Reviews of guests

[Erin406]

I’m relatively new to AirBNB  but having read a few reviews I now realise it is mainly a forum for hosts not guests. I must say I am very pleased at the quality of the accommodation I have stayed in over the last few years all over the world and find it to be an excellent option both short and longer term. But I’m interested in why hosts don’t leave reviews? I don’t really mind as I always leave the place very clean, and the few reviews I have received are good, but was intrigued that two recent hosts did not and was wondering why? For one I left a slightly critical but honest review as I felt the previous reviews were not really reflective of the property, but overall it was positive because it was cheap an found at short notice. The other was a 5 star but no guest review was left. Any ideas?

[Paul1255]

Hi @Erin406  I hope you are well!

There are lots of reasons why hosts, (and also guests) don't leave reviews, a few might be:

-Many hosts may be running large management businesses and won't have time to review each guest, or even have met or known the guests in question.

-The process can be rather tedious on both sides, so some hosts and guests prefer not to take the time to review.

- Some host and guests don't make a habit of reviewing generally.

It's important to review as a host and as a guest, so it's good that you do- it helps the community and hosts and guests to build their profiles and hopefully create an accurate reflection of the host or guest.

Best wishes,

Paul 🙂

[Emilia42]

@Erin406, I think you will find that many hosts who participate in these forums are the hosts who are leaving reviews for their guests. That is because we understand the importance of participating in the Airbnb community to inform other hosts and give feedback to our guests. I don't know why some hosts do not bother to give reviews (I have been a guest as well and have not received some reviews.) It may be because they have little to do with the actual hosting, or because they think their review doesn't really matter. I do know that some hosts will not be the first to review, in hopes to not prompt the guest whom they suspect will leave a bad review. We need to hear from some hosts who never leave guest reviews. Why? I'm curious as well.

[Erin406]

I’m also a bit confused by the star system. I usually give 5 stars if the description of the property is accurate, it is clean and communication is good (I’m easy to please). But I think it is important to point out drawbacks to future guests (lack of kettles, microwaves and wifi and whether there is an elevator in >2 floors. Often this information is not included in the description of hosts and guests and would affect whether a person would stay there or not over a comparable property . Is it better to post this stuff publicly or write a private note to the owner to put it in their description?