Making reviews more fair for hosts

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Making reviews more fair for hosts

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 Many of you have asked us how Airbnb can protect hosts from one-off bad reviews. When this question came up at the most recent Host Q&A, we told you we were working on ways to make the review process more fair for hosts. Specifically, we made 2 promises:

  1. We committed to launching a tool to detect outlier reviews—or one-off bad reviews. A common example is when there’s a discrepancy between the overall rating and the category ratings provided by a guest (when a guest gives a host 5 stars for cleanliness, accuracy, and the other categories but a 2-star rating overall, for instance).
  2. Based on your feedback, we also committed to exploring ways to help guests better understand that the location category rating is meant to be objective. The location category rating doesn’t impact your overall rating (or Superhost status), but we know it’s important to you, and we want to make sure the whole system is as fair as possible.

 

Today, we’re excited to announce two improvements to the review process that directly address these issues. Since these changes have been introduced, we’ve already noticed a tangible uptick in more accurate, fair reviews for hosts, and we hope they solve some of your pain points. Here’s what’s new:

 

One-off review alerts

We’ve added a step to the review process for guests when they give a host an inconsistent overall rating. For instance, the guest may have given 4-star or higher ratings for all the categories (cleanliness, accuracy, etc.), but then give an overall rating of less than 3 stars.

 

The new pop up screen asks guests: “Is this right?” And goes on to explain that they rated their overall stay lower than they rated it in specific categories. It gives guests an option to either change the rating or ignore the alert.

 

This new alert has led to higher overall review ratings for hosts. Since we launched, we’ve seen a 2.8% drop in 3-star reviews and a 3.9% drop in 2-star reviews. While these percentages may seem small, they’re driving real improvements in the accuracy of our review system, and hosts are benefitting.


Location, location, location

We’ve heard from you that the location rating can be particularly frustrating because some of you have experienced guests dinging you in this category, unexpectedly, after great stays. This category is tricky. It gives valuable information to prospective travelers, which we don’t want to lose. At the same time, we hear your concern that you’re being graded for something you can’t control: guests’ opinion of your location. This opinion is inherently subjective—one person’s “rustic rural retreat” may be another’s “too far from public transportation.” So we made it more clear in the review process that guests are rating the accuracy of your location description, rather than the location itself.

 

Now, when a guest goes to rate you in the location category, if they give you less than 3 stars, they see an explanation: “Was the listing’s location not described accurately?” So far, this has led to a 0.8% increase in the average rating for location.


While we were working on this, we also made similar improvements to the value category. If a guest gives you less than 3 stars there, they’ll see this message: “What would have made this listing a better value?” This has led to a 0.25% increase in the average rating for value.


These changes were designed to begin to address your concerns around unfair reviews, and to help make sure that guests understand what ratings mean. We still have a journey ahead of us to keep making the review system better, and you’ll continue to see updates from us on this throughout the year. Thank you for hosting!

1,283 Replies 1,283

Indeed! We have had guests who frankly were terrible guests. They didn't follow the property rules, they left the Suite trashed, were late checking out and were hard to communicate with. We both left reviews for each other. Ours was a 4-star review, theirs of us was a 5-star one. Theey had NO EFFING TROUBLE deleting THEIR review when they found out that ours was a 4-star one, even though both reviews were equally accurate! All THEY  had to do was to make a single phone call!

 

The "brain trust" at AirBnB didn't have a problem with that for some reason. "Honesty in reviews" my ASS.

This does not address the advantage a guest has to review within the proglonged duration  allowed. I feel that after a host has made a security bond claim  and request for damages ,( in my case which led to the guest being contacted by air bnb for missing items including keys and damage) air bnb should NOT allow them to review after  they have clearly not responded to the host via the ap after checkout. I tried several times over two weeks and guest ignored my questions. After I gave an honest review which basically advised why I would never recommend them they then decided to review me with a one out of five on all options. This is only after air bnb  also tried contacting them  and had no response. the compensation I received in dollar value  is no comparison to my 4.9 rating over 12 months going down to 4.  3 guests later at 5 5  and 4.9 Im still only on 4.4.  this is appalling. The guest should have no right to review under  a claim against them that was proven as legit

This is the evil Airbnb rating system. We are NOT 5 star hotels with staff, and shouldn't be rated as such.

3 stars should be the limit for SUPERHOST. 

Or at the very least make the star system work the same way that all the other ones on the damned planet do! Can't tell you how many times guests have given us 3 or 4 stars while writing things like "this is the best rental that I've ever been in! The BEST 3-star home I've ever rented!' AND SO ON. The entire planet uses reviews in a way different from AirbnB. Time for them to smarten up.

This JUST happened to us as well. In additioin the guest review incldued info about where we live, our personal finances, called us "desperate" and so on, even while it admited that they paid for taking items! It's just staggeringly stupid! Can't wait to get off of this platform because AirBnB clearly doesn't give a rat's ass about honesty in the reviews. Lotss of ** talk about removing outlier reviews... hasn't happened. Why? Because all they care abot at AirBnB now are their stock options! "Trust in the community is so important..." MY ASS!! We've had guests caught on video carry our belongings out to their CAR, called the police who arrived jsut in time and got our stuff, The ** who run AirBnB let those people post a 1-star review of us as well! 

 

Unbelievable.

**[Inappropriate comment removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

Nina444
Level 3
Mytholmroyd, United Kingdom

I can't believe this is still going on. 

 

Additional pressure from fairness of reviews to ridiculous price tips (which don't even cover the basic hourly rate for earning in the UK,)  and continuous commentary about fairness of reviews made me realise this is a downwards spiral. Airbnb has had plenty of opportunity to address this. They use unfair reviews as a carrot and stick mechanism, you will lose your super host status unless you tow the line, let guests walk all over you without support, etc.

 

Last year due to Airbnb search engines, my property ceased to be visible. I had friends across the world searching for it without luck, even though it's in a very small village with only one other Airbnb, my property vanished. Airbnb did nothing to rectify this.

 

Airbnb needs to care more about hosts, otherwise, like me, people will have enough and either go to other platforms or quit. I'm no longer hosting through Airbnb and from the outside looking in, I am glad.

 

We're in the process of booking our properties on other platforms as well, we're even contemplating spending the money that we're giving to AirBnB in hosting fees to a group that is in the process of building a new platform to compete directly against AirBnB in our area.. And we've ben Superhosts for ten years who have hosted more than 100,000 guests over the last ten years! That's right, AirBnB has made somewhere between $50,000 and $150,000 on OUR properties over the last decade, but STILL lets people post vindictive reviews on our listings! It's just stupid.

Jon2833
Level 1
Allentown, PA

I recently had a guest leave a 1 star review as retaliation for not receiving a full refund.  When I brought this up to AIRBNB customer support, they acknowledged that it was an outlier and should be removed but then that conversation with the AIRBNB rep was conveniently removed and no one from AIRBNB will get back to me about my complaint.

@Jon2833 Ah yes! The infamous, "We consider this matter closed" and/or "We're forwarding this to a department that can help you" messages before they shut down the support thread after wasting your time for hours and giving you nothing! We've seen it too many times.

Ross648
Level 7
New York, NY

Sarah977 

This is a sad thread to read.  From Sarah's spot-on initial comments to all of the hosts complaining about a review system that renders them vulnerable, indeed paranoid, to revenge reviews.   And AirBnB does nothing -- their starting this thread was a meaningless gesture, indeed a perverse one.  

 

But what seems to me also sad is that, as many hosts have mentioned, the review system is changing guests as well.  We had for the first time in almost a decade a guest ask for a full refund after he had checked out, and then invented a revenge review, full of obvious and verifiable lies, when I refused to refund.    This kind of guest is in fact a product of the AirBnB system.  Another guest this year (we have been booked every night for the last four months due to covid holidays) gave me a rating of 3 because he found our expensive (and comfortable) sofa to be uncomfortable.   Which it is not.  But in so doing destroyed our ratings.  This "hotel" guest is part of the new AirBnB as well.  

 

@Ross648   "This kind of guest is in fact a product of the AirBnB system. "

 

YES!  This is such a succinct and true statement. Airbnb is creating the situation of retaliation reviews and made-up complaints in order to get a free stay. That Airbnb refuses to acknowledge or address this is a slap in the face to hosts and means the system will be broken until it is changed.

David1600
Level 2
Grosse Pointe Park, MI

I lost my super host status because of retaliatory reviews by two guests:

- One wanted a free stay

- Another who made a LAST MINUTE cancellation request, making a claim under covid-19 albeit the reservation was not eligible, yet he found my voluntary prorated refund offer to difficult to comprehend.

 

These reviews were outliers and in one case RACIST.  The first guest asked for a 1 night exception before booking and also wanted an early check-in to host a bachelors brunch; my minimum is 2 nights to avoid party only givers.  He arrived and stayed the 2 nights, then filed a poor review and filed for a full refund.  His 1 or 2 star review said: no wifi (worked for me all weekend), dust (always 5 stars for cleanliness), fake odors, and made RACIST comments about my 95 year old dad.

 

Where is the help AIRbnb?  Like the NFL, a host should be able to throw a RED FLAG twice or so per review period to challenge outlier retaliatory reviews.

Chris-and-Yoko0
Level 4
Nerang, Australia

I lost my Superhost status because of 2 guests .One said no wifi but it was written on the  rules  ATTACHED to the wall,which they obviously didn't read gave 4 stars ,and the worst were 4 Mainland Chinese who complained about dust and a small spider in bathroom, we are in a bush zone, 1 nighters, couldn't speak any english, and gave 3 stars. 

Jamie206
Level 10
Pooler, GA

Doesn't work. End of story. Airbnb is sucking even harder lately with this. "Now offering a hidden review criteria!"

No way to justify that a guest can rate you 4.8 stars and then it shows up as a 3 or 2 on your ratings. 100% useless drivel.

Chris-and-Yoko0
Level 4
Nerang, Australia

Ratings should be SCRAPPED altogether. Its unfair and misleading. Open to abuse. Afterall, its not a 5 star hotel with plenty of staff,its just a Private residence with NO STAFF.