Hosts deserve some stats too

[Melissa346]

Dear fellow hosts, you know when you have a terrible guest so you look up previous host comments and you cannot believe how great they are?  Well this leads me to think that many other hosts, including myself, have a philosophy of if you have nothing noce to say, don't say anything at all. Which leads me to a suggestion for airbnb.  Instead guest X showing for example 13 host reviews... it would be helpful for hosts if airbnb showed out of how many trips.  If there are 13 great reviews but 30 trips, well that is a red flag.  Sometimes what is not said speaks so much louder.  I have guests from the depths of hell who have all good reviews and I am just not buying it. There is no way these people are pleasing the pants off of every host they ate impossibly inconsiderate and breaking every house rule pushing every limit ...yet they have stellar reviews.  Just not possible.  I give 5 stars or I say nothing and I know I am not alone.  We as hosts need to know out of how many trips their reviews reflect.

[Sarah977]

@Melissa346  If you give 5 stars for good guests and don't leave a review at all for the bad ones, then why are you complaining about your own behavior? You want some new feature because you won't leave honest reviews? That's absurd. Start leaving honest reviews to warn other hosts, please.

[Melissa346]

You dont get it

[Melissa346]

In the summer months I receive 75% difficult guests.  Younger crowd in this area here to party.  I want to fill my units not make people afraid that if they book with us they risk receiving a bad review.  Many hosts feel the same way and it is our perogative to not be negative unless its a very extreme case. It s called good business.  Its great that hosts have rhe option but from a business standpoint leaving a negative review is not always in our best interest.  Hence my suggestion.  Also if mine is the only negative review in a sea of glowing reviews, this makes only me look bad and there is no point. However if there are 13 great reviews bit I see 30 trips, then I might reconsider.  Ger it yet or am I still absurd?

[Sarah977]

@Melissa346  No, to me it's still absurd. You are complaining about getting bad guests and the fact that you can't tell they are bad because they have dishonest 5* reviews. Indicating that you would decline their bookings if you saw that they only had 13 great reviews out of 30 stays. But then you say your objective is to fill your units- and you get 75% bad guests. 

Guests look at the reviews that are left for you, not the reviews you leave for other guests. And even if they do research the reviews you left for previous guests, if they are good, responsible people, they have nothing to fear re a bad review. The ones who would be afraid to book with you are the bad guests you don't want.

Again, please use the review process the way it was intended. To speak the truth.

[Melissa346]

Yes I do assume and accept that in the low season and summer months that there is a different type of guest.  I am not about to reject guests who have great reviews but I might if I saw how many hosts left no reviews.  Most hosts do not leave a review unless they were happy with the guests.  That os the reality hence the suggestion to display how many trips the reviews are out  of.  I think most hosts would find thos helpful.  To claim I am being dishonest is over the top simply because if I have nothing noce to say I say nothing at all. I dont think you realize how many hosts share my way of managing the review process.  You seem angry btw.  

[Sarah977]

@Melissa346  Just because I disagree with your attitude doesn't mean I'm angry.  I would just like to see hosts not do their fellow hosts a disservice by declining to leave reviews just because it might be negative. Maybe the other hosts you know don't leave reviews for bad guests, but saying that "most" hosts don't is just a guess on your part, not "the reality". I happen to believe that most hosts do warn other hosts when a guest wouldn't be welcomed back.

I don't necessarily think the feature you are suggesting is a bad one. I just think it's odd to suggest it when you are participating in the deception that would make such a feature useful. There is something known as "lying by omission".

[Melissa346]

Okay you arent angry even though my " attitude" has nothing to do with my post.  Nor does how I run my business.  I was not asking for advice I was making a suggestion. So okay you are not angry just grossly over invested in how I tend not to leave bad reviews...which has served me well.  And I do know that most hosts have the same " attitude" as I.  It does not serve any professional establishment well to make negative comments about any of their clients.  Especially if you live in a very tiny village where word of mouth is everything and most people in the summer are returnees to the village. I am sorry you dont see the bigger picture but I am done trying to show it to you.  Work to be done.

[Melissa346]

Lying by ommission lol just saw that.  That cliche does not apply to airbnb non reviews.  You are over the top so keep leaving honest bad reviews for guests and see where that gets you over time.