Disappointed after a 4 star review

[Ben688]

Hi folks - I'm relatively new (and a bit of a perfectionist) so apologies if this is a newbie question but I'm trying to learn from it to benefit future guests... 

Listing in question: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/31535631?s=67&shared_item_type=1&virality_entry_point=1&sharer_id=24987...

Just had a guest check out on Saturday and just read their review this morning.  4 out of 5 stars.  Frustrated because I don't know what else I could have done in order to earn a 5 star review from this guest.  I contacted the guest multiple times before they arrived to answer questions and ensure that they had a copy of our visit planning guide, contacted the guest multiple times during their stay to make sure that they had what they needed, provided a gift basket, etc., etc.  From reading the guest's review, there's nothing that I can see that warrants their rating.  They did gave me 3 stars on value and 4 stars on location.  Yet in their comments they said that the location was great.  They also gave 5 on the accuracy and they knew what the price is / was (and it is our peak season) so I'm a bit confused on the value comments.  Any ideas on what I could proactively do to consistently hit 5 stars?  

Can anyone give me any insight as to what I could do differently with the listing?  with the guest?  with my own expectations?  with something else?   

I've pasted the review below for visibility.  

Public review

We had a great week at the Swiss cottage. Ben was very responsive and even managed to get some stuff we missed in the cabin within a day. It was very clean and the cottage was in a convenient location close to Brighton and Solitude.

Private note

Thank you for being so responsive, we had a great week!

Compliments

Sparkling clean

Quick responses

Stylish space

Feedback

Location 4

Value 3

Accuracy 5

Check-in 5

Cleanliness 5

Communication 5

Thanks in advance! 

[Emilia42]

@Ben688 

My guess is that the perceived value is not there. Even though the overall rating is a separate category if I were to rate any subcategory a three star then that would definitely have made an impact on my overall stay. Just because something has a price attached to it, the user will never know the true value until it is experienced. I am not saying that his review is justified or that your chalet (which is beautiful!) is overpriced. This is just my guess as to why a 4 star review. You could always send him a polite message and ask him for "suggestions to improve" to perhaps get a little more insight. But my guess is also that he won't have anything realistic to say.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Ben688 ,

I've said it before and I'll say it again - the Value measure is stupid UNLESS the rental is misdescribed. I don't like the price of many things in life (especially my daughters rental in London) but it doesn't make it bad value!

Your 5 for accuracy suggests the guest got what they expected.

Aaagh!!!

[Ben688]

@Emilia42 thanks for your reply and suggestion about messaging the guest with a request for some more insight.  It's worth a try.  @Mike-And-Jane0 thx also for your reply and point of view... I couldn't agree more. 

Two other thoughts: 

1. I had to contact this guest at one point during his stay (in person) and then via the AirBnB app (for documentation purposes) for violating a house rule (he allowed at least one of his kids to climb on the roof of the chalet which could have created a safety issue and potentially damage the roof).  I'm sure he wasn't thrilled about this interaction but I didn't really have a choice from a guest safety and property security point of view.  Not sure if this impacted his review but it wouldn't surprise me.  

2. My wife suggested messaging the guests before the check out to let me know if there's any reason that they would not be able to give us 5 stars overall so that we at least have an opportunity to address the concerns (in this case, if there was a specific concern about value, I might have provided a small refund as a goodwill gesture).  Have you done this and would you recommend for (or against as the case may be)?  

thanks for your help and support... it's greatly appreciated.  

[Rowena29]

@Ben688 

There are lots and lots of threads on these boards about the value,  - manners,  -  sense -  of suggesting to guests by whatever means, that you would like 5 stars.  Some hosts ask for it or suggest it, some don't and feel stronlgy that it's poor form.  Personally I do provide some information to guests  sot hat they know what a negative impact anything less than 5 stars can have on both a host AND a guest.  This  subtly evens the playing field - you're rating me, I"m also rating you.   Many guests genuinely have no idea and think that 3 or 4 stars is perfectly acceptable. In the real world I agree with them - as a general rule I would very rarely give full marks for anything - full marks means perfection and perfection is rare. So the whole system is flawed really but I'm sure you already know that.  

Re offering a small refund may I suggest in the strongest possible terms that I think this is an extremely bad idea. You are setting yourself - and future hosts  - up  for breeding demanding and entitled guests who believe  theycan start demanding  refunds for any trivial little matter.   Unless something goes seriously wrong  -eg a major  advertised appliance stops working, I wouldn't consider mentioning/discussing refunds under any circumstances.

Obviously we need to be considerate, thoughtful, gracious  hosts, but we don't not need to become sycophantic and fawning over guests in order to persuade them to leave us 5 stars.  A lower star rating is always really disappointing, but if you have great reviews, and you offer great service, this is what future guests will look at.  

I find being very business like helps enormously. I have lots of little problems with my listing. I state them in the description. I state them again after booking. My attitude is, the place is what it is. If there are things that you think you wont like - then cancel.  If you elect to come, I'll do my very best to make you feel welcome and comfortable, but I'm not going to perform circus tricks or be walked over. 

As a result I generally get guests I feel very comfortable with and they seem to appreciate the stay.

I routinely look at other hosts listings - their description and most particularly their house rules to see how they word things - I have found it invaluable in finding my "mojo" and stipulating very firm boundaries and expectations

I'm sure other hosts will weigh in re the value of educating/asking for 5 stars adn about offering refunds.

Just my opinion. Try not to let the lower rating rattle you.

Perhaps - if you haven't already replied to his review you could say something like. "so glad you enjoyed your stay. Given your very positive review I was  disappointed to see you gave us low star ratings for both value and  location"  He probably won't see this - this will purely be to warn future hosts that he is a guest that leaves a good review, but low ratings.  Other hosts will comment on the value - or not - of doing this I"m sure, but personally I would

Cheers

[Ben688]

@Rowena29 Incredibly helpful and sage advice!  thank you.  trying not to overreact too much to things (and certainly to not perform circus tricks just to get a rating).  I also hate the idea of having to offer a refund when there's clearly nothing that we could have done differently (no appliance or service failed, the place was in good repair, etc., etc).  The snow could have been better if only we could control that.  Your point about providing a bit of education and leveling the playing field is spot on.  I have found that this is super important with guests who are new to AirBnB (then again my experience is that they don't leave any reviews).  This guest has 20+ 5 star reviews so he knows the drill (or at least one would think).  I toyed with the idea of not recommending him to other hosts given the situation with the roof but decided to error on the side of forgiveness (as I can only imagine what a rating like that might do to his future ability to book).  Thanks again for the advice... 

[Lisa723]

@Ben688 @Rowena29 I personally would not respond that way. This kind of review happens to everyone from time to time. In my experience the guests who downrate “value“ are the ones who pay the least. I am among the set of hosts who try to (briefly and humorously) let guests know about the absurdity of Airbnb’s rating system. But when this kind of review happens, and it still does, I let it go. I would take action based on review trends, not any single review.

[Ben688]

@Lisa0 and super good feedback about letting it go... I am mostly reacting to it a) because it's the 2nd 4 star rating I've received in the last 30 days and b) I'm not sure that there's anything that I could / would do differently.  Thanks again for the thoughts... as a newbie it's very helpful.  

[Kevin1322]

we got a 3 star from a *host* 

I did message him and ask what the problem was, and also if he wanted us to wash his dirty socks and underpants that he left in the wastepaper bin in the room and send them on to him.

Sadly he never got back to me.

Let it go, some people are just not worth the bother.

[Lisa723]

@Ben688 Re Delilah’s review: NEVER respond publicly to private negative feedback. The reviewing guest won’t see the response. The only purpose in responding to reviews is to positively impress other future guests.

[Ben688]

@Lisa723 I thought about the same thing and mostly replied for the benefit of future guests (so they could see that I was paying attention and responsive).  Open to any feedback on the response i.e would you have changed it just to say 'thanks for the feedback we'll work to address the issues' or something along those lines?  

[Lisa723]

@Ben688 The only indication to anyone reading Delilah’s review that she had any issues is your response. So you are unnecessarily and confusingly airing your own dirty laundry there. I personally don’t respond to reviews at all unless something is factually incorrect or unclear. But if I were going to respond to that one I would say just “thanks so much for your kind review and we hope to host you again” or something like that.

[Rowena29]

@Ben688 

As I said earlier - you will get lots and lots of opinions and ideas readign these boards - some of it contradictory and at variance.

Theoretically I do agree with Lisa about not responding publicly to private reviews.

However I've just read what you've written and although rather lengthy, you come across as very reasonable, polite and factual

As a  future host of this guest, I would appreciate what you've done -seeing her review and your response would give me the heads up as the host she potentially was going to be a bit difficult.  I'd also appreciate it as a guest too- because I'd see your less than 5 stars and wonder who marked you down on what and why - there's nothing about it in the comments. Your reply spells it out and as a guest I"d think "oh he got one of those unreasonable guests who marked him down"  and then have absolutely no qualms about booking.  So i personally dont' think any real harm done and in fact more helpful than harmful - but again just my opinion.  Generally though, the place to reply to private feedback is in the private space or by messaging.

[Anonymous]

@Ben688   

There is never a good reason to write a negative public response to a positive public review! 

As a guest, I would not look at your response to that review and think "how nice that he's attentive and responsive." Rather, I'd suspect you were being defensive and that there were a lot more problems with the property than the guest felt comfortable mentioning. 

I'm totally with you that the Value rating is a stupid thing to have. It's not useful to guests comparing listings, because they have no way to know what your past prices were as reference points to the rating. And even if the guest remembers what they paid, they probably aren't considering how much of it is the Service Fee. For what it's worth, I find that ratings for Value and Location are likeliest to slip during the busiest periods. As other places fill up, guests aren't getting their first choice of location or budget, so you run the risk of becoming more of a compromise pick.

Also, you take a hit on the star ratings when you call people out on breaking rules. It's still certainly worth doing - and crucial when safety issues are involved - but people are just like that. 

[Linda108]

@Ben688   It is very telling about you as a host that you are paying attention to details and seeking experienced host input. You are a great host with great value listings.  I agree with the other hosts suggesting that sometimes you just have to roll with the ratings. As a guest, I have seen 5 star ratings for very mediocre listings.   Conversely as a host, I have had the occasional lower than 5 star review.  In all candor, I do not examine why I got a 5 rating, but I do scratch my head if it is less.  I don't do anything different and my listing is pretty consistent as well.