Star rating

[Ingrid531]

Doesn’t make sense to me when guests give all 5 stars on cleanliness, hospitality etc but there overall rating is below 5! 

[Emilia42 · Accepted solution]

@Ingrid531 The overall rating is not an average but a separate category. So the guest has specifically selected a 4 star rating. You could message the guest and say something like "Thank you again for staying and for your review. I see that you have given your stay an overall rating of a 4 star. May I ask what it was about the stay that did not earn a 5 star review. I am always trying to improve so any feedback would be greatly appreciative."

If the guest responds that could give you some clarity. 

[Maria568]

Emilia42 Ohh I did not that , thank you for clarifying .

[Irina293]

İt still makes no sense to me since Overall rating is the most important category that appears on your listing page and influences your competitiveness and business as such. İf a guest leaves a totally positive review and 5* in all or most of the categories + complements on cleanness, hospitality etc. and 4* overall rating it can be considered inconsistent, irrelevant, confusing or biased, whatever you call it but it definitely doesn't reflect the guest's overall experience.

Our hard efforts to provide best services to guests should be evaluated in a more objective way and not left to a guests whim or sudden change of heart.

[Maria568]

I totally agree Irina. The star system is flawed. 

[Henri569]

How can we get the attention from Airbnb that this star rating is flawed ?

It would be nice if Airbnb would do a better job at explaining guests what their stars do.

Reviews like the pictures shows, they just don't make sence and makes it clear to me that the guest just does not understand how it works.

[Emily1166]

I've reached out to Airbnb Support about their flawed star rating system multiple times and they honestly just don't care. The only thing I can suggest doing is writing feedback. Maybe if enough of us give our feedback, Airbnb will change their flawed and unfair system. 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback

[Jennifer2682]

@Emily1166 Yes!  I've left feedback about the flawed rating system as well.  If enough hosts call Airbnb out on it, maybe we can influence some sort of change. Honestly, I wish they would just do away with stars altogether and simply allow hosts and guests to leave only written feedback.  

[Daniel7651]

Completely agree! The overall experience rating is ridiculous if everything else is 5 stars. 

[Patty5]

I am not actually replying to this post but I find the star rating very annoying when a guest who has stayed gave 4 star overall rating but minus a star on listing description.  This is the first time ever, but when a guest has a limited understanding of English I suppose this can happen.  I as a host, or any host, should not be penalised for their lack of understanding some aspects of the English language.  I might add, that in my welcome letter I ask guests to let me know at the time of their stay if anything is not to their satisfaction so things can be rectified.  To lose a star without being told why is my complaint and apparently I as a host have no recourse or explanation is very,very frustrating and totally unfair.

[David1061]

The star rating system is, to put it bluntly, a crap shoot. The last guests  had a couple of odd criticisms ; our rental cottage has a small convection oven instead of a microwave (clearly noted in the description) which they described as "old style" (for crying out loud; it is LED and very modern!!) and while they gave 5 stars in every category, they rated overall as 4 stars.....WTF! We have been renting since 2005; long before Air bnb existed and have been on Air bnb since it began.  You can expect bizarre reviews from time to time and there is bugger-all that Air bnb will do about them. So suck it up buttercup.