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]

In case you are wondering how one guest's ratings can cause such havoc, there are a few reasons:

- I host long-term guests so have far fewer bookings (I know this is not for everyone, but it has mostly worked for me, especially during lockdowns etc when tourism was not an option).

- Due to the pandemic, I have had far fewer guests in the past year than previously and one of my guest rooms was occupied by a long-term tenant for several months, whilst others were empty for months. I also had a couple of direct bookings from other sources.

- Unfortunately, of the few Airbnb guests I had, about half forgot to leave reviews so this recent rating has an even bigger impact.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 @Anonymous 

Would appreciate your advice when you have a minute!

[Laura2592]

@Huma0 nice to see you again!

I don't know what's to be gained with questioning this guest about her actual review as she can't change it. You could ask that she ask it to be removed  and educate her on the process for the next host if you believe there's a chance of it happening. There is nothing to lose at this point.  I'd probably say something like:

"HI guest. Thanks for staying with me. I'm concerned about your 3 star overall rating as there was no feedback and a rating at that level could get my listing suspended.  Do you mind letting me know what went wrong? If your rating was left in error, would you consider contacting Airbnb to have it totally removed? (Give her the number. )  Let me know if you have any confusion about the rating system.  Airbnb does not allow hosts who get 3 overall to continue to operate on the platform. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to assist. Thank you again!"

This is the one situation where I would mention a poor score in response to a forward facing review. I'd probably respond to her review with something like "this quiet and respectful guest left a very low overall score without feedback. I'm always looking for ways to improve my space and hosting and would have loved to know more about what was missing from her stay. I strive for excellence and welcome future guests to connect with me prior to booking to ensure they are fully comfortable in my listing. I thank this guest for staying with me and can't help but feel there may have been a misunderstanding about how the review system works."

[Huma0]

@Laura2592 

Thank you for your feedback! I like your message to the guest. It's brief and not too personal. I have already drafted a message but it's far too long.

If I do write to her, I need to word it carefully, especially as, by her own admission, her English comprehension is very poor (she was doing an English course while she was here but failing). This is potentially where things could have gone wrong. I realised that she often pretended to understand a conversation (either out of politeness or embarrassment) when she actually hadn't understood at all. Perhaps she misinterpreted something I said or hadn't really understood the listing/house rules.

I haven't responded to her review yet. I am not sure that is the best place to bring up the low ratings as the review is positive (nothing negative mentioned at all) and this will only show on my profile/listing, so I don't want to highlight a problem there. Also, I imagine she is unlikely to even read it but potential guests might.

[Laura2592]

@Huma0 normally I would never highlight a bad score on a good review, but in this instance I might. I think it would be helpful for other hosts to see what was going on if they dug into her reviews left for others. But I understand the hesitation. 

Perhaps try to translate your message into her native language? Google is decent if you keep it simple. I always check the translation again by reversing what Google recommends.  I have an online jewelry fine business and its very important that customers understand what they are buying: sometimes they don't speak English fluently so Google helps. Maybe send her the message in English and her native language?

[Huma0]

@Laura2592 

Yes, that's true, it might flag it up for potential hosts. I wonder though how many look at the reviews that a guest has left. I know some do (I do sometimes, but sometimes forget if all else seems okay). However, my potential future guests are much more likely to see my response.

I've had some very weird translations come up with Google (like, really weird: "Autumn liked the listing." No idea who Autumn is. "Cute seals." etc. etc.), but I guess it works okay the majority of the time, so worth a shot. 

Yet, if even the guest asking for the review to be removed (no point in that as the review is positive) doesn't change the star ratings, I'm still going to lose my Superhost status, see my listing drop down the search results etc. etc. 

The only value is to get some answers in case there was something amiss or, if there wasn't, to educate the guest not to do this to another host. Worth the effort maybe. In that case, perhaps I will phrase it more in this context. 

[Susan1188]

Yes I agree with this suggestion to call it out in the comments, so that future guests know how this outlier review impacts the star rating.  Otherwise they might think you are not getting over 4 stars on your other reviews!

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  Good to see you pop in here.

I don't see anything wrong with asking the guest. She'll either answer or not.

I'd write something like,

"Hi XX, I hope you have had safe travels since leaving my place.

There is something I wanted to discuss with you, if you don't mind.

Of course, I think a guest should feel free to leave a rating for a place that they feel it deserves.

But I was a little shocked to see that you had left a 3* rating. I know there are guests who aren't aware that 3*s on Airbnb is considered to be a a very mediocre rating, and that Airbnb will delist a host for an average 3* rating, so I was wondering if there was something about your stay here that you found objectionable and were just too shy or polite to mention, or whether it was just a matter of not realizing that a 3* rating is quite damaging to a host?

In this case, the rating you left resulted in my average 5* rating tanking to 4.3, which means that I will now lose the Superhost status I have maintained for the past 5 years. 

If there was something wrong with your stay here, I would welcome knowing what it was, so I can improve on my hosting. 

If it was just a matter of you not understanding the rating system, while Airbnb won't allow changes to ratings and reviews, they will remove the ratings and review if the reviewer requests them to. 

I have no intention to make you feel bad about this, just as I doubt you intended to cause me to lose Superhost status- guests can't be expected to know that Airbnb requires a 4.8 star rating for that status. 

And aside from my own rating, I wanted you to be aware for the future that all hosts would be quite upset to get a 3* rating. (Although I am aware that there are some unacceptable listings, dirty and unmaintained, with inattentive hosts, who would definitely deserve a low rating like that)

I await your response and thank you for reading this."

As far as your IB question, I can't really advise on that. I have never and would never use IB myself, but if without it you don't think you'll get enough bookings to keep you going, it seems like you're kind of stuck.

[Huma0]

Thanks @Sarah977 

Your message is quite similar to what I have drafted, but my version gave examples of areas where I went above and beyond for her. Perhaps best not to mention that as it might come across like I am trying to guilt trip her.

I think I would still need to simplify it further though as her English comprehension is low and I know that translation tools can often be way off. If I did unintentionally offend her (I can't see how as she seemed to thoroughly enjoy the evenings we spent chatting and laughing), I don't want to risk offending her again. It needs to be worded in such a way that she can't misinterpret it.

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  While it would be arrogant for hosts to think they could never do anything wrong, you've been doing this hosting gig for a long time, you've dealt with a wide range of personalities and cultures among your guests.  I believe you would have some inkling if you had said or done something to offend this guest or fell down on your hospitality skills.

I be very surprised if this was anything more than her simply not understanding how ratings work, or being one of those people who "never give 5* because nothing is ever perfect". So if they never give 5*s, and 4 is the highest possible in their minds, if there was anything at all that they thought could be improved, I could see them downgrading to a 3.

And it doesn't help at all that Airbnb has 5 choices to check and the middle one is "As expected", and 5 star choices, so that a 3 would seem to correspond to "as expected". Why would a guest think there was anything the host would be upset with if the guest got what they expected, meaning the listing was accurate?

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

I think your explanation is completely plausible. The guest seemed to enjoy her stay and if I had offended her, she certainly didn't show it. Now that may have been out of politeness, but she chose to spend many evenings chatting with me at the kitchen table, laughed a lot and always thanked me for a very enjoyable chat, saying she loved my funny stories. She also often sought out my advice, even just before she left, e.g. about which places she should visit next. That doesn't seem like a guest that was put out about something.

Nonetheless, the guest also often acted like she had understood something and then I would realise that she hadn't understood at all, so this is why I think there was a possibility of  misunderstandings.

It may have been little things, but perhaps they added up. For example, I offer to clean the guests' bedrooms and wash their towels and linens during their stay or, if they prefer, they can do it themselves. She chose the latter and was given extra bed linens and lots of towels. One day, she saw a pile of towels I had just laundered and asked if they were for her. I said no, but did she need extra? I thought I had given her several. She responded that she had enough, but didn't say it with conviction, so I asked again. She confirmed "enough, enough." It was only when she left that I realised she had used everything and washed nothing. She had also not cleaned the room at all. She gave me 3 stars for cleanliness. 

So, I could have been more observant and I could have asked her again if she wanted me to wash her towels and linens and clean the room. She was using the washing machine but mostly drying things in her room so I assumed she was doing it herself. It's a stupid little thing, but who knows how she interpreted it.

There were a couple of other small things like that.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

welcome back @Huma0  🙂

I can't advise you about asking guests, I never did ask, I don't even look how they rated me. I decided it is not worth my time and energy

Do not turn off IB if it would mean a worse search position and fewer bookings. You are hosting for money, not for some badge. Look at it on the bright side - you can cancel a reservation now and the only penalty will be 50-100, you have nothing else to lose 🙂 Relax, you will be fine

[Huma0]

Thanks @Branka-and-Silvia0 

I am sure you have the right approach. My personal pride has been hurt, but I will get over that! 

On a more pragmatic note though, I do feel like the Superhost status makes a difference. It certainly didn't in the beginning, so I don't know if it's because Airbnb started promoting it more or if it's because I now almost only host long-term guests and they seem to care about it more. My guests actually bring up the fact that I'm a Superhost much more often than you might imagine, but only time will tell if it actually affects my bookings or not.

One of the reasons I am annoyed about this whole situation is that there was another guest (let's call her Miss A) who was about to book the room for a longer stay and just need to organise a cat sitter first. However, Miss B (the guest who actually stayed) IBed the room in the meantime. Now, Miss A could have turned out to be a terror, who knows. Both of them had several good reviews, but Miss A's communication was 100 x better and, unlike Miss B, she never asked for a discount. 

Had IB not been turned on, I could have chosen the guest I preferred. I know the system prioritises booking requests over enquiries, but you can get around that by tweaking the calendar. With IB you get limited penalty free cancellations so I save these for the bookings where there are major red flags.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

oh, so Miss B 3* asked for a discount? Did she get any? If not, or if she thinks the discount wasn't generous enough would explain 3* rating.

@Huma0