How to handle a guests 'bland/neutral' review?

[Diane1169]

Hi there AirBnb community. 

I was wondering how people handle bland reviews. For example, I always get great comments about the extra touches I supply, how lovely the home, but the most recent comment I received has really thrown me. 

'Nice four-bedroom house with pool'

Maybe you just can't please everyone. I leave wine, bacon and eggs, bread etc even though I don't advertise that. I wrote to the guest privately and asked if there was anything wrong or something that could be improved, but haven't had a reply back. 

Would you do anything else, or just let it go?

Thanks

Di

[Sarah977]

@Diane1169  What's wrong with the review? Why would you interpret it to mean they didn't enjoy their stay? Seems quite strange to me you would ask a guest what was wrong if they left a positive review like that, and I would find it very odd if I got a message from a host like that when I hadn't made any complaints.

And leaving the response you did is not appropriate. A response is not where you directly ask the reviewer something. Responses appear on your review pages, not the guest's, and are used to correct misleading statements, apologize for a legitimate issue a guest mentioned in the review, and to indicate that any issues have been corrected. This is all for the benefit of future guests who are looking at your review pages.

Not everyone is into waxing effusively about where they stayed. You should be grateful they took the time to leave a positive review.

What you got was what I refer to as an "objective" review. Many guests leave objective reviews as opposed to subjective ones detailing everything they loved about their stay. They might say "Good water pressure, comfortable bed, convenient location to public transport." They are just giving straightforward information.

An objective positive review is fine, even if you prefer to get lots of praise. 

[Mark116]

@Diane1169  Absolutely just let it go.  A bland 5 star review is nothing to be upset about.  There is nothing in that sentence that even hints at unhappiness. "Nice" is nice.  

I have no idea what possessed you to make the public comment you did asking the guest what was wrong in the public reply to the review, unless you thought that was a private note.  I would delete that comment if possible.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Diane1169 I would worry about getting a review like this but only because we don't have a pool. When I read your post I immediately thought this was the problem as I couldn't see anything else that could be worrying you. Not wishing to be overly sexist perhaps it was a man who left the review.