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
Debra66
Level 2
Tampa, FL

@Airbnb  guest review host; host review guest; what about the core of the community Airbnb? As host do we receive higher ratings for smooth hosting, i.e. clean accommodations not  requiring  intervention, non canceled reservations for 10-100-1000's  of reservations in other words smooth bookings?  Can Airbnb be the equalizer to the percentages? Superhost status is always under attack from the things host can not control. Guest who oversleep and are aggravated being awaken, guest who do not educate themselves to the actual listing and them are disappointed because the ocean isn't our their door. Even the occasional break down of amenities has a normalcy rate. Unlike hotels which have multiple rooms to relocate guest as host we do not have that ability  that is Airbnb's position. So in the review process how do the host get credit for being as responsive as possible and not having to involve Airbnb beyond the booking?

 

100% agree. Really SUPERHOST should be a 75% rating,NOT 95% as it is currently. Who is the ** in Airbnb who sets this ridiculous high percentage ???????? It it not sustainable with the amount of crazy vindictive people out there in this day and age. 

 

**[Inappropriate content removed - Community Center Guidelines]

 

"It it not sustainable with the amount of crazy vindictive people out there in this day and age. "  -agree!! Guests are SO agitated these days. 

Mark37
Level 3
St Petersburg, FL

Interesting...and quoting... "we’ve seen a 2.8% drop in 3-star reviews and a 3.9% drop in 2-star reviews."

 

Are you kidding, this is statistically insignificant. And is that it? Just a popup for the guest? There needs to be more influence given to hosts.  e.g. if you have hundreds if stays and an average of near 5, then a 2 pops up, something is wrong and we should be able to have some kind of influence or review.

Chris-and-Yoko0
Level 4
Nerang, Australia

Yes Airbnb are extremely unfair to the Host,Without us,they have NOTHING. 

JD29
Level 4
Titusville, FL

@Airbnb 

This is a great improvement. Thank you. Nevertheless, I think Overall rating should be disassociated from the sub-categories ratings.  Overall rating should be the first question to the guest, i.e. Was the stay and/or experience good or bad. If 'good' is selected, then the system grants a 5-star overall rating. If guest answers 'bad', then each sub-category would be assessed as you already improved and the system will computer a final rating. It could also help in not allowing the guest who didn't stay (and didn't cancel) or live the experience the possibility to review. Quite a few new and regular guests have no idea how a 4-star rating for Overall Rating can be damaging for hosts. By secluding the first question 'Good' or 'Bad' will also help to quickly identify and/or detect outlier reviews—or one-off bad reviews and thus reduce the volume of calls. Any comments well appreciated. Thank you. 

Johnathan28
Level 1
Richmond, VA

This is a start, but still extremely unfair to even be included in a hosts rating-location should be for Airbnb feedback only to see if an area is desirable. For instance is someone chooses a times-square listing and then gives a one star because of the “city noise” it's ridiculous. The guest chose to stay in the area, knowing it's in the city. 

I could understand if the property name was “times-square” and it was actually located in Queens, but seriously to be dinged for a location that is chosen with a 24hr window to cancel once the address is released to the guest, in my opinion is not a fault of the host nor should the property be judged by location. 

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Johnathan28  "I could understand if the property name was “times-square” and it was actually located in Queens..."

 

Even that doesn't fall into a location rating- if a host misrepresents where the listing is, that would be something covered in the accuracy rating. 

Location shouldn't even be a rating.

Brian2036
Level 10
Arkansas, United States

@Sarah977 :

 

If a guest chooses anything less than 5 for accuracy they should be required to cite specifics.

 

If a listing is inaccurate that could be a serious issue that should be addressed. The guest is, in effect, accusing the host and Airbnb of false advertising!

 

 I recently had a guest who rated my property “2” for location. I get it. She doesn’t like it here.

 

But what specifically does she find unacceptable? Did she not understand some part of “remote, isolated mountain top chalet at the end of a half mile of rough private road?”

 

Or does she hate Arkansas in general?

 

Then she went on to score 3 for accuracy. No explanation.

 

Maybe she will be clever enough to avoid rural properties in the future but I doubt it. She claims to be a “nature lover” but is apparently terrified of forests and the creatures that inhabit them.

 

 I really think other hosts should be made aware of this before they allow her to book their properties.

@Brian2036  Well, I hope you warned other hosts in your review of her that "nature lover" seems to translate to liking to read outdoor magazines and National Geographic, and donating to Save the Elephants,  rather than actually experiencing being in nature. 

 

Kinda like those guys who post classified ads looking for a girlfriend. Where "Into sports" means spending the weekend in front of the sports channel on TV, feeding their beer belly. 🙂

Brian2036
Level 10
Arkansas, United States

@Sarah977 

 

Precisely (again.)

 

The cow-poop houses in Ethiopia look really cozy in National Geographic, but whoever would have imagined that they smell like. . .

 

A big fat ONE for accuracy.

 

Unfortunately I was unacquainted with this forum when I rated her and I didn’t know what to say or when to say it.

 

They were here for perhaps 15 minutes before they fled, never to return, so I really couldn’t complain too much.

 

 The main annoyance was that I sat around waiting for them to tell me that they were checking out until noon, finally drove up the mountain and found out they hadn’t slept here. (I thought they might have returned at night when my dog was asleep and I don’t like to violate people’s solitude.)

 

At least the house was clean, although we had to change the beds anyway in case they left some nasty little gifts between the sheets.

 

So I rated her honestly after waiting a few days for her review, which was not forthcoming, and of course she then took revenge. Bruja.

 

 

Hi Everyone,

We hope that you are all keeping well and safe in these unsettling times. We have just posted feedback on the Airbnb platform, but wonder what opinion others have about our perspective as hosts in a year made more challenging by the round of lockdowns here in NZ.

Here is what we gave as feedback:

 

Hi,

We are new hosts and have just one property listing.

Our current star rating on the listing on your site is 4.6. This appears to be taken from the average overall ratings given by guests which are 3 at 5 *, and 2 at 4* (23/5=4.6)

This does not reflect the average Guest experience over all 7 criteria for the 5 reviews which is 4.8 , which we believe is very unfair. Potential guests skim over listings, and will be influenced by the stars in their search, as they will not drill in to get the truth but move on to another listing with a supposedly better review rating.

 

The Guest has little choice if mildly dissatisfied but to choose less than 5 stars, which then unfairly weights the result. For a new host this is particularly upsetting as it takes forever to dig out of the hole. For example, if there were 10 reviews of which 9 gave 5* and one 4* the outcome would be 4.9 which again simply misrepresents actual guest satisfaction.

 

We respectfully ask that you treat data with some degree of statistical credibility, perhaps deleting the Guest overall rating and instead simply using the average of ALL criteria that you, from time to time, think appropriate, or at least averaging over all criteria  including the overall rating.

 

Hosts work hard to earn these points and it is distressing to see a good property defamed in this way. We have no issue at all with the reviews as negative comment can only help us to improve Guest experience.

 

By the way your updated info on star ratings mentions an eighth criterion: “Amenities”, however the Guest response does not show up on the detail available to us as Hosts. Should that be corrected at your end?

 

We have brought this to the attention of your help team, who were very pleasant, but not empowered to deal with the issue or, it seems, to escalate it to an effective management level. We ask that you treat this issue with urgency, as it is clear that you are eager to be as fair as possible, but in making changes may have overlooked the obvious.

Chris  & Barb

Seachange Cottage

Whangarei Heads

New Zealand

Tom934
Level 3
London, United Kingdom

In the end having worked in the central London & Home County property market for 20 years in sales and lettings and then the last few years with the AirBnB & VRBO short let side of things you will always get totally out of proportion ratings either through misunderstandings of the system, maliciousness or because of unrealistic expectations that are usually nothing to do with the lodgings. 

 

I think the best thing is to ignore the ratings as best as you can and just focus on keeping the lodgings clean and tidy. You will never please everyone.

 

I have had guests down rate my properties due to local Westminster (UK) restaurants being expensive compared to their provincial village in Germany. We're talking £12 for a main course being seen as extortionate.....

 

I have had guests complain about cleanliness (3 stars) after finding a single crumb at the back of a drawer under the oven. I even went round to double check and sort out the crumb but that was the only thing, then they left the house a complete mess.

 

I had two rather rotund young girls stay at a tiny studio where all dimensions (including the bed and shower) were listed in metric and imperial and yet due to location and price they still stayed (even with the listing recommending it for one person only but able to take 2 at a squeeze!), then downgrade the property as it was small. I always include floorpans in the listing photos to assist, but still get people imagining a palace for a pound.

 

On the whole I find that the worst guests are those a bit strapped for cash hunting around for bargains, I tend to avoid students or young travellers unless they have lots of feedback. If they  ask for a discount for a normal stay then that also creates a large red flag.

 

The last guest that marked me down unreasonably (in my opinion) broke the house rules multiple times by inviting other guests to stay, breached the parking rules of the property blocking a right of access for a neighbour for 3 days, left smoking stubs all over the garden and leaking rubbish bins seeping over the kitchen floor and all this after I allowed them a 3 hour early check in as a favour.

 

Rather than lose sleep by their rating which might knock my host status again I try to ignore these little issues and just focus on making sure my listing is unique, has lots of selling points compared to competitive listings. This tends to keep the listings up at the top of search results and booked up fully with or without 5 star status.....

Andre298
Level 2
São Paulo, Brazil

Pessoal, tenho uma pergunta estou no Brasil, aqui a leido inquilinato diz que o aluguel temporario não pode ser comercial.

 

A hospede reservou, para uma sessão de fotos na piscina.

 

Minhas regras dizem que não pode entrar em documentação prévia, a hospede entrou com uma equipe para fotos sem mandar documentação, que causou um conflito no condominio , fui acionado, e avisei a hospede que não podia, ela tirou as fotos se retirou, NÃO entrou no apartamento e me Destruiu na avaliação. 

 

O suporte airbnb , diz que não pode nada comercial sem consentimento, ou seja, é proibido , inicialmente.  pedi para tirar a avaliação, POIS como avaliar o que não compareceu, ainda agravante de fazer algo comercial, depois suporte voltou atrás dizendo que não é ilegal, dizendo que todos check ins , são avaliaveis, mas se a pessoa xinga , e não compareceu, NÃO viu o conforte, Não viu a limpeza. Simplesmente disse, não aluguem mais esse Apartamento. Realmente depois de 4 anos, estou confuso com atendimento de Portugal, que não conhece as leis brasileiras !!!! alguem já viu isso? pode relatar. obrigado.

Bart254
Level 2
Vermont, United States

The review process is horrible.  There should be a way to protect people from ignorant people who leave bogus reviews.  I just had a guest today give me 3 stars and complain about stuff that was TOTALLY false.  He literally made stuff up, I have no idea why but he did and there is no process by which I can counter these claims in terms of the star review that dragged down my score and sticks out like a sore thumb.  It really is absurd.  It's like booking a place that doesn't include a pool or claim to but when you arrive you see one, bit it's closed up... So you give the place a bad review and 3 stars because the pool was out of order.  It's like giving a place in Nebraska 2 stars because there is no ocean view..... It's ridiculous and adversely and unfairly impacts people's hard work and reputation and ability to earn money and AirBnBs response to this concern is to do absolutely nothing because it protects the integrity of the community feedback.  Huh... Some "integrity". Shame on you AirBnB.