Great Comments, 5 stars in the categories but 4 stars for overall...?

[Claire107]

Hi all!  I am pretty new to hosting but have had a few bookings now.

I have been getting really nice comments and 5 star ratings from my guests on the categories of cleanliness, accuracy, location, value, communication and arrival, however these same guest that are giving me 5 stars for all of these are leaving an overall rating of 4 stars - I'm at a real loss...any ideas out there or other hosts who have successfully remedied a similar situation.

All suggestions most appreciated

[Veronica440]

I too had this happen three times out of 103 reviews, with 5 * rating on everything, rave review on airbnb and in my guest book, but a 4 * for overall rating..

Which dropped it to 94% overall, which doesn't quite add up.. 103 reviews, 100 x 5 * and 3 times 4 * ??

I also wonder what being a super host brings in benefits as I  have been hosting for 15 months now, I have reached superhost at every check point but never recieved the rewards promised, which I think from memory is $100 discount voucher (or similar) to use when booking a stay for myself at another airbnb..

Can anyone explain this to me please 😁 thank you x

[Robin4]

@Veronica440 

I agree, the review star rating can be very frustrating, but we just have to deal with it. And, in a way it is fair, as I will show you!

In 288 Airbnb reviews I have had 251 x 5 star overalls with 5 stars in every category! Out of a total of 1,757 stars I received 1,757.

I have also received 13 x 4 star overall reviews which were for a 5 in every category but rated a 4 overall, just as the 2 you have mentioned. So out of a possible total of 91 stars for those 13 reviews I have received 87. 

To this point out of 264 reviews with 1,848 stars up for grabs, I have secured 1,842.

Of those remaining 24 reviews,  6 of them gave me a 4 star overall and in the categories gave me 25 stars out of 36. So in 6 reviews I lost a total of 11 potential stars, and most of those were in 2 of those reviews. Every now and then we will get one that will look like this!

In one review I lost 7 potential stars (1x overall and 6 x category). Incidentally, to this point I have been in luck, that is the worst Airbnb review I have received!

But Veronica it does work the other way also, sometimes you will get a 5 star overall and yet get 4 in one or more category like this.  

The odd thing about this one was, she ticked the sparkling clean icon, but dinged me for cleanliness. 

But the remaining 18 of my reviews have fallen into this category where I got less than a perfect 6 bit I managed to still get that 5 star overall.

So Airbnb will say to you that it all evens out and it is fair and my statistics would probably back that up!

*

As to your Superhost reward query, you will receive a reward coupon on each policy anniversary of you attaining Super status. So, if you first attained Superhost at the end of September 2018 you would receive your first coupon at the start of October 2019 and you will then receive another coupon each October after that as long as you retain that Superhost status.

All the best for the new year Veronica!

Cheers......Rob

[Deborah82]

Well terrific news. Airbnb have made a change that could resolve the 4/5 star issue.

You can read about it here... 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-Updates/In-Case-You-Missed-It-Review-update-Host-Guarante...

@Robin4 @Claire107 @Veronica440 @Ela22 @Liliana167 

[Robin4]

@Deborah82  @Admin

Well Deborah, it's not working so 'all that feedback'  has had a minimal effect if any!

Here is just my latest received 2 days ago.

Latest perfect 4!

I have another 14 just like this one, nothing I did wrong, nothing I can fix, just something I get penalised for.

If Airbnb were even remotely serious about fixing this issue they would not be offering that decision to the guest (are you sure this is the rating you want to give) .....a 5 in every category should automatically trigger a 5 overall or, have the overall ranking linked to the category stars.

Sorry Deborah, don't bring out the champagne glasses yet......the system is still broke!

Cheers......Rob

[Deborah82]

‘You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.’ 

I believe this adage sums it up perfectly.