How do I improve my guests' value ratings?

[Martha9]

How do I improve my guests' value ratings? I get high ratings generally, but in the category "value", lower. Why? What can I do to improve "value" ?

[Jeet0 · Accepted solution]

Hello @Martha9,

AFAIK, the Value parameter translated to "value for money", which mean whether the stay and overall experience at your place was worth the money spent on it.

A lower score indicates that it might not be worth the price you've set, so you can try to reduce the price and see if that gets you positive points.

Alternatively, you can also check if you can add any additional ammenities to your home, which might increase the value. 

TIP: Small low cost things like complimentary fresh fruits, local map, bicycle to go around can be added to improve the overall value.

TIP2: ASK THE GUEST. This works best. You can ask your last few guests particulary about this point, if the money they spent was worth and then invite suggestions from them so that you can fix things if there are any misses. Guests provide the best solutions.

Hope it helps!

Greetings from India

[Kelly3 · Accepted solution]

I wouldn't worry about that Value section, especially if you are providing a budget place already.

People looking for a budget place rarely give 5 star on value. 

[Christina212]

I have one room with a top of line new private bathroom and patio which airbnb keeps suggesting a lower price for than a bare bones room w shared bath. The price algos are off.

[Andrew_Stella0]

One other thing to consider is guests trying to drive prices down by making hosts to feel they need to raise the value rating. Another thing to consider is when guests search on AirBNB, they see a lot of places that are not very expensive and they think how much money they could have saved if they would have gone somewhere else. So, in a sense, they are comparing their stay to the lower advertized prices on AirBNB. Also, the advertized price for each listing on AirBNB is the lowest price listed for each of those listings. So if you usually list for $100 during the week and $130 on the weekend with a $30 cleaning fee, but then list the unbooked Monday next week for $50, your listing is advertized as being $50 a night even though your usual minimum weekday/weekend price would be $130/$160. This sets the price expectation pretty low from the get go. I think value ratings are doomed to be low and need to be ignored unless there are some suggestions on how to improve attached to the rating. 

[Crispin8]

It seems no matter what country it is the same!

The note from Airbnb about lowering your price is completely wrong in almost all cases!

Every time somebody  tries to work out a deal or mentions price you are almost certain to have a bad value review.

I don't mind people asking but when it goes back and forth a couple of times I am no longer interested, have learned this from many guest's.

Recently had a guy that requested accommodations for his Tesla, went out of the way and set up level 2 charging for him. He brought the wrong adapters so I solved that for him.

Then burns through $40 ( no cost to him) in electricity and gives a low value score!  

The next guest was from Australia but living in Taiwan visiting the US. He paid 15% more and complimented it was a great price for the house and very satisfied...

Run for the hills before you hack your price!!!

[Michele35]

But that's just it.  They SHOULD.    One of my guests stayed at my place (which is a budget place) a couple of months ago.  I charged $30 per night, which is a serious bargain in my area. On top of that, because she was coming from England, I took it upon myself to drive her around a bit...which hotels/motels don't do!    Yet she had the gall to give me a "3" on value!!!

I don't get that kind of thinking at all.  Guests who elect to stay at Airbnb places should compare Airbnb host's price with hotel/motel prices in the surrounding area, to get a sense of the market price and then rate accordingly.   In my area, hotels charge $100 a night (or more) and motels charge $50 a night (or more).

[Jeet0]

Hello @Michele35,

I just looked at few listings in your area and compared prices for the ones with Shared Room+Bed type: Couch as in your case.

I noticed that you are charging around Rs.2400 ($36) while most others are charging less than Rs.2000 ($30). You might want to check the regional trends and adjust this accordingly.

However I do agree that Value rating has always been a grey area with some guests as they fail to realize what they are getting is more than what they are paying for.

TIP: I'd also suggest adding some more pictures since currently there are only 4. More pictures will help potential guests make a better decision. You can also make use of cubi.casa to get a free floor plan for your listing which you can add to the pictures. Cubi.casa offering free service to Airbnb hosts. They deliver within 24hours.

I hope that helps 🙂

All your guests have appreciated you a lot, kudos for that 🙂

Jeet

[Michele35]

Jeet, I'll add more pictures as per your suggestion.  As for my prices, originally when I first set up my listing, my base price was $30 per night.  Then for SXSW (a very popular annual music festival in Austin), I raised my base price to $35 per night...and I was booked solid during the SXSW. I also had to decline two additional booking requests during that period.

So that tells me that my base price of $35 during SXSW was a good price...and in some ways, too low, since hotels/motels in Austin also raise their prices during SXSW (the hotel/motel prices I stated in my original posting are non-SXSW rates).  I'm actually thinking of raising it another $5 more for next year's SXSW event.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[Jeet0]

Sure, ultimately it's upto you 🙂

[Amanda75]

This just made me feel immensely better. We got a 5 overall, and a three in value from one guest. All the other guests have given us a 5 in value. 

[Marie62]

Before each of my guests leaves, I tell them my goal is to have the best rental rooms in Florida, and ask them what I could add or change to reach my goal. So far they have little to suggest, but they can hardly complain after I specifically asked them. 

[Mary1211]

I have asked a few guests on what may make my place a better value, and often the answers were things that were actually already available, often stated as such.. like "coffee," "more towels," "less fluffy pillows," etc. The guest just had to ask where they were or let me know they needed them.

[Wendy-and-Markus0 · Accepted solution]

@Martha9:

You have great reviews.

If you are happy with the number of bookings you are getting, I would suggest leaving your daily rate as is, you may want to consider adding a few personalized touches. It doesn't have to cost a lot but a few extra bucks spent might go a long way.  For example:

Small welcome basket of snacks, couple of fruits & goodies for guests upon arrival

Maybe have a few refrigerated drinks such as water and orange juice (not sure how expensive OJ is in your part of the world, but if too expensive find another popular alternative)

Offer a small basic coffee/tea bar for guests with a little note saying welcome and please enjoy!

Something we used to do and our guests would mention in our reviews was a handwritten note in our bathroom where we would explain what was available for their use and to let us know if they had any questions or needed any other items.

I know in our pictures our listing shows pretty basic items in the kitchenette, but we have actually beefed up our welcome basket to include several items such as instant oatmeal, hot chocolate packets, teas, coffee, small bags of chips, some mini-chocolate bars and a couple of whatever fresh fruits are in season. We also offer a new orange juice in the fridge and whatever we have in stock like a bottle of sparkling water, a cheap bottle of wine etc. These little extras might help your guests' perception that your value is worth 5 stars. Of course you cann't please everybody and every now and again, you get that person that gives 4 stars across the board.

When time allows, we write a thank you letter to our guests and leave it in a basket we have right outside their front entrance. We thank them for choosing to stay with us, we hope they enjoyed their stay with us, and request that if they have any suggestions for how we can improve the experience of future guests, we welcome constructive feedback. We've actually received some really great feedback. Especially at the beginning when we were first starting off.

One thing we did that was helpful after hosting a few guests was stay in our own unit overnight night and showered there as well. It sounds silly, but it really gave us a good sense on what it was like to be a guest in our own space. We realized we definitely made the right choice with the mattress, had great pillows, added a throw blanket to snuggle when watching T.V.

Since our pictures were taken by an Airbnb photographer we have added several additions:

We added pics of:

*Upgraded our heating/AC unit

*Added 2 lamps one for each nightstand

*Upgraded our T.V. most recently

We let our guests get surprised by offering more than they were expecting:

*Added a magnifying mirror in the bathroom

*Area rugs for the bed, shower, and bathroom sink areas

*Hamper in the bathroom

*Small closet with hangers

*Snacks in the fridge

We've been hosting since December -2014 so we are fairly  "new kids on the block," but we keep growing and hopefully improving on the type of experience we provide our guests.

Hope some of this info helps:)

[Martha9]

@Wendy-and-Markus0

Wow, thanks for your input!

What a lot of inventive ideas to tweak the guest's experience! Thank you!

[Fiona-and-Keith-and-Fami0]

You are right on the money, @Wendy-and-Markus0! PLUS some! Thanks for sharing. I will be adding at least one of your suggestions--the thank you note 🙂 I agree 100% about staying overnight in the space--ESSENTIAL to understanding the guest experience. I make changes based on my sleepovers in my own listing 😉

[Martha9]

@Wendy-and-Markus0  So now I have tried to use your input.  Guess what? On my last three guests "Value" ratings they were 5 star (100%)!  

I would like to add that I couldn't use the exact things that you wrote- and also the great suggestions that @Jeet0 wrote, but I did the best I could.

1) in the kitchen- the fridge stocked with drinks, juices, beer, waters

2) lots of coffee, teas, hotchocolate, biscuits, granola, cheeses, jams at the breakfast station in the kitchen with a note as you had recommended.

3) vases in the room with bouquets of fresh flowers,

pile of fresh towels,

bowl of wrapped chocolates,

Decorative Basket in the room: with packs of nuts, bars, sealed portion bags of trail mix, fancy 100 gr dark chocolate bar

4) tray in the room with pitcher of water and crystal glass

5) Decorative Basket in the room with fresh fruit

6) Basket with amenities in the bathroom containing individually packets of: shampoo, conditioner, lotion, shaver, earplugs, cotton swabs, cotton pads, panty liners, tampons, toothpaste.

Anyway, it all has paid off! 

I have kept my price the same but apparently have increased the last three VALUE ratings tremendously!

Thanks guys!

[Jeet0]

Woohoo! That's great news Thanks for sharing the update with us and I'm glad our suggestions helped. You've really stocked up your home with a lot of fantastic things. I'm going to buy a couple of vases and fresh flowers asap, having read about it in you response 🙂