Discriminative Airbnb policy towards hosts in case of unfair/flawed reviews

[Ivan451]

So I recently found myself in a peculiar bureaucratic trap. Long stoty short: if a guest leaves a positive text review but rates you 1 (one) star for literaty no reason (i.e. by mistake), the only thing you get from the company is a few condolescences. So if there was no text and low rating, I could challenge this. If it was offensive or contained false information, I could challenge this. But if a guests says something like "very pleasant stay, beautiful house, with a magnificent environment" and gives you the lowest possible rating, the only thing you can do is to write a public responce and go beg the guest to discard the review completely. Because it doesn't violate any Airbnb rules!
A guest can leave you any rating and it won't be reviewed no matter how unfair it is, even if you're a serial superhost with examplary reputation and no negative reviews in all time, even if the review itself totally contradicts the rating. But you surely will receive a politely unnerving email from Airbnb telling you to "focus on delivering the best experience possible for future guests to keep your listing active in search". This is so awesome I actually made my first post on the community about this. Brilliant job, Airbnb team, that's truly an expiring hosting experience (not really).

[Huma0]

@Emilia42 

Yes, I get it. I'm not talking about the Superhost status, which I know only counts the past year. I am definitely going to lose mine at the next assessment because of a couple of low scores recently and, hosting long term guests, I will not be able to make up the score in time.

What I was referring to is the overall, ongoing score. Mine was at 5.0 for 2.5 years and still is until the next assessment and that's despite me having received a handful of 4* or, very occasionally 3* (think there was only one until the recent one) reviews over the years. 

Like I said, it takes a very, very long time to recover from those and get back up to 5.0, but my point to @Ricardo85 was that it's not impossible as I have experienced it!

However, I admit that it is harsh (I have been pretty vocal about the unfairness of the review system) as, even if the vast majority of your reviews are 5*, one 3* or below, or even a couple of 4* reviews very occasionally can make such a huge impact.

[Emilia42]

@Huma0 I think when many hosts on here talk about achieving a 5.0 rating, it is the raw score as seen by guests (and not what is rounded on the progress page.) You are totally right in that a couple of 4 stars reviews very occasionally can make a huge impact. But mathematically speaking, a 4-star review will slightly pull your average down and will not increase to a 5.0 again until 249 more 5-star reviews are gained.  

[Huma0]

@Emilia42 

As I mentioned earlier, I was not talking about the rating on the individual listings and said I did not know if those would ever go back up to 5*, but was talking about the overall rating.

You are right, however, that guests looking to book are more likely to look at the overall star rating on the listing, not on the host's profile, so I guess that is important. However, what I have found is that having a 4.9* or above, or even a 4.8* or above, does no damage to my bookings whatsoever. In fact, it can sometimes make very little difference...

Above you have posted screenshots of my three listings. The one with the lowest rating (4.8*) is the most popular and most booked out of the three and it is not priced lower.

[Pat271]

@Mike-And-Jane0  Actually, it depends on how many total reviews you have. The more reviews you have, the more reviews you need to move the needle.

[Ricardo85]

@Pat271 

Interesting! I didn't know this correlation existed.

How it works?

Ricardo

[Pat271]

@Ricardo85  Here’s how it works.

Suppose you have 4 reviews -3 5’s and 1 4. Your average would be 4.75.

Now, suppose you get another 4. Your average would be 4.6.

How many 5-star reviews will it take to reach 4.75 again?

The answer is 3, as 6 5’s plus 2 4’s divided by 8 reviews = 4.75.

Now, suppose you have 100 reviews - 99 5’s and 1 4. Your average would be 4.99.

Then you get another 4. Your average would be 4.98.

How many 5-star reviews will it take to reach 4.99 again?

Many, many more than 3, I’m afraid.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Pat271 NOoooooo - Its just maths (or Math in your country)

[Robin4]

@Ivan451 

Ivan leave it, you are never going to change it and if you keep on doing what you are doing that one review stat is not going to matter.

For sure, the clowns at Airbnb are not going to see that an honest mistake has been made, they don't care.......you are a host, just that commodity that costs Airbnb guests money.

You have 44 beautiful reviews Ivan......

"Very beautiful house and village. A paradise without tourists. Very kind and helpful hosts. I’will be back soon."

"Great house in a great area! We had a perfect time at Ivan’s house and would highly recommend it. Thanks for everything"

Prospective guests are going to be influenced by what your past guests have said, not by the Airbnb rating you might have.....guest don't search by Airbnb rating, they search by what previous guests have said.

Ivan, mate, you are a great host, don't take this to heart, sure it's a dent to your confidence but it should not be a dent to your ability. That review will soon disappear into obscurity.

Cheers.......Rob

[Ivan451]

Thanks Rob, it's very nice to read that, really. I was just surprised by how it works in the system, seems like a rather predictable usercase to me yet no one at the devteam or the managers cared to fix it.

As for the rating itself... I know for sure some people filter search results by rating - and those who don't, well, the first thing they see on the list is the overall rating, they only go as far as to actually read the reviews when they get interested enough. I don't want to overdramatize the situation but I'm sure it will noticeably impact the booking rate, at least in the short distance. Anyway, it's very kind of you to encourage me like that, much appreciated 🙂

[Richard531]

@Ivan451 @Huma0 @Emilia42 @Ricardo85 @Pat271 

For the overall ranking, Airbnb's ranking system accounts for 3 significant figures.  That is, a 4.995 will be a 5.0 overall metric.

Which means:

One (1) 4-star review takes 199 5-star reviews to get to an average 5.0

Two (2) 4-star reviews takes 398 5-star reviews to get to an average 5.0

If you get a 3-star review or lower, you'll essentially never get back to 5.0.  

Believe me, I know.  One of our listings sat at 5.0 for a long time.  Then, we had a single 4-star review (because the guest got offended that our crew came at 11:30 and he wanted to check out whenever he wanted, jerk!).  After 199 5-star reviews, we got back up to 5.0.  It felt like we had climbed El Capitán.  Then, we got another 4-star turd about a year later (this time, from a really bad person that we believe to be a competitor).  That was a couple months ago.  Now we have to wait another 65 5-star reviews (4-5 months) to get back to 5.00.  

Aspiring for 5.0 is a noble aspiration.  Hats off to those that get there!  Wish us luck!

[Emilia42]

Thanks for doing the correct math @Richard531 🙂

[Huma0]

@Richard531 

I did get back up to 5.0 after a 3* review, but yes, it took a lot of time. Seeing as I now only host long term guests, that could mean it will take me a decade, now that I have recently received another 3* review after maintaining 5.0 for a few years.

I am trying not to sweat it though. None of us, nor our listings, are perfect, and it is kind of futile to expect that every guest will think they are, regardless of how much effort one puts in.

Yep, it will feel like climbing El Capitan to get my 5.0 rating back. Is it worth it? I sincerely doubt it!

[Fred13]

I never payed much attention of whether a listing is 5 or 4.98 in the rating; I mean really, considering the silliness of the difference. Few popular places are even that high. We were 5 for 190 reviews and then one knuckle-dragging troll who fancied themselves 'world travel aficionados' gave us two 4's because we took no nonsense from them. I would have gladly taken (5) 1's for the joy of seeing them swim 6 miles back to the mainland.

Reviews on the other hand are a different matter because they are by far a lot more informative about the guests (and hosts). You can always pick apart a lying one.

[Ivan451]

As mentioned above, the first thing a guest sees is an average rating. Having a few 4's isn't a problem at all, especially when you recieve many guests. I still have one listing with pure 5* but that's because we don't get many visitors and we usually host longer stays. On the other hand, one guest with inadequate rating like 1* or 2* can bury your listing in search results for a long time, as well as your superhost status.

[Helen744]

@Ivan451 Interested to see that you are in Russia because we were led to believe that no Russian Airbnbs were functioning but there you are ?The guest reviews have always been an inaccurate and open to false reviews little problem ?as they are attached to superhost status it definitely makes you wonder abot their relevance . I believ a one star will be very damaging to your super host status . explain this to your guest and ask the to please have it removed and if they did enjoy your place and did make a mistake then it will be fine . All the best H