Much of what Hosts experience are because other Hosts don't review Guests!

[Jann3]

I'm on my 5th Guest's stay...and my 20th applicant (for a future stay).

I have a complaint against the AirBnB Hosts: Over 3/4 of these Guests have stayed at properties, have profiles 2-4 years old, are "verified" -- and yet have NO reviews!

My complaint stems from the need for Hosts to investigate people; Investigate whether they're good Guests, left Host's properties intact, or perhaps caused damage at other Host's properties. This can never be known/inferred when PRIOR Hosts don't review the Guests! In two recent cases (I still rented to them) Guests have actually wanted to show me they DID make reservations and stayed at previous locations, they actually SHOW me the approved request for their prior stays were in their profile name! (ie: they didn't use another profile to rent...) Some Guests have opened their app, showed the reservation with me (so i knew it was the same profile) then scrolled back to previous stays...so I knew those Hosts should've reviewed them!

There's no excuse for every single Guest NOT to be reviewed by Hosts! It's part of doing business on AirBnB people! You may think it takes time...and it does, but it helps us all! AT LEAST do the thumbs up/down, and star rating. You can put a couple words in the review if you wish (good Guest, etc) but at least star-rate them!

End of rant! Thank you!

[Lisa515]

@JoAnn34 You contacted Airbnb and they handled it, that's good.  That's not how I read your comment; well, that's not how you phrased it in your comment so my reaction was based on your explanation of the event.  I hope as a fellow Host that you leave honest reviews for all the guests who behave badly.  I hope you did so for the folks who went up on your roof and for those who brought in double the number of guests.  I mean, that's what we all rely on, right? 

[Ange2]

@JoAnn34  I understand not wanting trouble especially if they live close by, each to his own comfort level.   "Guest stayed for xxx days" is a good one, bland but an immediate red flag to hosts and also thumb them down so at the least they cannot IB any other hosts listing.

[Lisa515]

@Lynette47  keep leaving reviews, you MUST leave reviews -- especially if they don't deserve to rent any longer from Airbnb.  I would respond to the threats and tell them in no uncertain terms where to go shove it, but I understand that may not be you M.O.  What you have done is done, you cannot remove the review -- I would definitely respond to threats saying that.  Bullies are bullies bc no one stands up to them.  Contacting Airbnb was a good idea and at least the guest will be kicked off Airbnb due to her and her friends' threats. 

[Lisa658]

@Lynette47

Contact Trip Advisor right away.  There should be a link on the right side of your management page.  They usually post the review anyway while it is being investigated.  You should put a public reply that Trip Advisor has this review under investigation for fraudulent content and possible extortion.  

We had a guest from another booking site who posted 3 terrible false reviews over a 2 year period so have been through this.  They were able to trace that it was the same person through their IP address and all were removed.  

Our Trip Advisor contact told me the best way to stop this was to request reviews from guests who had a great experience and have them post immediately so that every time a bad review appeared, we rounded up 15 or 20 good reviews within a week.  This must have worked as we have not been bothered by this guest for more than a year now.

It is not always easy to contact Trip Advisor.  If you get a direct line contact number keep it!

Best of luck, Lisa

[Isabel203]

@Jann3, I didn't realize how common it is for people not to leave a review (either host or guest). That is really a problem, given how central the review process is to the whole trust-based process!  Do you think it would help if AirBnB set standards around this like they do response rates? For example, a person would need to review at least 85% of your guests to maintain SuperHost status.

[Nancy67]

There is a minimum standard review rate to maintain Super Host status. 

[Fred13]

I wonder if anyone has lost their Superhost status for going below 50% in their Review Rate.

[David126]

Well I had 12 to do, got them all done in 10 minutes.

Wish there was a way of automating the process, most get the same review.

[Ange2]

@David126   copy and paste

[Farah1]

@Jann3 agreed. Unfortunately, there are hosts who think "better not review at all than leaving a bad/negative review".

[Jane403]

If a guest has been a good guest, especially if they are new or have no reviews, I will always leave them a review. I want to facilitate their journey as well as be a member of AirBnB.

If a guest has caused an actual problem, I will leave that in a review. I do not want jerks staying here and I'd want to spare other good hosts of having to deal with jerks.

But if a guest was just a typical self-interested person who slightly inconveniences me in some way without appreciation, assumes something on their own behalf (for example "oh, internet is free, let's use up all the bandwidth -- but you said internet is free I should be able to do what I want!"), and makes things either memorable in a "people are funny" way or unmemorable because they're there and gone with just a messy bedroom to clean up - I'm not going to take the trouble to leave a review.

Why? *Because AirBnB does NOT let hosts see Guests Star Ratings, and I protest this lack of transparency/assymetry.* I know that seems irrelevant to leaving a written review, but I would want other hosts to note that if a guest has been on the system and no host has left a positive review, it should mean that this guest is just a temporary whirlwind, proceed at your own risk or convenience.

It is costly to a host's professionalism to nitpick about guests personal shortcomings, and guests can retaliate. The system is skewed in their favour. It's not worth it to a host to make any more effort than they could expect another host to offer them.    

[Lisa515]

@Jane403   "Why? *Because AirBnB does NOT let hosts see Guests Star Ratings, and I protest this lack of transparency/assymetry.* I know that seems irrelevant to leaving a written review, but I would want other hosts to note that if a guest has been on the system and no host has left a positive review, it should mean that this guest is just a temporary whirlwind, proceed at your own risk or convenience."

I don't understand what you mean here.  Hosts can see written reviews of a potential guest but you want to see the number of stars associated with the review? How is this of more value than verbiage?  Also, you're saying that if a guest has stayed with numerous hosts but the hosts don't leave a review, that it implies something about the guest? 

[JB6]

We are fairly new at hosting, but old hands at reviews.  I rarely go anywhere that doesn't have a recent review, and I always make sure to leave a review.  Whether it is TripAdvisor, the host's web site, wherever.  For AirBnB, we do all we can to ensure that we accurately review our guests and encourage our guests to review us.  We have a guest book in the cabin, a book of things to do, and everything has a reminder to review us online.  We leave a review for our guests right after they have left and we have cleaned the cabin.  And, if they don't follow up with a review online, we give them a nudge about 3 days after their stay.  Reviews are the best form of advertising. and all but one of our 24 guests have reviewed us.  We use messaging and the private section of the review to always ask our guests what they enjoyed, and what we could do better.  It helps us evolve as hosts, and helps every guest that comes after.  We may feel differently 5 or 10 years down the road, but for now, this is fun.  And we ensure our guests have all the information they need to enjoy our place and the entire Hill Country.  

[Todd-and-Reese0]

We have tried all the different ways to review and finally settled on the ways that are safest for us as hosts. If they were great, we will say so. If they were not great, they get a "This was an instant book reservation for two nights." and a thumbs down and low stars. We tried to putting what they did in the comments and they just lash out via messages and AirBnB won't protect us. One was really bad and he still has an active account. We only leave reviews if the guest leaves one first, too. The less time we spend on reviews, the better. The system is broken.

[Momi0]

@Jann3  Which is EXACTLY why I ask every single booking request (that has NO reviews).......

1.  Have you stayed at an Airbnb before?  If yes, how was the experience?  

(if they say no, then I go into more detail about how they can be a great guests as a first timer by reading my House Rules prior to Checkin and reading my House Manual as well which will only help them to have a smooth stay and make it enjoyable for me and my family.)  

IF they do reply Yes, I then ask them where did they stay since there was no review, and I contact the host.   I even let the potential guests know that I am reaching out to that host.  I have even called AiRBNB to get assistance in locating the host.  Takes 2 mins to get help.  Awesome staff 

I am just as frustrated as @Jann3 that not every host writes reviews which I have "ranted" about myself.  Because I did get a 3 Star Guests in 2016 due to a host not writing a review.  So, I have decided to be more proactive now.  I actually take the time to find out why there was no review written. One host actually admitted to me that they didn't want to leave a bad review, which upset me because clearly they didn't care if I got their previous guests who broke THEIR non smoking rule.  Seems he was under the impression that if he wrote the truth, they would write a negative review as well.  I had to explain to him that NO ONE has any clue what the other person wrote until both reviews are written.  So I am still quite baffled as to why hosts are worried about this issue.  This is a NON issue. 

I declined that guests who broke the other hosts non smoking rules.  (they were told why too)

Writing a review for each guests takes me 5 mins at the most, but not every guests writes one for me citing privacy issues.  But they are kind enough to write in my guests journal book.  For which I am grateful. 

End of Story. 

SIDE NOTE:  Today, I was contacted by a host in Sweden (who has been hosting 2 months) via her social media account who asked me if she should write an honest review about her 23 year old Aussie guests who left dirty dishes every day in the sink,, ate breakfast in his underwear while her 7 year old daughter lives in the same house, and helped himself to HER food!  I wrote back and said:  "For the love of God, please write a honest review so I can decline him should he send me a booking request.!!!"  

What a disrespectful guests!   But she was worried if she wrote the truth, he would not be inclined to leave her a 5 * Star review she believes she is deserving....again, I had to explain to her that HE will have no clue what she wrote until he writes one and/or 14 days has passed. Nice lady, but its sad that so many hosts still don't understand how reviews work on the ABB platform. 

I am helping her write an honest professional 3 Star review on Thomas tomorrow. And yes I will be writing that he sat in the common kitchen area in his underwear eating breakfast......YUCK YUCK..who raised this 23 year adult!?!?!