4 Star Reviews

[David1873]

Dear Guest, very sorry we did not meet your expectations with the 4 star review you gave us. 4 Star reviews are so rare for us, quite frankly we don't know what we could have done better. We thought we accommodated you, and you verified that with your expressing a desire to return to the property. We couldn't be more frustrated with Airbnb's rating policy, although a 4 star restaurant may be quite good, 4 stars from Airbnb guests, will cost us our Superhost status.   I hope you can see the contradiction that Airbnb has where there's guests like yourselves that express a desire to return to a property, after they've just left a review that would put us out of the (Superhost) business.   Thank you for your understanding in this matter. We as hosts try to be generous in our reviews - giving 5 stars to guests  like yourselves - to try to promote Airbnb as a platform, and we're sorry you couldn't do the same for us.

[David1873]

Thank you - that is an excellent idea.  Our notes to our guests are quite simple, not really a book, but we can expand upon them, thank you again for the idea.  

[Colleen253]

@David1873  Be careful how you word that. Difficult to do without coming off as shilling for 5 star reviews only. Could backfire on you. There are some guests who may purposely give you less than 5 because of it.

Seriously, you’re doing quite well. Keep your perspective. Take a step back and chill. Jmo. Take it or leave it of course. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@David1873 If you are handing out 5 star reviews to every guest then unless you only get stellar guests you are doing your fellow hosts a bad disservice. Honest reviews are needed to protect hosts from poor guests and to encourage hosts to accept good guests.

[David1873]

In no way, shape or form did I say that I hand out 5 star reviews to every guest.  

[Mike-And-Jane0]

I quote 'We as hosts try to be generous in our reviews - giving 5 stars to guests  like yourselves - to try to promote Airbnb as a platform, and we're sorry you couldn't do the same for us.'

So no, not every guest but perhaps to more than deserve them?

[David1873]

Brother, its way worse than that.  We live in Florida, and our Airbnb Properties are like reasonably priced motel rooms, and our travelers are so diversified, that they're sometimes local, and here in Florida - USA, we have a heavily armed population, so when we have an especially bad guest, with damages and anger involved or fighting in the apartment, you can be sure I will not be leaving a review.  We are greatly afraid of physical retaliation at times through the years.  If you think a host has an obligation to protect another host, you are sadly mistaken, but I like the way you think.  It is up to Airbnb at a corporate level to protect hosts - because they know. 

[Basha0]

 Not too long ago someone posted an article that was written explaining the implications of 4* reviews. It was so well worded that I printed it out and discreetly put it in my home manual. Maybe someone can post the link again

[Anonymous]

@David1873   This sentence gave me a harsh flashback:  

"quite frankly we don't know what we could have done better."

When I used to give my team their yearly reviews in a hospitality-focused job, this is the single worst thing they could have possibly said in their self-assessments. And what was at stake wasn't just some silly orange badge from a website; it was the difference between getting a promotion and getting passed over for a colleague who was striving to find opportunities to improve and accepting feedback gracefully. 

The second-worst thing they could have said was that I couldn't have done my job better as their manager. Of course it would have been much easier on the ego to be told I was perfect all the time, but we don't stay at the top of our game by fluffing each other's egos. You rest on your laurels too long, the rot is bound to start showing.

Airbnb's fixation on 5 stars is all kinds of toxic, and we're not at our best when we let ourselves get manipulated by it. The truly great hosts are too busy creating the best experiences for their guests to get sidetracked with obsessions over their ratings. But Airbnb sure makes it hard not to go down that rabbit hole.

[David1873]

Thank you for your reply,  I know that you are correct, and I thank you for taking the time to reply. 

[Jack298]

I ban the 4 star guests and tell them to go to a motel next time

[Karin1903]

Air bnb needs to change ratings from 1 to 10. Our guests leaves a glowing review but think it’s based on hotel ratings and amenities. It’s just awful they don’t even educate guests to tell them a 4 star is not a good rating for hosts . They should tell guests in their automated message asking for reviews, or better still, remove 1 to 5 grade that guests think equivalent to hotel reviews.