Stars

[Edvaner0]

I think airbnb should explain a little better how this star rating works.
Most people think that a 5-star review means it was all a dream.
I've had a few hosts who have given excellent reviews and given it 4 stars and so I was wandering why.
They should understand that 5 stars means you will be 80-100% satisfied with your stay.
Thanks

[Anonymous]

@Edvaner0   I don't think they want a review system that leaves hosts feeling relaxed and confident. You're supposed to be in a state of constant anxiety about 5-star ratings, so that you always perform above expectations, look the other way when guests break your rules, avoid making claims for damage, and hold Airbnb's almighty algorithms in high esteem above your own hospitality expertise.

If hosts are writhing in agony over a 4-star rating from a satisfied guest, the manipulation is working as intended. Bwahahahahah.

[Edvaner0]

I'm not in a state of constant anxiety about 5-star ratings, and maybe you're right about their strategy, but I prefer to think that a clear information is always the best way for all sides.

[Anonymous]

@Edvaner0  I agree with the sentiment, but if clear information were the goal, star ratings wouldn't be used at all.

Perfection doesn't seem like a reasonable standard to hold hosts to, but if you told me that feeling only 81% satisfied with an experience meant I should give it the highest possible rating, I'd think you were a crazy person. I think the biggest flaw here is in Airbnb's (totally intentional) treatment of 4-star ratings as utter failures, when guests generally intend them to indicate that a stay was satisfactory but had some room for improvement. Even if that "improvement" means peddling a chateau for the price of a campsite.

[Sarah977]

@Edvaner0  Clear information regarding star ratings would be best for both guests and hosts. 

As a home share host who has quite a bit of interaction with many of my guests, when conversation has touched on reviews, guests are shocked when I tell them that hosts get upset with 4* ratings, because Airbnb considers it a "fail". These were great guests who thought that the 4* ratings they had been leaving for places they liked were something a host would be pleased with- after all, Airbnb tells them 4* means "Good", and in a sane system, there should be nothing wrong with Good.

But while clarity would be good for both hosts and guests (those guests I had thanked me for telliing them and said they would never leave 4*s again for a place where they would happily book again and expressed irritation that Airbnb would mislead them) it is apparently not what Airbnb considers to be in their best interest- they like to keep hosts stressed out about ratings. It's a purposeful strategy, not something they see as needing fixing.

[Christine3191]

I don’t understand why my house is rated 4.69 when my 24 reviews are all 4.9 or 5? This is mathematically incorrect.there must be some other factor than guest reviews determining star rating. Any idea what that would be? Grateful for advice. 

[Colleen253]

@Christine3191 The individual category ratings don’t factor into your overall rating. They are separate. The rating on your listing is a factor of each overall rating you’ve gotten. 

[Edvaner0]

I thought about it and decided to send a little message to my guests as they were leaving my apartment, like this:

My dear guests, think about this before evaluating your stay.
1 star - 0% to 20% satisfied
2 stars - 21 to 40% satisfied
3 stars - 41 to 60% satisfied
4 stars 61 to 80% satisfied
5 stars - 81 to 100% satisfied
Thank you very much and I hope to see you again soon.

[Anonymous]

@Edvaner0 personally, if I were a guest and got a message like that, I'd  see it as a really insecure attempt to manipulate my review, and it would reflect really poorly on the rest of the stay in hindsight. It certainly wouldn't upgrade the ratings I intended to give. But sadly, the dark side of these silly Superhost badges is that many hosts have resorted to these lame tactics and worse to keep them..

[Willene1]

@Edvaner0   I include a copy of this in our Welcome manual with all the other infurmation for the suite.  Copied it from another host. Thought it was a good idea.  They can read it if they like and ignore it if if they want. 

[Edvaner0]

Thanks for your advice.

I'll consider something lighter.

[Sarah977]

@Edvaner0  I think it's a challenge to word this in writing so as not to have  it backfire. The percentage thing is weird. The examples I have seen that wouldn't likely offend or backfire are humourous. Like 1* means the place should be bulldozed and the host thrown in jail. Or just give it as general information- that the Airbnb rating system isn't meant to be a comparison to hotels or anything else, but reflect how their stay went, in which case, 5*s would mean it was clean, comfortable, accurately advertised, and the host was suitably responsive. 

When I have had conversations about it with guests, it's been an organic thing, something that comes up easily in conversation if we might be discussing Airbnb- past stays they've had, what it's like to host. There's plenty of guests who I didn't have a sit around and chat relationship with, and it's not anything I would pointedly bring up. 

And I don't talk to them about the ratings because I want them to rate me 5*s, it's the hypocrisy of Airbnb leading guests to think a 4* rating is fine, then turning around and threatening hosts over them that burns me and that I think guests should be made aware of. 

There are hosts who will decline a repeat guest who left a 4* rating (which I would never do), even though the guest was quite a good guest. I think guests should be made aware of that. If they liked the place and the host and would book there again, but left a 4* rating, not realizing how much that distresses some hosts, they would start leaving 5*s for places they liked and had no complaints about. And they wouldn't run the risk of getting declined by that host in the future.

If they think a place only deserves 4*s, that's fine- guests should never be made to feel pressured to leave 5* reviews. What isn't fine, IMO, is for them to be under the impression that is something hosts or Airbnb consider to be a sought-after, pleasing rating.

The bottom line as I see it, is that if a host is "educating" guests about the ratings, with the intention of getting them to leave you a 5* review, it's very difficult for that to not to come across as manipulative. If you are "educating" so that hosts and guests are on the same page as far as understanding the rating system, in an impersonal and lighthearted way, it can work.

[Edvaner0]

Exactly what's bothering me "is the Airbnb's hypocrisy leading guests to think a 4* rating is good". I don't wait 5s if I don't deserve it. Thanks for the tips...perhaps including as general information in the middle of the conversation, the guest won't feel pressured.

[Angie601]

I haven't seen a marked increase in bookings since I became a superhost.   I will continue to provide the same hospitality I always have and try not to get worked up about star ratings.  I saw this quote yesterday from Mozart and I think it perfectly sums up how I intend to go about my hosting business:

"I pay no attention whatever to anybody's praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings."

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

[Edvaner0]

That's what I always do, but sometimes I get bored when I get extremely good reviews and they rate 4 because they think that's a good rating.
Thanks