Final guest review question for hosts changed?

[Suzanne302]

I just reviewed my most recent guest and noticed the last question had changed from "Would you host this guest again?" to "Would you recommend this guest to other hosts?"

Has anyone else noticed this? I wonder why the wording change?

[Pat271]

Maybe there are situations in which you wouldn’t host the guest for some personal reason, but would still recommend the guest to other hosts. For instance, maybe the guest smelled like smoke, or was wearing a little bit of perfume and you are allergic. I can see Airbnb deciding to change the wording to incorporate these situations.

I’m not sure what actually happens when you recommend/don’t recommend a guest. Does the guest go on some secret list to be used only by CS? Is the user blocked from the reviewing guest? Is the user blocked from any other listings?

[Suzanne302]

@Pat271  That makes sense. I've had guests who I wouldn't host again simply because it was a shared home experience, but they weren't necessarily "bad guests."

Good question as to what they do with that info. I'd think it would be useful info for CS if other problems arise.

Not exactly the same thing, but there IS a company that keeps a secret list of people who are rude to customer service agents (across many companies, not sure if Airbnb is included). I read a few articles about it and apparently if you're dealing with a company that subscribes to the service, it affects whether or not you can get refunded, or upgraded, etc!

[Pat271]

Wow, I didn’t know that, good to know. I’ll have to tell my husband to stop yelling at CS reps.😝

[Robin4]

@Suzanne302 

Absolutely Suzanne, I just recently quoted that in a reply on another site because since this review format was adopted a year or two ago I have always been faced with 'Would you host this guest again'? I was so used to that page that I hadn't scrutinized the wording for a long time. And as soon as I posted my reply I got jumped on by a couple of other hosts telling me that it didn't say that at all!

So next review I did pay attention to it and, you are right Suzanne, the whole reason for that page has been watered down from a constructive 'Stay away from this one' to a nondescript,  'ah, wasn't my cup of tea'!

Gee whiz, we are running out of hosting tools aren't we Suzanne! 

The reason for the change was, there is a big difference between 'not hosting' and 'not recommending'!

By stating you would not host that guest again, triggered the algorithm that restricted the guests availability to 'Instant Book', to which many guests took exception. By saying you don't recommend the guest has less consequences for the guest.

It appears Airbnb will now go to pedantic lengths not to offend a guest!

Cheers.........Rob

@Pat271