Should there be a Star Ratings for Guests?

[Dustin58]

Hello Fellow AirBnb hosts,

I'd like to see a star ratings system for guests. If guests can review us as hosts, why can't we review them as guests? It would be great if we could work together as a community to give feedback on who we actually want staying in our homes and properties. The existing "you can't see what a guest said until you leave your own review" system is very broken for many reasons. The star ratings for hosts are painfully important to hosts; why can't they be just as important to guests? Hosts can be suspended if your rating drops below 4 stars.

So guests have a weapon they can wield to bilk hosts out free extras, unwarranted refunds, etc. all in the fear of a bad review. But if hosts had that same weapon, it would level the playing field. We'd no longer get threats of 1 star reviews because a guest wants hundreds of dollars for minor inconveniences, because hosts could point that out in their review that guest and give them a 1 star rating in return. And no host would accept a reservation from a poorly rated guest. So guests would have to return to being reasonable again as would want to be highly rated as well. And we'd want the ability to rate guests at any time; not just in a small window after the guest checks out. We've all had guests with whom we thought everything went well, and then the guest leaves a negative review with a low start rating for things out of our control or things that are unwarranted. I'd sure want to know if that happened to a fellow host, and then I could avoid renting to that guest.  But we'd have to be able to rate that guest for any amount of time after their departure. This would make guests more reasonable and would give invaluable information to us as to who we want to allow into our homes. There are, of course, times when a guest isn't treated right, and they certainly have all the tools at their disposal to make that known. But I think we are tired of working our butts off for guests and doing everything right, and then being threatened or slammed by a low star rating review. Like the time you engaged with a guest, made their stay great, and then get a low star review because they didn't like the cleaning fee; which they knew about when they booked and agreed to. And they only made a stink about it after there was nothing that could be done; after check out. I'm sure we all have a hundred stories about guests that we did everything for, and then they stuck us with a low star review. And there is nothing we can do about as it's after the fact.

Please let us all review our guests on a 1-5 star basis at any time. And let us adjust our booking requirements to only accept guests with a certain rating. Just like guests do to us. If I was able to let everyone know about the bad guest who complains about fees after checkout, wouldn't everyone want to avoid renting to that guest? But our hands are tied thanks to Airbnb's poor executed tit for tat system where you only get a small window of time to review a guest, and can only see what someone wrote after the fact. And there is no star system for guests, so there is no way to easily sort bad guests out. I don't want your bad guest that asked for a $1000 refund because the AC wasn't set at 72 degrees on arrival, and you don't want my bad guest that left a bad review because they didn't pull up the detailed map that was sent to them and got lost using MapQuest (who uses MapQuest anymore?) Thoughts?

[Juan63]

Who said locks were a requirement? Nobody did, so nice try. 

[Helen350]

@Juan63  You are from Texas. @Alon1 & I host at opposite ends of England. My observations are based on the UK, both regarding homestay airbnbs, AND many a cheap, basic, 'normal b&b in private homes from the days before Airbnb existed. - It could be that YOU are describing the situation in the US....? - In which case, we are comparing apples & oranges!

I'm correct regarding the facts as pertain to the UK!  Alon1 appears to agree. (The US may be different!) 🙂

[Susan17]

@Helen350 @Alon1 @Juan63 

Actually, in many regions - even in the US - it's not permitted, by law, to have locks on bedroom doors when hosting guests. 

New York, just being one example.. 

• You may have up to two paying guests staying in your household for fewer than 30 days, only if every guest has free and unobstructed access to every room, and each exit within the apartment.

• Internal doors cannot have key locks that allow guests to leave and lock their room behind them. All occupants need to maintain a common household, which means, among other things, that every member of the family and all guests have access to all parts of the dwelling unit. Internal doors with such key locks create barriers to escaping in an emergency, and may result in the issuance of a temporary vacate order.

NYC - Office of Special Enforcement

Information for Hosts.

https://www1.nyc.gov/site/specialenforcement/stay-in-the-know/information-for-hosts.page

[Juan63]

Exception doesn't make the rule, nice try Helen. What's legal or not really doesn't matter at all when we are discussing peoples expectations.

[Juan63]

I meant Susan.

[Juan63]

But you’d be wrong. I produce actual evidence provided by AIRBNB who deal with many more people than any of us and they say locks on doors are expected. Avoiding facts doesn’t make them not true. I can’t tell you how many times people don’t bring up concerns until one person feels the need to. Perfect example, the shower handle became loose to the point it kept falling off. Seems like an important item to mention. It took 15 guests for one person to mention it.

[Sandra856]

@Juan63 I have hosted more than 350 +bookings without a lock on the door to the room I rent out. No one has ever mentioned it. All the places I have visited around Europe - private rooms in shared homes - none of them had locks on the door. And the host's didn't lock up their spaces either.

In Europe it is not common with locks on the door when renting a private room - I just noticed that it is no longer an option to choose the "lock on door" box when searching for a place to stay. 

[Juan63]

Doesn't matter if the places you've stayed in Europe don't have locks, that doesn't mean people don't expect them. Once again another avoiding the facts with a BIG title that says "guests expect." Airbnb has serviced more guests than anyone of us. I think they know what their guests expect from the countless reviews and phone calls they receive. I would never feel comfortable leaving $1000's of computer equipment or a laptop with private information on an unlocked room. My wife is a Polish national and her expectations is a lock on the door, whatever that's worth.

[Helen350]

@Juan63 I wouldn't expect anyone to bring thousands of pounds worth of computer equipment or anything else with them... My tourist guests drive round the National Park, or hike, climb, or cycle, so no need for expensive computers other than the phones they take with them. Business guests will be taking their computers with them to work. It never occurred to me that this could be an issue...... Can't people with computers lock them in a case?  

[Juan63]

A case than can be stolen? No that wouldn’t work. Computers, iPads,  cameras are easily $1000 + and are very commonly traveled with.

[Sandra856]

@Juan63 It really does matter. There must be a reason why it isn't the norm in Europe. Europe and the USA are very different in many cases - probably also when it comes to expectations.

[Juan63]

It doesn’t matter, because non-Europeans also travel in Europe. And some Europeans, like my wife, expect a lock.

[Helen350]

@Juan63 ...Then the non-Europeans who want locks,and the Europeans like your wife who want locks must book a place with locks, not a place without!

Nb Susan17's post on this thread explaining that some authorities, even in the US REQUIRE b&bs NOT to have locks!  

[Helen350]

.... SOME people require swimming pools.... then GO BOOK a place WITH a pool, not one without, lol!

[Juan63]

Helen, most places don't describe no locks on the doors, so lets not get ridiculous here.