[June 11th] The Host Talk - Reviews

Liv
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

[June 11th] The Host Talk - Reviews

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Hey everyone,

 

Hopefully you’ll be happy to hear that the time for our second Host Talk has come! 🕺

 

@Vinícius0  and @Merrydith0, two Host Advisory Board members, will be joining the conversation with fellow Hosts who are interested in sharing their experience and coming up with insights and suggestions for how to navigate the review process.

  

The meet-up will take place on Friday June 11th, 11AM (BST).

 

Timezones:

Friday June 11th, 5:00 AM (Kansas City / Pensacola, Florida)

Friday June 11th, 6:00 AM (New York / Toronto)

Friday June 11th, 12:00 PM  (Spain)

Friday June 11th, 7:00 PM (Seoul)

Friday June 11th, 7:30 PM (Darwin)

Friday June 11th, 8:00 PM (Melbourne) 

 

EVENT NOW OVER

 

Not sure how to use Zoom? Check out this CC guide

 

Want to know more about The Host Talk? Have a read here.

 

Have you got any reviews related questions you would like to ask fellow Hosts? Let us know below so we can pick a few suggestions to get our conversation started.

 

I really hope you can join us, I look forward to seeing you there 🤓

 

Thanks, 

Liv

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40 Replies 40
Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

We're still chattin @Cathie19 !

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Please follow the Community Guidelines 

Oh @Stephanie .

Bug###! 
I walked away from the IPad in disgust that I missed the Zoom time.

Then to add insult to injury, I didn’t  see this message till 9.30pm, now two hours late… my time! Ugh… ugh!

John5097
Level 10
Charleston, SC

@Liv @Stephanie 

Enjoyed the meeting! So many great insights from everyone. Just to follow up on a very minor suggestion I made, and definitely not the most important.  

 

Regarding if there was some way to highlight amenities that aren't available. A few guest new to the platform have simply not realized an oven wasn't included in mine, despite plastering all over my listing and having clear pictures and in the captions. It would be nice to have an option to have an X through it so they would realize there isn't one, as opposed to it simply not being on the list. It would just be a little clearer. Maybe as a drop down option to include more info in the Kitchen option, the same way host can also add more details about how fast their internet connection is. 


Maybe not a great idea, certainly not the most important,  but just wanted to mention it. Maybe it could apply to other amenities as well that guest often overlook. 

 

Thanks again! I had a great time! 

@John5097 I obviously wasn't at the meeting but I don't think this is a minor suggestion at all! I would love to see this feature of what is not available highlighted more effectively on our listings.

You don't know what you don't know. Maybe you should start a new thread about this?

@Emilia42 Ok thanks I'll start a topic. @Stephanie also mentioned something similar I think for  a pop up or reminder right before check out about something important like if the listing had stairs or something else important, which reminded me as I've thought of having amenities listed or very clear that are not included,  before but I didn't have my ear-pods this time so would be good to follow up and get more ideas. 

This is a huge suggestion and would help my listings immensely!!!!  Great idea. 

Rab304
Level 2
Barcelona, Spain

@Stephanie I would love to see the review policy changed where guests should be fair and honest  otherwise airbnb should consider it as an insult to the host! 

Mark1723
Level 5
Irvine, CA

I recently received my first ever 3 star review (after 230+ reviews with an average 4.8+ out of a possible 5 star average.)

 

"After trying to challenge that review, the AirBnb support person I discussed it with wrote:

The thing about our published star ratings is that once they’re out there, no one can edit them. Not even us. This is one of those situations where our systems automate the whole process and we can’t touch it."

 

I responded:

"Well I'd have to say that this is a rather pitiful, inflexible, and short-sighted policy decision by AirBnB's management!"

 

I've been doing this for over 3 years, I am a _double_ SuperHost (on 2 properties) and I've had 230+ reviews with a 4.8+ average review rating!

I've been doing this long enough that I have become well aware that a very small minority of guests are impossible to please despite major efforts to go above and beyond in an effort to meet any reasonable expectations.

 

There should be a policy to enable a host to have perhaps one or two reviews a year deleted in order to help balance out those of unreasonable guests!!

 

I have no idea why I have to come up with better ideas for AirBnB! Management should have the common sense to implement suggestions like this without a SuperHost having to provide them!

My suggestions is an obviously better policy than the "Sorry, we can't do anything" cop out policy (which we both know is utter nonsense! - AirBnB could easily implement a change such as I have suggested!)

 

Please forward this suggestion to someone in management. I don't have much faith that they will be responsive, but who knows? Maybe someone in the "Ivory Tower" will realize a good suggestion when they see it!?"

 

I hope other Hosts will echo my suggestion and, hopefully, get AirBnB management off the dime!

Today itself i was in contact with Airbnb customer service about the same topic. Sadly you need 10 good reviews to replace one bad review. what annoyed me most receiving a message that my listing at risk! all our listing are at risk if they allow guests to leave an unfair rating especially when you do not accept a refund request from a guest!

Ingrid345
Level 8
Victorville, CA

This is a very hot topic for me.  

 

I BEG AIRBNB to hear us.  

the ‘reviews’ need to stop being the definitive description of our listings.  

there is no proof of many of these opinions and claims.  

Every one of these issues for me is something that was CLEARLY DESCRIBED IN MY LISTING.  

 

Folks are allowed to leave poor reviews on things that IS PART TIME OF THE USUAL AND CUSTOMARY LISTING.  

 

This needs to stop.  This is not fair.  It adds stress to all us wonderful hosts that have opened up our properties to become partners with Airbnb.  

AIRBNB PLEASE PLEASE HELP US.  

Harriet4
Level 6
Enoch, UT

So many of us have had the same or similar situations, for years, but we are all pleading to deaf ears. Most of us share our homes and if you break it down to what we actually make it is peanuts, (except for the small percent who live in areas that can demand high dollars). Still, it helps many of us pay our bills so Airbnb is fully aware that we financially rely of them for income. They are in a win, win situation.

 

Many of us live in areas where it is also seasonal so we rely on those short bursts to make a meager income and hope all our guests will be gracious.

 

I have decided to decline guests who have no reviews or any bad reviews to avoid additional problems.  It means I may rent less but far less headaches. Additionally, I took on another venue and am now booked through the end of December 2021 with no open days.  Half are Airbnb.