Please Consider Reverting or changing your rating system, its hurting hosts and confusing guests

[Petar16]

I've always had a great experience with guests from airbnb but your rating system is doing so much damage to me

I'm not against guests doing this survey you have them do after every stay they have, but can you please make it fair to the hosts as well, the amount of 5/5 stars the guests have to leave is enormous and it subconsciously makes them think like its a test , and if they give everything a 5 /5 , they fail it , so they put something 4/5 just so its not all the same.

And its frustrating bcs we as Hosts can not tell this to our guests that if the trip was 5/5 they should give us 5/5 in everything . bcs that is just plain rude .

Hosts have to rate their guests on 3 things and then put a thumbs up or a thumbs down if they recommend them to other hosts, which is completely fair to the guests.
But can you please rethink this way of rating in the close future.

As a super-host this creates a difficult problem for me as i have worked very hard to gain that title and keep it , and it is very problematic to hosts that are aiming for the Super host title .

If the guests have put

accuracy 5/5

Check - In 5/5

Cleanliness 5/5

Communication 5/5

Location 5/5

and Value 5/5

but for some reason put overall experience 4/5 . That is not considered as valid "Constructive Criticism ".

Let me explain .

If i get accuracy 4/5 i can improve by giving better directions

if i get 4/5 Check In i can make sure that in future i consider the guests and the position they are in and let them arrive sooner to the apartment rather then later if they ask.

If i get Cleanliness 4/5 i can make sure every corner of the apartment is as clean as it can be

if i get communication 4/5 i improve my language and the way i explain things

If i get Location 4/5 , i can modify my profile description and explain better where they will be situated

If i get Value 4/5 i can adjust the prices to a more reasonable rate in future if they dont feel like the apartment is that worthy.

But overall rating 4/5? i cant do anything with that.

If i get lower ratings in the accuracy, check in Location Value etc.

Then putting overall experience 4/5 is justified.

but if the guests leave everything 5/5 and then 4/5 on overall expirience

There's literally nothing i can do to improve on, i am in the mercy of my guests, and if they are even aware how much this affects the Hosts.

The system shouldn't classify that review as 4/5 but as 5/5.

It is in no way helping the other potential Guests and it is definitely not doing anything for Hosts

[Joshua245]

My listing is rural and my listing states I'm rural/country with all travel times. Guests still book with me to save money and then give me 3 stars on the location section. That location review is toxic for anyone not located near a travelers destination or stop. It's another part of a terrible review system.

[Petar16]

agreed but id rather take that and loose the overall rating if given the opportunity 

[Simon514]

Could not agree more Joshua. We are in the Pyrenees, in what for many people in Europe is extremely rural and isolated mountains. We state this in the listing clearly ... we even say 'very rural' and there is a map. But by golly ... the amount of people who come and then will give me a lower rating because it is a long drive to go sight seeing or shopping. 

It's so utterly frustrating. 

When I spoke to a lovely lady at Airbnb, she even admitted 'people aren't reading the listings properly before booking' ... 

So why should we be rated on their failing to do their research!

[Taresa0]

I wonder if there is a way to communicate to your guests that the "location" review really hurts you. and that hey FYI you know it's rural so please in doing your review keep that in mind because I Know you wouldn't want to hurt me right? right? ha, we'll something more sophisticated than that of course, but you get the idea? be proactive>

[Letti0]

@Taresa0  The location rating does not actually effect you in anyway. It does not count in your overall rating. It's annoying to get a 4 * in location for being rural I have this issue also. It's a useless rating, but AirBnB continues to keep it. 

[Clare-and-Coco0]

People don't read listings ..... I wonder what information is made available to them prior as i like to think i'm as clear as I can be with regards to check in / out times, house rules, location and nearest transport. My most recent review stated excellent location and value yet she only gave me 4/5 for both. I always check star ratings now and will comment when needed to the review and query contradictions. I NEVER get any further feedback from the guest. 

There should be a reason given by guests as the reason for their rating whether good or bad, like @Petar16 said if we knew the reasons it would be more constructive or again in my opinion uphold challenging it.

Frustrating.

[Katerina83]

This happens to me too and it´s most frustrating. I always thought location evaluation should suggest whether guests felt safe, whether there was noise at night etc. 

[Peet1]

My listing is not rural, but it is in a 'walkable neighborhood'. Which is 100% true, but I am in the far corner of the neighborhood and the nearest thing to get to is about 3/4 mile away, the rest a little farther. 

I got a few 4's on location before I figured it out. We walk everywhere in the neighborhood, often. But visitors may come from a suburban lifestyle, or perhaps they might be a little older and less able to walk.

My realization is that the only way to manage this with our future guests from their random different backgrounds is to be expressive in our descriptions.

If you look at who has given you 4's in the past, it was because the location did not meet their expectations. If you match their expectations by being totally honest about it, you might lose a booking or two, but be able to maintain your 5 star rating.

For me, by saying in the description that I am 3/4 of a mile from 'the good stuff', people will make their own decision whether this is the place for them or not. And my listing will now meet the expectation of anyone who books (but lose whoever makes the decision to go elsewhere).  

[Jayne28]

I think so too. Also with todays technology if they use Google maps they can see the surrounding area even on satalite. I cant understand how they can rate you on location when they picked it!!

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@Joshua245 wrote:

My listing is rural and my listing states I'm rural/country with all travel times. Guests still book with me to save money and then give me 3 stars on the location section. That location review is toxic for anyone not located near a travelers destination or stop. It's another part of a terrible review system.

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[Ned-And-Laura0]

@Petar16  This is probably the most complained about thing on this board.  5* ratings in all the categories and a 4* overall.  It happens to all of us.  But please don't worry so much.  This has happened to me 4 times this year but I still have super host and my space is still booked up.  Guests don't care if you have a 4.8 or 4.9 instead of a 5.  They care about price location and photos.  Focus on giving the best experience you can and so long as the bookings and the money keeps coming in then don't worry about the ratings.  

[Moline0]

I’m new at this . I  just had my 3rd out of 13 guests rate me low because I’m not near where they want to be. That’s their mistake not mine. For heaven sakes it’s on the map and if I was closer the price would be much higher.

but they left nice reviews. it’s too confusing for a guest  and they don’t realize every star counts.

The  listing clearly says in many places no AC. but yet it too has cost me stars.

My star rating has fallen to 4.5 it’s so not fair. I don’t get to rate the guest lots of stuff. The rating system is not even

[Petar16]

I think guests dont really get the memo on why 5 star reviews are important and how they benefit us

[Rebecca181]

@Petar16 Because there is no memo. Not from Airbnb, at least. I had to make up my own memo and let guests know how the review system works and how it affects hosts so that they can leave an informed review. I have not had issues with reviews since - It is the Overall star rating that determines your score in regard to stats and achieving / maintaining super host status. The rest of the categories do not affect this score. I have confirmed this more than once with Airbnb support. By the way, search here for 'Review System Needs To Be Revised'. I wrote this many months ago. Airbnb has now revised the review system - And made it much, much worse, and even more harmful to hosts. Go figure.

[Petar16]

ever since i moved away from booking com i appreciate Airbnb for the majority of their work and policies etc. and how they treat us at least like we are human compared to other sites, but yes i personally believe it is time to review the complaints and the feedback recieved from both sides and come to a conclusion that will make both parties happy and satisfied