Thumbs up / Thumbs Down.. Why?

[Steve41]

I have been hosting a number of years and I've come to wonder what the benefit is of the Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, in the rating system.  No one ever sees the results of the rating and it seems to have little to no effect on the guests' ability to book the place again.  So what's the point and how is the data used?

[Kimberly54]

Hi @Steve41,  as far as I can tell (and how I have been using this feature) is to acknowledge someone for a good post, a good question, a good reply.  I believe it really is that simple.  BTW, notice that there is no thumbs-down.  Kind of a nice feature, really...

Best,

[Steve41]

Thanks Kimberly

I mean on Airbnb when doing reviews for folks.   The last review item is a Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down to would you host them again.

It doesn't seem to serve any purpose.

[Lawrene0]

Thumbs down means the guest is not "recommended by other hosts" which is one of the criteria hosts can choose when they have Instant Book. So there's that, @Steve41. I have not had someone I gave a thumbs down to try to rebook here. I did look again at one a few weeks later and found their profile was removed. Not sure if by them or by Airbnb. So it does serve an internal purpose, looks like.

[Lucy-and-Loic0]

If you give them a thumbs down, they can't instant-book.  They have to contact hosts in the future before being approved, and with all thumbs up, the guest can instant book without consulting you.  

We had a guest who had been given a thumbs down by another host, and since we had just turned on instant book, I approved without realizing they didn't have other hosts approval.  They turned out to be good guests who stayed a week.  We had a nice time with them.  I asked them about what happened with the other host and apparently there were some language barriers and a resulting misunderstanding about the cleaning fee and what they were supposed to be doing at check-out.  Minor problems in my book but enough to make a previous host give a thumbs-down.  

[Steve41]

Did they know that they had gotten a thumbs down and did you have anyway as a host to tell that they had except by inference with their inability to instant book?

I would definitely like to know when a potential guest has received a thumbs down from someone

[Lucy-and-Loic0]

I was not informed about their thumbs down by Airbnb, you're exactly right in that my discovery was by inference.

I got the booking request for a week long stay and accepted immediately because I love it when that happens.  Then I got a little nervous because I realized that we were on instant-book, and we should not have gotten the request, they should have just booked, right?  

I then took time to look at all the places they'd stayed, the reviews they left leading me to the reviews they received.  I saw that their last host left a pretty bad review (broke house rules, big mess to clean up which required outside help). I immediately contacted the previous host (sending them an inquiry) to ask about what happened.  She was not at all encouraging. She said that in her 20 years of renting she had never seen such a horrible mess.  Thumbs-down.

I did see though, that the previous host's style was very "old-school French Gite", i.e. check-in and out only at noon on Saturdays, completely unequipped rooms (previous guests remarked on lack of cleaning supplies, no toilet paper, no coffee), rules upon rules.  These rentals are a tradition here in France, usually rock bottom cheap made for budget-minded French families.  

Then the people came.  Very nice people, but I was also nervous.  I invited them down for a glass of wine their 2nd day and at that time I asked about their last stay, was there some problem?  They said no, not at all.  They did see that the host had asked for more money for cleanup which they paid, because they were not aware that the cleaning fee didn't cover clean-up.  They implied they'd left some dishes.  I replied that in my experience, the "cleanup" for a host usually entails laundering and changing the bedding, fingerprints and dust, replenishing supplies, and cleaning the bathroom.  They pondered on that a bit I suppose because when they left, our place was spotless.  All's well that ends well.