Superhost 4.8 average

[Sara196]

A guest can only rate a stay with a 4* or a 5*, and there is no inbetween. Hence, in order to remain a superhost you are expected to have pretty much only 5* stars, since if you get for example 10 reviews, you can only afford having a single 4* to retain an average of 4.8.

However, I feel that this is unfair given than there's no possibility to rate between 4*-5*.

In American standards 10/10, 5/5 or 100 marks are more easily awarded. In the European social culture, a full mark means perfection. Wheter it is at school or univeristy, in the UK for instance an A is anything above 70%, wherelse in the USA it's 90%. 

So, my question, how can you realsitically expect hosts to remain superhost if they make it so hard ?

I always go the extra mile for my guests, wheter it's free pick up from the airport when they land late, free water fruits and snacks, giving them tips. Sending them messages with the current local events. It is very disppointing and deterring to go through all this effort and just get a mere 4*. It is becoming harder and harder to go the extra mile as for instance some French or Europan guests don't give a 5* easily - and this is due to their socio-cultural upbringing. 

Please airbnb, bring back the option to rate 4.5* !! 

[Sara196]

Maybe this sounds salty, but ever since we lost our superhost status we have paused our listing and are temporarly resorting to alternatives due to the disappointment.

Interactions with non-airbnb guest allow us  to feel less stressed and worried about our review or paranoid about any disturbance or possible "mistake". Since this is our personal space, we feel much more rewarded when we hear positive feedback from people than see a great review with just a 4* despite being told "amazing stay, exactly what we wanted". 

Am I the only one feeling this way ? 

[Ute42]

.

@Sara196 

Pls read this:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Circle/Guantanamo/m-p/754779#M6666

[Sarah977]

@Sara196  Of course you're not alone in feeling this way. In addition to link @Ute42 posted, read this thread as well:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-Updates/Making-reviews-more-fair-for-hosts/m-p/958909#M24...

[Maria3395]

Dear  Airbnb and Host colleagues, I'm really sorry for your difficulties 😞 

I am in Portugal and I think it's still more unfair for me 😞 because in one year we have more of 400 reviews. How can we get easily a classification of 4.8 with so many reviews? We have a smaller probability to get it. What do you think about???

Thanks for your opinions and greetings from

Maria Guedes

Manager of legal Guest-Houses

(at Lisbon - Portugal)

[Sarah977]

@Maria3395  No, you actually have a higher probability than hosts who have far less guests than you do. If a host with only 20 reviews a year gets two 4* reviews, and 18 5*s, those two 4* reviews bring their average way down. If a host has two 4* reviews out of 100 5* reviews, it has little impact. That's basic mathematics.

But of course it's actually dependent on the average rating you get from guests. If 10% of your guests rate 4*s, your rating will be the same as any host for whom 10% of their guests leave 4*s, no matter how many reviews you or they get in total.

So you have a better chance of getting a higher avaerage, as long as you can get your guests to understand the criteria in rating an Airbnb- that it has to do with whether the listing was as described and clean, not whether some other place they stayed was better, or because they expected things that weren't promised in the listing info. Most guests have no idea what a 4.5 average rating will do to a host, and Airbnb tells them 4*s is Good, so they don't realize they're making things bad for you. There's some guests who just won't give a 5* rating no matter what, but most have no desire to hurt the host, so education about the rating system is important.

[Maria3395]

Dear Sarah, thank you for your answer! I know the math myself but I might not have explained well: I have 60 listings at the moment - hence the 400 reviews - so that's why I say that I'm much less likely to be a Superhost. It's impossible, even with a large and very dedicated team, to give as much attention to each guest as I would give if I had just one or a few listings. Most of the superhosts I've met have only a few listings. Plus I feel like I'm also competing with a lot of host who are not legal and who don't have to take care of all the legal formalities that are demanded here in Portugal by the finances, border and imigatrion services, national statistics, etc.

[Sarah977]

@Maria3395  Well, I happen to think it's reasonable that a host with 60+ listings who doesn't have the time to give as much attention to each guest as those with 1 or two listings does, can't make Superhost. That category is meant to recognize hosts who do go above and beyond in a personal way for their guests, as reflected in the reviews and star ratings received.

You may be a very nice person, trying your best, but property managers with incredible numbers of listings are making things very difficult for small hosts as far as the search rankings and visibility, and guest expectations.