3.5 guest rating

[Jillian115]

I'm hosting someone tonight that came in as an instant book. He has one review and was recommended by the host meaning she would host him again and she gave him an average rating of 3.5 stars. This is the lowest rating I have seen on Airbnb in 3 year's of hosting. I asked the host why she is willing to host him again if he was a poor guest, and she stated that according to Airbnb, 3.5 stars is fair review and the main reason for the low rating was the guest was very messy so in that category she gave him 3 stars the rest 4 stars. Anyway, I am just curious would you consider rehosting/recommending a guest you gave 3.5 stars? 

[Anonymous]

@Jillian115 Every customer-facing business I've ever worked for, or regularly visited, has had regular customers who are known by management to be more trouble than they're worth, but who are still allowed to come in and spend their money.

The previous host's argument doesn't sound contradictory to me; she acknowledged the guest's imperfections but didn't feel they made him unhostable. I would also welcome back messy guests if I liked them as individuals, though I might privately give them more detailed cleaning instructions first.

I think what your story really illustrates is why it's so important for the written review to justify the rating. I certainly don't want to be contacted by a host to explain a star rating I might have given someone who spent a weekend here 8 years ago. 

[Jillian115]

@Anonymous The review was given this year and was the only review he had. I was also concerned that he was not only messy but also marked down for poor communication and not following the house rules. I would not welcome back a guest that I gave a 3.5 rating, nor would I recommend him to other hosts. In fact I've never had to rate a guest that low. Anyway, I was just curious what others thought. It made me very uncomfortable that's why I reached out. Had she marked “No I would not host him again” he would not have been able to book my place. 

[Anonymous]

@Jillian115  This is where the phrasing gets misleading to hosts. The question shown in the review process asks "would you host this again?" but the way the response is displayed is "do you recommend this guest to other hosts?"

Most of the time, you'll probably answer the same to both, but they are in fact two very different questions. I've had some guests who did nothing wrong (tidy, followed rules, etc) but who I would never want to host again because I just didn't like them very much personally. I can think of other guests who were totally chaotic party animals, who I wouldn't really recommend to most other hosts but whose company I enjoyed so much that I'd gladly welcome them back.

It's really too subjective to put much weight into, especially without knowing what previous hosts' situations and expectations were. I value the insight from other homestay hosts, but a remote host's review won't influence my choice unless it's jarringly negative. Especially on the Cleanliness front - there's not much of a mess someone can make when I'm there in the room with them. 

[Ann72]

@Jillian115  If she marked, "No, I would not host this guest again," he would not be able to book her place but it wouldn't prevent him from booking your place.

I once had a request from a guest with lower-than-average stars, so I contacted him and told him I was concerned and would need to have my caretaker stop by every day to make sure all was well.  He then explained what had happened to lead to the low rating, and once we talked everything over, I told him he could come and the caretaker would not stop by.  He was an okay guest, still not the best, but no real problems of note.  He broke the coffee carafe, and though he said he didn't, he paid for it.

In short, you can contact the guest and be upfront with your concerns, then make a decision based on his response.

[Huma0]

@Ann72 

I believe @Jillian115 is talking about an instant booking, not a request booking. So, if she selected the 'must be recommended by other hosts' as a requirement for IB, and the previous host had said 'no I would not host this guest again,' then in theory, he wouldn't have been able to IB with @Jillian115 .

At least that's how I think it's supposed to work, i.e. the 'recommended by other hosts' is determined by that particular question, rather than their star ratings. 

@Anonymous 's points make perfect sense but I can also see why @Jillian115 was concerned by  the ratings. I've never had a guest with such a low score IB with me because I think most hosts would not rate that low and still give a thumbs up.

When a guest with low ratings requests to book with me, I always ask them if anything went wrong with their previous stay/s (if the host has not spelt it out in the review), but I've never needed to do this with an IB guest as they all had decent ratings, whether deserved or not!

[Ann72]

I don't think that's how it works @Huma0.  The recommendations by other hosts is based on their star ratings.  The question about whether you would host a guest again is just for you.  And anything over than straight 1s barely affects their scores.  As @Jillian115 notes the bar is set much lower for guests than for hosts.

[Huma0]

@Ann72  or anyone else, do you know where it is written what 'recommended by other hosts' or 'guests who have received positive reviews' (the only descriptions I can find on the Airbnb help pages) actually means?

If it is based on the star ratings, what is the actual level at which the guest's ratings become unacceptable? I really hope it's not 1*. 

Personally, I have never had a guest IB with anything less than a 4* overall rating (maybe even 4.5*). I certainly would have noticed if they had 3* or less, but I don't remember ever seeing that with an IB.

I've also had guests try and fail to IB with me and they couldn't understand why. They had verified ID, but when I checked their reviews, there was at least one host who wasn't totally happy with the experience. I always assumed that in these cases that host had clicked 'would not host again' (or 'would not recommend' or thumbs down as it used to be) as the guests did not have really low star ratings. 

I would like to see some sort of clear documentation from Airbnb explaining how they define recommended by other hosts. I imagine they have kept the wording super vague for a reason. Perhaps hosts would not be reassured by this requirement if they knew how low the bar was set...

[Jillian115]

@Ann72 @Anonymous Thanks, I always thought that a "No" to hosting again meant that they were not recommended by other hosts. That's interesting. It's not clear what qualifies as "recommended by other hosts" I just looked it up and it says "positive reviews by other hosts" but what is considered positive is not spelled out. Anyway, I did actually call him first he didn't have any idea why she marked him down. Since he didn't have a clue, I asked the host. 

[Jillian115]

On the forum, some say a recommendation is a thumbs up to hosting again another posted that CS agent said that a 2.5 was a good review and that counts as a recommendation worthy of Instant Book.  

[Anonymous]

@Jillian115  Yep altogether this makes a really good case for just writing the important things for other hosts to know in the text review. There's no room for nuance in the ratings, so if it matters to you what previous hosts really felt about the guest, it might make more sense to leave Instant Book off and follow up @Ann72 's great advice about discussing it directly with the guest. 

[Jillian115]

@Anonymous  As stated above  I did discuss it with the guest first. I leave instant book on because my listing rarely shows on a search but that's a conversation for another post. 

[Ann72]

If he didn't have a clue, I would probably not accept him @Jillian115.  I've found that "I don't know" usually signals someone is lying.