Will I ever get back to a full five-star overall rating?

[Gordon0]

I have 247 reviews and a 4.9 overall rating. 

13 (all in/before 2015) were 4 star
The rest (234) were five star.

My question is, will I ever nudge back into the full five-star overall rating? Not obsessed, just interested. 

Edit. Six of those four-star reviews were from a returning guest!

[Emilia42]

@Gordon0 When rounding to the 100th decimal, I believe you will need 200 5-star reviews for every 4-star review to negate the four-star and bring you back to a perfect score.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Gordon0 

I agree. We got our first 4 star review recently even though the text feedback was very positive. I calculated I would need 194 more  5* reviews to get back to  5* overall. Oh well it was nice when we had a solid 5 but perhaps its too much to keep it for very long. Spreadsheet below:

1	4	4
26	5	130
27		134	4.96296296
	target 4.996 to round to 5
1	4	4
219.638837	5	1098.19418
220.638837		1102.19418	4.99546771

@Emilia42  Did you do the sums in your head?

[Emilia42]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

Similar to your math:

1 review x 4 stars = 4

100 reviews x 5 stars = 495

499  / 101 = 4.99

1 x 4 = 4

200 x 5 = 1000

1004 / 201 = 4.995

1 x 4 = 4

250 = 5 = 1250

1254 / 251 = 4.996

[Mike-And-Jane0 · Accepted solution]

@Gordon0 

Spreadsheet just for you:

Good thing you are not obsessed as it will take another 2707 5* reviews to get you back to 5!

@Lizzie I think this demonstrates the stupidity of 2 decimal places on the review average as well as a fundamentally flawed review system. Can I come to the hosting event to discuss please?1

13	4	52
234	5	1170
247		1222	4.95
	target 4.996 to round to 5
13	4	52
2915.55226	5	14577.7613
2928.55226		14629.7613	5.00

[Emilia42]

@Mike-And-Jane0

It would also make a lot of sense to eliminate all reviews that are over 2 years old. This works from both ends . . . A brand new place that consistently got a lot of 5-star reviews in the very beginning might be run down and poorly maintained now. Or a new host who struggled at first made all the necessary improvements but still suffers from a low rating based on reviews that are years old. 

[Gordon0]

Makes sense, @Emilia42, but only to us lot, not to those sipping mineral water in ivory towers... 

[Diane34]

I agree totally, and the more reviews you have the harder it is to keep the 5 star over the many years of having all types of customers.

I guess I will also be at a 4.9 for many years to come. I also have been getting all five stars and it is terrible one person can ruin it based on something that is subjective like "value". It depends on whether they have traveled in other Airbnb's and have something to compare to. I just had a newbie give me a "4" for value.

And she left five hours after my check out and claimed her son had taken off with her keys. Funny how when the son got back they still too their sweet time to leave after taking showers, etc. Never told me anything until after they left. Lucky for me I really did not need them to leave since I had two days before the next guest, but it was really worrisome wondering if they were actually going to leave or if I was going to have to go over there to tell them to leave...they were ghosting all my messages and phone texts.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Emilia42 

I agree totally with your thoughts.

I also think that when guests can only (I think) give a review to no decimal places it doesn't make a lot of sense to then calculate it to two decimal places.

@Gordon0 

You'll be pleased to know I got my maths wrong as 4.995 rounds to 5.00 so you only need 2696 more 5* reviews to get back to 5.00

[Gordon0]

Holy moly. You're a clever lot. Just 2,707 to go then...

[Susan17]

Mind. Blown. 

[Sarah977]

Aren't the stats for Superhost based on the previous year's activity? Wouldn't the star ratings counted only be for the previous year? Or are the star ratings something that holds over from when you started hosting, as opposed to the rest of the stats? 

[Emilia42]

@Sarah977 

Star ratings for your listing are counted since the beginning.

[Sarah977]

@Emilia42  Only for the Overall rating? Because I had one 4* for location a couple years ago, and the other 41 reviews that marked location as 5*s wouldn't be enough to bring that back up to a solid 5* on location, which is what my stats show.

[Emilia42]

@Sarah977 

The overall rating is calculated to the 100th decimal and the subcategories are calculated to the 10th decimal. So it is easy for the subcategories to be rounded up to a solid 5 and can happen quickly with many incoming 5 star reviews.