"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%!

[Sudha33]

Hello @Zheng49  I am replying after a while since we realised that there's nothing we can do about this issue and hence was focusing on other platforms. Thanks for your insights on this. I can't comment about the other property, but we had a busy June month, thanks to bookings from other platforms. All weekends and a few weekdays were booked, which is expected in our area. There were 1-2 bookings from AirBnB too. We firmly believe that the change in booking sources is purely because of this label. Where AirBnB used to contribute to 80% of our bookings, now it is down to 10%. Pricing and listing details are same across the board. The good folks at AirBnB may want to ponder who is actually losing out because of this shift....

[Karlis3]

If the review is truly 'biased' as you say by the Airbnb article definition, they have to take it down.
If they do not, that means you have to prove it to them.

1) Study the articles, the exact language and reasoning why they take reviews down.
2) Contact the support again.
-> Don't call, always chat/write. It gives you time to think and formulate your answer.
3) State your reason using the language of the Articles and stating the review is biased.
Gather supporting documents, conversations, screenshots - any proof that can support your statement.
4) Wait for their reply.
5) Don't give up with one "No".

Happy Hosting,
K.

[Ann42660]

@Sudha33 ,

I'm sorry this happened to you.... I can see the dilemma; how to raise your listing if you have no one booking.  I'm new and figuring this stuff out but it may be time to refresh your listing and maybe add amenities or something more enticing to raise appeal?  And continue to contest the negative review.

For Airbnb, it seems  getting a label like this is a bit like getting a bad performance review without any forewarning.  If AI can figure out the bottom 10% it can also figure out who is getting near this point and give a head's up.  Its not in Airbnb's interest to have low performing properties so why not help with success (yes you have a LOT of articles but it's a LOT to navigate).  But maybe this is the equivalent of forced ranking in the corporate world, you want the bottom 10% out?

The other observation is that I had NO idea how this all worked when I was a customer.  Some kind of gentle coaching of the bookers may be warranted.  

Good luck Sudha

[Paul60]

Actually Airbnb review system is completely wrong.  As a guest when making a review a 4 stars populated as good/very good.  However Airbnb will swiftly remove any listings that remain at 4 stars.  Airbnb need to align their review system. So if they feel 4 stars is insufficient then on the guest side it needs to populate as ‘poor’. 

[Adriano78]

Airbnb's rating system is not at all suited to Europe.. Many European travelers, even if the accommodation was perfect, will never give a 4-star rating because, for them, perfection does not exist.

[Adriano78]

Hola @Sudha33 , In everyday life, a rating of 4 out of 5 is considered very good. Unfortunately, in the world of Airbnb, a 4 out of 5 rating is seen as poor. I've been saying this for years: Airbnb's rating system is nonsense and needs to be reevaluated!

[Armin246]

Airbnb does not automatically remove listings rated below a certain threshold. I stayed as a guest in a Lisbon Airbnb that by now has a 3.0 rating and its still active. There is an agency in Sao Paulo with over 100 listings, many of them with ratings below 4.0 and hardly any with ratings above 4.8. 

The labels are very intransparent but extremely visible to guests. It seems to me that listings that have many reviews (=shorter stays) are positively biased.

[Sudha33]

The Winter release is out now, but nothing has been done about this ridiculous label. We got a few 5-star reviews since May, but it has not helped get rid of this label. I am not sure what else can be done about this. At a minimum, AirBnB shall look at introducing an AI generated summary of all reviews highlighting the good and bad of each property (like Amazon and others), instead of putting such a stupid opaque label, which does not make any sense.