How does seven 5-star ratings =4 stars?

[Sammy-L-0]

We had a guest check out today who left a review that shows 4-stars overall rating, but when I look at the individual categories, everything is rated 5 stars. How can that be?

[Z-2]

@Sammy-L-0 I got one like that too which broke my continued 35 5 stars. But she actually told me she is an Airbnb communication manager. Because there are things she is not satisfied but not in the category. Such as our area have more construction recently but I didn’t told her and we don’t provide any towels , not even hand towels or kitchen towels even though she know we told her we don’t provide towels but she is not expected we don’t even provide kitchen towels. Anyway, there are something she think the house can’t be 5 stars house. In both public review and private message, she said they had a great time. But there are something she feels can’t be a 5 stars.

[Sammy-L-0]

If there was something she needed, she should have contacted me. The listing says parking is on-street and there is a sign saying "Parking for ..."0 However, she posted in the review that it was dangerous with trucks going by, only telephone company trucks pass by and it's never a problem. She then complained in her review that the car could drag in the driveway, which is not for guest parking and which we use all the time with problems. In her private note, she said we needed an extra blanket. Number 1, I would have taken her one if she had asked, and Number 2, it's June with daytime temperatures near 80 and nighttime temperatures in the 60s. There is also a heat pump that could be turned on with the remote beside the bed.

[Anonymous]

@Sammy-L-0  4 stars is actually pretty good for a review that was mostly complaints.

The frustrating thing about grumpy guests is that, as you point out, what they perceive as "problems" are usually quite solvable. But I assure you, solving the problem is not the point. You can bend over backward to accommodate special requests and still get a disappointing rating.

Sometimes you can predict the guests' mood in their initial communication and pick out a general lack of positive enthusiasm as a red flag to decline. Other times, the mood takes a turn during the trip (weather, travel stress, relationship issues, etc) and you're just resigned to being a pincushion for their frustrations.

[Sammy-L-0]

There were no red flags. They left a nice note in our guest. Book, I never got a message from them and wife, who made the reservation, was very pleasant in pre-arrival communications. They asked to check in two hours early, but I didn't have a problem with that.

Unfortunately I had another guest two weeks ago who never complained, never asked for help but also gave us for stars because she couldn't work the electronic lock. (There are detailed instructions and I test it before and after a guest leaves).

[Pat271]

The guest could be very happy with the results of the individual items (cleanliness, accuracy, etc.) but when stepping back, still felt that the overall experience was a 4. This can happen just as a general feeling, or because something that wasn’t in the list hampered the experience in some way (excess noise, for instance, or a hovering host).

If you wanted to explore it further, you could contact the guest and say that you are always striving to improve, and could they please give their recommendations for improving the overall rating. I did this once, and the guest was mortified because she had marked the 4 by mistake! She immediately called Airbnb and they changed it. 

[Solveig0]

This! 

Its the guest that gives the "overall rating". 

[Breighana0]

I had this happen to me too and the guest gave me an overall rating of 5 but I got 4 stars because the guest left the "respects house rules" category blank.

[Breighana0]

I would call airbnb and ask them.  I did and they said it was because the guest left the category "respects house rules" blank, thus airbnb gave 4 to me.