Making reviews more fair for hosts

[Airbnb]

 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!

[Rebecca181]

Glad to see Airbnb finally taking one small step toward healing the ailing review system. Does this mean that guests will no longer have to fill out 8 - 10 screens of data so that they will actually want to leave reviews for hosts again?

[Kim418]

@Helen427 I've had the pleasure of hosting a few Kiwis lately too! 😊

[Roxsan-and-Paul0]

Thank you for your attention to our needs as hosts.  What about when a guest adds in text about the wrong location?  Last year, a guest complained about the "other noisy guests and the pool wasn't clean"  Well, we don't have a pool and there weren't any other guests in our home that week.  So, clearly, the guest confused our review with another location.  While I don't think it really hurt our business, I wonder if there is any recourse for this type of siutation?

[Sarah977]

@Roxsan-and-Paul0 You can contact Airbnb and ask them to remove it, based on its obvious inaccuracy. If that fails, you can respond to the review. "Guest appears to have mistakenly reviewed a different property- we do not advertise, nor do we have, a pool, nor were there any other guests present during this reservation."

[Helen427]

@Kim0, I hope they were all well behaved 😉

[Patricia914]

Thanks so much. Really appreciate the help. Just got dinged on location and I asked the guest if they found my description of the location inaccurate. She said no, but of course it was too late. Thanks, again. 

[Tim-and-Holly0]

@Airbnb:

Why did you start with "less than 3?" Why not less than five? We lose business with four stars.

Thank you.

[Obinna0]

As much as I'd like to say this is a step in the right direction, how does Airbnb rectify hosts that lost Superhost because of low star ratings on location and retaliatory reviews? I recently received a 1-star from a guest who stole from my house. When confronted about it, she lied, but then days later admitted one of her friends did the stealing. She went on to say that my neighborhood is not safe, etc. I asked Airbnb support to remove this review, they simply stated "it did not violate their content policy". Until Airbnb addresses the real issue of allowing guests to have the upper hand, this problem is not going away with these updates. Just my 2 cents.

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@Airbnb - so when a guests gives 3 stars for location and you prompt: Was the listing accurate?  Where exactly are you pointing the guest to look to make this assessment?  The "Getting Around" section, the "Neighborhood" section, or something else?   

THIS has always been the problem - is this a question of how far things are to certain things or is it some measure of the quality of the neighborhood (like the neighbors, the roads, the buildings)?   Because I can tell you, my middle-america guests are frightened by my African-American neighbors or that not every building is renovated to look like new but their bias should not be reflected in my "location" score and it has, more than once, and I have CLEARLY indicated that my neighborhood is diverse and putting a count in the description of how many buildings are renovated.  That doesn't stop people from marking us down and your "threshold" of "accurate" isn't going to solve this either.  

[Susan1028]

Im appreciative of the modifications by Airbnb for inconsistent reviews and I also concur with @Ben0 and other hosts who’ve raised valid points about location, cancelled reservations, bad guests, and retaliatory reviews.

Neither guest nor host should be allowed to review a stay that hasn’t happened.  Period.  If there was a cancellation that wasn’t due to an exempted situation, attributing it to the party that cancelled seems fair in order to manage chronic cancels.

Retaliatory reviews should not be allowed and should be removed, and it benefits the whole community if a ‘rogue guest’ is made responsible for thier acts of damages,  breaking house rules, creating safety risks, sneaking in other guests, unethical attempts to stay for free, and unjustified reviews by keeping this platform safer for everyone.

Ive had wonderful luck with my guests up until the new policy of not allowing hosts to see full profiles of prospective guests.  I had  a newbie that tried to sneak 5 people into 3 person max space during a local festival and was surprised and tried to wield their title as a ranking government employee as intimidation when I said no.  

I had another bring an unannounced second guest who nearly caused a fire by burning driftwood in my beautiful fireplace as though it were a fire pit on the beach causing smoke  backup into the dwelling, left sooty finger prints all over my white walls, the kitchen a mess, took every roll of toilet tissue, paper towel, the large bottles of shampoo and conditioner, and every spice in the cupboard that’s clearly labeled as being there for all to share, creating lengthy cleaning to return the place to normal and additional replacement expenses that almost surpassed the cost of thier stay.

In both instances I called support and requested the booking guest agree to correct the booking for corrected number of guests via modification for liability reasons, and graciously found another airbnb listing close by that the extra guests beyond my capacity to house could stay in a town that was almost fully booked.

I took photos of the other guests damage but airbnb didn’t support my request for reimbursement for additional cleaning fees even though i’d called to report it during the visit and had photos of the damage and had asked for the proper way to handle it (a tactful written note with verbal backup)...because i hadn’t stated that they could not use “found” wood in the listing...even though I actually state i provide enough wood for an evening fire (saving them the cost of buying seasoned bundles of firewood in town at a premium) and that there is central heat so the fireplace is not fir heat, but for ambience.

I reported the extra guests and was successful in being supported by airbnb because my listing clearly states a 3 guest maximum....and I’d gone to the extra effort of finding alternatives for the extras.

Unjustified negatives render the platform unsafe for everyone and hurt business.

I hope the additional concerns shared in this thread and others will lead to more improvements.

[James1201]

Thank you, Susan for speaking about Airbnb. I completely agree with you. I have personally experienced 1 rogue guest, Pavel Sapronov. He books 39 nights with 10 nights for his wife to visit him. After 2 weeks staying, he pressured me to give him deeper discount from 15% to over 20% and not pay for his wife's stay for 10 nights for another 50 nights booking. When I refused to accept his demand, he told me that he would pay me personally but only with 60% discount on his wife's extra guest fee. The guest proceeded to sabotage my home. I reported to Airbnb. Airbnb did nothing. I finally had to make the decision to shorten this guest's stay because I have another group of guests checking in the same day. I want to provide the utmost comfort and safety to my professional guests. Airbnb is looking out for their interest of the paying guests. Sadly, they don't care about the hosts !!! What they don't realize is that the hosts provide products for Airbnb to sell !!!!! Very sad !!!!!
Naturally, the guest gave me an unfavorable review which is abnormal because I have 21- 5 star and 1 – 4 star reviews and no reviews less than these.

[Kate668]

Thank you for this step. This site will not function without happy hosts, and it seems much of the "improvements" have been geared towards guests. I appreciate the conversation with hosts and hope it continues.

[Wende2]

@Cathie0....Great idea for the people who don't leave a review, I'd like to add that they give us a way to search the name of that guest, to see what private message to hosts might be.  I had a horrible couple of guys stay, Thank goodness for just 1 short night and I wished I could tell other host about them, the one who booked had been a member for 3 yrs, no reviews, yes a red flag but I had just started doing this 2 months prior to the booking, an I needed what I could get after I chose to stop having a lease agreement, besides the fact we none know what we're getting til they're gone.  I see no reason why they can't have a place for us to search a name to find if the guest has bad reviews from hosts, whether they leave a host review or not, it would just be nice to know.

I'd like to also ask why location has to be a star rating, that's totally and completely depending upon that guests idea of it being good for them.  I had a guest stay for a visit the local Wildlife Refuge, I'm closest place to it, an yet she gave me 4 stars for location, whilst everyone else has given 5, someone else gave me 4 for value, an entire apt, fully equiped, and I leave fresh baked choco chip cookies for everyone, I'm not just sure what the hell else she expected.

[Christopher-and-Elisa0]

Good to see that something is being done to improve the experience for hosts. I’d say this is sorely needed but the changes go nowhere near far enough. They seem to address the extreme cases only.

But what about those guests who are unreasonable and leave unkind reviews, not necessarily terribly bad ones, but nonetheless unfair. Only today we were rated 4 stars overall by a guest. The other 4 was for location. According to them the description of the location was accurate but they thought it too far from the town center (10 min. leisurely walk). If my description was accurate what is the problem, apart from the guest’s perception and why should I be punished for that? How does that warrant a 4 star rating overall?

Last week someone else gave us 4 stars and rated us 4 on all performance markers except cleanliness. The 4 stars for communication are especially jarring considering that their booking email consisted of a full stop (same applies to their ‘review’). Sure, they didn’t need to write anything but wouldn’t it be polite and simply... nice...? Their response to our message re arrival time and check-in was borderline rude and on arrival they didn’t even bother to say ‘hi, I’m so-and-so’. During check-in it was pretty obvious that they were annoyed that they had to deal with me. A week before that we’ve had another pair who must have found meeting the host at the check-in a real imposition - the rated it 2 stars. The overall rating was 4. But we state clearly and repeatedly in our listing that ‘host greets you on arrival’. 

And that’s the thing that upsets me - if a guest gives me a less than perfect rating for things I state clearly in my listing (there is no stove, we greet you in person) or because their perception of how long a 10 min. walk should be I don’t consider this a fair review. I shouldn’t have to put up with it and the review shouldn’t be left standing, because it’s unreasonable. All I can do is give as much information about my place as possible and if the potential guest doesn’t like what they read they can chose not to book with me. If they do... unless I don’t deliver what I’ve promissed in my listing there is no reason for them to take stars of me. Airbnb changes should address that.

Also, there isn’t really a way to lodge a complaint about these kind of problems. There are just provisions for the extreme cases of fake, hateful or inappropriate content etc. (And Airbnb doesn’t necessarily act anyway if you report a case like that. So that would be the first step anyway - take your hosts’ complaints seriously and act on them.) 

And ‘accuracy’ - if a guest rates that less than 5 they should have to explain what they think was inaccurate. Otherwise the feedback is useless. Same applies to value - what does the guest think they should have gotten for the price they’ve paid? Because my impression is that many have no idea what’s involved in hosting, how much work goes into it, and they expect a luxury hotel for the price of a second rate motel. Some people you can never make happy, no matter what, nothing will be good enough.

As others have mentioned already there is also the problem of the serial non-reviewer. In my understanding writing a review is part of the deal and if you don’t review your experience then you didn’t hold up your end of that deal. I think that guests shouldn’t be able to instant book until they write those reviews they owe their hosts and other travellers.

[Huma0]

Great to see some progress here, but I agree with most of the other hosts that have posted that this is a very tiny step in the right direction and doesn't really address the bigger issues such as retalitory reviews, reviews from guests who never even arrived and those who don't read anything and mark down for things that were clearly mentioned on the listing.

Also, it's pretty useless if the prompt is only for reviews less than 3 stars, e.g. a 1 or 2. That's like saying 3 stars is okay, which is what Airbnb currently TELLS guests is the case, but we all know is not true when anything less than 4 stars can result in losing Superhost status or even being delisted.

This disconnect between what Airbnb tells guests in the review process and what it expects from hosts is a MAJOR problem that sorely needs to be addressed but, by only prompting guests to reconsider when they score a 1 or 2, Airbnb is clearly demonstrating that they don't plan to do anything about it.