In Case You Missed It: Review update, Host Guarantee & more

[Airbnb]

We’re excited to share what we’ve been working on over the past few months, from expanding our efforts to tackle inconsistent reviews (we heard your feedback!) to offering new promotional tools that can help your listing stand out. Read on to learn more.

A review update inspired by your feedback

Late last year, we announced a new tool to help address inconsistent reviews. Here’s how it worked: If a guest gave you a 5-star rating in each category (cleanliness, value, etc.) but 1, 2, or 3 stars overall, they’d get a prompt asking them if they wanted to correct that inconsistency.

We got lots of great feedback from hosts on the new tool, and some of you asked why we set the threshold at 3 stars or less—in other words, why wouldn’t a 4-star overall rating trigger the prompt if the guest gave 5 stars everywhere else? We heard you, and we’ve changed the system so that now, even a 4-star overall rating will trigger a prompt if the guest has given 5 stars in each of the specific categories.

With this update, we’re continuing our work to make reviews more relevant and useful for hosts and guests, and we look forward to sharing more changes later in the year.

New custom promotions to get your listing noticed

We recently rolled out our new custom promotions feature, which lets hosts choose their own date range and discount amount. Hosts who set custom promotions can get access to special perks, including:

• An eye-catching strikethrough price in search pages and on their listing (e.g. $100 $85/night)
• Special callouts on their listing page, and the discount clearly detailed in the price breakdown
• A spot in the emails that go out to guests who browsed their listing

If your dashboard doesn't currently show custom promotions as an option, it may be because you're in a location that isn't supported or because you've had fewer than three bookings in the past year. In the meantime, you can still offer deals to guests by setting a lower price for specific dates, or setting up weekly and monthly discounts.

Host Guarantee will soon cover damage by assistance animals

We know that assistance animals (which include service and emotional support animals) play a crucial role in the lives of many of our guests, and we appreciate your willingness to accommodate them. We also know that there are rare cases where an assistance animal causes damage to a host’s property, so in the coming months, we’ll be expanding our $1,000,000 USD Host Guarantee to cover those incidents. (Keep in mind that the Airbnb Host Guarantee is subject to certain terms, conditions, and exclusions—you can learn more about it here.) We hope this update helps bring peace of mind as you continue to welcome guests with different needs into your spaces.

As always, we’d love to hear your feedback on these changes in the comments below. We’ll continue to work on updates that help make hosting easier and more enjoyable for you, so stay tuned for more to come!

[Quinn32]

Lol. Thanks for sharing. This story made me laugh!

[Lien911]

That’s a most funny story about guest I’ve ever heard 🙂

[Shamila5]

Lol. Thanks for the laugh. 

[Quinn32]

I think this is great news for many... Thank you airbnb for addressing our concerns.  I had a guest that gave  me 5 stars but a 4 for location and didn't find it fair considering it's very close to the stadium as advertised... In any respects I welcome the change

[Mutawintji0]

Andre43,

You need to be in the desktop version, not a mobile device. 

Go to Edit Listing

Scroll down to custom link,

Click edit link.

Greg. 🙂

[Sandra512]

If I have the best price in town, the guest probably will not be getting the Taj Mahal.  People don't know how to rate a place according to what they are paying.

[Elizabeth1797]

Thanks for this information, however, I am wondering why this update was not utilized to correct the wrong review of 2 stars by Lovell Jackson (my previous guest) while given me 5 stars on all the other categories, if what your message above is correct. This guest was a house rules breaker during his stay. When it was addressed with him he did not like it, therefore turned around and got me back by given me 5 stars in all the categories but 2 stars on the overall review. I feel that it's unfair for airbnb not to be able to do anything about it when I informed you then.

Elizabeth Oladokun-Olalere

[Lesley53]

I have had a couple of 5* reviews in each category but given 4* overall. When I have asked why, they haven’t replied. I would also like some sort of way of responding to a guest who told out and out lies. Eg. One particular guest insisted I had emailed her directions after she had left home a week before her due visit to us and maintained she had emailed me prior to that explaining she would have no wifi for a week before her visit to me. My email records showed there was no such email from her and as is usual, I had emailed her 14 days before she was due. She also complained that our cats had messed in the house( completely untrue as the cats never go in unless invited) in fact she complained about everything. However, as all of our other reviews both prior and since her visit have all been full of praise, you could see she was being vindictive. She also stated they didn’t spend anytime in the house because it wasn’t good. Yet her husband frequently complained when I met him in the car park that she  and her son were never ready to go out until 2pm. He himself said he was completely satisfied with everything and indeed I also checked with her on several occasions if she needed anything and she said all was ok. ( I do this with all guests) Sorry if this is a bit long winded but when a guest can be proven to have lied ( as in my email proof) surely their review should be questioned or at least thrown in to doubt by Airbnb? While one review amongst other excellent ones isn’t particularly damaging, I do feel it is unnecessary and should be questioned.

[Deborah82]

So very pleased to hear about the 4 star/5 star prompt.

Once again, Airbnb taking onboard the unhappiness of a majority of hosts and doing something positive about it. Well done.

[Lawrence-and-Joan0]

Hosts put themselves out everyday. They do their best to make sure guests have great experiences on their stay. Hosts put themselves and their homes at risk by inviting strangers into their homes. Without hosts taking these risks there simply would not be Airbnb.  So Hosts must be trusted when they report a guest has unfairly reported a low rating.  There should be a resolution option or arbitration option provided by Airbnb to hear disputes. There should be an equal number of Hosts to non Hosts in these groups to consider a Host dispute and a majority decision to stay or remove a poor Host evaluation. Guests should be red flagged after three decisions to remove their poor Host evaluations.  This would help Hosts to maintain excellent ratings when they deserve them and to protect Hosts from abusive guests.  Please protect your Hosts it is the only way for Airbnb to remain a highly valued option for people when they travel. 

[Anne41]

I have noticed that something must have changed in the way guests are asked/encouraged to leave reviews - we haven’t had any for a few months although we have had numerous bookings. Has anyone else noticed this? 

[Bree30]

I've been having a similar problem. I have had several recent guests and none left reviews. 

[Spratt-Family0]

Yep noticed this too!!

[Spratt-Family0]

I'm delighted about it. Reviews stress me out

[Graham100]

All these changes are good, its just common sense really.

But there are other common sense issues which are still not addressed.

Recently a guest would not wait 10 minutes for a keysafe code and went to book a hotel and left me a 3 star review, and even though I sent the code ten minutes later and guest admitted they did not stay at the property and didn't even enter it, Airbnb refused to remove the review. I think this is another area where common sense should prevail.