Star Rating

[Naomi141]

My question deals with star ratings for hosts as I have noted over time that the more reviews with stars for specific areas such as cleanliness, value etc. the more one runs the risk of going from a 5 to 4.97 to 4.8 and potentially downwards which seems rather unfair. Someone starting out may consistently receive five stars in all categories and the ranking changes due to 4s. The more times one hosts the greater the probability that one's status will diminish. How does AirBnB propose to handle this inequity in the future? It appears to me that one is stuck in a downward spiral. The fact that there is no rebalancing of star ratings for successful, long term super hosts through recalculations seems rather unfair.

As an aside, and one can only laugh at this situation. The irony for me was that I was given a 4 star rating by a guest who said "my condo was not as expected and had exceeded his expectations". I have the philosophy of under promise and over deliver.  

Naomi Fowlie

Mont Tremblant, Quebec, Canada

[Sarah977]

@Marg11  That was clear as mud. You multiply 5* by the number of reviews with that rating, 4*s by the number of reviews with that rating, add up the total, and divide it by the number of reviews in total.

[Marg11]

@Sarah977 Sorry but I still really have no idea how the Overall Rating is calculated.

This year we have had 21 guests of whom 20 guests gave us 6 x 5* and 1 guests in March gave us 5 x 5* and 1 x 4*.

However, although the overall rating for the later was 4 we have received for our last 5 guests 4, 4, 5, 5, 4.

So is it 20 guests x 6= 120 + 1 x 5 = 125.  125 divided by 21 = 5.76.

Why have we had 4 overall ratings of 4 and only 17 overall ratings of 5?

Or am I using the wrong data?

I understand some of the criteria guests assess hosts on is worth less than others or one is disregarded. 

So if 20 guests gave 5 x 5* and 1 guest gave 4 x 5* plus 1 x 4* would that be 100 + 4 = 104 divided by 21 = 4.95. 

I understand it is over the whole history of hosting but we have never had a 1*.

[Emilia42]

@Marg11 

The overall rating a guest gives you is not "calculated." The guest chooses an overall rating (1-5 star) which is totally independent of the subcategories (location, value .... etc.) Don't pay attention to the subcategories, they mean nothing. Only be considered with the average of all overall ratings. 

[Mark-and-Gabriela0]

@Marg11 if the highest score is 5, there is no way that your average score is higher than 5, please review your math

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Marg11 Only the overall star rating is used to calculate your properties overall rating.  This rating uses ALL the reviews you have ever had since you started on Airbnb. It is only the Superhost rating that uses 12 months of reviews.

[Marg11]

@Mike-And-Jane0 We are super hosts. That's why I don't get the method of calculating overall rating.

[Sarah977]

@Marg11  Being Superhost has nothing to do with it. All hosts' ratings are calculated in the same way.

The overall rating, which is the only rating that counts- the one that appears on your listing, is a separate rating the guest leaves. It is not an average of all the other individual ratings, i.e. cleanliness.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Marg11 I'm not understanding what you don't understand.

When guests rate they leave stars for location, cleanliness etc. but only the overall rating determines the rating for the property. You need to multiply the number of overall rating 5 stars by 5, the number of 4 stars by 4 and then divide by the total number of ratings since day 1.

So if you have 20 5 star ratings and 20 4 star ratings the overalll rating will be ((20x5) + (20x4))/40 = 4.5

For the super host rating only the last 12 months count so it could be that if all 20 5 star ratings have been given in the last 12 months you will have a rating of (20x5)/20 = 5.

When people look at your property they do see the average ratings for cleanliness, location etc which are calculated since day 1. These are rounded to 1 decimal place so tend to get back to 5 fairly quickly if someone gives you less than 5.

[Marg11]

@Mike-And-Jane0 OK, now I've got it. Only the overall rating counts. If a guest gives 6 x 5* but gives an overall rating of 4 that is what actually counts. As a retired teacher that looks like giving a student an A for every subject but recording an average of B for awards which would be howled down by students and parents alike. 

Do some hosts prime their guests to give overall rating that matches their other ratings? It's just that 6 x 5* with an overall rating of 4 looks silly just as 6 x 4* with an overall rating of 5 would be very silly.

I'm sure many hosts think they relate to each other as I did.

Our rating of 4.84 out of 173 reviews, which is just for a year despite years in business. This doesn't affect our bookings as our low price keeps us almost fully booked. 

We could increase our price but in line with the original intensions of Airbnb we like to offer a restful stay with cooking facilities plus basics like cereals, tea, coffee, milk, bread, spreads and snacks.

[Sarah977]

@Marg11  Yes, plenty of hosts have assumed the overall is an average of the other ratings, you are definitely not alone in that.

It seems odd that a guest would give a 4* overall when they marked all 5s for the individual categories, and indeed sometimes you can't chalk it up to anything but fickle human minds.

But there are other things that aren't covered under the other categories that might cause a guest to do that. For instance, suppose they found the mattress uncomfortable, or the pillows. Maybe there were noisy neighbors, which of course a host has no control over, but might cause a guest to not rate 5*s. Maybe something about the host made them a bit uncomfortable, not because the host did anything wrong, but just has a personality that rubs the guest the wrong way. 

It's really impossible to second guess, unless the guest writes something in the review that would indicate that they were bothered by something.

Don't put too much stock in ratings,- you are fully booked, I assume you enjoy hosting, and that you aren't charging too little to make it worthwhile, and that's really all that matters. 

[Marg11]

@Sarah977 Thanks Sarah, very encouraging and we do enjoy hosting, both our guests and spending the extra income. We always ask if people were comfortable and slept well. They do as we have a very comfy bed.

We do have noisy neighbours every Friday evening but we give our guests the ranger's number and if its annoying them he sorts it out.

We are in our 70s hence our 'Silver Gypsies' label but it isn't any particular age group who give 6 x 5* then a 4 overall. We ask in our introduction letter for guests to tell us if they find any problems and last week we were told the iron wasn't working. It didn't steam so we replaced it. 

We wont puzzle about the contrariness of ratings any more.

[Sarah977]

@Marg11  Yeah, I was just throwing out uncomfortable bed and the rest as an examples of things that wouldn't fall under the other categories, not suggesting that those things would be a reason in your case.

And you know that the Airbnb guest review form tells guests that 4*s means "Good"? Most guests have no idea that a 4* rating would upset a host, because in the real world, not the Airbnb world, there's nothing wrong with "Good" 🙂

[Marg11]

@Sarah977 Yes I understand but isn't there a saying "Good, better best, never let it rest until the good is better and the better best"? Just like a C at school, you have done the course.

[Mark-and-Gabriela0]

 my issue is about a GLITCH in the system, it shows 4.8, even that Airbnb recognized I have 4.9, there is places where still shows 4.8 , another places shows 4.9. My math and Airbnb shows us 4.9 , so I open a case complaining providing pictures from their system, etc, etc, etc. but this Airbnb support lady closed my case stating because I was 4.8 .., years ago when I open my account... it will be the same punctuation ... I guess forever!! Insane!!

[Nada173]

There is no glitch it is screwed up