reviewing VALUE

[Wendy-And-Lisa0]

it's been pointed out to us by other hosts that - Guests rate hosts with stars in various categories, but VALUE is not a fair/ honest. Airbnb charges quite a bit more than the listing's nightly rate and cleaning fee etc. ie. when we have traveled as guests with airbnb the star rating of VALUE would be the total money paid to airbnb. That may be a low value, but the initial nightly rate and cleaning fee was a great value. VALUE should be removed and replaced with something more clear. - REVIEW OPTIONS altogether need to be refreshed. ie. CLEANLINESS / TIMELY RESPONSE FROM HOST/ LISTING FOUND IN GOOD CONDITION / LISTING AS PICTURED are 4 clear ratings. location and value are too wiggly.

[Anonymous]

@Wendy-And-Lisa0   I agree with you. Value ratings are a totally useless metric for guests considering listings; they don't even know what previous guests spent, let alone what they felt the home was worth. It doesn't make sense at all if you take the review system at face value. So why is it there in the first place? A couple of possibilities:

1)  Behavior modification: knowing guests will be prompted to rate on value might pressure hosts into lowering prices.

2) Machine learning:  the aggregate data generated by millions of Value and Location ratings can be used to train the smart-pricing and search algorithms to identify guests' price thresholds and desire lines within whole markets, even though they reveal nothing about the specific listings. 

3) Sellable data:  Being able to track how much you will tolerate spending before they feel they're not getting a good deal generates lucrative information for other companies targeting you or similar consumers.