lower location rating (due to traffic) brings down overall star rating to 4?

[Hana865]

This has happened twice now.

A guest left a lower star rating for location DUE TO TRAFFIC.

Our listing is in West Seattle where a major bridge is under construction. We make this fact very clear to guests when they book the place. In addition to that, West Seattle is a popular local destination, as it has one of the only sand beaches around. Not sure why guests don't due their due diligence to map out the location prior to booking it.

In any case, both guests gave us 3 out of 5 stars for location. 5/5 stars for all categories. However, these both brought the overall star rating down to a 4 out of 5. Despite almost perfect ratings for all other categories (out of 35 reviews), our overall star rating for our listing is now a 4.91. In fact it dropped from 4.95 to 4.91 with this one rating (see below)! 

I am extremely confused. When I searched for this issue on the airbnb platform, I saw an article that says that location ratings are not weighted as much as the other categories. Wondering how and why it's dropping our rating so much. Has anyone else had this issue? 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Hana865 the individual ratings for cleanliness, location etc do not contribute to the properties rating.It is only the overall rating given by the guest that affects the property rating. As such there is no weighting given to anything

[Hana865]

Thanks for your response. 

Ah, I get what you are saying.

That is still very frustrating, as I'm sure many guests look at the star ratings for the individual categories, and it is very clear from their written review that everything BUT THE TRAFFIC was an issue 😞

[Gwen386]

Hi @Hana865 It is unfair that you were rated 3 out of 5 on location when it was clearly stated to guest prior to booking. However, don’t let it get you down. You see, you can’t help your location, but by having a great rental that’s both gorgeous and super clean helps. It balances that 3*. Your overall rating only dropped .04 percent. Believe me, a guest is not going to think, “I don’t want to stay there, it’s only 4.91 out of 5. 

[Anonymous]

@Hana865  The guest marks the Overall rating separately from the individual categories. Based on their private comments, they clearly had some small criticisms about the home itself (specifically, the amount of clothes storage space) rather than just the traffic, so 4/5 stars is probably an accurate reflection of how they felt about the stay. But other guests haven't had the same complaints, so you might just have to take those with a grain of salt. 

[Eric6104]

@Hana865 that's tough 😕 I'm sorry to hear that. I think as long as your sub-categories stay above 4.7 & your overall is above 4.8, then you should be totally fine. 

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