"This home is in the Bottom 10% of Eligible listings." Seriously?

[Sudha33]

While everybody is talking about the Top 1/5/10% property highlights feature that was rolled out in the Summer 2024 release, nobody has raised a concern about the "Bottom 10%" label that was introduced along with it. Just like the "Top 1%" label, the logic for this "Bottom 10%" label is very subjective. There are no clear metrics that shows why a property has been categorized under it.

This label adds a negative tag to the property, which overrides the overall ratings and reviews that we have gathered over months/years. For example, a guest would be willing to consider a property with an average rating  of 4.7 with some good recent 5-star reviews. But once they see this label just above the reviews, they will definitely not book it. I mean who would want to stay in a Bottom 10% property, right? This will also take away the opportunity for hosts to improve our ratings in the future. No bookings means no new 5-star ratings.

I wonder what value AirBnB is gaining out of tagging their host's property with such negative labelling, even when the property has a good enough rating to be on their platform? If you want us to delist, just let us know.

Disclosure: We have been impacted by this Bottom 10% label and our conversion rate has gone down to 0%  (despite having 86% first-page search impressions and 9% search-to-listing conversions). And if you think you won't be impacted by it, remember it is just a matter of 1 biased negative review from a guest to override your overall rating and get you tagged as Bottom 10%!

[Tamara748]

I agree. Ive been booked out consistently since November and ever since this new update has rolled out I have not recieved one inquiry, much less one booking. Its terrible. 

[Sudha33]

Same for us. No enquiries at all. Guests are still landing on the listing page as before, but then they take no further action. This is despite us running a Promotional offer, which we have never done before. Customer support and Superhost "community" are of no help.

[Sudha33]

Update: I raised a ticket with Customer support to try and get the biased review removed, which is the cause of this issue. Tried reasoning with the agent that the feedback about the location is false and no other guests have complained about it before. I also offered to share pictures of the location to prove it. But the CC exec just kept responding with pre-cooked answers with content copied from their support articles. Apparently their policy is that unless the guest uses profanities or discriminatory language , they won't take it down. They cannot/will not mediate or ask for proofs for false claims. You cannot escalate / appeal any further.

It looks like hosts are just money-making machines for AirBnB and get no real support during troubled times.

[Dean1029]

If you actually get the bottom 10% label,, I really think you need to drop out of short term rentals.

[Pete28]

Assuming the bottom 10% is dynamic, if those currently at the bottom drop out, the next 10% will be at the bottom. Eventually it will be you…

[Sudha33]

Great point Pete. Also the workings of this label isn't very clear. Is it Bottom 10% of all properties globally, or in the country, or just the listings similar to ours in the city? AirBnB relies on "AI" for most of their work. What if the data they're using to make these decisions isn't accurate? Case in point: When I look for any Insights for Similar Listings in our area, the app shows only our own data. That means they do not have enough data for our area or no other listings were found similar to ours. In that case, would we also be the Top 10%?

[Ana7]

@Pete28  good point

[Helen3]

I seriously doubt it @Pete28 I've had over a hundred 5  star reviews solidly for the last three years (Apart from one) so the chances of me being in the bottom 10% of ratings for hosts in my area are slim to none 😀😀😀😀

[Sudha33]

Congrats on your stellar track record @Helen3 😊

If this label was assigned purely based on a stack-ranking of ratings of all properties in your area, then it wouldn't be a concern. However, based on what AirBnB is telling us so far, they look at various (unknown) parameters to arrive at this label.

There are several other properties in our area who have a rating much below ours, but they do not have this Bottom 10% tag. So if an unruly guest decides to get back at you through a negative review, then you may still get this tag despite your 5-star ratings.

[Sudha33]

Hello Dean, I hope you know the criteria for the Bottom 10% label, because I don't and the Customer Care Exec didn't either. Our average rating with 2 years of hosting is 4.61. We know it isn't at the top, but it's not below average either. If AirBnB is going to use some random metrics to push us down, they need to let us know what that is. More importantly, they need to give us the opportunity to fix it. Which will not happen, because nobody would book with us looking at the label. Guests will simply ignore the previous ratings and reviews. 

[Pete28]

The answer is to restart your listing - no point in operating it with bottom 10% label. Then the next tier of listings will do the same. Chaos.

[Helen3]

As you know @Pete28 that's very poor advice it's against Airbnb's T&C to duplicate a listing to hide poor reviews particularly as Airbnb is currently having a crackdown on duplicate listings and could lead to @Sudha33 being banned from the platform 

[Helen3]

Unfortunately for your Airbnb sees 4.6 as a poor rating and can and does remove hosts from their platforms with these type of ratings . I'm afraid . @Sudha33 

a lot of areas your guests complain of such as cleanliness, accuracy, check in are issues which are easy to address 

[Zheng49]

That's uncalled for. There is always a bottom 10%, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's necessarily bad. For example, in a classroom of 30, 90% of the kids could be getting 90%, and the bottom 10% got 85%. Does that mean the bottom 10% should drop out of school?

For me I also think such a label is discriminatory in nature. 

@Rebecca