How do you "educate" a guest who is new to Airbnb about how the ratings work?

[Erin443]

I'm so frustrated! We had an opera singer stay with us - who woke us up at 5am practicing her arias. But since she left the guest suite in tidy conditions, I gave her a good review. She, in turn, ranked us five stars for everything but four stars overall. How does that even work? What's worse, she managed to make us sound predatory and unsafe. She complained that there weren't any locks on the bathroom or bedroom (why would there be? She's the only one in the guest suite!) and wrote that "there's a door that communicates to the upstairs. The host family was nice so I didn't feel unsafe, but it is very disconcerting."

So... she's managed to bring our integrity and the security of our house into question. The door she's whining about is actually bolted shut and chained with a lock - primarily for OUR safety from potentially troublesome guests. We don't even open it to clean. 

It's so infuriating to carefully build up good ratings, just to have some entitled first-time idiot knock them down. We have one first-time couple who gave us a three on accuracy of description because they felt "there should be a full-length mirror in the bedroom."

AAAAGH! Does anyone have suggestions on how you have politely and effectively educated first-timers on how important these numbers are? I don't ever want to host another first-timer, and I know Airbnb won't let that happen, which sucks. I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks!

[Amanda1775]

@Erin443 

Yeah, that's the worst to get 5 stars in each area and then a 4 overall. Been there!

For your listing, I realize you have 300 great reviews, but you could also consider her suggestions which would have been nice to have received in the private feedback area along 5 stars overall.

Putting some kind of lock on the guest's side of the door would go a long way to making a guest feel they have some control. Perception matters especially to a woman traveling alone.

We once were in a basement rental and the host family's young daughter was standing in our kitchen when we returned home one day. She had entered through the "locked" family door and quickly ran out that way. The mom apologized by saying the daughter wasn't used to not having access to the basement. I wasn't happy with that excuse. I wanted a lock on my side of the door which the family consequently installed. Nothing fancy, but it prevented a future situation. 

[Erin443]

@Amanda1775  Thanks for your kindness and I can definitely see how finding the girl in your kitchen felt pretty violating, I would have felt the same! I've always tried to be very sensitive to women traveling alone- even though my husband is possibly the nicest man in the world, I'm the only one to take a single female traveler to the guest suite and give her the key, so she's not standing there with a man she's never met. I check on them during the stay to make sure they're comfortable and if they need anything. That's why getting complaints afterward when everything was praised by the guest is frustrating. I suspect you're right about the perception of safety, however. Thank you, I'll look into another lock.