when you have the next issue
whenever that may be and hopefully it's
rare or never happens to you but if and
when it does happen just realize that
the very next guest is going to be all
thumbs up five star loving what it is
that you're doing so keep up your
standards and don't get yourself down so
look I think this is a important message
just in keeping everybody spirits and
your head in the game happens to all of
us but I thought you'd benefit from my
personal experience and I wanted to
share this video with you if you found
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next week
you