Guantanamo

[Ute42]

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2 weeks ago I've hosted my first group of airbnb guests and they were really nice people. As I was reading a lot in the german and english CC prior to my first hosting, I understood that it is important to get a good review. So I thought it might be useful to explain the airbnb review system to my guests before they leave.

So I told them:

• The airbnb review system is a 2-class reviewsystem.
  In class 1 (good) there is only one review tier and that is 5*.
  In class 2 (bad) there are 4 review tiers, 1* to 4*.

My guests were surprised and made big eyes, as we say in Germany, as they had never heard about such reviewsystem before. Then I showed them a screenshot of my airbnb dashboard were it clearly says: Required average 4.7* . They immediately understood, that each and every rating below 5* would bring the average down and therefore is a negative rating.

My guests asked me, why there's only one positive rating but 4 negative ratings. Obviously it would make a lot of sense that if there is only one positive rating there should be only one negative rating also. I personally actually don't know what the reaseon for the 4 negative rating tiers is, but maybe this is the meaning.

5* - liked the place

4* - didn't like the place

3* - want to hurt the host

2* - want to hurt the host big time

1* - want to ruin the host

As it looks, the ratings 1* to 3* are for retaliatory reviews only.

Let's forget about airbnb for a moment and let's think about, how any average down to earth person would design a reviewsystem:

 

For the guests: With this reviewsystem a guest can easily identify 41 different average reviewratings and can easily seperate good from bad places. The average would be 3* which is fine.

For the host: If You ever get a 1* rating this wouldn't bother You much, as one single 5* rating would make up for it.

But airbnb is running a different system. They require an average reviewrating of 4.7* and if a host does not achieve this, the host is threatened with being removed from the platform. If airbnb really does it, there will only be 4 average review tiers left.

5,0 = maximum...................................100%

4,9...........................................................98%

4,8 = Superhost....................................96%

4,7 = minimum requirement..............94%

4,6 = delisted

 

For the guests: It is impossible for guests to seperate good from bad accomondations, as there are only very good to very very very good places.

For the hosts: If You are a superhost with an average rating of 4.8* = 96% and You get a single one star review, You need 19 five star reviews to make up for that.

Also, with this reviewsystem You can end up in this weird situation:

Host A:..............5*.................................................................................average: 5,0

Host B:..............5*+5*+5*+5*+5*....5*+5*+5*+5*+5*....

…........................5*+5*+5*+5*+5*....5*+5*+5*+5*+5*....1*.................average: 4,8

So host B, who has 20 five star ratings is an inferior host compared to host A who has one 5* rating only? Come on.

Also, this one 1* rating that host B got may not reflect a bad hosting quality, maybe this was just a 1* guest. Bad education, bad credit rating, bad behaviour, always rates badly, who knows. So this existing airbnb rating can come up with results that are completely false.

Back to grafics:

• The required average is 4.7*, the minimum rating is 1*,
  so the difference between the two is 3.7 points.

• The required average is 4.7*, the maximum rating is 5*,
  so the difference between the two is 0.3 points.

That means, the punishment potential in this rating system is 12 times higher (3.7 devided by 0.3 = 12.33) than the reward potential. So seriously this is not a review-system but a punishment system.

I took me a wile to find out were such punishmentsystem would make sense, the only thing I came up with was a prision. Because in a prison the idea is to punish people for what they did and not to reward them. Lets assume, airbnb would run Guantanamo, the US Prision in Cuba, I think this would be their system to punish prisoners:

5* - prisoner gets beverage and food every day

4* - prisoner gets beverage every day and food every second day

3* - prisoner gets beverage and food every second day

2* - prisoner gets what's left over

1* - waterboarding

One person that recently got waterboarded by airbnb is Gregory in France, You can read his story right here:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/To-Clara-Liang-Product-Director-Last-min-cancellation-be...

There is no question in my mind, that there is only one reason airbnb runs such a punishing review system, and that is to put pressure on hosts to accept unappropriate guest behaviour: Guests show up with more people than booked, guests show up 5 hrs past check in, dogs were not mentioned, party, damage to the property and the like. And in fear of a bad review, many hosts accept all that.

Anyway, my way of explaining the airbnb review-system to my first guests was successful. I got a 5* rating all across the board.

[Maggie-and-Norm0]

Well said bravo!

[GregBnb0]

Hi @Ute42, 

I'm impressed with the quality of your work.

This is a real article that deserves to be published, not just a notice. 

I agree with everything, of course. 

The purpose of this system is to encourage hosts to accept any type of behaviour for fear of being misranked or their ad removed. 

Congratulations for your the job, really. 

 If it's okay with you, I'll translate it into French.

[Ute42]

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@GregBnb0go ahead and do the french version.

[Charmaine42]

Gregory - i'm totally impressed with the quality of work as well.  And, if you've taken the time to translate into French (with Ute's permission below), could you please send me a copy. I live in Montreal, Canada... and, we get a lot of French-speaking travelers looking for ABB accommodations.

Thanks so much both of you.

I'll out it out on my coffee table as reading material... and, perhaps, in the bathroom... as the read will move ya 🙂

lots of love to the world of intelligence and generosity-

charmaine

[Anonymous]

@Ute42 thank you for illustrating the fundamental problems with the way Airbnb is handling its rating system.

The "Basic Requirements" thing is a relatively new thing that has absolutely no function other than to bully hosts into absurd and desperate measures that have nothing to do with hospitality. We're required to maximize our star ratings, even though we have no control over them. I've gotten to where I can predict pretty accurately which guests are going to leave 5-star reviews and which won't before they even arrive, based on their correspondence.

So the choice I must make is:

a) decline all the guests who don't seem like a perfect fit for my home, and get a warning about my performance falling below the average due to decline rates

b) accept guests who clearly aren't at ease with a shared home, accept a 4-star rating, and get a warning about my ratings average slipping

It's a total Catch-22 unless there's a magical way to only get my listing viewed by the most perfect and amazing guests and nobody else.

And that's just on top of all of the things we feel pressured to do in order to ensure a 5-star rating, such as

- Overlook violations of our rules or disrespect to our households

- Shame guests into giving us perfect scores, potentially making them uncomfortable

- Accept damage to our property without pursuing compensation

After 7 years of hosting and hundreds of satisfied guests, it is insulting to be bullied like a schoolchild by a crass algorithm crunching arbitrary numbers. We have no use for a two-tiered status system. We gain nothing from being punished for a 4-star review from a guest who would happily stay at our home again. The anxiety provoked by threats takes the joy out of hosting. Those of us offering unique, personal experiences rather than streamlined hotel-type accommodations are feeling less and less welcome in Airbnb.

[Ute42]

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Hi @Anonymous ,

what airbnb achieves with this policy is, that hosts are now starting

to look for options. And those who are starting to look for options

first are the best renting listings of their inventory.

 @Fred  on his island doesn't need airbnb.

[Philip153]

Very true. I was do disappointed with the review policy that I am now opening my eyes and looking for other options  and like you said Airbnb is going to loose the loyalty of their best hosts. 

[Maggie-and-Norm0]

So true.

[Sarah977]

Wow, @Ute42  you really spent some time on that. Review system is insanely flawed. And now guests in some places don't even see star ratings- there is only text with boxes to check. The one that translates to 3* for us says "Met my expectations". So how exactly is it a bad thing to meet someone's expectations????

Then there's "A bit better than my expectations", which would equal 4* for us. Still sooooo bad. Only at "Exceeded my expectations" will you have a 5*.

That said, I have been cluing my guests in for quite awhile now as to how the ratings work for hosts. Most are shocked. Some say they feel bad because they gave the last place they stayed at 4* and it was fine and somewhere they'd book again, they had no idea. I never ask them to give me 5*s, just explain how it works for us hosts.

The way this is done by airbnb, not explaining any of it to guests, and then turning around and punishing hosts, borders on criminal behavior. Guantanamo indeed.

[Oomesh-Kumarsingh0]

@Ute42 Great job displaying all the details on how the rating system works! I think Airbnb need to change their slogan from 'Belong Anywhere" to the famous Mercedes benz slogan which is "The best or nothing"

[Alex939]

@Ute42 Outstanding job!

Guests like what you’re doing. Keep up the great work!

Edit:

I realised you are not a superhost and you may not be aware how Airbnb encourages them. Just wanted to express my appreciation for your efforts. I'm not good at math, even at arithmetic and I envy people with skills in this field.

[Jeet0]

@Ute42, thanks so much for writing this. Is is the best article that I have read about the rating system. It is indeed a punishment system that bullies hosts.

I have 118 reviews and most of the 4s are by guests who failed to read the information that I shared entirely, 3 stars are by the ones who just couldn't understand that an Airbnb is not a hotel and 2s and 1s are by a guests who:

1) One family that we caught stealing towels from our place

2) One family that just decided to lie in their review for no good reason (I did some detective work and found that this guests is an avid reviewer on google and likes to give poor reviews and never seems positives.)

3) A super conservative family that could not tolerate the presence of a male caretaker in the vicinity especially around their conservative women although my listing makes it very clear that he caretaker's family lives on the property.

In order to improve my rating, I have to work 10 times harder to please new guests. I don't know how long I can continue doing it without getting totally burnt out in order to not fall below 4.7

Here is an article that I had written a year ago when I received the first threat, I have highlighted why guests prefer to book me despite my non 4.7+ rating and why Airbnb should stop threatening me: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Voice/Airbnb-Warns-to-Suspend-my-Most-Booked-Listing/idi-p/...

[Cormac0]

@Ute42

Firstly THANK YOU

Secondly Ute, there is another interpretation can be made, that the rating system is in fact,

a CULLING system,

for weeding out less than stellar stellar performing Hosts after all there is a cue of Schmucks to take our place.

Coupled with this Airbnb’s not so smart pricing and what we have on our hands is a system of exploitation, driving standards up and prices down, while at the same time exposing Hosts potentially serious loss or damage.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Just-in-case-you-need-a-laugh/m-p/751945#M178227

80% of the hosts, in my opinion, are being exploited on these gig economy platforms and they need to wake up.

What the point of being a Super Host if it does not translate into higher prices or increased booking?

Final Ute, Illegitimi non carborundum

[Christine615]

This is the funniest (and truest) synopsis of the rating stem I’ve read. Thank you, Bravo!!!