No word review just stars from now on is that possible

[Siobhán2]

I decided instead of a negative review to leave no review  if you've nothing good to say- say nothing.

I know it doesn't help the community.

I'd    be afraid a guest may return and knowing human capabilities you'd never know what would happen if they were irked.

Now I've upped my price maybe being cheap and giving people on their uppers a break isn't the way to go.

[Rachel0]

@Siobhán2 Well you are right on one thing, it would not help the community.  If a guest has been so bad, give them one star in all categories and block them so that they cannot return and other hosts will not have to suffer them either.  We need to know who the awful guests are, otherwise they will continue to cause problems.   

[Siobhán2]

I did give the one star and didn't realise when it says would you recommend this guest that it will not show up on the review it said. 

So I did.

Didn't see how to block them.

Doubt if there will be a return.

Thanks for getting back Rachel.

[Gordon0]

To coin a phrase, @Siobhán2, thanks for nothing.

[Emilia42]

I don't like this idea. Airbnb is a community and all hosts should contribute to that community. There are many ways to leave an honest, professional, and diplomatic review without creating concern that the guest is going to track you down.

[Ward1]

I'm not sure I agree here:  I have had many guests where they were just OK.  Maybe they pushed the envelop a ibt:  Can they get in earky/leave late?  Can they use my laundry detergent?  I often ask myself, "Will thye write me a good review, a bad review? - I have no idea!"  Maybe I list every little annoyance and they say everything was perfect??  Maybe I 'let the little annoyance go, and they write every little annoyance they had. . . I've exoperienced this A LOT:  A guest gives me all five stars in the categories (communciation, cleanliness, accuracy - these are only seen by the hist), but then gives a FOUR star review for the public to see.  HOW IS THAT FAIR??????

[Sarah977]

@Ward1  It's not fair- there are tons of things about the review system that need changing.

But reviews shouldn't be written on the basis of what the other party might write. They should just be factual. If a guest wasn't respectful of a shared space, other hosts who have shared spaces need to know that. 

As hosts, I think we need to let the small annoyances go- we're dealing with a whole range of human behaviors and not everyone is going to do everything exactly to our liking. So you might have a guest who needs a lot of hand-holding, can't seem to figure out how to work anything by themselves, even with written instructions that they read. Okay, they're a little challenged. But every time you help them, they say thank you, they express their appreciation. In a case like that, I wouldn't mention that they needed more instruction and help than most guests. But if it was obvious that they never even bothered to read the instructions, phoned and texted at all hours, expecting me to run right over and help them out and never said thank you, then I'd write "this guest was quite demanding as far as not bothering to read the house manual as to how the appliances and door locks worked, sending numerous messages, some quite late at night, asking for help with these things".

And since you can respond to a review, if you're taken by surprise by a less-than-fair guest review, when you've given them a good one- "I'm sorry that XXX was so bothered by these things she mentions here in the review- I was unaware that they were a problem for her during her stay, as no mention was made of them at the time. I tried to let the small annoyances I experienced with her not affect my review of her, as she was, for the most part, a decent guest."

We can't control what guests write in their reviews. We don't know if, asyou say, they're going to write a great review or a petty, nit-picking one. I never think about what a guest might write when composing my reviews, I just review the guest honestly, according to my experience with them while they were staying. 

And Ward- guests often give 4* reviews because Airbnb leads them to think that this is a good rating. It's not that they're trying to tank your stats- if they were trying to do that, they'd give a 1-3* review. You need to let guests know how the star ratings work from the host's end, because Airbnb doesn't.

[Ward1]

HOW????

The best I could find was this article, which I am going to include in my Introducitons to Guiests. . .

https://www.forbes.com/sites/sethporges/2016/06/29/the-one-issue-with-airbnb-reviews-that-causes-hos...

[Sarah977]

@Ward1   Check out this thread. Lots of ideas on how to get guests to understand the review system.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/How-can-we-Hosts-quot-educate-quot-Guests-about-how-the-...

[Ward1]

I'm getting so frustrated.

I included some of the info you suggested for the last guest, but clearly to no avail.

He gave me five stars, but his written review made it sound more like three stars.  "Ward is a great host. He is very hospitable and reasonable. The place is not a castle, but it's a good value if you want a clean room without anything crazy."

I'm REASONABLE???  Not a castle?  A good value if you dont; want anything crazy???

Thanks a lot.  With compliments like that, who needs bad reviews???

[Sarah977]

@Ward1  That's not a review I would get upset over. He hasn't said anything bad at all, it's actually quite positive, he says you were a great host.  Of course we'd all like every guest to sing the praises of our places, noticing all the little details and things we've gone out of our way to do to make it as nice as possible. Some will, some won't.

What he wrote is, IMO a good thing- as it says it's good value, and clean- is it a castle? Likely not. It's not like he said it was a dirty dump. 

He gave you 5*s- you should be happy. That review is certainly not going to lose you any business. Read a bit on these forums about the poor hosts whose guests give them 1* reviews and LIE ABOUT EVERYTHING.

[Ward1]

I disagree with you, but thanks for your comments.

[Ward1]

My head is spinning over this. . . .

A guest wrote a review that included this:  "Ward's place is not a castle."  I responded with "Castles are cold and drafty.  My home is warm, with snacks and a keurig."

Maybe I didnlt put a space between the words "drafty" and "my," because Airbnb picked those words up as a hyperlink or website.  so now my response says, "Castles are cold and (Website hidden by Airbnb) home is warm. . . "

I have spoken to numerous Airbnb reps, and I get the same answer:  "The only thing we can do is remove your response.  We can;t edit it."

I don;t want them to EDIT IT.  I want them to correct their mistake and post my response exactly as written.

I;m beginning to wonder if Airbnb is worth it.  It's so much time and aggrivation for not that great a benfit. . . 

[Emilia42]

@Ward1, I think you are looking too deeply into this. There is nothing wrong with this review and I wouldn't think twice about it if I was a guest. It wouldn't prevent me from booking with you. Are you providing guests with a luxury experience or are you giving them a comfortable, clean place to sleep at a good value? That is what this guest is saying. Your response, on the other hand, draws attention to the review and sounds defensive. You are a superhost so you're obviously getting great reviews. Don't sweat it.

[Ward1]

If hosts can be rated as Superhosts, and non-Superhosts - why shoudn't we hav guests be SuperGuests, and non-SuperGuests?