Hi there, is there someone that can explain me the utility of having Location as one of the criteria for a guest's review?
If I get less than 5 stars for Location, what can I realistically do with this information? I cannot move my prooperty or make my neighbouring area look better. While I can do something if Cleanliness, Accuracy etc. are not 5 stars, with location I am powerless. So why is Location a criterion if hosts don't have the power to intervene?
Airbnb stated in a previous similar thread in 2016:
"As a helpful criteria for many guests, we are not intending to remove this at this time; however, we always appreciate this feedback as we regularly refine our platform to best meet hosts and guests needs. Location is intended to help future guests get a sense of the area and tends to reflect proximity to nearby destinations. It was created to help establish potential guests’ expectations, setting both you and your guests up for fewer surprises. While this isn’t something we are planning on changing, we are investigating including transit score and walkability score on the listing page in order to clarify location as a criteria. Since it’s not something you can change or control, it doesn’t impact the overall Star Rating for the listing or Superhost status."
Yet it does impact on my star rating, since I have just received a review with all 5 stars except for Location, and the overall star rating is 4 stars. If Locations is intended to help future guests get a sense of the area, why does it need to have an effect on my rating? Let the guests mark the Location, but don't link this mark to my rating, is this not more sensible?
If I carry on getting less than 4 stars for Location my overall rating will decrease without me being able to intervene. And Airbnb will lose on service fees, because an otherwise good property won't receive the number of bookings it deserves: this just because Location is one of the criteria. So having Location as criterion is financially disadvantageous for Airbnb as well.
If Airbnb wants to keep Location as criterion (and I understand the rationale for keeping it), it should keep Location but not linking it to the property. And also it should be specified what Location means: the immediate neighbourood, the quarter, the whole area, the whole town?
Thanks, Valerio