Frustrating warning message despite high rating?

[Lisa104]

In my hosting dashboard I get a warning alert that my listing needs attention "Your performance has fallen below the average for hosts" – I'm confused because I have only ever had good feedback. How can I tell the Airbnb team that their automated warning is overly dire?

The system says that I need to hit the target 4.7* or I risk having my listing removed. I have only ever had 4- and 5-star reviews, with a current average rating of 4.5*. The public listing itself shows a full 5 stars for every category. I am aiming for 5 stars each time, of course. But for some people 4 stars is their rating of a great stay – and they only put 5 stars if they have a super-duper out-of-this-world experience. I also don't want to influence guests as the whole integrity of the ratings system is based on people being able to give honest feedback, yet it is irritating to see the warning each time I log in.

Surely this algorithm could be tweaked to be less insistent, or only show if ratings drop below 4 stars?

[Robin4]

@Lisa104 

Hi Lisa, these prompts are triggered automatically in response to certain statistics. Don't take it too personally, there is not some Airbnb CS agent about to hit the 'abort'  button on your listing. 

You have not had much hosting recently with only a couple of reviews since 2017 and this may be because a number of guests are just not reviewing you, so it may be worth a call to Airbnb in Auckland on +64 4 4880 888, explain your situation so they can see you are really committed.

Lisa, it somethimes doesn't hurt to gently point out to guests that Airbnb differs from the generally accepted rating practice in that with Airbnb 5 stars is the default star rating and anything less than 5 stars reflects on a hosts credibility and can have an influence on future bookings. Many of them are totally unaware that a 4 or a 3 star can have adverse effects on a host. If I get the impression they may not fully understand how the system works, I ask them how they found their stay and if they wish to review me as I will them, to rate me on the package that they received....was it worth the money they paid.

Most times that helps get the desired result. All the best Lisa.

Cheers.....Rob

[Dan-Thanh-And-Stephen0]

Wow.  I am shocked to know this about Airbnb norms.  As someone who rents from airbnb, I often rely on the rating system.  The system itself, implies that there is a possibility of nuance.  5 stars being excellent, 4 good, 3 average, etc (as IT IS WRITTEN). Your response to Lisa's question means that I cannot trust the rating system and that it is merely a facade aimed to trick people into renting from airbnb. When I write my review, I try to be positive but also feel some obligation to other possible guests.

I had wanted to give my last host a "good" rating not because I am picky, but because he falsely advertised wifi (which I needed to use for work) and there was  a mouse in the house.  He was, however, very sweet and the house was nice in its own way. I will now leave a "5" rating but hope Airbnb reconsiders this unwritten policy for both hosts and guests.

[Lisa104]

Thanks for the reply Rob. Yes, I'm possibly also affected because I only host for 6 months of the year, and the other 6 months my family live full time in the house. So it's a bit of a struggle to get up and running again, and it makes the reviews look old when the house simply wasn't available for bookings for a large chunk of that time. The algorithms all only seem to take into account the last 365 days for freshness, but when you're only using half that time it's a shame to not benefit from rave reviews from earlier! I'll try giving them a call to see if it makes a difference.

I'll consider adding a note about the review system in my welcome booklet... I'll want to word it carefully though. Despite the weighting it should be unpressured.

[Lisa104]

I spoke with someone from Airbnb support and what I could gather was:

- One of the reasons the warning is triggered is if you don’t have enough reviews in a certain period. I think this is calendar quarters or calendar years. So, because I hadn’t hosted for 6 months (house was full with family members, which is it’s primary use after all!), I didn’t have enough recent high reviews.

- The golden number is 5 x 5-star recent reviews. This number probably changes but that seems to be the current situation.

- Nothing else seemed to matter in my case (he confirmed my listing looked good for everything else) but of course it pays to double-check your listing info, photos etc are accurate, well-presented and up-to-date. His only further suggestion was for me to drop the price further to get more bookings (and therefore reviews) so that the warning disappears.

- Finally, not approving a request counts against you. So don’t do that too often.

Some of this info seemed to overlap with how to become a superhost... We were speaking the same language but not sure we were on the same wavelength! I also get the feeling that the support team can’t give definitive answers because the algorithm is constantly being updated.

So, hopefully they have an air to the ground that the warning is too strong and hosts are getting put off. In the meantime, the info above should help with the immediate situation.

[ZoyE0]

Hi Lisa

I join you in your frustration because I received the same message that I need to improve even though I have good reviews.

Am frustrated also because even though you gave my guests all the necessary information to get to my place which is in Mexico in a Gate Community, most of them do not follow instruction or direction given to them at the time of reservation, still calling me for info. about the code of the lockbox, the iron, where they can park a second car (even though they been advised only they are allowed one parking space) etc. Same calls are at the middle of the itght 

Because I do not reply to them in the required one hr. window of Airbnb  some of my guests and Airbnb consider am not "reacheble to serve my guest"  

Do you think is fair that Airbnb wants  hosts should be avaible 24 hrs for serving the guests???

I start hosting about 6 months, but I can not be an slave for a 24 hrs. services on my guest trip.

Possible am giving up hosting if I continuing having problems.

ZoyE 

[Michelle161]

Yes, I've recently received one of these emails too and am perplexed as to why. The only think I can think of is that a few enquiries haven't resulted in a booking but I have had numerous requests for long term stay which I am not registered for, some from companies looking for accommodation for workers. Could this be why I got the email?  A lot of others also ask about a discount which I'm happy to do but not when they ask for 50%!  Any advice would be very much appreciated. TIA.

[Rebecca181]

@Lisa104 @Michelle161 @ZoyE0 @Robin4 Seems to me that if Airbnb were to ever follow through on suspending / removing all of the listings that it's bizarre algorithm targets via these sinister warnings, I'd say there will be virtually no hosts left for ABB to make revenue from, including 'Plus' Hosts and possibly 'Beyond' Hosts and whatever infinitely infinite sort of hosting they will come up with next. Could it be they are tired of making lots of money from this hosting business and would rather focus on Concerts, Experiences, and Airlines? Who knows. But until all of those other revenue streams take off, I'd say they are going to need us hosts for awhile longer; therefore, one can only hope that ABB stops the madness of it's sociopathic algorithm and starts rating hosts in a fair and reasonable manner, a system that is based on a weighted average, versus a bell curve.  

[Olga279]

Rebecca, I could not agree more with what you wrote. I am relatively new to the community (have been hosting since October 2017) and so far have had 4.9% 5* reviews. But just because in the very beginning, when I had no idea how this instant booking actually works, I cancelled one (1) guest simply because I felt uncomfortable having him as my guest - he had a totally blank profile, without a photo, no data of who he was, no history of previous reviews etc. And just because of this one cancellation I still keep receiving the same bizare warning sent by this sociopathic algorithm... I hoped it would be finally removed this month with the beginning of the new assessment period in April, but NO - it is still there! Gives me creeps every time I open my listing...

[Rebecca181]

@Olga279 @Lisa104 Here's a good one for you: I have a new listing and I was feeling pretty good because it is getting a lot of views and has gotten two bookings for May and I just listed it last week. Well, my balloon of pride got burst big time with a loud 'BANG'. I got one of those warnings that my NEW listing is failing to meet basic requirements and that I need to 'improve' by having REVIEWS. It shows in red I have NO reviews. Well, how could I have reviews when the guests don't arrive until next month? So I called ABB tonight and they admitted it is their algorithm gone beserk again and they are going to try and remove that warning from my dashboard, but don't know when. I find it very disconcerting and don't like seeing it, given I work hard for my Super Host status, as do we all. If it is not fixed by next week I am going to deactivate my new listing (which is a smaller, studio version of my current listing that is good for one night stays in the off-season) because it's just not worth it, getting these persecutory warnings from a computer a la 'Hal' from '2001 Space Odyssey'. I really hope ABB looks into this, it is getting beyond ridiculous and we really shouldn't have to receive these warnings when we are doing a great job.

[Lilian20]

personally, i find this kind of message pushy and spammy. 

[Lynette57]

I have also received the same notice that I have fallen below standards even though I have very nice and good reviews. Ive had nothing overall below a 4.5 . Ive spoken to guests afterards who are upset that they cannot change their star rating after I tell them how it works. They thought 5 star was only for the big fancy hotels. But if I get booted off then so be it. Im over stressing about star ratings.

[Андрей6]

Absolutely the same situation in Russia. Idiot robot turns off the object (which is already 4 years old) when rating 4.5. "Don't take it too personally" .... ha ha ha

[Jay77]

Does anyone have any sugestions how to encourage guests to even leave reviews. It's frustrating to leave a review for a guest and not have them leave us one. I even stooped to telling a guest point blank to leave us 5 star reviews and we would do the same for him. He said he would. So what did we get? 3s and 4s. We had all 5s up 'til then. That really messed up our numbers. 

[Lisa104]

Here are my ideas:

- Are guests giving you private feedback or suggestions? This is especially for cleanliness. I had one guest tell me there was dust under the bed - so I knew what to fix for the next guests! Now I am careful to check under the beds and do a check everywhere for dirt/dust... It could be details like this that prevent guests from wanting to place a review.

- Do you meet your guests in person? I try to, and to have a chat, as the cultural exchange is always interesting. I also think it contributes to a better review/more likely to receive a review because they realise the feedback is to a person and not a business.

- Do you have homely touches at your place? My guests see personal items (books, toys, a small amount of photos) so they realise that they are staying in someone’s home, and that it’s a privilege to be there. Enough to make it more of a personal encounter, and to make more of an impression on them.

- Despite recommendations to ask for 5-star reviews, that goes against the grain for me. I would make it a suggestion rather than forcing their hand eg “We’d love to get a 5 star review because it makes a massive difference for us. Otherwise, please tell us how we can improve...” Or in some way that feels natural to you.

- Lastly, the best method seems to be to write a review for them within a few days of their stay. Airbnb does the hard work of chasing them up to do their bit too, and they will be curious to see what you wrote!