Reviews

[Farzan28]

I have had one of my most nightmarish day with Airbnb so far. Im sure it may not seem like much compared to the true horror stories I've seen here with bad guests, but I have put a lot of time and effort in to my listing and to even start a good basis of cliental, have even placed the price lower then what I pay for my apartment to get started with the experience of hosting guests. So far I have excelled and have met all of my guests need and have done everything right. Upon the completion of my last guests stay, he rushed in reviewing me and accidentally clicked 4 star for my location instead of 5 star and immediately reached out to me to apologize and asked for help to change it. After countless calls with Airbnb Representatives I was offered no solution in the event of a accidental place of stars in a review or any way to find a solution for me not to lose my accolade on my airbnb listing that said "100% of recent guests have rated this location 5 stars". Even though it may have been small, it meant a lot to me as someone who sacrificed everything to make this dream possible and Airbnb my career.  It makes my page feel empty and takes away all I have worked for to achieve that, all because of a mistake. I hope a better system can be put in place to help rectify reviews, even in a short period of time after they have been posted, if the guest and host agree to it especially if it was clicked wrong accidentally. It has really hurt me and I wouldn't wish any other Host to be in this position. 

[Brian2036]

@Farzan28 

You have my sympathies and I suspect that this happens more often than we might expect.

Unfortunately there’s probably nothing you can do about it.

You should thank the guest for being decent enough to explain that they weren’t trying to insult you.

As some extremely experienced and successful hosts have noted here, it is best to avoid any contact with CS.

They do not want to hear from you and they really don’t care about your problems, particularly when it comes to reviews and ratings.

It appears that someone at a high level thinks it’s clever and advantageous to keep hosts worried about reviews. The best policy is to ignore them unless the guest offers a valid criticism that you can address.

[Elena87]

@Farzan28 

What an atrocious and absolutely irremediable experience.

I once had a guest on arrival by car, not used to the city and accidently drove up a patrolled one way street the wrong way and received a driving violation.

I feared the worse and two weeks after the trip, my fears came true.. the check-in category in the review only had three stars.

I immediately offered the guest a full refund, a free return trip, a new Mercedes GLC with built in sat-nav warning about one way streets plus use of an experienced chauffeur just in case, if only he would rescind the three stars of shame.

But alas, no deal. However after a year of intensive therapy, I was once again ready to host.

Each year, my friends and family assemble, we solemnly march down to that one way street and hold a small candlelit vigil. I feel your pain too.

[Mark116 · Accepted solution]

@Farzan28  I'm sorry that  happened and yes much about airbnb's review system is unfair.  With that said, you are going to eventually run into an actual 'bad' guest, maybe not someone who is destructive or dangerous, but someone who will give you a 3 or 4 rating for a totally insane, oddball reason.  You need to emotionally distance yourself from the reviews and the ratings,  when you get a really unfair review you don't want to let it have so much impact.  Good luck.

[Ben4066]

Everything about airbnb is based on these reviews.  One cannot simply shrug one's shoulders and say "oh, well." Airbnb needs to address the imbalance in the review process that favors bad guests and punishes good hosts.

[Danial19]

This might be good advice for a bad situation, however it's not a realistic approach to poor review management by Airbnb and the impact it has on the reputation/income of hosts.

We host our apartment in Dubai and the laws are very strict here. Every checkin has to be documented with the government. We let this guest know 2 months prior to checkin that we require passport copies of all of the guests as it needs to be submitted to the government and building management.

On the day of checkin they show up at the building (40 floor tower with 400+ apartments). We obviously don't own the entire building - only that apartment. They lied to security claiming they had sent the passports to us. In good faith to us, security let them up. Later we discussed with security and they asked us why we hadn't sent the documentation over. Obviously, because they never provided us with it and security should not have let them up. Now they were essentially squatting in the apartment. I went up and told them to please send the passports. I was polite and asked them if I could help with anything. They said no and shut the door in my face. Again, did not send the documents.

My mistake? I should have called the police and removed them. But my mentality has always been making it the best experience possible for guests because I try to put myself in their place. What they did was against the law, against building policy, and against our house rules. We did not provide them with an access card to the building and told them they would get it after providing their passports. 

Later on in the reviews they gave us 3/5 and claimed we refused to provide access cards. They claimed there was a leakage. When we inspected it - it was just condense because they kept the A/C on max and left the balcony door wide open (dubai summers). The temperature difference obviously causes condense. They also claimed we refused to help resolve this "leakage" which is absolutely not true.

These ratings impact our listing and its rank. They can lead to people avoiding our listings and impact our income. Airbnb take a huge cut from that rental amount, however offer the hosts very little in terms of support.

[Cynthia24]

That would be a fine Christian thing to do but they are playing with our income when they do that. 

[Elizabeth2240]

late I am, but I agree.   We have had oddball 3-4 star for silly reasons.    The silliest was for a car wash down the road " ripping them off".   It's really hard when you put so much into it.  You go above and beyond. People are people and some have ridiculous standards, some never give perfect reviews.   Some just don't think.  Having said that, I find most are pretty fare.  Just don't get too upset at the few guests who truly don't rate you right!   

[Jayne--and---Steve0]

HELLO!

  I do not want to rate guests anymore. With proof (evidence) I may give a 5 star guest a 4 or 3. I figured out that it may be better not to be honest and give them all 5 stars. The guests report directly to Air B and B and manufacture a lie to provide a low rating. They are mostly looking  for money. I have sure learned alot about that after 10+ years.  The ones I see usually have 5 stars. Is this because every guest gets five stars? Should I just stop reviewing people and give them five stars.

I also have experienced nightmares with guests and AirBnB. 

Help! I am ready to put a sign on the front lawn, that states  rooms for rent.

Thank you! Jayne

Whites Mtn. NH

[Robert991]

I have a situation where a guest posted a negative report but did not stay at our Villa and sent false pictures and a report to Airbnb which were unfair. Why is this allowed?

[Robert991]

I do not believe negative reports should be published before a fair hearing is heard.

[Dana1086]

I agree. I believe there are strategically manipulative and somewhat mean ones out there.  I've had interesting experiences and only started this year.  The 5-star guests seem

to be the rare ones, at least so far in my experience.

[Carol7608]

they havent got enough staff to do that.

[Gema57]

I have found that these may be helpful in dealing with the possibility of a negative or lower review because a guest doesn't understand the "grading system".  https://www.etsy.com/listing/997458841/airbnb-5-star-rating-explanation-magnet?click_key=d2829f26694... 

**[Image removed - Community Center Guidelines]

[Elizabeth2240]

We have had mostly all 5 stars.  We e had lots of positive things said.  However, recently we had 2 guests mark us as 3 in a few areas.  They don’t seem to have a reason and I asked them. It was in communication and check in.  
I send a note the morning of arrival. 
i leave a personal note. 
i have a clearly marked notebook with instructions. 
i check on them. I answered questions in 2 minutes.  

check in .. there are pictures on  app with instructions. 
We send  a text the day they come with instructions. 
we have self check in  and they get a code to door.  Once inside they get keys if they prefer . 

Asking what I could improve or did they just give me a low rating for no apparent reason.  

Thank you so much for feedback. 
Elizabeth 2240