Reviews affected by Location

Ian311
Level 2
Oulu, Finland

Reviews affected by Location

Hi

 

I have been hosting on AirBnB for about a year now. I took a break for 3 months at the start of the year and have started again. Since I began again I have been getting 5 stars for pretty much every aspect of my hosting except the location which is getting 4 stars. This is pulling my average down and clearly, there is nothing I can do about the location of the flat. Does anyone have any suggestions how I can get my average back as this seems to be very unfair since the location is clearly mentioned in the description.

 

BR

 

Ian

10 Replies 10

@Ian311

 

A lot of hosts are having the same problem. I have included in my photo of my building, text that asks any potential guest to check that the location meets their requirements and even suggested that they use Google Street Maps to take a look at the street/area if they wish. 

 

I also message every guest after they have left and thank them for their reservation and give them a brief guideline on how to complete a review......guests just do not understand the consequences of a review rating  or what "location" really is ..no one tells them 

 

It is unfair and everyone is somewhat fed up of banging their heads against a brick wall trying to get Airbnb to understand that ...

 

I hope you have read this post and added a comment 

 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-Updates/Clarity-about-the-recent-Superhost-criteria-chang...

 

 

Thanks Mike! 

 

Its been quite frustrating putting in the effort to make my place well ranked only for it to be brought down by somehing completely out of my control!!

 

Cheers

 

Ian

Letti0
Level 10
Atascosa, TX

@Ian311 I got a 4 on location even though I state I am rural a number of times in my listing and rules. Here's a review I got. 

Easy access to downtown San Antonio, but a little hard to find in the dark for the city folk (which is the ONLY negative we could find with this property). 

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Letti0   I wonder what those guests would think if they were also hosts and you stayed at their place and wrote a review that said "a little hard to find in the dark for rural folks" 🙂

Tad5
Level 2
Havana, FL

It's the nature of the beast, although I do not like it.  My Airbnb is in the FL Keys and I have a description of what the coastline and beaches (or lack thereof)  are like.   Yet every other guest calls or texts me asking, "where is a nice beach where we can go swimming?" 

 

.......... Host puts two fingers to temple and pretends to pull trigger.

 

So if the less than five star on location isn't enough, and this is mostly with young people whom I generally don't rent to give less than five stars for value.  I had a college couple (law school) rent my place during peak season.  A less than average hotel room is over $200. per night, they get a fully equipped one bedroom condo, top floor of complex for $135 per night + whatever Airbnb tacks on but it's still an unbeatable deal.  Three Stars on Value is what they give me.  Five on everything else.  

 

Time to wrap my head in duct tape so it all stays together when it explodes..

 

Ahhh, the joys of hosting..

@Ian311   Location is not supposed to count as of last year, although I have my doubts as to whether that is true.  See this link and full response on Airbnb musings

Location as a guest review point

Airbnb Response on Location:  *** Since it’s not something you can change or control, it doesn’t impact the overall Star Rating for the listing or Superhost status."

Lois-and-Darryl0
Level 10
Rochester, WA

I'm surprised that Airbnb has not yet solved the issue of "location" reviews - as one or two low stars on Location can have a long-lasting impact to your average.  We have hosted over 90 bookings, and live very close to national parks in a rural / remote area.  We describe our property in the FIRST sentence of our listing, and say "while not remote, our home is private and quiet."  (It has a 6-foot privacy fence and tall trees around it.)  Our listing ALSO has multiple pictures of the neighborhood.  However, we still get dinged for our location.  This will continue for all of us, and while I continue to look for a solution by Airbnb, I've yet to find one.  When is this huge and brilliant company going to resolve this issue that is out of our control, that impacts their best hosts?  We've done everything to educate people in advance -- we don't want people who are going to "ding" us for location, although they love the photos.  We know most Guests don't read the listing.  What is Airbnb going to do about these issues that are out of the control of excellent Hosts?

@Lois-and-Darryl0  The location rating does not impact your overall rating in any way. At about the 40 minute mark on the video the CEO talks about reviews and location is one of the topics she brings up. 

 

YouTube Video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtkZKIOip00

@Lois-and-Darryl0  The individual star ratings are not counted towards the Overall rating. The Overall star rating is a separate rating the guests are given. It is not an average of the individual ratings.

Laurent308
Level 3
Philadelphia, PA

Please be clear on your description of the location. That could help. Answer any review which mentions the location so you can clarify it and the pros and cons