How one guest destroyed five years of Superhost status

[Huma0]

Hello everyone. Firstly, sorry for being away from the community for so long (due to a number of reasons). I wanted to share my recent experience and ask for your opinions. Apologies if it's a bit long...

I have been a Superhost for the majority of the time I have hosted in my current home. I have three guest rooms which were pretty much fully booked pre-pandemic and, since then, I've managed to keep things going with bookings on and off. Things were finally starting to pick up again in the latter months of this year. I've maintained my Superhost status every quarter for the past five years and have been at a 5.0 rating for about two (prior to that, mostly fluctuating between 4.9 and 5.0 as you know how long it can take to recover from the occasional 4 stars).

My dilemma is this. I recently had a guest who unexpectedly left me a 3 star overall rating (and 3 or 4 stars in every category bar location). She never complained while she was here and seemed to enjoy her stay. Although her English was limited so something may have been lost in translation, she left me a positive review and a nice private note and there is absolutely no negative feedback explaining the low ratings. I also feel that I went above and beyond for this guest in many ways, so it's pretty confusing.

Anyway, as a result of this, my rating has gone from 5.0 to 4.3 and I will definitely lose my Superhost status at the next assessment. Even if all remaining guests leave 5 stars, that only brings me up to 4.66, not the 4.8 required. I have even already received a warning email from Airbnb that my listing may be suspended. It will be a long time before I can significantly bring it back up.

I already called Airbnb about this but, as expected, the CS rep said there was nothing he could do about it, especially as the guest had not mentioned anything negative in the review that I could contest. His only advice was to keep up the good work.

I know that a lot of hosts feels that being a Superhost makes no difference. However, I would say in my experience that it does. When I first started hosting, most of my guests had no idea what a Superhost even was. In recent years (since Airbnb started promoting the scheme a bit more), I have found that many guests mention they booked with me because of it. Once guests are aware of it, they often specifically search for Superhosts. Even if you forget about that, my rating for that listing has dropped to 4.0. and I know I wouldn't book an Airbnb with that rating!

My questions are these:

1. I would like to message the guest asking for feedback. Perhaps she did not understand that her ratings were actually very low, rather than 'good' or 'very good'/'as expected' or 'better than expected' as it is sometimes represented by Airbnb. Or, perhaps she was too shy to tell me that there was a problem and it would be helpful to know what that was, regardless of whether Superhost status matters or not. How best to phrase this message without seeming like I am harassing her?

2. This guest instant booked. I only turned on IB because I felt I must (once Airbnb really started to push it, my fully booked listings dropped to the bottom of the search results, which is disastrous in London where there are so many Airbnbs, and only recovered when I turned it on). If this had been a booking request, I would not have accepted it without the guest answering all of the pre-booking questions, which she hadn't. So, should I turn it off and risk my listings disappearing again? I'm tempted, but not sure that's the best idea given that her rating may already have an impact on bookings? A very low percentage of long-term guests IB, but the rest might not even see my listing if I turn it off, so I am not sure that would be to my advantage.

[Huma0]

@Mark116 

Thank you! Yes, that all makes perfect sense. I will edit accordingly...

[Huma0]

@Mark116 

Well, I have sent it, almost word for word as you wrote it. Let's se if I get a response. I will report back if I do...

[Pablo629]

Dear @Huma0  good job. Im pretty sure you will be Superhost again soon. My 1st trimester evaluation was 4.7 on average, then the next period more than 4.8. You will reach it.

[Huma0]

Thanks @Pablo629 

I am confident that I can get it back up again before too long.

The experience has just shaken me a bit, seeing how one guest can have such a huge impact on the ratings. I guess I got a bit complacent...

I haven't seen an impact in enquiries/booking requests/instant bookings, because my Superhost status is still showing until after the next assessment. I can only report back after that if I feel that it has had an impact, but int these times, it's difficult to tell.

I do feel very reassured though by the three reviews I received after this problematic guest. All of them were 5* across the board, so at least that has restored my faith in my hosting skills!

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Pablo629 you are looking at the overall rating for the property which goes back to when it was listed. @Huma0 is losing Superhost status as a low rating in the previous 12 month period can have a big effect especially when few guests have stayed.

[Pablo629]

So. it means that her last review was part of other no good reviews. Or if she has few reviews, it will be easy to recover it's superhost status.

Almost all superhost have passed same situations. 

[Huma0]

@Pablo629 

No, I have no other reviews under 5 stars in 2021, except this one. The problem is that I only had six Airbnb guests in 2021 and only three of those left reviews. That means that two left 5 stars and this one guest left 3 stars.

Her review therefore counts as one third of my rating, bringing it down from 5 to 4.3 - well below the 4.8 Superhost requirement.

I currently have three other guests staying and checking out (therefore able to review) within the 2021 assessment period. Even if they all leave reviews (and they might not) and all leave 5 stars, that still only puts me at 4.66, so I still lose my Superhost status. I have no expectations of any other guests staying this month. I host long-term guests so that's my quota done.

So, yes, even if you have six reviews and five out of six are 5 stars, if the remaining one is 3 stars, you lose Superhost because you have to have 4.8 or above.

True, a few more 5 star reviews (providing I don't get anymore 3 or 4 star ones) will bring me up again, but not for this assessment.

Now, Airbnb is bringing back the minimum stay criteria for the following assessment, as other hosts have mentioned. For people like me who host in their own home, with long-term guests, and during a time of such uncertainty when travel restrictions have increased, that alone may mean I fail the next assessment regardless of my ratings next quarter. I may simply not have as many bookings.

Finally, I know from experience that even one 4 star review can take a long time to recover from. I had all 5 star ones and then one 4 star one. It took about a year to get my rating back up to 5.0. That is a risk with hosting long-term guests.

[Sarah977]

@Pablo629  No, you don't understand the math involved. 

This post explains why it is so difficult for a host to recover from a low rating.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Circle/Guantanamo/m-p/754779#M6666

[Pablo629]

It's not advanced math. if you have 2 reviews (one 5 and the other less), obviously you will never have an opportunity to reach 4.8.

If host couldn't reach other 9 good reviews or book at least 100 nights in 3 bookings, It's out. Quantity of reviews it's not only the way. The requirement ask for bookings quantity not reviews quantity. check superhost requirements 

I read that she had long bookings, so it can be different than having nothing.

[Huma0]

@Pablo629 

No, that's not quite correct. For Superhost status, you need 10 or more stays a year  OR 100+ nights a year. As a long term host during covid, 10 stays a year is not reachable for me but 100 nights is.

I am not failing not that criteria. My Superhost assessment stats show that I am passing on that criteria and every other. The only fail is this one guest brining my rating down because I have only three ratings for the year. Two are 5 stars, but hers is 3. That brings the average too low to pass. I am passing in all the other categories, including occupation rates.

[Gordon0]

Nice to see you on here, @Huma0,  but a bit rubbish to hear what happened with a recent guest, especially after the two years we've had. I assume this is Mikuko we're talking about?

As somebody else who hosts in their own home, I feel your disappointment. I am on 277 reviews (the same as you at the time of writing) and each one of these reviews has come with a little blood, sweat and tears. Hosting in your own home is less of a business and more of a labour of love.  

FWIW, I believe Superhost stands for something, so I too get a little jittery when it comes to reading the reviews. 

In terms of the low-baller, I'd be tempted to drop her a note. You have nothing to loose.

As for IB, I use it yet each time a booking comes in, a little bit of me likens it to Russian roulette. I've haven't been burned (very badly) yet.

@Pablo629 - I think you might be looking at @Huma0's overall rating and yes, a very low review can have pretty crappy effects. 

Easier said than done, @Huma0 - but keep your chin up.  

[Huma0]

@Gordon0 

Thanks for your support. Yes, it is blood, sweat and tears! I feel I did quite a few extra things for this particular guest (she seemed to need a lot of help). It was nothing over the top or terribly inconvenient for me, and she seemed like a very nice person, but she took up more time and energy than most. So it was especially disappointing to see her ratings. 

IB does seem a bit like Russian roulette. Luckily, since I switched to long-term, I don't get many, but it happens once in a while. There have been a couple of not so great guests long-termers that came to me that way, but there have also been several that were absolutely great. 

There are two possible positive outcomes to dropping the guest a note. One is that she might actually have totally misunderstood the significance of her ratings. She's left reviews for most of her hosts and all are positive (one is a bit weird though), but that doesn't mean she didn't leave them low ratings at the same time. Perhaps she would want Airbnb to remove them. However, I think that's unlikely. She wasn't the best at reading or responding to messages and she might not understand me anyway.

The other positive outcome is that I may get some kind of answer as to what went wrong and maybe it's something that I can actually work on. I don't pretend that me or my listing is perfect. However, again, perhaps she won't understand or, if she was too shy in the first place to specify what the problem was, it might only make her feel very uncomfortable.

[Anonymous]

@Huma0  Welcome back! I'm sorry to hear it's under frustrating circumstances like this.

I've tried following up with a guest for feedback after getting a disappointing rating - in this case, the guest was also a host and was definitely not unaware of how ratings worked. I got a response, but I can't say it gave me anything to work with that I could actually use to improve. I had nothing to lose anyway, but in hindsight, I probably should have just let it go. 

i don't know what to say about IB at this point - if you were to turn it off, that might be a factor in getting fewer new bookings, but then again, most people I know who had trips planned for the coming months have recently cancelled them, and shared homes remain vulnerable to the twists and turns of the pandemic anyway. But I think your listings are amazing finds, and there's something to be said for having to do a bit of extra digging to find the gems.

Meanwhile, like @Sarah977 and @Kitty-and-Creek0 , I'll have a very steep climb back to SH if I resume hosting now that Airbnb is reverting to the pre-pandemic criteria. But on the other hand, I see Airbnb gradually falling out of favor with the kind of people I like to have as guests, so that badge may well have already lost whatever usefulness it once had.

[Huma0]

@Anonymous 

Thanks for getting back to me! 

Yep, I'm still in two minds about messaging the guest. There are only two times I did something similar and both were years ago. They had very different outcomes:

1. Lovely guest who seemed to enjoy her stay left me 5 stars in every category but 4 overall and no negative feedback. I messaged her to ask if there was anything I could improve on. She was shocked as she said she was sure she left me 5 stars. She confirmed this with Airbnb and they actually changed the rating to 5, so that was well worth it.

2. Guest seemed to have a great time and didn't complain while she was here. However, she left me 4 stars claiming I had failed to tell her about an important policy (was positive about everything else). I messaged her saying I was confused as this particular policy is mentioned twice on the listing and I had even messaged her two or three times to remind her of it. She initially said she would change the review but, when I explained that she couldn't change it, only ask for it to be removed (I thought she would be willing to do this as she'd already admitted the mistake) she suddenly became extremely hostile and told me it was HER review and therefore none of my business. So that was stressful and a waste of time.

I guess all I've got to lose is time and a possibly negative response. Other than respond negatively to my positive review, which would only be to her detriment really, there's not much more damage she could do.

Sorry to hear you,@Sarah977 and @Kitty-and-Creek0  will also be losing your Superhost status, but it seems likely that so many home stay hosts will, so perhaps that will for a time become fairly insignificant to guests looking for that category of accommodation.

[Mark116]

@Huma0  Huma!  Hi, I've thought of you several times while posting on the forum.

I would definitely contact the guest, but you want to be very careful in how you word things so it doesn't come off to her as you being critical of her, I think this is especially important given her cultural background.  So, in this case, I might suspend my typical never apologize to a guest when you aren't at fault stance, and suggest that you come at it from the 'how could I have improved your stay, where did I go wrong, I'm so sorry you felt your stay only warranted a 3 star rating, which puts me at risk for suspension, etc. etc. 

Keep us posted.

ETA..I too hate Instant Book and I kept it off as long as I could until we dropped at one point to the last listing in our city!! So, I would continue with IB but do the same vetting after the fact, and if you get an unresponsive guest, try to get them to cancel or use your free cancellation onthem.