'LOCATION'

[Wendy223]

HELLO TO ALL AIR BNB'ERS!

I HAVE A SMALL CABIN WHICH IS QUITE BUSY, RENTED BY TRAVELLERS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. I'VE ALWAYS QUESTIONED ONE OF THE PARAMETERS WHICH GUESTS COMPLETE DURING THEIR REVIEW AFTER THEIR STAY TO SUGGEST IF YOU HAVE BEEN A GREAT (OR NOT) HOST. THAT PARAMETER IS "LOCATION".

'LOCATION' IS SOMETHING THAT IS THE GUEST'S DECISION BEFORE THEY STAY. WE AS PROPERTY OWNERS/HOSTS DO NOT HAVE THE OPTION TO RECTIFY OR IMPROVE ON THIS, AS OTHER CATEGORIES CAN BE, SUCH AS 'COMMUNICATION' OR 'CLEANLINESS', WHICH AS I UNDERSTAND IS THE PURPOSE OF ASKING GUESTS TO REVIEW THESE FACTORS, SO THAT WE CAN MAKE IMPROVEMENTS. 'LOCATION' CAN NEVER BE IMPROVED BY OWNERS. I TRULY FEEL THAT IT SHOULD NOT BE INCLUDED IN THESE INDIVIDUALS' ASSESSMENTS AS IT IS SOMETHING WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY KNOWN BY BOOKED GUESTS BEFORE THEIR STAY.

IT SEEMS VERY IRRELEVANT, IN FACT MOOT, WHEN GUESTS KNOW FULL WELL THE EXACT LOCATION OF WHERE THEY WILL BE STAYING BEFORE THEY COME! PERHAPS & I AM HOPEFUL AIR BNB MANAGEMENT WILL SEE THIS POST. I BELIEVE IT SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM THE REVIEW PROCESS. I HOPE SOME WILL READ THIS POST & COMMENT ON MY CONCERN.

WENDY - OWNER
LITTLE NORDEGG CABIN
NORDEGG, ALBERTA CANADA

[Lawrene0]

Ouch, @Wendy223 , don't shout. (All caps is "shouting" on the internet. It is hard on the eyes.)

Anyway, don't worry about it. Location truly means nothing. It doesn't count, it doesn't generate a system warning, it's just noise. 

If you like, search for "location" here in this forum to read all of our many complaints about the location rating. 

My feeling right now, only kidding a little bit, is that all our locations are 1 star. Only the guest's own home is 5. That's where they need to be. 

Stay well!

[Wendy223]

Sorry Lawrene, I didn't know that! (caps). I sure didn't mean to be that way! 🙂 Agree with your last statement, perfect. 🙂  But ..... doesn't "location", as part of a review, factor into the percentage of stars beside one's listing? (i.e. 4.97 % or 5%)? Wouldn't it be something that would bring the overall rating number down if it was chosen as not good by the reviewer?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Wendy223 

The rating beside your listing is not any of the location, cleanliness etc. but is only based off the overall rating the guest gives.

All the others only show up later if someone looks in detail at your reviews and these are only calculated to 1 decimal place (unlike the overall rating which is 2 decimal places.

[Wendy223]

Hi Mike and Jane: I truly don't understand what you've written in the first sentence. "based off the overall rating the guest gives" …. from where? Is that not coming from the guest's choice of things like cleanliness? I'm at a loss as to what you mean. 

[Lawrene0]

@Wendy223 , if you want someone's attention, you have to put @ in front of their name and then choose it from a dropdown, as I have done with yours. Otherwise we don't know you are asking a question unless we happen to stumble upon the thread again. It's okay. It isn't a universal thing like all-caps yelling. It is peculiar to this forum and others like it.

Anyway, no, you've got it wrong, looks like, but understandable. Here's how it works: the guest gives stars in various categories, but the guest gives stars in the overall category, too. It is not an average of the other categories; it is a separate category called "overall". That one, "overall", is the one that generates system warnings, but also that one that counts for the stars shown in searches and for superhost, etc. 

You don't want to fall down in cleanliness or communication, of course. But value and location are so incredibly arbitrary that they are nothing to worry about.

I have been annoyed about location stars, too. We all have, I think. But that's one thing that we can just see as funny, e.g., they LOVED (yelling here) how remote it was, but took off a star because there were no shops around. 

Funny, right? : )