Guest reviews

[Marlene-and-Merv0]

Hi there,

I know that if I go into my profile, I can view the list of reviews that our guests have left for us.  However, I can't seem to find a list of reviews I have left for our guests. Can anyone help with that?

[Lawrene0 · Accepted solution]

Yes, @Marlene-and-Merv0. On a laptop, go into Edit Profile then to Reviews. Now, near the top of the page  you will see two tabs: Reviews About You and Reviews By You. Click on the latter. Here is a screenshot:

[Marlene-and-Merv0]

Thank you so very much!!

[William284]

Why are we even doing guest reviews now?  Hosts don't even see guest reviews until AFTER reservations are confirmed?  The review serves what practical purpose?  A host is penalised for cancelling, so the reviews have become rather irrelevant.  The power of the review is totally in the hands of guests now.  They can severely curtail the business of hosts.  But a host review of guests has become meaningless.  Why should we bother?  It is an empty exercise -- other than to stroke the egos of our recently departed guests whom we might wish to see again.  And THAT is the only reason that I can see to review a guest -- just to thank those guests whom might see again in the future.  Otherwise, why bother?  Airbnb has removed any incentive that I used to have for taking the guest review seriously.

[Patricia55]

@William284 

I'm seeing a prospective guest's reviews PRIOR to my acceptance, so it's weird that you aren't.  [As you imply, what's the point of reviews, if not to inform hosts...?  What's going on?!]

[Mike1034]

@William284 please do leave a review to your guests because it helps other hosts to screen guests.  I always read guests reviews left by other hosts when I accept a booking request. Thanks!

[William284]

Wrong answer!  The correct answer would be:  You should not be required to waste your time writing reviews if you do not have the privilege of reading reviews.  That is an unjust and unfair burden.  Airbnb should allow any host who takes the time to review guests to, likewise, have the privilege of reading guest reviews.  Your comment should be directed to the genuiuses at Airbnb's headquarters.  If you want thoughtful, diligeht reviews of guests, then don't create disincentives to hosts -- don't give hosts a reason NOT to write thoughtful, diligent reviews of their guests.  Airbnb writes a lot of marketing fluff about "belonging" -- but if I take time  to write guest reviews for other hosts while being denied access to the guest reviews written by other hosts, then that doesn't really create a very strong sense of belonging.

[Sarah977]

@William284  How are you trying to access guest reviews before accepting their bookings? Because I can see guest reviews, no problem. 

[William284]

I am trying a number of ways.  But the instruction I receive is that I must accept of decline the reservation based on availability.  All of the resposes that I am getting on this forum are from SuperHosts.  As you may have read, I have lost my SuperHost status.  I am only guessing, but perhaps you can read reviews because you are a SuperHost.  In any event, there is nothing that I can do to access reviews -- that is, until AFTER the reservation is confirmed.

[Patricia55]

@William284 

If I were you, I'd get in touch with Airbnb Help via Twitter and query this.  It really doesn't make sense, and it shouldn't make any difference whether you have S/H status or not.

[Sarah977]

@William284   You say you have tried a number of ways, but you don't say how. I don't think Superhosts get to see the reviews but non-Superhosts don't. What I do is to click on the circle with the letter in it to the left of the request message. That takes me to the guest's profile. That doesn't mean that the profile will necessarily be filled out, or that they will have reviews. Try that- if you don't see a filled out profile or reviews, it means the guest hasn't bothered to fill out any profile info and they don't have any reviews.

And the message you're seeing about accepting or declining based on availability? You have to Accept or Decline within 24 hours, but that doesn't preclude you from exchanging some messages with the guest before that 24 hours is up, nor can Airbnb force you to accept or decline "based on availability".

[William284]

Yes, I have tried that.  I can see the reviews -- along with their profile -- but only AFTER the reservation is made.  Yes, it is possible to decline.  But I am penalised for declining reservation requests.  I believe that I am shut down if I decline any more than 10% of requests.  Furthermore, if I know nothing about a prospective guest, then I know nothing that would indicate whether I should declne . . . or accept.  In effect, Airbnb is telling me to accept all reservation requests blindly.  That is the situation. I can blindly accept all reservation requests (or blindly decline 10% of them for no reason with no information), or I can quit Airbnb.   And, yes, of course I could send a message to the guest saying, "Airbnb doesn't allow me to see any of your guest reviews, so could you provide me a synopsis of your reviews before I accept your reservation request?"    (And I don't mean to be vexatious, but I think you gather my meaning.)  I just don't see the utility of an exchange with the guest vis a vis the utility of reading guest reviews -- the original nature of the Airbnb guest-host relationship.   I don't know what Airbnb's reason might be . . . I don't know why I'm in this situation . . . I only know that I get a message from Airbnb telling me that I must accept or decline a request based on my calendar availability and that, furthermore, i must remember that it's my duty to keep my calendar up to date (implying that I better not turn the reservation down).   Whatever their reason, it changes the host-client relationship, it changes the nature of Airbnb hosting, it creates an enormous disincentive to guest reviewing, and it represents corporate bullying of the most odious sort.   Where was Airbnb when I spent seven months fighting the battle alone to get home sharing approved in our city's ordinances  -- while many neighbors mobilised against all Airbnb listings?  Oh, they were busy changing the way that I get my reservation requests -- removing my capability of seeing guest reviews of prospective guests.  No good deed goes unpunished, does it?

[Sarah977]

@William284  You really can completely ignore those messages from Airbnb about not declining if you have availability, keeping your calendar up-to date, etc. Those are just computer-bot generated, they're annoying, but I pay zero attention to them, and I think most other hosts do as well. You are taking them much too seriously.

And no, messaging the guest "give me a short synopsis of your reviews", of course not. When I get a request to book (and even though I can see reviews before deciding to accept or not, some guests are new and have none), if the guest doesn't send a nice introductory message that makes me feel okay about them, and just asks a question, or "I'll be there at noon.", I'll ask them to tell me a bit about themselves, ask if they've thoroughly read the listing info and are aware that xx, etc. In other words, I just start dialoguing with them and can normally tell if this will be a good guest or not by their responses and the way they communicate. 

[William284]

I appreciate that advice.   I have been a bit timid about asking questions.  Without the reviews, I'll follow your lead and be a bit less hesitant.  Thank you so much.

[William284]

Thanks for the suggestion.  I appreciate it.  I'll give it a try.