Airbnb star rating document

[Nick1866]

Hi there,

I've bought and laminated one of the following signs which offer guests an explanation of the Airbnb ratings which I saw advertised on Etsy, and have placed it on display in the guest room.

Just wondering if anyone else has used signage like this before?

Despite putting it up yesterday, I'm not 100% sure of keeping it. I've never had a serious problem with sub-five star reviews before - but at the same time, I'm not sure it's a given that guests understand how Airbnb's crazy review system works (sometimes I barely do!). I know a lovely guest could give me three or four stars in good faith and think it's a positive thing. When as we all know, anything less than five isn't so.

I'd also be a small bit concerned about it appearing that I'm asking for a five-star rating, or treating the guest like an idiot. Additionally, I wonder what would the official Airbnb approach be to a sign like this? It could go against one of its many rules.

Lots of stuff going on there - would love to hear people's own reflections!

- Nick

[Anonymous]

@Nick1866 As a guest, that sign would give me nothing but a full-body cringe.  Yuck! This kind of thing totally undermiines your hospitality.

I don't think Airbnb has a specific  policy against these manipulative tactics, but you're not doing yourself any favors by practicing them. Honestly, nothing would stop me from giving a 5 star review faster than the host trying to "educate" me about why he's entitled to one. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Nick1866  Sorry, this picture is too small so I couldn't see what's written on it.

Rating system was terrible before, the way it was explained was something like:

5* - more than expected

4* - as expected

3 -  less than expected etc...

At the time many hosts used similar signs, even we had one in our house manual. But I removed it quickly, you are right, some guests will not like it.

Abb finaly changed it last year to Excelent, very good, good... etc..  so it isn't a problem anymore

[Thais66]

Hi @Nick1866 ,

After getting our first (and so far only) 4-star review we decided to directly ask guests to (i) write a review and (ii) give a 5-star rating if we met (if not exceeded) their expectations. I would already reach out to them after check out to ask how everything went and ask for their feedback (as we genuinely want to continue improving). In the beginning I was a bit embarrassed to do that, but so far we got a positive response (50+ 5-star reviews after that 4-star one).

Basically, we got this 4-star overall rating (even though they gave 5 stars for all six individual feedback items and a positive public review) because they thought they should compare our house to a hotel. As it definitely doesn't provide a 5 star hotel experience and they did not know 4 was a low rating, they thought they were giving a positive review. It is why I don't think explaining to guests what less than 5 stars mean is necessary a problem or goes agains Airbnb's guidelines.

I personally don't like the idea of a sign because it becomes part of the decor. So maybe adding a rating guide to your welcome guide might be better or directly writing to guest after their stay as I do. Airbnb has a schedule message tool, so you can automatically send a personalized message (ie. including guest's first name) after each check out. 

The only thing is that "minor issues" should not low a score by 1 point in my opinion. So, you might be incentivizing more critical guest to give you 4 stars as it is almost impossible to have a completely perfect stay. I'm not sure about the system @Branka-and-Silvia0 is mentioning as I see both "more than expected" and "as expected" as 5-stars when I'm rating my stays as a guest.

Hope it helps. Good luck!