Rating Scale for Guests

[Pat365]

Since any rating lower than a 5 Star reflects the Host did something wrong, and drops their status, there should be a legend explaining this to a Guest.

As a Guest, I thought 4 out of 5 was really good.

(I reserved 5 Stars for only something above and beyond-amazing.)

Little did I know my 4 Stars hurt an excellent Host. Or when my overall rating was a 3 because a neighbor came home late with radio blaring and woke me up. This wasn't even something the Host could control, the place was very nice and comfortable, but it made my stay less than "Amazing".

Every time I Host I have to send a note prior to checkout explaining anything less than 5 is bad, and I can't control the neighbor's dog barking at a squirrel or the trash truck coming by at 7 on Tuesday...

[Helen350]

Hearing you @Pat365 ! My most frustrating 4* overall was a guest who said he would have given 5*, had he not received a call from someone telling him his own home had just been burgled, whilst he was 200 miles away at mine, & nursing in the local hospital! - Which spoiled his experience! -  And he was a host! (New-ish.)

[Sarah977]

Yes, it's a constant source of frustration for hosts, the disconnect between what Airbnb tells guests (4*s means Good- and what's wrong with good, anyway, except in Airbnb land?) and how they apply the ratings to hosts.

As a home-share host who has quite a bit of interaction with most guests and lots of conversations about this and that over the course of their stay,  I do often mention this to guests, without shilling for a 5* review. I just give them the info and they can do with it as they like. But I have found that they were the same as you when you were only a guest- they had no idea and were shocked that Airbnb considers anything less than 5*s to be a fail and thanked me for telling them- they said, like you, that they had given 4* ratings in the past to places they really liked and would book again- they had no intention of hurting the host and thought they were giving a good rating.

@Pat365

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Pat365 ,  Most of the 4 stars I've received were from new guests who actually believed the ratings were analog linear taper 1-2-3-4-5 and not digital 1-1-1-1-5 (all bad or super perfect).  You've nicely bundled  both guest and host POV's short and sweetly about the 1 star system Airbnb employs on our behalf.  I say one star cause the only star that will bring a host positivity is the 5th star, the other 4 are Death-stars.   On the other hand, there are no such equal standards for guests, cause according to Airbnb, all should be considered and treated "Super" even if they have no such status challenges actually. 

This is one of the Airbnb systems that needs to be scrapped altogether cause no matter how its polished, its still just a shiny coprolite like system that tells few tales worth listening to.   Another thing Airbnb admin should understand is business for us is serious and we don't seek to collect the equivalent of Green Stamps in the 60's.  We don't chase "Superhost" to get  the icon most guests don't care about and $100  credits we personally have never used, we seek to be the best at what we do to ensure our business models have a chance of being successful and making far more than $100 3 times a year.  Those motivations need to be evaluated and valued properly or its just an exercise in futility, Stay well, JR

[Jillian136]

Well said!