Overall Rating

[Amelia10]

A guest just gave me 1 star overall rating when he gave me 5 stars in every category except Communication, where he gave me 1 for slow responses, yet I always responded extremely quickly. The 1 star overall rating was because of a dispute that arose right at the end due to some miscommunication/misunderstanding. But everything else was perfect and he said as much in his review. I have queried this 1 star overall with Airbnb - has anyone had any luck in having this overturned when the guest clearly enjoyed most of their stay? 

[Mika8]

Im sorry, @Amelia10 , but I hardly see any chance .. My last 1* review with 1* overall and the rest 1* and 2* was from a guest who didn't explained anything .. and everything was fine with this guest (except the lack of social compatibility from the guest side) I even arrange an early check-in on the very last notice (first he liked to arrive later, but he changed his mind, and I managed to change my day plan to let him in earlier (although 1 hour later as he would have liked).

The response from airbnb: that's his right to have a subjective opinion

.. even if this absolutely contrary to my other reviews.

[Amelia10]

I hate that someone's subjective opinion could cost one thousands in income, though. It just doesn't seem quite fair 😞

[Anonymous]

@Amelia10  If the review violated the content policy, you could have it removed along with the rating. But it's not their policy to overturn a rating when it's attached to a fully legitimate and relevant review. 

It's unfortunate that things turned out this way, but when it comes to reviews, last impressions have greater influence than first. If the guest's final memory of his stay is feeling wrongly accused of theft, his low rating is justifiable as a honest subjective opinion rather than mere retaliation. The best thing you can do is post a humble and apologetic response with prospective future guests in mind as the audience.

[Juan63]

I would explain your side on the review response, no need to apologize if you felt you did nothing wrong. When I am a guest, I don't always side with the guests review. I look at the hosts response. In some cases the guests are unreasonable. 

[Amelia10]

Thank you, Juan. That's true. As a guest I have looked at the host's response to a bad review and decided the guest was the one with the problem (unreasonable expectations, trying to hide their own bad behaviour, etc.)

Airbnb didn't want to alter or remove the review, but I believe guests will disregard the bad score when they read my response. Thanks!

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Amelia10 

My understanding is that if the guest doesn't review a particular category then said category is automatically scored as 5. This makes some sense and explains why many people are confused when they get 4 stars overall but 5 in every category.

Sadly it doesn't help your rating......

[Amelia10]

Ohhh, I see. Haha, that will leave the guest quite confused when he reads my response to his review, thanking him for the good stars, lol. 

[Poline0]

I recently got a 1 star review for overall while the rest of the categories are 4 & 5. I don't think guests have any idea how the overall rating affects host.

[Elaine701]

We once had a guest give us a "3" In cleanliness. Since we go to great lengths to keep the villa as spotless as possible, and always receive 5 in that category, we asked him why. 

It turns out that he found a tiny, nearly invisible spider web under one of the dining chairs. He remarked that it's particularly upsetting because he "had children in the house". My first thought was that I can't imagine how sheltered a life this family must be living. I'm glad he apparently hadn't discovered the various wildlife living in the area. That could have triggered a nervous breakdown. 

The point is, that despite your best efforts, there will always be some who discover something they feel is objectionable. Over the long haul, getting a straight 5 star rating is probably impossible. 

Unfortunately, even one guest's choice to click a lesser rating in even one category can negatively impact your overall rating for years, and probably forever. 

[Sarah977]

@Elaine701  A friend who hosts had some guest mention "dust" in the review. She's a nurse herself, cleans immaculately and as she didn't have guest in residence at the time she read that review, which had been left immediately after the guest had checked out, she went searching for this dust the woman could possibly be referring to. After checking every surface, she finally found one teensy corner of dust in the headboard bookshelf, way in the back, literally a half a centimeter, where she hadn't worked the cleaning cloth all the way in.