Ratings

[Loretta36]

Are Airbnb guests getting pickier?  Should Airbnb do more to manage expectations in someone's home? Or explain what an overall rating means?

I have been hosting on Airbnb since 2012.  Recently, the ratings from guests have made no sense - to me.  Two recent guests gave me all 5 stars for accuracy, location, etc. and then an overall rating of, in one case, 4 stars and the other 3 stars.  

I asked one of these guests why the overall rating was 4 stars and he said some of the livingroom furniture wasn't that comfortable and some of the TVs were hard to turn on but admitted that might have been "operator error."

I haven't asked the 3 star person for feedback yet.

It's very frustrating to work so hard to maintain your home in top condition and then get these low overall ratings.

Any thoughts?  I'm starting to favor doing away with the overall rating.

[Natalie725]

I agree! I've been hosting for only a year and find the rating system is absolutely ridiculous. Slight sidenote, but what irritates me too, is that guest's ratings aren't broadcasted on their own profiles - unless you have instant book on (which I have). And even if they have bad ratings, it still lies and shows up as 5.0 average, but they instead have to send a request rather than an instant book...

Back to the host side of things... I don't find it fair that we are scrutinized through ratings by the decimal point. Nobody can achieve a full 5.0 rating anymore. Even if you get all 5's and one person gives a 4. Your ratings are forever tarnished. 

I think the root of the problem, is that since Airbnb made ratings more precise, they failed to educate guests about a universal meaning for ratings. Or word of mouth isn't spreading among guests, and it's just an unwritten rule from host to host. A 4 star review, in my opinion, is only "good". 3 stars for me is very upsetting... I think guests need to be made aware of this new rating system and what the stars really mean!

[Loretta36]

I agree that Airbnb should do more to standardize what ratings mean, especially the overall rating.  And, yes, 3 stars is upsetting - and incomprehensible when all the individual ratings are 5 stars.

I have a property manager who also books my property - mercifully with no rating system - and I often think of giving up the extra Airbnb income to avoid the ratings stress.