New Extensive Review Process

[Lisa367]

I am a superhost on Airbnb and recently rented an apartment as a guest.  Has anyone else noticed the new very extensive review process that Airbnb has implimented?  As a host, it's really frustrating because this is where people get the most passive aggressive.  As a host, you're already scrutinized over everything, but to really allow the guests to dig deep into each individual aspect of their stay (ie:  "smells" and "sounds", REALLY??) is really problematic.  For example, our last guest left a private review that there was a "nauseating smell of burnt meat" on the "cleanliness/smells" star.  First of all, we didn't cook at all while this guest was in our house, she must have smelled one of the neighbors cooking, and second of all, we're in Sicily, so there are definitely going to be food smells coming in from all angles at certain times a day.  This feedback really bothered me because it was unnecessary and obviously had nothing to do with us since it wasn't even coming from our house.  I would've preferred these guests just keep these types of thoughts to themselves and enter it in the private feedback to me, rather than giving them the option of selecting specific things to complain about.  As a host who has new guests almost every 2 days, the last thing I need to hear is random complaining from guests about very little things.  Obviously as a superhost, I do my best to make sure their stay is 100% comfortable.  My feelings are also important and I don't need to hear every two days something really small and meaningless that I can't control (like food smells in Italy).  Reading passive aggressive feedback actually makes me really upset and I'm getting to the point where I really just don't want to bother hosting anymore.  I'd prefer going back to the basic rating system.  It's faster for the guest to leave reviews and much less harsh on the host.

[Dunny0]

@Ma

@Gin1a

Hi Ma, Gina,

Same experiences for us in Japan. 2013 guests were great, brought souvenirs, we loved them.

Now the incomers have the attitudes of hotel seekers. Picked some up at a station, spoke to me as if I were a taxi driver.

Working away at an alternative now.

Got to remove the focus on money. Need to think and promote people helping people, making new friends, being real,

actually being introduced to local life, blending in. Spare cash ought to be secondary.

I realized last night what has happened. AirBnB has silently dealt with VRBO/HomeAway, merged. It is a different creature now,

and in bits and pieces, is cutting ties with the original hosts letting out a bedroom, welcoming visitors inside their own homes.

AirBnB is for the real estate managers now. That's just business. Many city governments penalize the original type of host, and the 

types of uncaring guests who should be in motels/hotels/campgrounds are causing problems.

Have possible practical solutions. Need honest feedback, participation.

Dunny

@Dunny0

[Gina32]

@Dunny0 yes you might be onto something there. The orignial concept is now becoming a problem around the world, with normal households becoming accommodation places against the planning permissions of the local authorities.

Airbnb are finding this difficult to deal with. There have been notable hot spots for conflict around Australia, and no doubt, other places in the world. ABB might be finding this all a bit hard to deal with now considering their corporate structure. They do appear to be running around putting out the fires in many places, or in other words trying to influence governments around the world about regulations. This must surely take considerable time and money - Is this their core business, to perform such tasks? The waters are definitely muddied.

[Dunny0]

@Gina54

Hi Gina,

Touched base with our programmer. The present state of the ABB site was only a 30,000USD design. Real cheap.

That's 40,000 AUD. I assume they've a bill of 5-10,000USD a month in hosting, CDN costs. They charge 11-14% of all

guest nightly fees. 3,000,000 hosts. Conclusion: they have amassed a lot of cash. Of course, it's theirs now, they can do as they please. Respects to them. And, like a proper corporate entity, behaviour is single-mindedly focussed: psychopathic.

Investors dictate that they follow the most money wherever it goes. Nothing strange about that. 

For the original hosts, though, that ain't us. We've been cut.

More soon. Lovely day today.

Dunny

[Huma0]

Yesterday I received a review from a guest, who told me when he left that he had had a great stay and would leave me a really nice review. The review itself was okay, if a bit impersonal. It's a shame he didn't include comments from his private feedback like "The apartment was great, and it was very spacious, and your kind service was just wonderful."

Then again the private feedback was both positive and negative. What surprised me was this bit:

Cleanliness feedback:
Your guest suggested that your space could be cleaner in the following areas: floors and carpet, odours.

I'm a bit confused about this. I don't think this paticular guest would have chosen the words 'floors and carpet' or 'odours'. These must have been prompts from the new review process.

For a start, we don't have carpets in the house, only wooden parquet or original floorboards, so surely he would have just said floors (by the way, all the floors were hoovered and mopped before he arrived, inluding under the bed/other furniture, skirting etc, but Victorian floorboards are never gong to look pristine). What are the odours? It's not specified.

I know private feedback is all part of the process and that as hosts we can often learn and improve from it. I do wish however that Airbnb would stop encouraging guests to criticise where they might not have done otherwise. It's putting negative thoughts into their heads.

[Andrea9]

@Huma0, hi,

You know what I did when a couple guests left me really nice comments in 'personal' that were okay to be seen in public? I quoted them as

<Name>'s comments in personal review feedback: "..The apartment was great, and it was very spacious, and your kind service was just wonderful...." 

If it really bugs you that they left you the inaccurate petty comments, you can always message them on the booking page thanking them for the tips, but that you actually don't have carpets, and hoovered.... and that you always clean thoroughly for guests, even at the extremely nice-priced rate of your room.

Maybe better to let it go, but I know that it takes me quite a while to be able to do that, and the one or two times it happened I needed to send them a professionally worded reply but with a slight tinge of sarcasm to get the message across. Maybe next time they'll think twice.

And reg. Airbnb's extra prompting, it just makes me feel like an idiot responding to all the silly Airbnb questionnaires, posting in Host Voice with the intent to help, and when I look at the changes -

- bad prompting in guest reviews

- not disclosing star ratings on individual categories anymore

- not showing our personal feedback anymore on the reviews we give

- ... there's probably something else I haven't discovered yet..

It feels like a total waste of time reacting to such things and then getting a twisted version of changes that don't even begin to address the real problems which are still there. On the contrary our straight jackets are being laced tighter and tighter it seems while guests still get the freedom to roam unfettered.

So, rant over...

[Huma0]

Also @Andrea9, when you say:

- not showing our personal feedback anymore on the reviews we give

Do you mean the guests don't see the personal feedback we give them?

[Andrea9]

@Huma0 -

No, I'm sure the guest would see it like I can see their's.

I don't do it that often, but I know with my last guest I left a nice personal remark and I can't see it when looking at the review I left (looking under 'Reviews', 'left by you' - however I've had a booking drought the last few months, so it's possible I'm just out of the loop!)

[Huma0]

@Andrea9 oh I see. I've also rarely left private feedback, but can't see it either. I guess we just see the review how it appears on the guest's profile...

Bookings are slow this end too. For some reason, one of my rooms is getting all the requests, and the other one, which was initially booked back to back has gone very quiet. I have no idea why. The one that is quiet has far more reviews!

[Robin4]

@Andrea9 What you are saying about not seeing guests individual star ratings any more is not really an issue, you just have to look a bit more! On your stats of course you get to see the guests overall plus any personal feedback they may have given, but then in the categories you get to see where the individual star rating came from......

So, I can see from these that my last 6 reviews were 5 star in every category, and all my 41 reviews are 5 star in 5 of the 7 categories, which indicates that the woman who wanted four extra pillows and left her clothes behind on the bed when she checked out, was the one who gave me a four star on 'Accuracy' and on 'Cleanliness' and this coupled with the man 2 reviews before who says he never gives an 'overall' 5 star full stop is what has in the past month reduced me to an overall 4.9.

As you can tell by ....as @Huma0 would say, by my slightly 'miffed' attitude, I am (somewhat stupidly) disappointed, but when you try so hard to make things as perfect as you can, it is sort of a slap in the face. It shouldn't be, it just means that you were about as good as you can be and the fact that you got that 4 star was nothing that you did 'wrong'! But this is the way Airbnb drives this, and as you say this is the straight jackett that Airbnb are cloaking hosts in.

Cheers.....Rob 

[Andrea9]

Gosh, @Robin4, I had tomatoes over my eyes (according to a German saying)!

I'd clicked all over that page, and even though I'd clicked those extension arrows, but nothing gave.

Like a totally green newbie...

Thank you so much! enlightenment has thus reached me, yay!

I actually hate the darn things, masochism it is! but that part of me that wants to know stuff needs this. 

Cheers and say hi to the imaginary crocodiles, Andrea

[Robin4]

@Andrea9

Yeah dopey me too. I should have included that tracking who gave you what overall rating is easier than my last post described. I posted that last post to tell you in what categories you got marked down and to track who might have been responsible.

But if you just want to see who gave you how many overall stars, here is how you find out.....

Note the 'All Ratings tab! Showing this all your reviews will be displayed, but by clicking that tab the results will be broken down into who gave you what star rating and only reviews applicable to that star rating will be displayed.....

So Andrea, using a combination of the two you can see exactly who gave you what, and in which category they gave it in.

As a statistics girl you can really have some fun now!!!

The imaginary crocodiles gave a contented burp, so I must have fed them on time, and judging by my arrival star ratings, without inconveniencing any guests!

Cheers....Rob

[Gregory11]

Ok - that is nice - but more important can any Hosts actully see OR find a copy of the actual questions asked by Airbnb Guests when they do their Review. Again its not anreasonable question for Host to see the actual questions they are being asked that a lot of the current EXTENSIVE REVIEW PROCESS is now causing !! Please send us a copy - thankyou Gregory

[Robin4]

@Gregory11

Hi Greg, we have been hoping that a guest will screen shot what information is provided for a guest to comment on and post it here on the forum. One host is talking about being a guest in her own listing to find out what these questions may be! At the moment we are only guessing, and Airbnb, to their eternal damnation are not going to volunteer this information to us. As I say in a post further on in this thread it seems that the questions a guest is asked to answer are designed to be critical of the hosts listing. The questions are worded to give a negative response, if one can be found!

I can think of no valid reason why you would ask the guest to make a negative comment about what your host (which you have introduced the guest to) has to offer other than to have a reason to offer the host when you have sided with the guest over a dispute!

It seems to be an ammunition gathering exercise Gregory. I am possibly wrong but it would be lovely if Airbnb would for once give their hosts ALL the information they need to be better hosts!!

Cheers.....Rob 

[Gregory11]

hi Rob - yep that your thinking is totally correct - Plus I rang Airbnb and asked for a copy of the Guests Reviews question myself - the Supervisor said that he woulde mail to me a copy within 24hours BUT its 30+ hours so not luck.

Also I asked the Community Manger Lizzie to send me a copy - still wait for a reply.

If I have not reply from either I will have my wife book my own place send a "Special Offer" for $1 and then she can Review my Listning and Screen shot the Review questions.

Strange setup that Airbnb changed the questions without any Host involment, feedback or even a copy being readily being available or can even be see anywhere which is worring within its else.

Airbnb is coming NOT open transparent or even nice in a normal business sort of way anymore.

They are actually becoming a bit uncool - controlling dishonist and malipulating - God only knows what their master plans is anymore or even what their new business mantra is any more .... changing times. Untill a better website betters them by being open helpful nice and answerable 🙂

Gregory - Super Host of 2 listings

[Andrea9]

@Robin4

Hey Robin, thanks for the detailed explanation. The first thing I'd noticed on that page was that we were at last allowed to know how many overal rating stars we got with the review. So was very happy about that.

Which then turned sour when I wasn't able to find the detailed ratings for the single categories and no amount of fumbling around by me brought them to light. So glad I know how I can now finally check those too!

Cheers, Andrea