Guest review after a mixed stay
Write this after you have cooled off and checked the facts, still inside the review window.
{Guest name} stayed at {Property name}. {What went well}
What happened: {What happened}. {House rules note}
I am posting this so the next host has the facts. I would want the same detail before I accept a stay.
When to send
Use the mixed review when a stay had a real problem and also was not a disaster you need to pretend was charming. {what_went_well} keeps the review from being a single angry scene: “They communicated their arrival and were polite in the thread.” {what_happened} is the event with a time and a thing: “Checkout was 1:40pm, and the reservation was 11:00am, which delayed the cleaner” or “The listing’s no-smoking rule was broken. Cigarette ash was on the balcony table on checkout morning.” {house_rules_note} ties it to a rule that was on the listing, or says the rule was not involved if the issue was something else.
Write it in the booking site’s review form after checkout. It is not a message to the guest in the thread, though they may see it later. Do not also argue in the thread and in the review with different versions of {what_happened}. Pick the version you can support.
If the only issue is that you disliked their tone and the home is fine, consider skipping the review or using the strong-stay shape without the insult. A mixed review should change what the next host does: they might message about quiet hours, or they might accept the guest without worry. If it changes nothing, it may be venting.
Timing tip
Wait until you are past the hottest hour, and do not wait so long that the window closes or the details blur. The morning after checkout, with the cleaner’s notes in front of you, is a solid time. {what_happened} should match photos or timestamps if you have them. The incident report is the place those notes live. Use it before you write the review, so the review and the report do not diverge.
Do not draft this in the thread where you might send it as a message by mistake. Write it in the review box, or in a note you control, and paste once.
If you need the platform’s damage process, start that process on its own timeline. A review is not a claim. Say what happened. Do not write “and they owe us $400” unless a resolution tool has already produced a number you are allowed to mention. Most of the time, leave the money out and keep the facts.
Common mistakes
Insults are the first one. “Disrespectful,” “entitled,” and “nightmare” feel precise and read as mood. {what_happened} is a clock and an object. The next host can decide what the clock means. They cannot use your adjective.
The second is exaggeration. One late checkout is not “they ignored every rule.” {house_rules_note} should name the rule that was broken and not sweep in rules that were fine. If quiet hours were fine and checkout was not, say that. A review that overreaches is the one a guest successfully disputes.
The third is private or protected detail. Do not mention disability, religion, national origin, family structure, or health as the explanation. Do not quote a fight they had with each other. The property facts are enough. If {what_went_well} is nothing, you may say communication was minimal, if that is true, rather than inventing a compliment to look balanced.
After you post
Stop. A follow-up message that says “I had to be honest in the review” reopens the stay. If they reply in public later, the public-reply templates are for reviews of you, not for a second essay under your own guest review. Let {what_happened} stand as you wrote it, unless you learn it is wrong. If you learn it is wrong, correct it through the platform’s edit or removal process rather than arguing in a new thread.