Get guests you can trust— every time

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

I hope you are having a good day.

I wanted to let you know that we have updated the booking process to make sure you don’t have to host repeat guests if you don’t want to. Now, anytime you give a guest 3 stars or less, that guest will not be able to instantly book any of your spaces, even if you have Instant Book turned on.

Find out more in our Help Center.

What do you think about these changes? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Helga0]

@Lizzie, After reading all those opinions on this feature, it seems to me, that airbnb tries to impose a complicated procedure to answer a very simple question "Do you want to host this guest again?" The easiest way would be to give us a simple checkbox in the review to say Yes, No or Yes but not on IB. 

IB as a way to say :"I won't discriminate on prejudice, anyone can book" is a nice idea. A quick procedure and a good marketing ststement. But after a stsy it's a judgement based on experience, not a prejudice. It's rather absurd to create a work around, when there is no need for it. Why on earth will we be obliged to keep in mind to rate a guest 3 stars or lower, if we do not want him to IB agai n? It couldbe grossly unfair yo the guest. Maybe the guest has strong convictions and I don't want to hear about them again, especially if I'm in a stressy period. So no IB, but 5 stars for the rest. Should I give 3 then? The next host may love the same guest. 

Other case: I got a few messy old peoole, where the 3 stars are merited. I don't recommend them, but I may take most of them again, for a simple reason: we all get old (hopefully) and there is quite a risk to get muddle headed too. It's a condition you can't influence, and as long as there is no danger nor real damage, I can live with a bit of chaos. It's part of the job, all pay and some create a bit more work. The pricd reflects an average anyway. 

I block people for actions in ill intent, like not indicating a damage or for mean talk, that they won't stop or for trying to convert me to some esoteric belief and nit stoppkng that. Plus giving low ratings without warning nir reason. 

Another host may have very different criteria, as justified as mine. Breach of house rules or chaos are certainly winners in that contest. 

I believe, airbnb should respect us as adults, who are qualified to make a decision in every single case without any automatic procedure taking our control away, to decide in the time frame of the review plus public answer, if we want to see a gueet again, by surprise or after a request. 

Give as a box to click Can IB / Can Request / Cannot Book again, which we can select during review and afterwsrds, in the period of the public answer. 

[Helga0]

Sorry for the typo, still no editing on the phone. 

[Laura-Louise0]

Hi Lizzie, 

We don't get many repeat bookings and certainly none for any we've given anything other than 5 stars for.  It would be more use to us as hosts to be able to automatically accept bookings from guests providing they've recieved more than 3 stars in the review process, overall or for individual categories (either would be useful).  That's not to say we wouldn't accept guests who didn't meet that criteria but that we might want to review the comments that have been made about them before we accept the booking.    

We feel that guests are already able to do this when making their booking but as hosts we don't have that option and this would help and incentivise guests to think about how they leave a place if it might affect their future bookings.  Another useful option would be to contact hosts who have left negative reviews for guests (if more than three) as it gives us an option to find out exactly what happened or the issues to look out for.  

thanks for taking the time and we appreciate the updates 

Laura and Richard

[Carol121]

That is ok if the host chooses to give a negative (rather than NO) feedback star stuff.

It sure would be NICE TO BE ABLE TO GIVE HINTS to the Site, or to Ask Questions of a HUMAN.

[Linda-and-Peter0]

Very pleased!

[Kary0]

I think this is a great idea.  Simplifies and protects the host.  Anytime we can keep disrespectful guest from our home we are happy. I have to say that 99 percent of our guest have been respectful of our home.  It only takes one to spoil the pot.  Thanks for your assistance in streamlining this process

Kary

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

I want to thank you all for your comments and feedback here, it is great we can have more of a discussion around this and focus in on the thoughts we have around this.

A few of you (@Lawrene0, @Ange2, @Alice-and-Jeff0, @Valeria-and-Josip0, @Lisa644, @Sarah706, @Airbnb-S-Top-Superhost0) asked for a little more information around how it works and what review rating it is based on, so I wanted to come back to you on this:

• To provide more information on the rating, if a 3 stars rating or lower (in a single category, and/or the overall rating), or a thumbs down is given, this means the guest can no longer instantly book any of the host's listings. Just one 3 star or lower score is needed.

• This function is automatically applied to all listing to protect you as hosts.

Currently, there isn't a notification highlighting that they won't be able to book that listing again, if 3 stars or less is selected. However, I think it is important to know, that your guest will still be able to request to book again your listing, but not through Instant Book, so in a way if you feel you wish to override this function at this stage then you can do so. 

I hope this helps to explain how it works a little further. Please do continue to discuss this, we love to hear your feedback and I think it is great we can discussion this together. 

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Zephyr0]

Does this also work in reverse? if a guest gives a host a 3, then they will not be able to book with that host again?

[Roger111]

That should be a given.  If we get a 3 from a guest after we worked so hard to make sure their stay was a great experience, I wouldn't want them booking again.   I would really like to select the number of stars a guest gives us to cancel them from automatic booking with me.  Our minimum would be a 4, and only that because Guests make mistakes and hit a wrong number and there is no way for them to change it.  This review system would be much better if:

1) No review can be given by a Guest less than a five unless a written reason for the lower review is provided to the Host; 

2) Host or Guest may challenge a lower rate to correct mistakes that may have been inadvertently made;

3) A failure to provide a reason for the Host's lower rating in a challenge would automatically remove the offending review from being published and statistics

4) Allow a host to select which number of stars that is required in guest reviews to accept automatic booking from guests.

I would really like to see this in place to protect us, and the Guests.

[Airbnb-S-Top-Superhost0]

Wow, that's great Lizzie!  Thank you!  I like that we can be discreet about not wanting to allow them to instant book.  I keep notes on all of my guests, so it is helpful to also give them the opportunity to request to book when a thumbs down or at least 1 3 star review is given.  Sorry to keep asking questions, but can guests see if you give them a thumbs down or a 3 star review on one of the categories, or do they (like hosts) only see the average of the categories?  I also second the question another commenter sent, which was if the guest gives the host a 3 star in any category, would that also keep them from instant booking with that particular host again?  Thanks for the follow up, much appreciated! 🙂

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

Okay @Lizzie - you know me - I have another question based on this updated information.  Since the guest will be able to request another reservation through the regular booking process (why they would do this I do not know), if we do not want to host them again, what is our reason for declining them?  "Not comfortable with this guest" or "Listing not suitable for guest's needs" or one of the other options?  Hopefully this doesn't happen too often.  From a data perspective, which is Airbnb looking for when mining this? 

I know, I know, I'm a weirdo about data integrity and think about stuff most people doen't even care about.... full-fledged nerd!

In over 260 reviewed guests, this limiter would only apply to about 5 of my former guests but I am glad to see it only has to be a 3 in one category and not an overall average.  It's great to have this tool in our toolbelts. 

Thank you for following up on this!  

[Ange2]

@Lizzie    "3 stars rating or lower (in a single category, and/or the overall rating), or a thumbs down is given"

What is the "overall rating" ?

[Todd-and-Reese0]

I like that we finally have a way to "block" guests we do not want back. HOWEVER, this is only for those that we know BEFORE we review them and we choose to mark them 3 stars and/or do not recommend. BUT sometimes the guest will leave a poor review to the shock of the host. It should also be that if a guest leaves less than 5 stars to the host, they cannot instant book with them again. I don't obsess over my star ratings and so I don't keep track of who leaves what and thus a guest that left me 4 stars or less on a subject could theoretically instant book with me again and I don't want them!

[Zephyr0]

I agree. Plus I want to seethe guests star ratings.

[Lizzie]

Thanks @Zephyr0, @Alice-and-Jeff0, @Roger111 and @Airbnb-S-Top-Superhost0 for your replies including your additional questions, I am really pleased to hear your found this useful. 

Speak to you soon.

Lizzie