4.2 star rating cutoff

[Hancock-Point0]

We're considering adding prose along the following lines to our
standard Welcome message, after having our listing "suspended" because
our rating fell below 4.2 as a result of a run of 4-star ratings plus "great place, had a
wonderful stay, we'll be back" comments:

  We hope you enjoy your stay, but do want to hear about ways we could
  improve, so please do write a review.   We love to hear about your
  experiences, and always pay very careful attention to what you
  write.

  But the star ratings are a problem.  They don't tell us anything
  specific enough to be helpful, and have consequences you are probably
  not aware of and that may surprise you:  Five-star does not mean
  "This was like a 5-star hotel" or "This house is top-of-the market
  luxurious".  It means "This house was just as it advertised itself to

  be, or better".   And four-star does not mean "This was like a very good hotel".

  It means "This house fell short of what it it claimed to be".

  The sad fact (for us) is that AirBnB treat any review below 5-star

  as a negative review, and too many reviews of 4-star or less

  cause your listing to be removed.

Has anyone tried anything along these lines before?  Do they violate
AirBnB policy as far as anyone can see?

[Sarah977]

@Hancock-Point0  There are many threads on the forum regarding this, it has been discussed extensively. Here's one : https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/How-can-we-Hosts-quot-educate-quot-Guests-about-how-the-...

Airbnb tells guests that 4*s means "Good", then turns around and threatens or suspends hosts for a "good" rating, which is appalling. So it's no wonder guests rate 4* when they were perfectly happy with their stay, when Airbnb lies to them.

So yes, it falls on hosts to educate the guests as to how the rating system is applied to hosts. Some hosts don't feel comfortable doing this, but I let all my guests know, and they have thanked me and are shocked that Airbnb would do this. They never had any intention of tanking a host's rating. And I'm confident that any guest I've explained this to will never rate a place they were happy with 4*s again.

[Hancock-Point0]

Thanks @Sarah977  for the pointer:  I'm new to the forum, did search before posting, but not well enough to find the right threads!

[Sarah977]

@Hancock-Point0  Yes, it's hard to figure out what key words might bring up topics of interest. I wouldn't know where to find the other threads, I know there are a few.

[Ange2]

@Hancock-Point0     Here's a post on this forum with a link to a Forbes article re: the insane star rating system and many helpful comments on how to address it with guests.  Good luck!  Suggest you do a search for "Star Rating" you many find a few other helpful posts.   @Robin4  has some excellent posts on this so you could add robin to the search and they should come up.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Excellent-Forbes-article-about-the-weakness-of-the-Airbn...

p.s. I looked at your listing and you have great reviews but I did notice it was an 'old' house and the rating for cleanliness was not 5.  My listing is in an old building and some people think new=clean and old=dirty so I do go out of my way to explain that is not the case, everything is scrubbed clean (as many guests have pointed out) but there are always a few who can't wrap their minds around the old/new dilemma! or have expected daily maid service to clean up their mess and ding me (their unpaid/non-existent maid) for not clearing their mess up.