Reviews are pointless

[Kelly149]

So, just got a new request. Guest has a 5* rating and 2 reviews, one of which (I'm paraphrasing) says: Best AirBnB guest Ever!!!

Hey, so that's great, this is a real person who has been rated well by other hosts.....

Except: that Best AirBnB guest Ever!!!  is what this host writes for every review. Every one (ok, I reverse looked up 7ish~... so maybe not Every, but still) Ugh! Totally useless! So this Host is always super happy, or these guests really were great, or this Host is scared to write anything bad or they think they make themselves look better by being complimentary. Whatever, totally useless.

[Tommy150]

I mean... maybe they have had all great guests.  I am by no means scared to write a poor review, but, I have had 37 guests so far since I started; 35 got 5 star reviews and deserved it. 

One got a 3 star review, one got a 1 star review. All my 5-stars were honest; so were my less than 5-stars.  

[Kelly149]

@Tommy150 I get it,  a 5* is the floor not the ceiling in terms of ABB expectations, but they can't all "be the BEST ever" and maybe this guest really was a 5* guest. I'm just saying the hyberbole helps no one - IMO

[Tommy150]

I hear you - I don't like doing "copy paste" reviews for everyone, I try to personalize to a point... and I respond to every review I get ... thanking them for taking the time, etc. but some people either have high volume or just don't care and want to make it easy on themselves. 

[Emilia42]

@Kelly149 And likely, when this hosts gets a guest who left a filthy mess throughout the house they will not write a review at all because they want to "avoid confrontation." 

[Kelly149]

@Emilia42 oh yes, wouldn't want to offend anyone's sensibilities 😉

[John2406]

Not much use at all really to say the same thing about everyone who stays, besides which on the basis that not everyone can be the best...ever, that's not a very good image to present to anyone!

Is there a way in which you can click on the host's image and be able to contact them to find out more details about the enquiring would-be Guest, or is that against Airbnb policies?!

I suppose that apart from asking on here, or with Airbnb' own helpdesk, the only alternative might be to see whether your would-be Guest has received a review from someone who isn't afraid to tell the truth!

Joking apart however, what you have encountered only goes to show/highlight how important it is for us Host's to "tell it as it is".

Apologies if the above isn't what you had hoped for, but methinks that if you don't have any other way of determining the suitability (or not) of this Guest, then Airbnb needs to be the arbitrator.

[Kelly149]

@John2406 yep, when a host has a standard cut/paste review it's annoying. Here's a few I've seen over the years:

-Thanks for your visit! So glad you chose to stay with us!

-Fantastic Guest!

-All Excellent!

and I agree with you, it's not a good look (on these hosts or on ABB)

I'll be able to vet this potential guest just fine on my own, just one more area where something that ABB tries to hang their hat on is flimsy and unhelpful.

[Lisa723]

@Kelly149 my standard review is "We would be happy to host X again anytime." If that's not true, then the review is different; but if it is, as it is for the vast majority of guests, why is it annoying? What else do you need to know and what is the value of spending time and energy trying to come up with a unique way to say it for every guest?

[Kelly149]

@Lisa723 I think that is a review that can be truthful and reusable.

There's no useless superlatives there and you've said they're welcome back. Fine by me.

And in fact, this guest's second review is much like what you've written : good guest, left tidy, welcome back anytime. And that host usually writes something fairly similar. No beef with that.

But the "this is the best guest I"ve ever seen" being a Host's standard review clearly isn't actually ever true.

[J-Renato0]

@Kelly149

Yes ... some review are really useless.

One of the worst guests I have had, had only good reviews... Some hosts may take everything for money. Others may be afraid of a bad review!

[Kelly149]

@J-Renato0 This happened to me too once!! It's such a strange feeling to have a guest behave so badly in your space when you have evidence that they were lovely to someone else. It's a very confusing mystery!!

Identity theft, body snatchers, their travel companions were the ones who were actually good/bad..... 😉

[Anonymous]

@Kelly149  @Lisa723 @@ If I were having doubts about a guest, I wouldn't accept them on the basis of a generic review. But I would be positively influenced by indications that the host has had a genuine interaction with the guest. 

But if the communication is fine, they're in as long as there's not a glaringly bad review. 

[Heather133]

I've seen one where a host had a repeat guest and they posted the same review for the same guest twice. Personally, I try to acknowledge that the person like the place enough to stay more than once. 

I've noticed that often the the narrative part of a review makes it look like the guest was fine, but the stars tell a different story. It's made me much more careful about listening to my instincts.

[Anonymous]

Whichever hosts are doing this: please stop that!! Star ratings can not be seen by hosts who are actually screening their guests, us non-IB hosts! We need an honest text review.