Maintaining a 5 stars rating

[Sebastian1001]

Hi, 

How do you manage to keep your ratings as high as possible? In my opinion, it's often the little details that make all the difference, don't you think? 

Starting with a short message to your guest thanking him for his booking and reminding him of the access information to your listing, the rules of the house and other practical advice. I find that the more clear and precise information we give in advance, the more we avoid misunderstandings and unpleasant surprises… Another detail, for example, consists of setting the arrival time of your guest, already to avoid you waiting unnecessarily and to reassure him. A small candy on the pillow, a courtesy tray with tea or coffee, shampoo and shower gel, decoration that is not 100% IKEA but rather a mix of modern and second-hand items to stand out from other accommodations. Be available for your guest while remaining discreet. Be professional but not cold in the relationship. Provide quick solutions and responses to the guest. This is my idea of ​​wholesale hospitality. 

What do you think? Thank you for your feedback!

Sebastian

[Eilish--Elizabeth-0]

😂😂😂

[Michelle1851]

@Sebastian1001 This is such a sore subject with me. I have yet to figure out guests and it's so hard to maintain your dignity when they knock you down and do not even communicate before hand.  Honestly, I think Airbnb makes it even harder on hosts by promoting places straight out of Architecture Digest, the average host can't compete.  Ours is a true vacation home, we don't claim to have stunning Architecture, just a nice, clean, comfortable place in a nice location.  

I have worked at luxury resort in my younger years, I went on to own a very successful business in a different sort of hospitality, I have traveled frequently, stayed in wonderful resorts, quaint bed and breakfasts, cute little gites, I have tried to incorporate everything I learned into our little place and still the dreaded 4* from a guest who doesn't communicate. Ugh.

Its discouraging to say the least.  

[Veronica-Sehnaz0]

One of my guests gave 3* for having to walk up 3 flights of stairs for loft listing, which I repeated several times that there is no elevator in the building and the loft is on 3rd floor of a 3 story building.  I even have photos of the stairs!  Since then I reiterate importance of reading all the details in my listing and that seemed to help.  

[Deb216]

@Veronica-Sehnaz0 , 

I couldn't agree more!  I received a low star from a guest for "not being on the beach" yet she messaged me prior to booking and described how thrilled she was for finding my home "located on the same street as my sister's home!"  She even messaged me later to thank me for a wonderful stay.

My listing clearly states the home's location as not on the beach, infact it reads:

"drive 4 miles to the beach..."

[Gillian166]

@Deb216  omg, i feel your pain. that is just utter BS from a guest. 

[Sebastian1001]

@Michelle1851 

I understand perfectly what you mean, then I think you shouldn't let yourself be discouraged and always try to do your best. Try to also remain authentic and true. Your accommodation certainly has many qualities that cannot be found in a luxury hotel as you say. If people chose your accommodation there was certainly a reason and it is certainly also for your personality and the good comments that you have already received that your place remains unique. That's what makes all the difference with a luxury hotel. good luck to you and keep going

[James413]

I booked a room at a home in Copenhagen Denmark.  I didn't want a fancy home I wanted to

experience how every day people lived.  He served a lovely breakfast and his wife also joined us.  The room had no TV and a shared bathroom.  He had bikes for us to use and a grandson

that was delightful.   He gave us advise on transportation and was informative.  The people are what makes the stay.  We would stay with them again if we return to Copenhagen.  I gave

them a 5 star rating and was glad to have met them.   Don't be discouraged.  You only can do

your best and if you are doing that you are giving it your all.

[Robin4]

@Sebastian1001 

Hi Sebastian, I think your observations are pretty much universal in the hosting community. Your post is a slightly more condensed version of one I did here just last week on a thread by another HAB member @Delphine348....but they are good points to reinforce.

And on that note, hey maybe this is a bit cynical Sebastian but, the Host Advisory Board has been in operation for around 18 months now, and for us as a community we felt the board must be operating under a certain level of secrecy, a level that was removed from the hosting community. Now granted I am only really active here on the 'Hosting' room and I could be a bit ignorant with discussions in other community rooms but, in this hosting room we practically never saw any comment, no questions ever brought here by HAB members. My feeling and some others of us was...."If you are representing us why are you not consulting us, working with us?"

In March @Stephanie  set up an Introducing the new HAB board members featured discussion, which still sits on the lead page. But that has only received little more than a handfuls of comment from contributors here and only @Merrydith0  from the new HAB has chosen to be involved in that thread.

When you guys jumped into action I would have expected to see, at the least, a comprehensive feedback questionnaire circulated to hosts to gain for the HAB some sort of communal priority strategy to put to the company but, until the last month there has been essentially no involvement by members of the HAB here. 

Now, over the past month, at least weekly we are seeing thread input by HAB members such as  yourself Sebastian, @Delphine348, @Felicity11 and I can't help thinking, has there been some instruction from above for the HAB to adopt a more 'grass roots' approach with the hosting community?

Don't get me wrong, it's great see, I am just wondering why there has been this U turn!

Cheers.......Rob

[Gordon0]

I couldn't agree more, @Robin4. I'm really hoping we're not hearing more (the first post I've seen) from the HAB in order to push the less 'bubbly' topics down.

[Stephanie]

@Robin4 @Gordon0 

Absolutely fair observations. We have worked much closer with the HAB this year on getting involved with the CC and encouraging them to use it as they would being a Host on Airbnb first, HAB second. This was a decision by myself and my team so there would be more authenticity and less animosity towards the group which I have to thank our Community for facilitating - it has been very uplifting and respectful!

The HAB are only committed to making statements on behalf of Airbnb twice a year (which is coming up soon.) Other than that, should they want to talk about something they have been working on, it goes through legal review. There's nothing wrong with asking the members to share, in a respectful manner, and we can take it from there. 🍻

I'd rather be as transparent as possible with the expectations of the HAB on the CC with you all. To be honest from our chats with various members, they have said they have seen their colleagues post and get lovely conversations which has inspired them to contribute more - this mostly started with the Festival of Sustainability. 

Happy to chat further but even more happy to thank you all for how respectful, constructive and welcoming you have all been (and continue to be) not only to the HAB, but any and all Hosts that dip a toe on the CC.

Thanks,

Stephanie

[Sebastian1001]

hello @Robin4 and thank you very much for your return. I fully understand your point of view, after it must also be understood that the Host Advisory Board  now exists for the 2nd year according to is taken a lot of things are still in progress stalling and it ends over time.

It is true that until now I was not very active on the community center but I find that it is very important indeed to stay connected with the the whole community to understand your concerns and your problems on a daily basis to bring them up to the head office. For us it is a very important source of information.

I think that we all work with the same objective of growing and improve the platform, its functionalities etc in order to increase customer satisfaction. 

With my colleagues from the HAB we do our best every day to represent our community to the management, to defend our ideas and our points of view. We work for and with you and not against you, I hope you are well aware of this. If you wish to discuss with us on specific subjects, we invite you to contact us directly so that we can discuss together. Have a nice season and see you soon!

[Gillian166]

@Sebastian1001  
question: did this post of yours have to go through a legal review first before it was approved?  

I also serve on a board, and also know that that the Board is not the place to air your tiny grievances, so I have a broader one: how on earth was this new Categories thing rolled out with your approval? Or, did the HAB think it was a good idea? (it appears there's been no actual testing of the thing, and the messaging around it is lacking)

the way the new search works, we are all going to dinged big time for location. Thoughts on that?

[Emilie]

@Gillian166 As Stephanie explained earlier, we have worked closely with the HAB members this year, encouraging them to come and use the Community Center as Hosts to discuss personal tips and experiences. You know the Community team and myself have been sharing as much information as possible with all of you regarding the Categories and other features released in May, we're continuing to work closely with the product team to make sure all your feedback goes to the right people!

There are several other threads on Categories where we can continue this conversation, let's focus on the initial question about reviews here. 😉

Emilie

[Gordon0]

That's the thing, @Emilie, threads often go off track and focus on the things people want to talk about, which might not necessarily fit with the posters' agenda. Ho hum, as they say in these parts 😉

[Gillian166]

@Gordon0  this is the first time i've had a slap on the wrist for going off topic. Again, it's not a good look when this only happens to protect the Brand.