Reviews Out of Chronological Order is HURTING Host Business!

[Kate260]

Im having a BIG problem with the new policy to not order the reviews chronologically so that 1 unfavorable review from the worst guest I had in 5 years (out of most 5 star 51 reviews) keeps showing up at the top of my page while 5 great reviews are buried on page 4-5 where NO ONE will ever see them. Also makes it look like not many people stayed with me this year. Nobody at Airbnb can tell me WHY they changed this or how it's supposed to help Hosts get bookings when if fact it's HURTING hosts like me. I haven't had an inquiry in 32 days and this is NOT normal.. will cancel my account and go to Homeaway or VBRO if someone doesn't listen to me!

Any suggestions out there?

---

Response from Airbnb

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. Your experience as a host matters, and we’re constantly looking for ways to support your hosting success. You’re noticing that reviews are being sorted a bit differently than they had before. Here’s what’s changed and why:

We’re sorting reviews by language and country first so that when a traveler looks at your listing, they see reviews by your previous guests who either speak their language or are from their same country. This way when a French traveler looks at your listing, they’ll see all your reviews from French guests first, in chronological order—and then they’ll see the rest of your reviews, also in order. The intention is to help travelers find the reviews most accessible and relevant to them. So, not all travelers will see the same lineup of reviews.

This new sorting method does not take into account the review rating or sentiment of guest feedback, and we don’t intentionally surface poor reviews.

We made this change because we found that allowing guests to see reviews they understand helps them make a more informed decision and increases the chances you’ll get a booking. We’ll continue to take your feedback and concerns into consideration as we build and improve Airbnb with you in mind.

The Airbnb Team

---

[Adam-and-Carol0]

I agree with this as well. Reviews should be in order. For example, we got a bad review a couple times because of an uncomfortable mattress. We've since replaced the offending mattress, so it wouldn't make any sense to have that review ahead of ones from guests who's slept on the new mattress. It gives new potential guests the wrong impression unless they notice the dates on the reviews.

I don't know what airbnb is thinking but no other ecommerce site would ever think of sorting their reveiws this way, unless reviews could be 'liked'. Then you can sort them based on popularity or usefulness. 

[Dixie7]

Plain and simple, reviews should be in chronological order.

[Loretta2]

It's so stupid- does not take into account any changes I might have made since the last guest from my home country, which is the first to show up.....and even worse, it suggests to potential guests that we prefer local guests who speak English- whereas most of our guests are from other countries and speak every language under the sun- please change this senseless policy- it doesn't help anybody!

[Douglas109]

Cosigning this. Saw a glowing review from a Spanish-speaking guest go straight to the last page. The system is supposed to be designed to ensure a high percentage of reviews from hosts and guests, but this feature ensures a lot of these reviews go to waste and are never read.