The reviews system is being updated

Jenny
Community Manager
Community Manager
Galashiels, United Kingdom

The reviews system is being updated

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Hosting connects you to strangers from around the world that you’d likely never cross paths with if you weren’t a Host on Airbnb. Reviews are an essential part and natural conclusion to each stay – whether a Host rates a guest or a guest rates the experience they had during their stay, reviews are displayed publicly for everyone to see. With that being said, sometimes reviews left by guests may feel unfair. You’ve told us that you’re frustrated with the current reviews system, so we’re updating the way reviews work as a result of your requests.

 

Feel more comfortable hosting guests without worrying about the possibility of receiving a retaliatory review or not having enough info about potential guests with the following upgrades:

 

  • Learn how you can dispute retaliatory reviews under our updated reviews policy.
  • Flag reviews from guests who commit a serious policy violation or violate your house rules.
  • Read specific details left about guests by other Hosts—and leave these details when any guest stays with you. 

 

Early next year, we’re also introducing a chatbot to make it easier for you to initiate a review dispute—without having to contact Community Support.

 

The same process applies to the reviews guests leave for you. Guests will still choose one to five stars for their overall stay. They can now also add a star rating—and specify what went well or could have gone better—in several categories. Only your overall star rating is factored into Superhost criteria, so your star ratings and feedback in specific categories won’t impact your Superhost status. 


Read more about it on the Resource Center.

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137 Replies 137
Bhumika
Community Manager
Community Manager
Toronto, Canada

Hello , @Bubba-Lee0. Thanks for the detailed experience you have shared.  Will make sure that this particular feedback reaches the team.

 

 

Bhumika

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@Bhumika  it is the use of superlatives that is concerning.

I finally had a chance to review my first guest with the "new" review format.  The review asks if the guest left the place clean, if they communicated well, etc. The guest review is either, "Yes, they did X" or "Not quite and here is where they were deficient." 

No where are superlatives used to set the expectation of perfect behavior by the guest.  No where does it say, "Guest left home in pristine condition". 

The reviews of hosts by guests should set the same standard. "Was the home clean when you arrived?" No optional superlatives like "pristine" or "Squeaky Clean" should influence the guest in their review.

Guests will not see these as extra or bonus options, but as the criteria for whether or not the standard of 5* is earned. If they can't check off all the "options", they're going to feel the host was deficient and mark us down accordingly. It won't matter that we provided every thing as promised in our listing. The guest will consider the lack of optional check-offs as deficiencies in the host's performance.

And honestly, the location review really needs to go away. Guests can look on a map and see where a property is located. It's up to them to do their due diligence.  In most cases, they can even use G00gle Street View to see the neighborhood. A host is incapable of changing the location.  No one is forcing a guest to choose a particular location. 

Nothing is more infuriating than to have a guest book your less than prime location because it's less expensive than a more central (downtown) location only to have them mark you down and state they marked you down because you're not in a central location.  That's the reason it was less expensive. The guest chose value over convenience and punishes the host because they couldn't have their cake and eat it, too.

I agree with your comment about location. What does it even mean in terms of an airbnb rental ???

Guests should be aware of the approximate location when they book and if it doesn't suit their criteria they should look elsewhere.

As for the star rating: I think guests who are first time users of airbnb may be confused eg. I had a guest who gave 5 stars for every category but gave 3 stars as the overall rating! Of course  that is the one that matters in one's  published rating. 

 

@Bubba-Lee0...Hello...I have been complaining about location as a star for yrs.  I had a guest book for a golf tournament, he told me I was a 2 hr drive round trip, I'm thinking why didn't you go on maps and put my location and the tournaments in.  He gave me 3* for location, I'm sure there's probably millions of us that have gotten less than 5* from such people. 

Hi there all, I have to agree with the many hosts like @Kristi5 who have concerns about the new optional details regarding guests leaving reviews.

 

@Bhumika while I can appreciate that additional tags like "pristine" are optional, a guest who would easily leave a 5 star review for cleanliness would no doubt, pause and reassess that 5* rating once seeing the word "pristine".

 

Our lsiting has been up for 3+ years, we've had consistent 5* reviews, have maintained superhost status for the etire time and we work REALLY hard to keep it immaculate, but even I find the errant hair or dust bunny in obscure places after it's been cleaned from top to bottom.  If I was a guest in my own place, and was about to offer 5 stars, then saw that word "pristine" amongst other options, I might back track to a 4* if it wasn't absolutely perfect and didn't meet all the "optional" criteria.  It's simple psychology and it will have a profound (negative) impact on hosts who put in a great deal of effort to survive in this increasingly challenging environment.

 

I have worked exceptionally hard to maintain a high star rating, and I am very worried that these changes are going to make it even more difficult to stay in the game.

  

Do hosts a favour and eliminate the extra verbiage that's causing guests to second guess a great expereince.

Planting unrealistic optional extras serves only to detract from their own impression of their stay.

 

A while back Aribnb, used to give guests the option to select from a list of things the host did really well (after completing the stadard 5 start reviews of cleanliness, communication, check-in, locaton etc)  They could offer compliments on "extra touches, info on local attractions, outstanding ammenities, etc.. This was a far better system that allowed guests to give more detail in their reviews without influencing the star rating they way these new changes will.  That was definitely a better model. 

 

I'm looking forward to Airbnb taking host feedback into account.

Kristi5
Level 9
Washington, United States

BUT don't you see??? That's the point. If a guest thinks "well it was clean, but wasn't '_pristine_,' so I can't give them a 5 overall score; I'll dock a star" is exactly where this is leading. 

 

Guests have a difficult time giving 5 stars anyway due to the psychology of "5 stars seems too much so I'll give 4 so it doesn't seem like I'm just giving away stars. They'll still have a good rating." Many of my guests are first-timers and don't understand the importance, as a host, of those stars.

 

We have another business and many MANY times, our clients have said "I didn't want to give 5 stars as that seems excessive, but 4 is good, right?"

NO. Four stars in airbnb isn't going to cut it. 

 

I'm in complete agreement that as hosts, we need to keep our lodgings as clean as possible; our reputation rides on our ability to give our guests the best possible place.

 

But when airbnb starts adding extra things to the review mix, those guests will not be able to decipher what is what.

 

From experience, if you give a kid more than say, five choices of something, they'll have a hard time figuring out what they really want and they'll just pick the easiest thing. 

 

I'm not insinuating guests aren't bright, but knowing that when I have clear instructions of where everything is in the apartment and I still get numerous phone calls and texts asking "exactly where is ______" when I've bulleted where that thing is .... makes me concerned about how guests will read and comprehend and answer the new reviews.

 

Sadly, this comment (as all of the ones others have made) will be filed away as "thanks for playing!" and nothing will be done about it.

 

Fernando1561
Level 5
Sarasota, FL

I got a bad review because I had to make a claim for aircover, I guess that happens to everyone here, so if you made a claim, Guests gave you a bad review in revenge, even if they said everything is fine and then the review it says all wrong, airbnb says it can't be deleted, is there any news about dishonest reviews? Are they likely to be impugned with the new host benefits announced by CEO Bryan? because I already called Airbnb and the Agent told me that dishonest reviews can't be removed.

Bhumika
Community Manager
Community Manager
Toronto, Canada

Hello @Fernando1561 ,

 

Thank you for sharing your concerns. You can request removal of any retaliatory review, no matter how long ago it was posted. You’ll be able to flag reviews from guests who: 

  • Commit a serious policy violation, like damaging your property or overstaying their reservation

  • Violate your house rules—for example, by having an unauthorized party or event at your place

You can check out more info here.

As far as dishonest reviews are concerned, we are trying to address this topic in an elaborated manner. Let me get back to you once I have some information about it. 

 

Bhumika

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Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Bhumika 

 

But you haven't answered @Fernando1561's question. He said he called CS about a retaliatory review from a guest who damaged his property (hence the Aircover claim) simply to be told that dishonest reviews cannot be removed. Several other hosts have posted about similar experiences trying to have retaliatory reviews removed since this 'update'.

 

Clearly, CS hasn't been briefed on this, or has been briefed to pretend they haven't been briefed. They are still referring to the previous review policy as if it hadn't been updated at all.

 

1. What exactly is the process on getting a retaliatory review removed? There must be a process right, other than just contacting CS and hope that you'll encounter that rare thing, i.e. a rep who has actually been trained on policy.

 

2. Where can we find more detail on Airbnb's definition of a retaliatory review, because the article you have linked to doesn't really explain this? How does CS determine, for example, whether a guest has committed a serious policy violation or broken house rules?

 

For example, I have, in the past, had guests who seemed perfectly happy with their stay (and stated as much), but caused damage and became hostile when I brought it up. I did not ask those guests for money and did not open a claim with Airbnb, so does that still count if the Airbnb messaging thread shows what happened, or does there have to be a claim? 

 

If the guests threw a party, does the host have to have reported it to Airbnb at the time, in order for the retaliatory review to be considered for removal? This is a tricky one, because it seems that it is the HOST, not guest, who gets punished (e.g. by suspension and cancellation of bookings) when they report a guest threw a party.

 

There are so many gaps in the explanation of this policy, as well as potential loopholes for CS to get out of even considering removing the review.

Bhumika
Community Manager
Community Manager
Toronto, Canada

Hello @Huma0 ,

 

I got your concern. In my response to Fernando , yesterday itself , I had  mentioned that I will get back to him with better information regarding dishonest reviews. Thank you for your detailed response, we are working on presenting relevant information in a better way.

 


@Bhumika wrote:


As far as dishonest reviews are concerned, we are trying to address this topic in an elaborated manner. Let me get back to you once I have some information about it. 

 


Bhumika

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Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Bhumika 

 

Thank you for looking into it, but it would have been better if Airbnb had articles clearly outlining these policies prepared BEFORE they were announced, rather than the vague ones that have been published, especially regarding the policies that are apparently effective immediately.

 

I appreciate that it's not your fault and I am not trying to shot the messenger. It's just that we shouldn't have to ask the moderators here to investigate for us. What about all the hosts that do not use the CC? They will be even more in the dark...

I have lost my superhost badge because of such issues. Its unfair for us host that we cant blame a bad guest because we already know what their revenge is. 

Emilie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hi @Leslie306

 

I'm really sorry to hear you lost your Superhost status because of some challenging experiences with guests! The updated policy aims to offer you more support in such situations - you might find the following part in particular interesting :

 

You should feel comfortable hosting guests without worrying about the possibility of receiving a retaliatory review.

You can request removal of any retaliatory review, regardless of how long ago it was posted. You’ll be able to flag reviews from guests who:

  • Commit a serious policy violation, such as damaging your property or overstaying their reservation
  • Violate your house rules – for example, by having an unauthorised party or event at your place

 

Thanks,

 

Emilie

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Hi Emilie, today I have flagged two reviews. One of them had been removed immediately and the other one is up for investigation. 

 

I still have some other reviews to put up for investigation. One of the as a revenge had written that the apartment was full of humidity etc. As soon as I received a message from airbnb because for them it was a health and safety issue, I immediately sent the photos of every single wall and sealings of the apartment to prove that it was a false review, they understood but still unfortunately at that time it wasn't possible to cancel that false review.

 

 

 

@Leslie306  you have a review with just a letter as the text, that is an unhelpful review and under their own rules that can be removed!