Again with Location

[Anthony608]

Yet another guest rating down my residence for "Location".  This guest stayed for one night and then complained in the review that their drive had been too far to where they wanted to go in downtown Washington DC.  Also, in private feedback, went a little more in depth about how they had been mislead, thought my residence was in Washington, and also complained about some things in the house that we had no idea to what they referring (they said nothing during their stay).  I think this was someone looking for problems.

I have had some other hosts on this forum state that I should change my location in the listing and clearly say I am not in Washington, but that to me also makes no sense.  First of all, guests should know where they are staying and this has been a problem for many years of guests not reading listings, and then getting mad when the house is too far from what they wanted to do.  The area I live in (Silver Spring) is also actually a very large unincorporated region in southern Montgomery County, Maryland.  It includes all the suburbs and the Silver Spring city itself.  In the past, people have said I change my location to "Leisure World" or some other neighborhood name, but these are not registered cities, towns, or anything like that, but rather simply names of neighborhoods in Silver Spring.

So, back to this person.  Like I said, I think they were looking for issues.  What makes it ironic is that they stated it took them about a half hour to get to DC which is actually a very good commute.  Indeed, driving just ten minutes from where I live, a person can see the US Capitol at the end of New Hampshire Avenue and its a straight shot from there.  That's a reason why my residence has currently a fairly high property value since its considered "close" to DC.

Some of these guests are just crazy.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Anthony608 Looking on the Airbnb map your property is about twice as far from Washington as is Silver Spring so I have some sympathy with the guest if he looked at the location name and not the map.

[Anthony608]

The issue there is that there is both a Silver Spring City as well as Unincorporated Silver Spring.  My address is clearly in Silver Spring, as are my taxes.  And, just as you did, one would think a guest would look at the map and realize that they should book closer if its not where they wanted to be.

This guest actually thought I lived in Washington DC which my listing doesn't suggest in any way.  I think this was one of those guests who would have found something wrong with the listing regardless.

[Kia272]

@Anthony608  I'm a local and I grew up in DC. Silver Spring covers a huge area, so one part can be just over the DC line, and another can be out near Leisure World. I know this because I'm local and know the area really well. I think you would benefit from being clearer about your exact location, working on the assumption that many of your guests plan to go in to DC. I'd consider you fairly far out in Silver Spring. I understand that guests have an obligation to read listing details, but yours is not explicit about the distance to DC. Hosting is all about managing guests' expectations. The more detail you provide, the more they'll know exactly what to expect, and hopefully they will rate you accordingly. Best, Kia

[Anthony608]

@Kia272- Its a good point, but I don't think I need to explicitly state "I am not close to Washington DC".  Of all the guests I have had, only a very small number (around five out of nearly two hundred) have ever made a really big issue about this.  My home is also located very close to a DC subway station which also makes it attractive.

This is just a continued problem with Location.  Its a bad feature and AirBNB should remove it.

[Kia272]

@Anthony608 you are correct. The opportunity to rate the "location" of the AirBnB that the guest has CHOSEN to stay at and allow it to reflect on the host is not appropriate. If they removed the rating from the host's stars, and allowed guests to comment generally for the benefit of future guests, I think that would be okay. 

That being said, you have to remember that you and I are making judgements based on years of experience in the DC area, where traffic is SO bad, that we can decide it was an excellent commute if it only took XX minutes to negotiate the 3 miles from work to home (or whatever.) i know my time/travel sense is skewed based on this experience. 

People coming from other parts of the country don't have that perspective. When I see your listing, and I realize I've got to take a bus to the metro, that's probably going to be a no for me, based on my experience with Metro Bus and many other factors. I probably don't care how far out I am as long as I can walk to a metro station. (Noting the name of the closest Metro station in your listing might help) Anyway, again- it's all about managing expectations- not about the actual distance your property is from DC. People are goofy, but we're in the customer service business. You've got to shape your information accordingly. 

[Anthony608]

@Kia272- One of my very first guests told me the house was great, he was going to leave a good rating, and then he left 4 stars with a note that it would have been nice if my house had been across the street from the Metro instead of 15 minutes away.  As if I had any ability to change that or correct his observation.  That person also booked knowing where the residence was and had asked for bus information, so you never know.

One thing you said about giving names of subway stations, etc.   There is a scam in the DC area where local profiles, some of them brand new, will try every means available to locate AirBNB houses without booking.  Most often sending pre-approval requests and then asking dozens of questions about where the house is located.  I have had this happen about four times in two years, one of them very aggressive and a highly suspicious profile who, when he saw I knew what he was doing, flat out sent a message demanding i tell him my address before he booked. 

I've talked to others on this Forum about this and most everyone agrees this is some type of burglary-robbery scam.  For this reason, I'm very careful giving street names or any landmarks close to where I live which would be used to determine the exact location of the house.

[Anonymous]

@Anthony608  Important distinction: there is no such thing as a "pre-approval request." What you actually mean there is "Inquiry." That's what is generated when someone clicks the Contact Host button on your listing, and it's non-binding. When you get one of those, you don't have to decline or pre-approve, you only have to reply. One example of how you can do that: "I've included a description of my location in the listing. Please have a close look at that, and if it looks like a good fit you're welcome to send a booking request."

You should definitely never supply info in response to an inquiry that you wouldn't put in the public listing. But this issue is not a reason to leave your listing so devoid of information that would help an outsider make a good decision about whether your neighborhood is right for them. A detailed description of the region within a 100-home radius of yours will not deliver a burglar to your bedroom, but it would go a long way to narrow your catchment down to guests who are actively seeking the kind of quiet residential community you offer.

[Anthony608]

@Anonymous- Well, the new and new improved listing (showing our new blankets!) is now up and running for at least the first of my listings. 

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/35548667

This is as far as I'm going to go since I think that language about what the residence doesn't have (i.e., "We are not close to Washington DC"!) could severely harm bookings since guests don't want to hear about what they can't have. 

I think the way I wrote it there is little room for misunderstanding.  The only thing left to chance is traffic, since any of the places close to where I live, depending upon the time of day and whether or not there has been a traffic accident, could vary greatly in commute times.  Kinda like where you are, if I wanted to drive to the Brandenburg Gate and it took me two hours because of traffic, wouldn't be fair to blame the host of where I was staying in Berlin.

[Anonymous]

@Anthony608  I was at a lecture once from Chip Conley , who had one piece of advice that I thought was really good:  in your listing description, describe the top 3 things guests love most about the home, and the top 2 things some people don't love so much.  It's ultimately better for your business if you can narrow your catchment down to the guests who are likeliest to be happy, especially considering that you have to share some living space with them.

I wouldn't have the same location issues you do, since I'm smack dab in the middle of Berlin. But if a guest had a negative experience because they chose to use a car instead of other transit means here, and as a result got stuck in bad traffic, I'd actually prefer that they were upfront about that in their review, so that readers would understand the context. I don't take it as being blamed - the point of reviews is to help others make an informed decision, not just to give compliments to the host. The star ratings are the main part of this that I object to, since subjective experiences don't map onto numbers.

There have been times when an Inquiry would ask about travel times to the places like the convention center, which is out at the far edge of town. I would recommend other neighborhoods more convenient to them and discourage staying here. I'd rather hold out for someone whose needs are well served by my location. The thing is, any number of things beyond the host's control can make a guest unhappy - too much time stuck in traffic, rainy weather for the whole beach holiday, fight with their travel partner, getting mugged - and sometimes they don't even realize how this colors their view of their accommodation and makes them more critical in their review. So going back to Chip's advice - if, out of all the random things that could happen, you're finding one issue repeatedly being a problem for the people who choose to stay with you, why not just be upfront it in the listing? 

The alternative, of course, is that it'll come out in the less positive reviews anyway.

[Lawrene0]

Two things, @Anthony608 .

1. I've come from your viewpoint ("bad feature") to thinking of the location category as a relief valve for guests who cannot bring themselves to give perfect fives in an imperfect world. Low location stars do not put off future guests who can read a map, and even Airbnb gives them no credence. There are no "you'd better start doing better" system warnings, for instance, when location stars drop. It's not a superhost criteria. So let 'em ding the location all they want. 

2. I'm accurate to the point of self-deprecation with my listing and it helps. It's so much better to have a delighted guest than a disappointed one. So, yes: "I am not close to Washington, DC!" would be a reasonable disclaimer on your listing. It makes the commute "Wow, only 30 minutes to downtown!" rather than "It takes a half hour to even get downtown!"

Love Silver Spring, by the way. We have family there. 

[Anthony608]

@Lawrene0- Yes, based on your feedback, I will probably change the wording to say something like "Located just north of the Washington-DC beltway, 40 minute commute to downtown, 15 minutes to a major subway station."  Even then, I am sure some people will still complain.  I had a woman in 2019 over Christmas, who sent me this scathing private message about how I had lied to them, told them I lived in Washington DC, and had ruined their Christmas plans.  None of it was true and she also had apparently been looking for issues to complain about, as there was furniture moved around (she was clearly looking underneath to try and find dirt) and she blamed me for Christmas cookie crumbs that her husband had eaten

I honestly think these guests are being silly and some are just downright immature and possibly disturbed.  Not too long ago, I went to Norman Oklahoma, I stayed at an AirBNB which was 30-35 minutes from Tinker Air Force Base.  I thought nothing of it, drove in without any problem, and didn't blame the host that he didnt live across the street from Tinker.  He said he lived in Norman, which is where Tinker is, but didn't say "I don't live close to the base".  I wouldn't have expected him to, either.

[Lawrene0]

Also, @Anthony608 , sometimes they say, "You said..." when it was really Airbnb that "said". 

When a guest a few years ago searched for a place in a Michigan town very near the border, my place came up. She booked it without looking at the map and noticing I was in Canada. She was furious with me for "advertising in the States". 

So that guest of yours probably searched for Washington, DC, and algorithm magic showed her your place in Silver Spring. Thus you ruined her holiday. 🙂

(Ha! re the cookies. "Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?" 

[Anonymous]

@Anthony608 I think just about every host agrees that the Location rating is absurd. The map is right there in front of guests when they book, and it's not your fault if they're too dumb or lazy to read it. 

But also, I don't think guests who are neither dumb nor lazy will be factoring the inane location score into their booking choice. Ideally, they'll have all the useful details right in front of them so their decision will be well-informed. That's where it really helps to have more thorough listing texts, describing not just the transport access but also the average commute times to major destinations, and perhaps a sentence or two about the immediate neighborhood and what's available nearby.

As a budget host, you're inevitably going to attract some guests who would rather stay in DC but don't want to pay the premium for convenience. If you're OK with that, you'll have to accept that these guests will never be fully happy with their choice and won't leave perfect ratings, but they'll keep the income rolling in. If you'd rather have really happy guests and perfect ratings, it really helps to pitch your listing to people who actually prefer your type of location and hospitality, and occasionally decline those who seem unenthusiastic. 

Neither approach is wrong or right, but I find that you can't have your cake and eat it too with the ratings. 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Anthony608 

I state that our home is an 8-min walk to the nearest subway station (Henry takes 5~6 mins, me 7~8 mins in heels and I never hurry when I'm in heels 😆) and that the exact time may differ depending on route taken and individual walking pace. I've had guests mention (to us and in the review) that our location is exactly as advertised and really convenient and great........ but some of them still gave us 4-stars for location. 😁 

I've reached the conclusion that (a) some people think "nothing's perfect" so they want to mark something down instead of giving all 5-stars and they didn't want to mark us down for cleanliness or communication or accuracy so they gave 4 stars to location, or (b) location was good BUT it COULD HAVE been better if we were closer to the subway station making that 8 min walk a 3 min walk.