u/OkConsideration123

Does this guest legit deserve mediocre review (not bad), or am I just annoyed and being overly petty?

Guest booked as two couples + 4 kids under 10yo (8 people) for a 4th of July weekend at our villa (occupancy limits: 10 overnight/16 daytime). They invited extra families to join for the day without letting us know. Technically not against the rules, but inconsiderate to not mention (?). Cameras confirmed at least 12 people in the pool. Driving by, we saw at least 4 cars in the driveway. Our driveway camera was down (our fault, need to order a new part) so I can’t confirm potential overnight stays, but all our extra bedding was used and they left behind an air mattress. Additionally, we told the main booker not to park in a particular area of the drive way, which they did not relay to the extra guests. Of course they parked there in front of the gate, triggering a gate sensor malfunction (requires a manual reset, annoying but not hard).

Mess that was left (and one minor damage incident):
• Burned hole in a bench cushion by fire pit

• Melted chocolate/marshmallow on the fire pit, cushions, indoor floor mats, and the guest book (which they didn’t sign btw 🙄)

• Smashed cookies on flagstone by pool, popsicle stick in grass, melted blue popsicle on a duvet

• Multicolor chalk dust/chunks on the patio

• Used bandaids on floor inside and out

• Glow sticks and plastic debris outside

• Pool umbrellas left open (one now covered with bird poo)

• Candy wrappers and chips under furniture

• Shriveled produce left out

• More dirty dishes than we’ve ever had left before (we don’t require they wash dishes before leaving, but yikes this was a lot)

We charge guests only half of what the actual turnover cleaning costs us because of sticker shock concerns. 

Actual rule breaking was minimal. There was the guest parking issue mentioned before. They arrived 30 min early but wife acted annoyed that a team member was still working in the garden. They live only an hour away, so it’s not like their flight got in early or anything. During checkout, they left the AC on in 4/6 rooms and left a few dirty dishes in other rooms instead of the kitchen (2 of our 4 checkout tasks). The other two checkout tasks, leaving beds as-is (unmade, not stripped) and keeping makeup towels separate from the rest of the towels in the tub, they actually did correctly.

Guest was good about a few things. They were understanding about two small hiccups on our end. One of our AC units in one of the bedrooms started leaking. Ultimately not a big deal because there are two units in that room, so they just used the other one. They also felt the pool was cold at ~85° (we do charge for pool heat), so I turned it up remotely but needed them to reset the breaker on our system because it crashed. They also did wash/fold 12-15 pool towels (but left ~15 more dirty with the rest of the linens).

Communication was mediocre. They were slow on time-sensitive stuff, like radio silence during the pool heat/breaker issue on the 4th (resolved quickly only because I kept checking remotely). Though they did flag a minor repair at checkout.

They said they had a lovely time and hope to return. We would not host them again. Leaning: 2-3 stars cleanliness, 4 house rules, 3-4 communication. Is that too harsh given the small and ambiguous nature of a lot of the issues, or fair given how much it added up? How much detail to go into on a written message?

Might be a strange request but… I’m trying to stay more hydrated throughout the day and also reduce my sugar intake. Problem I’m finding is I just don’t enjoy a lot of drinks. Flavored waters, pre-biotic sodas, nothing hits the spot. I think part of it is an ADHD dopamine thing.

Only thing I’ve found is Parch Non-Alcoholic mocktails (particularly love the Desert Margarita). But they are expensive, fairly high in sugar, and as I’m sensitive to ginseng I can’t drink too many.

My hypothesis is the flavor complexity of some cocktails/mocktails is what I’m looking for that I’m just not finding in those flavored waters and sodas. They are just so… bland and one note.

Anyways, would love suggestions for any absolutely delicious mocktails with complex flavors that hopefully don’t have too much sugar (or sugar replacements would work) that are either:
Easy to make (quick)
OR can be made in a large batch
OR be made into a concentrate that can be added to bubbly water

I’m open to lots of different flavors and would like variety. That said, I’m very sensitive to caffeine, so please no suggestions that use tea or coffee (not even decaffeinated).

Thank you in advance!

Maybe a long shot but I’m desperate in a terrible technical loop and getting no help from support.

I work at an agency partner and need access to Burgey. When I got a new phone, Microsoft Authenticator got de-linked. Now I can’t login to my employee account because it can’t verify.

Support is telling me I need to submit an official ticket, and provided a link that is requiring me to verify through Authenticator…

It’s an impossible loop of I can’t reset anything without verifying my account, but I can’t verify because my accounts have been de-linked from one another.

Anyone else deal with this and know how to move forward? I’m on a deadline and can’t get what I need without getting on Burgey…

Thanks in advance

TLDR: Guest verbally confirmed (3 witnesses) they wanted the pool heated, we turned it on, then they denied requesting it after checkout to dodge the charge. They’re lying, but we have no written proof so we let it go. Problem is, we reached out to the guest about shoes we thought they left, but guest says they found them under a bed (meaning our cleaners messed up), which is on us and gives them a legit complaint if they want to give us less than perfect in a review if prompted.

It is worth reviewing a middling guests (not terrible but not trustworthy) when they have a legitimate complaint that could ruin a perfect 10/10 out of 9 reviews should they choose to?

The full story:

Large luxury wine country rental, sleeps 10. Currently 10/10 stars across 9 VRBO reviews.

Guests briefly thought they’d pre-arranged pool heat, but hadn’t. During greeted check-in, we confirmed that it wasn’t pre-arranged and explained there would have been an extra charge had they done so. They said they wanted it heated and confirmed they wanted it at our “cozy” setting (3 witnesses, in-person and over the phone). We turned the heat on and submitted the charge at the same time, trying to be quick and our system is more reliable when changes are done in person.

After their 5-night stay, we followed up on the unpaid charge. They claimed they’d said not to heat it. Total BS, contradicting what we heard. Our bad for not getting it in writing at least, so we dropped it, but we know what was said. Guest flat out lied and took advantage.

Other issues, guests arrived an hour early, were intoxicated during check-in, and left dirt on multiple sheets. Otherwise, the place was fine and seemed to have followed the rules.

I’d like to leave a middling review. Not the worst guests, but definitely wouldn’t host again.

Thing is, after checkout we flagged shoes we thought they’d left behind, but the guest replied saying they found them under a bed themselves (meaning our cleaning team missed them during turnover, unacceptable and on us).

My concern is leaving a review prompts them to review us, and I don’t want to risk our perfect score over the shoes (legitimate complaint) or pool heat “miscommunication” (BS lie). I don’t trust this guest and would like to warn other hosts, but is it worth the risk for a guest that wasn’t *terrible*??

Thanks in advance!

IRS says we owe them money. We have receipts we paid them already. Tried calling but the auto system said they can’t take our call cause they don’t have enough people and hung up.

Anyone else having weird tech issues with VRBO today?

I’m unable to message our guest that is arriving tomorrow, but I can message other guests. I called support and they are not sure why. They tried to send a message on my behalf and even they couldn’t get a message through to this guest!

Plus half the time in Chrome it’s telling me “Access Denied” when trying to go to my dashboard (despite just clearing the cache). But it works in Safari. But neither browser, nor our management platform, can send a message to a guest.

We also had a situation where a guest was in the middle of booking and then the platform errored out and made them start again, but raised the price. It really set us off on the wrong foot because the guest assumed we raised the price on them (obviously ridiculous thinking since we don’t know when guest start the booking process, only when they confirm it). But they had screen shots to prove it and VRBO is “escalating” the issue because they don’t know what happened.

I’m just so fed up with VRBO’s tech. It’s so bad…