"New to aribnb" guests leaving poor star ratings and what to do about it...

[Michael144]

Hi All,

I have not tried posting here, so I am going to and see if I can get some feedback and figure out what to do and if my ideas are good.

For context:

We are relatively new to hosting, though we have now gotten a superhost status, and I have 14 reviews and 18 completed trips (probably will be 17 reviews by the time they time out, seems almost everyone leaves a review).  We do not list our place all the time, and when we do we have almost always had bookings come in.

We have almost all 5 star reviews for everything.  The only reviews we seem to get that are not 5 stars across the board are from people who are new to airbnb, and leave positive comments, and seemed to be completely happy with the place, but decide to leave 4 star or 3 star reviews appearing to believe that is a positive review.

I do not know how airbnb explains the rating system to guests, I was a guest before I was a host and the thought of giving the host less than 5 stars did not cross my mind as the place was as I expected it to be.  I have started with my last few "new to airbnb" guests, sending the below message.  I am posting here to see what other hosts and guests might think?  I am not sure about this, but I thought at least a guest should know if they are going to rate us poorly with 3 or 4 stars that it is a problem for us and negative since they cannot change it after.  What do you think?

Hi (guest name),

I wanted to thank you for staying with us and tell you I hoped everything was great in your stay. I wanted to ask if you could leave us 5 stars for a general review, and to leave us 5 stars on each of the sub sections. If you do decide to give us any negative reviews (less than 5 stars) I hope you can tell us what we can do better and I promise we will make adjustments based on your feedback. You can leave us 5 stars and still tell us what we can do better and we will certainly take your advice, but leaving us less than 5 stars is encouraging people to avoid staying with us

I am asking because I noticed you are new to Airbnb and I wanted to tell you that on Airbnb anything below 5 stars is a negative review. I have not left you a review yet, and when I do I will give you 5 stars on everything because you were a great guest (anything less than 5 stars would be telling other hosts not to have you stay with them). You can change your review until I leave you one, so I wanted to give you a chance to update your review if you wanted to. Any section with 4 stars tells people you would not recommend staying with us, and a 3 star review is equal to warning people to stay away. I hope you are able to give us all 5 stars, it would be greatly appreciated. In general on Airbnb giving no review is the way to say things were less than perfect, but giving 4 stars is very negative and lets people know they should not stay with us.

I hope that helps, I am only sending this because we have had a few people new to airbnb leave us a 4 star review and later not understand that was a very negative rating. We have reached Super Host status on Airbnb, and for reference we would lose that rating if 2 of 10 people gave us a rating of anything less than 5 stars. We hate to have to ask and explain in regard to reviews, but every negative review we have gotten has been from someone who told us they loved staying with us and would recommend us, but still gave us 4 stars because they thought that was a positive review and this has hurt our ability to rent our place.

I hope you had a great stay and a great trip home! Please let us know if you would like to stay in Santa Monica again!

Thanks,

Michael ***

I am interested if anyone has any ideas or thoughts about this.  I am thinking of just starting to refuse bookings from new members, but I actually want to allow new members a chance to stay at a nice place if they seem reasonable, though I am thinking it might just not be worth it.  We have never gotten anything but 5 stars across the board from people with any previous experience and ratings.

I think many people who are new to airbnb think my home is a hotel, and when it is not they think that is some kind of failing even though it was exactly as described and is well taken care of etc.

I had responded to some guests in the review response the past, but I think that is probably not as helpful as I wish it would be, because future hosts do not see that unless they do some research.  I have taken to clicking on the hosts who have reviewed people before I approve a booking so I can read any responses the previous host has left to the guest review.  I am not sure how many people do this, but I think we should since we cannot know what a guest has said until we leave a review, and anything that has to do with the review process will not be visible other than in the response from the host.   Of course, for new people who have no reviews, this is not helpful at all.

I recently had one guest, that though he left me a good review and a good star rating seemed offended by the fact I sent him the message asking for the 5 stars and explaining what I think the reviews actually describe to the community.  I would rather have positive reviews and a negative private message, but honestly I am thinking maybe just refusing bookings from new members might be the way to go.

Do experienced hosts with nice places eventually just start refusing bookings from new members to avoid this drama?

Thanks for any comments or experience!

[Dave-and-Deb0]

Hi @Michael144,

Sorry if you found my response as being negative.  I do not agree that a 4 star rating is a negative review but I will not attempt to change your mind on that.

Good luck!

[Kerry-Phil0]

Hi,

I think you can easily get your message across in only a few sentences. Something like " thank you for staying with us. You were a great guest and as a result I've given you a 5 star review. If you feel it's warranted, we request that you do the same for us. 5 star reviews are what keep us in business and able to host at reasonable rates in a competitive market".

[Claudio-and-Moo--ส-บย-คล0]

I'm currently using a similar short message and today I got a 4 stars review from a super happy guest. So happy that he already booked another stay in 2 months. He tought 4 stars was very good and that 5 stars are for places like the Ritz or super high end hotels?

I think the message needs to be a bit more detailed. Now my message is too long lol. Can you help me balance it not too long yet detailed enough?

Your satisfaction is my main priority. At the end of your stay you will be asked to leave a 1 to 5 stars review based on each of the following criteria:  

• Overall Experience
• Cleanliness
• Accuracy
• Value
• Communication (How well did the host communicate with you?)
• Arrival (How smoothly did your check-in go?)
• Location

If during your stay, for any reason you don’t feel fully satisfied regarding these criteria or anything else, call me right away to inform me. Don’t wait after leaving to let me know something did not meet your 5 stars expectation. I will try to fix it right away and even offer you a discount if needed. I want you to have a great vacation here.

Even a 4 stars review is a very bad review in the Airbnb system where ranking and penalties are based on 5 stars reviews only. A 4 stars review will seriously affect my ability to rent this property to earn a living for me and my family.

I will also leave you a perfect 5 stars guest review because like wise, on Airbnb anything less than 5 stars would tell future host to refuse to rent their property to you.  

You can also call me anytime for feedback and suggestions or if you have questions about Pattaya or anything else. It’s my pleasure.

Claudio

[Helen3]

@Claudio-and-Moo--ส-บย-คล0 my advice would be not to leave this message. It's far too long and if I received this as a guest I would feel pressurised by the host and uncomfortable by receiving the message.

Why not say something like.

'My aim is to give all my guests a 5 star experience and for them to feel that my home is a true reflection of my listing. Do let us know if for any reason this might not be the case.

I provide a  comprehensive guest book with details about my home and local area so hopefully I have covered what you need to know to enjoy your time with us.

There might be a rare time when something needs to be rectified. If so, I want you to feel comfortable about contacting me,. Please feel free to get in touch at XXXX and I will do my best to help.

We hope you enjoy this lovely space as much as we do".

[Claudio-and-Moo--ส-บย-คล0]

4 stars reviews has a huge impact on a host ability to rent because it changes your rank on Airbnb search. If you have 5 stars review 5 times in a row you will be in top of the list when someone searches for a place to rent. I usually get 5 stars reviews and I'm the first property to appear on airbnb in my City. My properties are then always fully booked and I can even charge extra. When I get a single 4 star review I can drop to 30th on the list of properties in my city witch means most people looking for a place will probably choose before even seing mine. When this happens, I have to significantly lower my price to get guests and I still don't get fully booked.

If you are unnafected by 4 stars reviews you either live where there are very few airbnb listings or you don't like to rent your place often.

[Roz4]

@Claudio-and-Moo--ส-บย-คล0 wow, I didnt know that! Someone recently said on here that super host status doesnt count for much these days. They said (sorry I cant rememebr who said it) that you are higher up the feed rankings if you use instant book!

[Ken119]

if you get 3.9 stars review your account is disabled. So how can you say that 4 stars is not a bad review?

[Claudio-and-Moo--ส-บย-คล0]

I also want to send a similar message but I send it in the beguining of the guest stay to have a chance to be proactive and fix whatever issue they may have right away. My message is also too long. Any suggestions on how to shorten it but still keep all the info? Did you find a good way to make it shorter:

Here is what I send:

Your satisfaction is my main priority. At the end of your stay you will be asked to leave a 1 to 5 stars review based on each of the following criteria:  

• Overall Experience
• Cleanliness
• Accuracy
• Value
• Communication (How well did the host communicate with you?)
• Arrival (How smoothly did your check-in go?)
• Location

If during your stay, for any reason you don’t feel fully satisfied regarding these criteria or anything else, call me right away to inform me. Don’t wait after leaving to let me know something did not meet your 5 stars expectation. I will try to fix it right away and even offer you a discount if needed. I want you to have a great vacation here.

Even a 4 stars review is a very bad review in the Airbnb system where ranking and penalties are based on 5 stars reviews only. A 4 stars review will seriously affect my ability to rent this property to earn a living for me and my family.

I will also leave you a perfect 5 stars guest review because like wise, on Airbnb anything less than 5 stars would tell future host to refuse to rent their property to you.  

You can also call me anytime for feedback and suggestions or if you have questions about Pattaya or anything else. It’s my pleasure.

Claudio xxx-xxx-xxxx

What’s App: +xxxxxxxxx

[Ken119]

I have the exact same problem. A bunch of stupid guests or newbies who don't even know english and reserve the place to arrive and be shocked since it wasn't a hotel. 

Also many good reviews with 3/4 stars which is terrible since airbnb if you get less than 4.0 stars your account is deleted.

airbnb has to stop this stupid stars politics and be like youtube. Thumbs up or Thumbs down. Much easier to understands for the guests.

We have to stand and make airbnb understand their politic is completely wrong. 

[Ken119]

I encourage everyone writing here to send a ticket to airbnb about this issue. It's time for a change.

A simple thumbs up or thumbs down review is much better and easier to understand for the guests. 

[Claudio-and-Moo--ส-บย-คล0]

When I see a guest is new (never had a review) to Airbnb I ask them if they took time to read the differences between Airbnb and a hotel like no personnel on location (like front desk), no daily room service, etc.

I found this helps avoiding guests expecting everything to be as a hotel.

[Inna21]

I am agree with you for 100%. As a new host I pricening my place in the begining with very low price(Airbnb say that to have first good reviews) noooo ppl who come for that price gave to me the worseesr reviews ever. Airbnb think they will apicate low price, but nobody care. I've read a review to one host, guest sayed that for the price he ve got a place was perfect. And it was lillbit like a message to other guests. Like...you don't have to expect that will have luxery for XX euro per night.

[Jillian22]

OMG 4. 

[Claudio-and-Moo--ส-บย-คล0]

I love your email to your guests. I have encountered the exact same thing. Guest don't fully understand the star ratings on Airbnb especially new users. Airbnb should properly explain rating system before people leave reviews. Your email should be basic info provided by Airbnb.

It's frustrating getting great coments and then 4 stars because the guest thinks 4 stars is very good.

Guests also confused stars in the reviews and star rating systems from hotels. Airbnb should use another symbol than stars to avoid the confusion. I'm a super host with multiple properties and 5 stars average rating but I ocasionally get guests telling "me why are you ranked 5 stars, this is not like a 5 stars hotel" Duh?! (I'm not the same price as 5 stars hotels either)

[Holly43]

If I was a guest and received a message from a host giving a multi paragraph email entreating me to leave the property the highest possible review, I would be annoyed (just being honest!) it would feel like I'm being pressured into helping out the host with their bussiness, which, as a person who already helped their business by booking a stay, my review is only a courtesy. Although we know a four of five star rating is painful as hosts, it sounds desperate to send a special email breaking down how the system works, and saying please leave the highest possible rating if you were satisfied.

Can you just verbally mention the star rating system at check-in or check-out? You said you're a pretty forward kind of guy. If you mention it in person (be it briefly) then it just seems like normal info along with other info about their stay/ the property. Less pressure.