Are reviews fair to hosts on Airbnb? The simple answer to that question is a big fat NO!
Reviews on Airbnb are often biased and unreliable. Hosts face significant pressure to give guests five-star ratings, even when they don't deserve it, to avoid retaliatory negative reviews.
This system unfairly disadvantages hosts, as negative reviews as you will all know and will have experienced yourselves, can impact your livelihood, while guests suffer no real consequences for bad behaviour.
The current review system is skewed in favour of guests, leaving hosts vulnerable and constantly at risk.
A recent example was when I asked a guest to leave when they left their dog alone in the room all day! They gave me a 3 star review.
A Boomer Luddite incapable of understanding or using the Airbnb App let alone her smart phone gave me 1 star for check and an over all rating of 3, although she had ‘a lovely time’ and the room was ‘emaciate’
This has led to a ‘warning of suspension’ email that we have never had in years of hospitality.
On the whole most people are lovely but it’s the handful of morons that pull it down.
So here’s my question to the Airbnb AI and algorithms: How can an establishment with consecutive five-star ratings for years suddenly become problematic? Is it possible that the issue stems from skewed or deliberately negative feedback driven by a guest's malicious intent?
You need to sort this out and make the system fairer, in the meantime and moving to Booking.com - you should all join me
