A huge part of vacation letting comes down to avoiding complaints. While you may think that your rental has what it takes to make guests happy, it just takes one bad experience for a poor review to ruin your booking success. Some guests may put up with an uncomfortable bed, or a disorganised house. Others may complain if you do not have enough toilet paper. Ultimately, you cannot blame your guests for bad reviews. Instead, you can learn to know what to look for, in order to preemptively address common issues.

How do you know what guest are more likely to complain about? For starters, you can have a look at some of the typical complaints that are often left after a stay.

Avoid These Typical Vacation Letting Complaints

Some of the more typical vacation letting complaints include the following:

• Misleading or missing information. By far the biggest reason for guest complaints is missing, misleading or incorrect information on the vacation rental listing. Many guests make a booking, forking out a lot of money for their accommodation. On arrival, they find that the rental does not look much like the advertised space. Worse, features that were included in the listing are mysteriously absent in the actual property. You can resolve this complaint fairly easily however… all you need to do is ensure that you only list what your property offers. Be clear in your listings and do not try to lure guests with promises that you cannot keep.
• Uncomfortable bed. It sounds rather obvious, but many guests have found that the beds provided leave much to be desired in the way of comfort. If you cannot get comfortable, your vacation will quickly turn sour. Think about it this way – would you sleep there comfortably? A good bed is neither too soft, nor too hard. Invest in the best quality mattresses possible, along with high thread count bedding. Cushions should also be comfortable so that guests are able to sleep without any issues.
• No or poor connectivity. Having poor quality connections is bad enough. Not having any connectivity at all is a quick way to get negative reviews. In South Africa, broadband may not be quite on a par with international countries, but it is improving. Uncapped WiFi is the best choice. If this is not possible, ensure that guests have at least a reasonable amount of data to use each day. Provide the WiFi password in your welcome pack, and be sure that you have a strong connection that is free of issues.
• Dirty, poorly equipped or chaotic space. Lack of privacy, too much mess, lack of cleaning service, lack of basic equipment and lack of preparation can all lead to complaints. Your guests are travelling from home, sometimes for work and sometimes for vacation. If they arrive, expecting to receive at least the same level of quality that they would find at home, they will quickly be upset if your property feels closer to hell than home. One of the downsides to the growth of Airbnb is that EVERYONE is in the market. Some are offering wendy houses or garden sheds as accommodation, or even cupboards under the stairs. Simply put, if you cannot provide guests with a reasonable level of quality, they are likely to leave a poor review.
• Poor host experience. Another major reason for poor reviews is a bad experience with the host. One of the many, many reasons to consider professional vacation rental management is that it provides your guests with the highest level of support at all times. From bookings to check-in, guest concierge and check-out, your guests should be treated well. Rude, aggressive, demanding or uncomfortable hosts put guests off quickly. To avoid complaints about how you act as a host, consider renting your property through a dedicated short term rental manager.

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These are just a few of the typical guest complaints that a rental may receive. How can you be sure of getting better reviews? Try our tips on how not to handle poor reviews, or better yet, contact us today to find out how to take your vacation letting to the next level with Totalstay.