***REVIEW BOMBER***

[Anne1055]

Hi Hosts,
I have a new idea to share -- but first,

Well believe it or not, AIR developers have added all reviews to show on BOTH  PROFILES!!
Yay!!
This means that all those mean Guests that thought they could get away with review bombing a place will now be revealed.
Well, sort of...

The STAR  RATINGS have not been shared on both profiles, and that's really more what us as HOSTS need to see when considering if someone is a review bomber.

But what is a review bomber?

It's someone who does not say ONE WORD about their disappointment with something, but then leaves lowered star ratings so that we SUPERHOSTS can get knocked down and down, then they are a Review Bomber!

I am hereby asking that ALL HOSTS begin to reply to the review from these types of guests with 
***REVIEW BOMBER*** in the reply, followed by an optional summary to what the situation was about.

That way, we hosts can better decide if we want to host these people or not, and we will not feel so sideswiped by these types.

Again, education is needed. Most Guests still think that Airbnb is just a cheap hotel, and will leave a review like they are deciding if a place is 5-star or 3 star based on finishes. We as hosts owe it to ourselves to make sure Guests know that the star rating is based on value for the dollar spent and not whether the location is ideal or the shower stall has glass doors and tile!

In the meantime, let's all keep asking the Airbnb developers to add our REPLIES to the Guest profile, 
AND
ask them to include the STAR RATINGS on BOTH PROFILES too!

Only when everything is TRANSPARENT can we expect the Guest to be civilized and more truthful about reviews, and stop bombing us out of nowhere!!

Only when our reply to their bad review is seen by other Hosts, will be know if the person really was a good Guest, or whether they were a piece of work just waiting to blow up in our face!

Please remember Hosts, if a Guest doesn't bring up an issue, but then review bombs you, put this at the top of your reply to their review along with star rating details for what they gave you.

*** REVIEW  BOMBER ***

Happy Hosting!

[Sandra856]

@Mike-And-Helen0if your guest wrote a nice review she probably had no clue that a 4 star rating is a bad thing. Whenever I get less than 5 stars I always write a nice message to the guest asking for feedback and I then explain the rating system. We should all look at airbnb and blame airbnb for being so unfair telling the guest that a 4 star rating is good (because they do that) and at the same time expects us to have 4,7 to stay hosts. All of my guests has apologized asking if they could change the ratings. So my guess is she didn't know and it would be unfair to hang her out on the platform for that. I don't really like the idea of getting aggressive, quite the opposite. It sends a strange vibe to upcoming guests in my opinion and it is not very professional in any way. 

[Sarah977]

@Mike-And-Helen0  Exactly as @Sandra856 said- a guest that leaves a lovely written review and 4*s simply doesn't know that hosts are harshly affected by 4* ratings because on the guest review form, Airbnb tells them that 4*s means Good.  It seems to me really unfair to a guest to call them a review bomber when they had no intention to tank your ratings.

I explain to my guests the hypocrisy in the fact that Airbnb tells guests that a 4* rating is Good and then turns around and threatens hosts to pull up their socks for that. A couple of my guests were already aware- one because his sister is a host, one because she is a host herself. The others were shocked when I told them that. One, who was one of my fave guests and has remained a friend, told me she felt terrible- that the 2 places she had stayed before were fine and the host was great and she'd book them again in a heartbeat- she had no idea that a 4* would tank them, and I know she'll never leave a 4* for any place she liked again.

[Mike-And-Helen0]

@Sandra856 I'm not sure what you mean by hang her out?

I take on board what you say about her possibly not knowing.

I also think that guests need to take some responsibility for understanding the system and it is explained in our house manual.

Do we have any evidence that reporting a guest makes any difference at all?

[Sandra856]

@Mike-And-Helen0 As I read it the whole review bomber thing is about responding to the guests review being rather aggressive. 

[Sandra856]

@Mike-And-Helen0 I don't write this to be aggressive in any way 🙂 Just so you know. I just got the experience myself that most guests are not aware. I have pnly had one guest downrating me for the most idiotic reason despite knowing the system. It seemed a little bit stupid to be honest. All of the others simply didn't know. 

[John1574]

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@Mike-And-Helen0 

 Good for you!   Review  Bomber Exposed!

 While I agree that guests sometimes do not understand the review system, I also believe that is our job as hosts to educate them before they get to the review process.  

So I vehemently disagree with the poster above this post who claims that to do so gives a strange vibe and is totally unprofessional.  The poster characterizes it  as "getting aggressive". Hogwash!  That's my opinion. 

 I use a template in "saved messages" called Welcome to my Airbnb, that I send to guests when they book, in which I explain the Airbnb review process and the criteria Airbnb tells guests to review us on.  I explain the difference between Airbnb and the hotel/motel industry.  

Ido not use humor in anyway as I consider this a very serious topic that affects my business tremendously.  I'm informing them of some basic Airbnb business principles.  

Airbnb is one business I am engaged in, and I treat it as a business and strictly as a business with the goal of giving the absolute best experience I can to the guests who pay for my accommodations.

 Problem-solving is a basic skill that all business owners should have. The onerous problem with Airbnb's review process is just another problem that Airbnb hosts have to learn to solve for themselves.

There are many approaches to Airbnb, and everyone is welcome to run their business the way they see fit, but please, respect other people's approaches and do not scold them or tell them to chill, relax or get over it. Don't call other peoples approaches, aggressive or unprofessional.  That is a type of insulting people and scolding people with whom you don't agree.

 Every host should approach the onerous review process in their own way to solve the problem. 

I laud every host who is working on how to  negate this vexing problem.  Right now every host needs an individual but effective approach because Airbnb is doing nothing to improve the review process.

 Keep up the great work.

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[Mike-And-Helen0]

@Sarah977 I feel like a bit of a Di*k now, but I do think guests have some responsibility and it is dxplained as you say in my house manual/welcome booklet thingy.

[Sandra856]

@Mike-And-Helen0 don't feel like a **bleep**! Because you definitely aren't!! 🙂 

[Sandra856]

@Mike-And-Helen0 I think it could maybe be the classic thing with guests not reading. When I started my houserules was written on the profile but no one seems to read them or they forgot. So now I'm always adding the houserules to the direction guide I mail the guests a couple of days before they arrive. After I did that I have very few problems with houserules not being followed. I had a note (for a short period of time - 2 guests saw it, I think) explaining the rating system but I didn't feel comfortable with it. I felt like I was asking for a 5 star rating. So I decided to ad the explanation of the rating system to my listing so people would read it before they book. And it has worked perfectly so far. 

[Sarah977]

@Mike-And-Helen0 Well, I was just trying to explain why guests would leave a glowing review and then rate 4*s, certainly didn't intend to make you feel like a **bleep**, which I'm sure you're not. I have the advantage that I host a private room in my home and have a 3 night minimum, so I have quite a bit of opportunity to convey this info verbally to my guests. I can imagine that even if you make it clear in the house manual, you can't know if the guest actually bothered to read it.

I don't know what the solution to that would be, except if it isn't already like that, to write it up on a page of its own, with eye-catching graphics, so it's not just one more thing for them to read through in a list of how the stove works, the Wifi code, where to find this and that, etc.

[Mike-And-Helen0]

@Sarah977 @Sandra856 I didn't mean to blame you for me feeling bad, just that I was questioning whether I'd been reasonable or a di*k. Tired and grumpy here!

[Sarah977]

@Mike-And-Helen0 I've never needed a house manual, since I host in my home, altho I do have a framed note in the guest bathroom re being on a private septic (don't flush anything but TP) and not wasting water (water doesn't come down the main 24/7 where I live, like most people are used to).

But I can fully imagine that a large percentage of guests just glaze over when reading through the manual, and tune out by the end. And many likely only refer to it at all when they want to find the Wifi code, or figure out how the heater works.

[Mike-And-Helen0]

@John1574 thanks John. I have the information about reviews in both my welcome message and my house manual. That's why I think guests need some responsibility.

I don't think I'm being aggressive (maybe end of season tired!)and for me "professional" is a word excessively used in inappropriate contexts.

[Mike-And-Helen0]

It is ironic that I didn't take the advice I offered to @Lilly28 !

[John1574]

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@Mike-And-Helen0 

 We are on the same page.  

I send  our general approach to Airbnb in my welcome message, and when they leave I follow up with a  message titled,  Our (New) Airbnb Review Process Primer.  I inform them that our new policy is called our, Reviews have Consequences Policy.

Informing guests,  getting them to realize,  that their review will have consequences for them as well as for you is a pretty good place to start in my opinion. 

 They then have no excuse to claim that they didn't understand the review process.

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