So why do we get 'warnings' from Airbnb for 4 STARS?

[Rachael26]

As Hosts we are all working towards satisfied guests and lots of bookings. And using Airbnb means we also have to be concerned with the Review System - and the dreaded pressure to achieve 5 Stars. Not only because some of us may want to achieve SuperHost (the jury is still out for me as to whether there are any significant benefits to being a SuperHost - the increased expectations from guests v. a dedicated phone line and a $100 travel credit - hmmmmm, still not sure!) but also the pressure to keep above a 4.5 average, because when you dip below that number Airbnb start to send warnings of suspension and all sorts of negative things. As if the pressure of hosting wasn't enough!

So my question is this - is it fair for Airbnb to have such a high average standard (above 4.5) which basically makes anything lower than an overall 5 Star 'Bad'....... but the email they send to guests after a stay doesn't point this out. It actually reads like this (see below) and I believe this is sending one message to the guest - while sending another message to the Host.

'How was your stay at Fred's place?

Terrible

Bad

Okay

Good

Great

Share your experience while it’s still fresh. Your review will help Fred improve and tells future guests what to expect.'

SO IF FOUR STARS ARE CONSIDERED GOOD - and Airbnb sends this explanation out to the guest with the review request - then why such an unsupportive reaction from Airbnb when Hosts get a 4 star review?

Wouldn't most people booking a place to stay to save money and somewhere cheaper than a hotel - wouldn't they be happy with a 'Good' place? And delighted, but not expected, if a place turned out to be 'Great'? So why is it so bad from Airbnb's point of view to get a mix of 4 star and 5 star reviews?

I also agree with the suggestion that Airbnb should wait to send the warning emails until a host receives an overall 4 star review three times in a row. That would be more indicative of below par performance than the occasional 4 star overall that some guests just seem determined to give to be difficult or whatever reason they have in their heads.

This email message from Airbnb to the guests (showing 4 stars to mean 'Good' and 5 stars 'Great') is not helpful if Airbnb continue to use a different measuring stick for Hosts (meaning 4 stars is not 'Good' but you are failing as a Host).

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Rachael26

if 3 is Okay then Airbnb shouldn't send any threatening messages until star rating doesn't fall under 3

[David-and-Di0]

Rachel, very succinct and totally logical argument. We agree with you. Airbnb needs to revise their negative attitude towards hosts who receive 4 star ratings from their guests. Sending warnings, (including risk of being suspended) to hosts is not justifiable!

[Rachael26 · Accepted solution]

@David-and-Di0

Thank you, and agreed! I think the suspension warning is particularly harsh - it must come as such a shock, especially when considering the importance of the extra income to most hosts. 

Best WIshes.

[Ryan131]

The easiest thing to do is simply block guests that leave less then a five star review. I've had numerous repeat stays from 3-4 star guests, and they don't 'get' that anything less then five stars is a vote to remove you from airBNB. For these guests, it's not worth the risk of hosting them again, so flag their message, classify it as "something else" then block them.

[Solange22]

That's a good idea! I was wondering what that flag was for! learned somthing very important. thank you!

[Chris974]

How do you know which guest leaves lower than a 5 star review? All of my reviews are absolutely positive, yet my overall star rating is creeping to a 4.5-4.6

[Sandra856]

Hi @Chris974

If you look under 'progress' and scroll down you can see all the reviews and the stars giving from each guest in every categorie 🙂

[Chris974]

Thank you that was very helpful. What's really strange to me about this is my rating went from a 4.7 in december to a 4.5 now and the only guest I have had since then left me a 5 star review/rating... is there a new algorithm or something? I don't understand what's going on. I've been googling around and that's how i ended up in this community chat

[Corinne188]

@Chris974  Same for me Chris, however I have two properties listed.  Apparently if you have multiple listings it ends up merging the ratings.  If you only have one from how it was explained to me by a customer service rep with Airbnb that should not have happened.  I would definitely contact them and ask for an explanation as to why your rating dropped in light of a recent 5 star rating.  And remember, regardless of the sub categories the final question is the ONLY one that matters.  Overall experience.  if they put anything less than a 5 your rating will drop.  I had guests leave me a 5 in all categories but the overall experience they put a 4 (yes go figure?) and it made my rating decline.

[Chris974]

 Thank you Corinne I will have to ask them what's going on. One thing I've noticed is that the category I lose a star in (especially from European guests) is "value". I'm not even sure what this category means. Living in NYC is one of the most expensive places to live on the planet, so how is is fair that they can accept a price, get exactly what they saw in the listing, mark everything as 5 stars, and then put 4 stars under Value?" That's literally the only thing i've had stars removed from over the years and like I said, my last few guests have been Americans and they just leave 5 star ratings across the board.

[Corinne188]

@Chris974 Absolute pleasure Chris, I am still navigating my way around this web site as well even though I have had my listings on it for two years.  It is just madness.  I can't stress enough however the SUB category ratings are pure **bleep**e, they are meaningless.  So don't worry if they leave you a 1 in terms of value.  ALL tha matters is the final question our guests fill out överall experience".   Accuracy, Check In, Cleanliness, Communication, Location and Value are pretty much worthless questions.  We as hosts don't see that question in written form, only in terms of stars under our progress, I hope that makes sense?  According to Mini (airbnb rep who answered me with GREAT patience as I am an ex IT person and asked her a million questions on this absurd rating system) it is only the final question that impacts our overall star rating.  Let me dig out the correspondance and copy and paste it so everyone can see her detailed response.  In the meantine.  all of us hosts need to gather together and keep hammering aribnd and tell them how unfair this rating system is, it makes no sense.

[Anthony608]

@Chris974I am at 4.6 right now, getting a lot of 4 stars in "location" and 'accuracy" as well, with some 4's overall.  I'm glad someone else had the same issues I have had.  My most recent string of visitors, about the last three or four, were people who seemed unable to be pleased with thier stay no matter what was done.  I did get some good feedback, espeically about areas that needed to be cleaned.  I was actually happy to see you are a superhost with about a 4.5 cleanliness rating.  I've had some very unfair cleanliness ratings I think, the most ridiculous being a woman who didnt like the smell of the clean bathroom as well as a comment that the rugs were not vacuumed when vacuum marks could be seen in the floor.

[Huma0]

@Sandra856

Yes, this is true, but those individual star ratings for each guest are misleading, because if they don't leave a rating for a category, it shows as 5 stars. That doesn't mean you get 5 stars for each category by default. Your ratings will not go up in the individual categories if the guest didn't score you.

E.g. if guest X leaves you 5 stars overall, but 4 stars for location and doesn't leave a rating for the other categories, it will show as 5 stars overall, 4 stars for location and 5 stars for the other categories, when this is in fact not correct at all. The unrated categories will stay the same and only the overall experience and location categories will be affected.

I hope that makes sense.

[Sandra856]

@Huma0

Ohh, I didn't know that. I thought that to be able to submit a review you had to fill out every categorie. I don't think I fully understand what you are explaining at the moment haha.. I'm so tired and I just had this very annoying guest I have to deal with. But thanks for taking your time to explain 🙂