How do you "educate" a guest who is new to Airbnb about how the ratings work?

[Erin443]

I'm so frustrated! We had an opera singer stay with us - who woke us up at 5am practicing her arias. But since she left the guest suite in tidy conditions, I gave her a good review. She, in turn, ranked us five stars for everything but four stars overall. How does that even work? What's worse, she managed to make us sound predatory and unsafe. She complained that there weren't any locks on the bathroom or bedroom (why would there be? She's the only one in the guest suite!) and wrote that "there's a door that communicates to the upstairs. The host family was nice so I didn't feel unsafe, but it is very disconcerting."

So... she's managed to bring our integrity and the security of our house into question. The door she's whining about is actually bolted shut and chained with a lock - primarily for OUR safety from potentially troublesome guests. We don't even open it to clean. 

It's so infuriating to carefully build up good ratings, just to have some entitled first-time idiot knock them down. We have one first-time couple who gave us a three on accuracy of description because they felt "there should be a full-length mirror in the bedroom."

AAAAGH! Does anyone have suggestions on how you have politely and effectively educated first-timers on how important these numbers are? I don't ever want to host another first-timer, and I know Airbnb won't let that happen, which sucks. I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

@Erin443  I don't think a guest like this would have taken well to some condescending attempt to "educate" her. Everyone already knows that people getting rated on things prefer perfect ratings.

In this case, the guest's rating seems like an accurate reflection of her mixed feelings about the stay. The nature of her complaint didn't fall into any of the rated subcategories, so she just deducted a star from the Overall. People's opinions don't always feel fair or deserved, but they're entitled to them, and we have to keep a thick skin about that when we're selling a service to the opinionated public. 

[Robbie54]

@Anonymous "People's opinions don't always feel fair or deserved, but they're entitled to them...". Some people are entitled to give an underserved opinion, even if its factually incorrect and negative? That's an entitlement I'd have to disagree with. The problem we have with Airbnb's broken review system is even if a guest leaves a review that is factually incorrect, and can be proved so, Airbnb will not get involved and reply with " it's the opinion of the guest which they are entitled to".  Guests get away with murder and hosts have to put up with it, which in turn can potentially harm a hosts business. So yes, people are entitled to opinions, but resonable opinions only, not factually incorrect ones. 

[Anonymous]

@Robbie54   This is a rather different concern from what the OP is talking about - her guest wasn't lying, she just didn't like that the doors didn't all have locks. 

Yes, it's true that people's commentary can contain details that are factually misleading, misremembered, misinformed, or just plain lies.  Of course, that's not a concern that's unique to Airbnb. What public-facing business could one possibly go into that isn't vulnerable to damaging statements? There's a lot that I don't like about the review system (especially how it functions more to train the algorithm than inform the customer), but the fact that Airbnb isn't more aggressively censoring reviews or dedicating more resources to litigating them for accuracy is just not something I see as a problem.  

I'm well aware that a lot of people out there are gullible enough to believe a lot of garbage they read on the internet, but I'd like to think that our target guests are intelligent enough to put one misleading review into its proper context against our professional responses and the cumulative reputation we've earned. Of all the deeply consequential misinformation out there, an uncensored fib from a disgruntled guesthouse customer is not the end of the world.

[Erin443]

Thank you, @Robbie54! You've said it better than I could.

[Erin443]

@Anonymous  I think you misunderstood my question. I don't have an interest in educating this particular guest, "condescending" or not. What I was hoping for were some proactive suggestions that other hosts might use to help newbies understand the system before they arrive or during their visit so this kind of inaccurate ratings might be avoided.

[Anonymous]

@Erin443   Your guest's review did not describe what she felt was a perfect experience, so I don't perceive her rating as inaccurate from that perspective. Sure, it's crazy that Airbnb reaches out to scare hosts over every 4 star, but you lose a lot of respect from your guests if you act like a servant to your listing service and make your own insecurities into their problem.

If you happen to believe that your listing is 100% flawless to everyone who can possibly step foot in it, and that even the slightest aberration from 100% flawless ratings is an act of violence against your livelihood rather than an indication that there's still room for improvement, I can't really help you because that entire premise just sounds absurd to me.

What I can say is that your listing is nice and very well-reviewed by most of your guests, not for all tastes but beloved by those who are a good fit for it, and plenty of listings with far lower ratings than yours are still getting booked and thriving. I don't think trying to influence your future guests' ratings can possibly have anything but the opposite of the effect you intend, but it's well within your power to draw more attention in your listing to potential trouble spots and vet your guests more carefully to make sure they're a good match. Over time, it gets pretty easy to predict what kind of rating a guest will give you just from the way they communicate in their requests. 

[Helen3]

Also please leave honest reviews going forward . If the guest was waking you up at 5 am every morning as a homeshare host I would want to know . 

[Anonymous]

Also, it's important to never lose sight of the fact that how we publicly respond to a critical remark influences guests' perceptions of our hosting much more than the criticism itself. 

When I book as a guest, I'm not looking for the listing with a 5.0 rating score (usually, those are just the new and relatively untested ones anyway). I'm looking for the place that's the best fit for my needs and tastes, and I'm unfazed to see that it wasn't such a good fit for some others. I'm impressed by a graceful and professional response, and sometimes amused by a dry and witty one, but one thing that will immediately put me off booking is when a host gets overemotional about a minor critique. If I'm going to be sleeping in a stranger's house, the last thing I want is for them to seem even a little bit unstable.

[Erin443]

@Anonymous  You're right, and I've seen the angry, defensive responses from hosts before, and I take that into account too. I believe I replied to her politely. I get so frustrated with even hosts saying, "A four star isn't the end of the world." Yes, it is actually when it costs me a Superhost rating and then threatens delisting. Like everyone here, I've worked so hard to create a spotless, comfortable place. I'm used to criticism, I work in social media, believe me, I am USED to it. But this irrationality threatens this livelihood for us, and that's when it really stings. Thanks for the advice and the insight.

[Sarah977]

@Erin443  You apparently have a different view of the responses you leave than how they come across, at least to me.

I find your responses to anything but a glowing review to be passive/aggressive, quite defensive, and emotional. Anyone who mentions something you see as negative gets first told that no other guest has ever complained about that before. Then you dismiss what they had to say as if it has no validity. You respond accusingly to things guests told you in private feedback, or during the stay, which they never mentioned in the postive review they left, and no one reading the review would ever know about. 

And woe be to the guest who leaves anything other than a perfect 5* rating- they will be called out and chastized in your review response, even when they have left a completely nice and positive written review.

Aside from using a response to thank a good guest for booking and their review, negative responses to good reviews (a guest mentioning she felt uncomfortable with the lack of locks is a legitimate expression of her experience, not something negative about your place) come across as strange- no one else knows what a guest might have  complained about privately, so why would you bring it up publicly? It does you far more harm than it does the guest.

Your responses appear on your review page, not the guest's. They may never see your response- they are read by future prospective guests, so addressing them to the reviewer is not useful to anyone. 

If you feel a guest has misrepresented something in their public written review, the response should be used to clarify or correct that info in a brief, professional, impersonal way for the benefit of future guests. 

If you feel the need to berate a guest for the star ratings they left, something they relayed privately, or refute the validity of their own expressed feelings, a private message would be the place to do that. 

That guest left a positive and complimentary written review. An appropriate response would have been along the lines of  "I am glad that XX enjoyed her stay. As the apartment is totally self-contained and private, and no guest has ever mentioned it as an issue,  I never considered the need for locks on the interior doors, but will take it under consideration. The door between our section of the house and the apartment is bolted, padlocked and never used- we enter the apartment to clean via the outside door." 

I know it's hard to get what you see as an unfair rating or review, but try not to take it so personally- it's just part of doing business.

[Erin443]

@Sarah977   I'm not sure how many of my responses you've read,  If I do reply that "No one's ever complained about that before," it's because no one has ever complained about it before and thus I am a little surprised. I have never criticized someone for the stars in their review. It seems you're making quite a few assumptions about me replying to private criticism in public, which is actually never the case. Why bring up something no one else has seen? The girl made the statements about the doors not locking and feeling unsafe in her review, not privately, which is why I responded publicly.  Your response above reads very well, however, and very measured. Thank you for your suggestions.

[Sarah977]

@Erin443  I actually read through several pages of your reviews and responses. I didn't read every word- I skimmed the good reviews  and responses where you left a brief, appreciative thank you. And those are by far the majority.

But if you go back and read through your responses to reviews you were taken aback by, you will see that you have spoken to things the guests never mentioned in their public review (and did that in some nice responses, too) . And yes, at least twice you berated the guest for the rating they left. I didn't make that up.

When you say in a response that no guest has ever mentioned something before, it's important to say that in a way that doesn't sound like you are denying the validity of a guest's issue or that they must be nuts. "Wow, not one of my previous 300 guests has ever complained about that before" may seem to you to be just an expression of surprise, but it doesn't come across like that. 

It's fine to say you've never had a guest mention something before, but in the context that you're sorry they were bothered by it and you are open to taking it under consideration (even if you would only take it under consideration for about 5 seconds :-)).

I'm not referring to guests who just make up some lie, of course, but you don't seem to have gotten any of those revenge-type reviews that I could see. 

And even if a guest is lying, the best response is ignoring the lie itself, and saying something like, "This is a revenge review from a guest who was caught smoking in our non-smoking unit (we could smell it throughout the house), asked to stop, and did not comply. Please refer to our other reviews for an accurate picture of what to expect when booking with us."

Simple facts, no emotion, no countering the lie, no aggression. Prospective guests aren't interested in whatever drama unfolded with a previous guest, nor the host's feeling about it. 

Some of your responses to complaints are fine- for instance saying you wished the guest had let you know about the issue during the stay, as you could have easily and quickly dealt with it. That tells future guests that you welcome guests giving you the opportunity to address an issue, and that they shouldn't be shy about informing you at the time, rather than saving a complaint for the review. Just make sure the issue you are talking about in a response was mentioned in the review itself, not in private feedback. Private feedback from a guest should be answered in kind- privately.

Just put yourself in the place of prospective guests when you write responses- is this something useful you would want to know, that clarifies a statement or complaint, or just the host expressing some irritation with a past guest that has nothing to do with the reasons you might book there or not.

The opera singer didn't say you were a bad host because there was no lock on the bathroom or bedroom doors, she said it made her feel insecure. You may find that odd, but it's an expression of her feelings. Just because no one else has expressed it making them feel insecure, doesn't mean it's some crazy comment. (Altho guests do sometimes make crazy comments- "This place was great, we just wished it was closer to the beach." I wish I was a trust fund baby, but is that relevant to anything?)

And it seems to me that if you had a listing that only slept one, then no internal locks isn't a big deal, but many people, if sharing the space with family or friends, might not like the fact that they couldn't lock the bathroom door for privacy. It wouldn't especially bother me, but some people would feel nervous about someone else accidentally opening the door while they were on the toilet, even a family member.  I don't find it that odd a concept, although I realize this woman had the place to herself. 

As hosts, we have to consider guests' perceptions, not just the reality. You knew you weren't ever going to open that door, certainly not while a guest was in residence, and that it was locked and bolted, but she didn't.

And we aren't privy to what a guest may have experienced before in their life that could lead to them having some seemingly irrational fear or lack of trust.

I recently read 2 people concurring about their total terror of feathers. Gives them instant panic attacks. Sounds crazy, right? Turned out they were both attacked by birds as children.

[Erin443]

@Sarah977  I'm kind of scratching my head about how this thread devolved from my asking for suggestions on proactive ways to educate new guests to how the star system works, to you presenting yourself as an expert on my actions and responses as a host.  I can again state that you're not correct in some of the claims you're making, I can ask why you spent so long reading all of my responses so you could ferret out those you consider negative, I can ask why you're so invested in this stance you're taking. But in the end, it won't make sense and it doesn't matter.

While I appreciate that some part of you had kindly intentions here, your instruction and criticism are way beyond the scope of what I'd asked and it isn't welcome.  I tried to be polite in my first response and thank you for your suggested response to this guest. At this point, how about you just let this one go, okay?

[Erin443]

@Helen3   That's a good point, thank you.