Rebecca, great question!
I have been hosting for a little over 6 years and have never asked a guest for a review. What I do however is review them myself. The only time I have not reviewed a guest is when they truly disappointed me, then I write to airbnb that I want them to have another opportunity to make it right with another host. My stance on guest reviews is that I always look at the brighter side, i.e. what went right, and what I learned from a guest. Believe if or not, I have learned the biggest lessons from the guests that you may think deserve one star, but they still got five stars from me, because I made big changes following their stay. Needless to say, all my guests received 5 stars, I have never rated anyone less than 5, because I have always seen the good and that also made me earn five stars because people appreciate it. Today I cleaned up piles of sand from my boat that's a walking distance from the beach, but I messaged the guest thanking them for keeping the place clean because other than the great amount of sand on almost every surface, everything else was alright. I thought my bed quilts could have been stained, food remains could have been left, spilled red wine on carpets, but none of it was there, just sand, then I thought to myself, "my yacht is by the beach and it's spring break, what do you expect Lady?!"That made me look at the brighter side and rate the guest five star, as usual. What I do after the rating, if the guest had no reviews in the past, I personally message them thanking them for being wonderful guests, then I tell them that they have earned their first five stars with flying colors! It's that simple. Look at the brighter side. Hosting is a lot of hard work, but if one is not really enjoying all aspects of it, then they should consider another venture or adventure for that matter.
Happy hosting everyone.
Rose.
Graceland Fort Lauderdale
Writing from a Treehouse Boathouse!
