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!

[Shamila5]

Thank you for the update. Will look at using this feature. 

[Ed-and-Robb0]

Agree with everyone on guests who are the worse guests and give you low rates. AirBnB should red flag them. What I do is block them. I also now learn how to analyze guests and see who really deserves good reviews. Hard for me to give a guest 5 stars. The genuine good ones will get it but believe me guys: anyone can see if the guest is genuine and really happy about your place. Some guest pay for an AirBnB and wants a service of a 5 star hotel. And you give the guest a great service (better than a five star hotel) and treat the guest as a part of your family and the guest give you a low rates. Be aware!

[Sylvia571]

Can the new rating policy be implemented on past gusts who accidentally  left a 4 overall, but 5 on all other categories? 

[Nicole291]

The pet thing needs to be addressed more thoroughly.  Why can't guests add pets to the trip just like the number of people?  So an automatic charge can be added. Just had a guest who never disclosed they were bringing a dog.   Left hair all over my bedding.  Gross. 

[Barbara1531]

Airbnb should reconsider its policy of allowing reviews by guests who  cancel and never arrive at your property. 

[Joyce227]

The only less than five star review came from a guest who I held financially accountable for sneaking in extra guests. There were more than a dozen people in a facility meant for five. I would like to see that review eliminated. I believe the only way we can improve our overall collective experience is to hold rule breakers accountable without fear of reciprocity. 

[Maria2288]

Well, thank  God, I have very good  reviews,  but I don't  accept  animal, though  I love them.., but lately  I haven't  been able to have a booking,  even though  my Condo  is sparkling  clean  and very cozy,  can anyone  tell me why,  I love constructing  criticism,  thank you!!

[Carolyne12]

when someone brings an emotional support dog do they have papers to show it is licensed ?  Is there anyway that the cleaning fee can be doubled when customers bring a dog into a no pet stay??

Carolyne Hawley,   Casa Carolina

[Kay6]

Same thing happened to me and I had even upgraded their room at no charge, some people just have no respect and you cannot please them

[Jane--And-Dan-0]

I gave a host high marks on cleanliness and communication etc.  However, I had to downgrade overall because the home was in a jet pattern where planes started takeoff at 6:30 am and kept up every 2-3 minutes.  I felt this should have been more prevalent in the description (but I understand why it wasn't), so just gave her less stars on the overall.  Hence, while hosts/guests may get high marks on the categories you collect, the overall experience may not add up to a perfect experience. She was upset with me, and wrote a long comment about what a horrible guest (with attitude) I was, and how she felt sorry for my husband!  I tried to keep her marks high by giving her all high marks where I could, but she was still very upset with me.

[Edilene4]

It is good for having the animal demmage policy,  also being to control the dates and promotions. 

[Jaime458]

I had no idea that you were having a sort of research among owners. I rented my property only once and decided to cancel my deal with airbnb due to the damages my house suffered.

[Spratt-Family0]

Owners can leave feedback on the airbnb website

[Diane960]

Is there a way for someone to look at past reviews/star ratings that happened JUST before this update/change? my last guest gave me 5 stars in everything but only 4 over all b/c the community pool was closed. I believe that should be reviewed and upgraded!

[Yajahira0]

Why are guests able to give a review even if they decided to not stay and why do hosts have to give a review even if the guest never checked in? Recently I had a guest that never checked in because of a family emergency and was able to give me a review.  She claimed to have stayed and gave me 3 and 4 stars. Same for a host how can you review someone you've never met and didn't even stay in your home