value

[Lynn1109]

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Value is so subjective AND, nobody believes the value is there AFTER they have left. I just received all 5 stars from a guest who then gave me a 4 with this explanation;  More than I wanted to pay, but that's what it is near the beach. My choice.  

The previous guest gave me 3 stars because the house next door is being restored/fixed up. I am 7 houses away from the beach! She also gave me 3 stars because the road to cross to get to the beach is a 4 lane road...I think it is time to have a real person reading these reviews OR not make such a big deal about being a superhost. Airbnb is clearly more interested in helping the guests than hosts. Might be time to consider the other short term rental companies if the hosts are being mistreated or ignored? Too frustrating, work so hard to get and keep superhost only to lose it over crap ratings like these and then be ignored.

[Pat271]

Join the club.  I sometimes get 4’s for value.  The comment on the last one was “Maui is so expensive!”

Well, no duh. You should see my cleaning, maintenance and repair bills.

The only solution I can see is to somehow educate guests so that they will do better in the future. Emphasize to them that information known before booking should be what’s expected, and that marking down the host for an already-known expectation is not appropriate. This would be besides the usual teachings about how 4=bad in AirbnbLand, unlike almost all other rating scales on the planet.

I actually think that lately, some guests are coming around and seem to understand some of these points, and their ratings are starting to reflect that.

Also, Airbnb will stretch to let a guest’s observations stand. They will only remove reviews that violate specific policies. Otherwise, the answer will be “Well, our guests are allowed to express their point of view, and bad reviews are not necessarily invalid reviews”. 

[Oksana1]

I feel for you Lynn,- had similar situation recently, when guest gave 3 star rating because " balcony is small and smoke goes inside". The irony was, - my listing is strictly non smoking, size of the balcony is exactly as per description and photos, and if guest chooses to smoke on a balcony with open door to the inside, different size of the balcony will not give different result. 

[David7870]

Hi ( this is Debi, Dave’s wife) , 

Seeking advise to go with this thread:

is it better to as for a cleaning deposit or raise the price? 

I’m  trying to get inside the heads of my guests on this one.  What is better for them?  What is better for the host?  So I guess two questions lol. 😀

[Fred13]

Two years ago we got a 4 for being 'off grid' and thus they couldn't run their hair drier and such unnecessary luxuries (solar powered). It is an island!

@David7870 I am more a fan of 'hiding' small costs than charging separately for them. Simpler.

[Laura2592]

@Lynn1109  value has been a pain point for hosts for many  years. Like the dreaded "location" rating, value measures nothing actionable: operating costs and taxes are what they are, mortgages are what they are, the local market is what it is. All a low value rating says is that I got a very foolish or very thrifty guest: foolish because they agreed to all charges when they booked or thrifty because they somehow thought that they would be provided with freebies that were not on offer, and decided that they fair price they agreed to pay was not in line with their own personal idea of how much things should cost.

I run an online business where I deal a lot in gems and fine jewelry. "Value" is a big question there as well with some customers wanting very pricey items for less than wholesale. If they do decide to purchase I can bet the item will be returned after being subjected to ridiculous amounts of scrutiny. Its the same here-- guests re-investigating their stay after the money has been spent and deciding it really wasn't "worth it" as it didn't match whatever Four Seasons or Disney experience they were hoping to have.

Value has only remained as long as it has because ABB wants hosts to be the cheapest game in town to be constantly booked. They don't care what you are making, just what THEY are making. We started at $50 a night and ABB still wanted us to go to $38. Now we are at $150 and about to raise prices again, still booked far into the future. My lowest value ratings came when we were at $60 a night LOL. It is utterly meaningless. 

Maybe this is something the HAB will tackle 🙂 But likely not. Along with "location" the value score says more about the guest's ability to pick the right place to stay than it does about what the host is offering.