5 Star Rating System flawed

[Andrea522]

The rating system is out of 5 stars where I am (switzerland) but a lot of guests just give 4 stars and a really good review, perhaps thinking that "perfection is unatainable" which is a resonable position to hold.

But then Airbnb threatens to delist my listing because i'm at 4.4 and I'm seeing a message saying "you're at risk" on my page. 

How does this make sense ? How can you expect everyone to rate 5 stars ? People don't understand that 4 stars in bad in the eyes of the site. That's a relatively good rating in their view. 

I think the rating system should consider 3 stars the cut off level, not 4. That's extreme in my view. 

All this is doing is pushing people to try to game the system by asking for 5 star reviews. Please change this !! 

[Lawrene0]

Good points, @Andrea522, and this has certainly been brought up before. Take a look in Host Voice (in the dropdown under Discuss at the top of this page) and find the solution you like best. Give it a thumbs up. That is, right now, the most effective way to at least get an idea seen. 

Also see this: http://www.forbes.com/sites/sethporges/2016/06/29/the-one-issue-with-airbnb-reviews-that-causes-host...

You are not alone!

[Alexis51]

I absolutely agree!  I am also "at risk" although I have never had less than 4 stars and great reviews on all 3 of my listings. Additionally, Switzerland is not the only country with a culture that considers 5 stars as a "perfect score" and thereby not humanly achievable. If Airbnb is attempting to be culturally sensitive, it should take this into account and restructure the rating system and/or the "at risk" criteria. Fortunately, Airbnb is ever seeking to improve and recognizes the need to change things from time to time. If there are more of us out there with this opinion (as I am sure there are) please speak up. I think it is important for Airbnb to hear this concern so that hosts do not feel defeated by every non-absolutely-perfect-review 😉

[Alexis51]

Please don't miss the point: It is the threatening tone of the airbnb warning about being "at risk" that really gets my goat. I noticed a lot of talk about the "fairness" of the rating system on our community page. Honestly, I don't care if it is fair or not. The rating system is obviously arbitrary and subjective, as most of us know. Some guests simply do not give 5 star ratings. (I used to be one of them before I learned what it meant to my host.) Now, when I get less than 5 stars from a guest, it is generally from someone who I accomodated WAY above the call of duty. It seems that the more they ask for, the less chance that they will give my place a high rating, despite everything I do to make their stay comfortable and enjoyable.

Receiving fewer stars does not hurt me because I know that I provide a great place, at a great price, with all the support and friendliness I can reasonably offer. I do not expect special praise and I do not cry over ratings that aren't perfect. But why would airbnb would want to add insult to injury? I thought this was a mutually beneficial partnership. Am I mistaken?

Airbnb, please stop sending threats. It takes enjoyment out of working together with you. Trust your hosts and guests to show each other what works and what doesn't by using the review system. Decreased bookings is punishment enough if a host gets bad reviews. This will happen on its own without any further interference on your part. 

Thank you for considering this opinion. I hope it helps us to work better together to make our guests happy and promote a good business future for everyone!

[Huma0]

@Alexis51 no, the Airbnb warnings are not helpful! I could understand them sending these to guests who were consistently getting two, or maybe three, star ratings, but for a couple of four star ones? Luckily, I haven't got any of these warnings yet, but I do sometimes get four star reviews so it's only a matter of time I suppose.

You say you are not bothered about getting less than five star ratings. Good for you.

However, I am bothered, because it affects my superhost status and, if that isn't important, it affects my position in the search results, which most definitely is important! It also affects how many guests will book when they look at the reviews because guests get to see how a host is rating in the different areas. Again, important.

I am also bothered by the fact that the rating system seems unfairly weighted, i.e. what I mentioned in my other posts re four star reviews counting for more than the five star ones.

This is not crying over less than perfect ratings (some things I can improve, some I have no control over) or expecting special praise. It's wanting the five star ratings because they help my business!

However, I do think you are right to say that some guests will never give five stars whatever you do and we as hosts just have to accept that and not tear our hair out about it. I just want Airbnb to be a bit fairer about all this also, i.e. not encourage guests to complain for no reason or count one slightly negative review to mean much more than several postivie ones.

[Ange2]

@Andrea522   Yes, it is a crazy system when 5 Stars=Pass and  4,3,2,1 Stars =Failure in varying degrees.  I have heard that Uber fire their drivers if they get less than 4.5 stars but the difference is that the passenger (guest) star-rating is also visible, so the passenger (guest) gets punished too - not a top priority for a pick-up.  Everyone is aware of how it works and what it means. It certainly changes the playing field - and better it encourages both sides to play nice.

[Huma0]

@Ange2 That's very interesting. I didn't know that. 

Ebay also changed their review system a few years back so that buyers could leave positive, neutral or negative reviews, but sellers can only leave positive reviews for buyers. I have used the site extensively as both a buyer and seller and think this is ridiculous. As a seller you are left wide open to be taken advantage of as Ebay will also almost always side with a buyer if there is a dispute. I therefore rarely list anything on there anymore. 

The theory behind all of this is that buyers shouldn't be afraid to say something negative in fear of a retaliation from the seller. I guess in that respect, the Airbnb system works better because no one can see the other party's review when they write theirs.

However, star ratings for guests should be visible also and we should be able rate them on things like arrival if they can rate us on that.

[Monica4]

@Andrea522It is not just guests in Switzerland that feel a five star rating is impossible and consititutes perfection that is impossible to obtain! I have some very good repeat guests that have booked my house three times already. They love it but only give me four stars every time. I have thought of mentioning to them that they should give 5 stars but I know the mentality (I am Swiss too), so I just let it go.

It is true. We cannot be perfect. Airbnb has to change that attitude. For myself, I have never been threatened by Airbnb. Besides, I get less than half my guests through Airbnb. I do my best, and don't worry.

[Achla0]

Even I have got very very good reviews from Guests and they just love my place , but for them to give 5 star is like top most rating and yes one cannot be perfect though we all try our best to make our guests happy but getting a 5 star everytime is not possible. We cannot beg them for it. Keeping these parameters by Airbnb is very wrong. Not getting a super host status because you are not 80% times 5 Starred is very depressing. It feels as if even after putting up so much effort you are not recognised or awarded.

More over, I have noted this also that if a guest gives 3 or 4 star then Airbnb drops the % of rating to a very low level but if even 1-2 guests give a 5 Star then they raise it just by 1% , this bias is also very wrong. Airbnb should become more sensitive towards hosts who are giving them the earnings. It should be a 2 way friendly behaviour. 

[Luigi27]

I agree: all my guests are giving 5 stars on all the specific reviews and 4 stars on the main review. This is not fair and correct.

I am a 4.6 average doing the best I can to comply with Airbnb but their threat '' you are at risk'' is shameful and not respectuful

[Raffaele-and-Astrid0]

Hi All,

mhh, so what about  all superhost around? they get 5 stars more than 80% of the time... we get 5 stars 92% of the time, yes it is possibile get 5. we are superhost from the beginning, now we are at 70 guests in total, so we were lucky 65 times? sorry but I disagree.

@Andrea522  the message of "you are at risk", I think is just for the superhost status, no one going to delete your listing, I saw listing with all 3 stars and still working.

just try to understand what you could do better for get 5. that's it.

goodluck everyone.

Cheers Raf

[Leslie7]

Since you have only 70 guests that makes it a lot easier to achieve Superhost status. I has Superhost status my first three quarters, but then as my listing got more and more reviews it gradually dropped in spite of the fact that I continually improved the cottage and added more things to make guests comfortable. In other words, the more stays you have, the harder it is to obtain superhost status. It is very hard to get back up again, and I agree with a comment that someone else made, the percentage that is raised by a five star review does not seem commensurate with the drop that occurs with a four star. 

[Raffaele-and-Astrid0]

HI @Leslie7 and everyone in here.

"the more stays you have, the harder it is to obtain superhost" 

no, if they give you 5 all the time. 😄

Guys the percentage is math! is not something that is not fair and goes by the feeling of the moment, is pure math! the percentage dropping and raising by the rules of math! 🙂 ...of what we talking about?

More guests/rating you have, more the percentage become sharp and realistic, the stats are better when you have lot of data to analyze. 

If everyone keep giving you 4 or 3 in something, means that you have to fix that in somehow, not cry on yourself.

We see drop or "value" around 74% few months ago, we start to work more on the prices, service, and human interactions, we get back at 84%, the last 27 ratings were all 5 stars on "value".

We are good? done? not at all, we always keep working on it and in the others point.

This didn't mean that we were expensive, we received 4 at 65$ night, considering the area it is a gift price, but still someone thought that was not a 5 star value for whatever reason.

The point is that the rating is based on feeling, (note: but the result of percentage are math) how your guest felt with you and with your house, so Hosts have to work more in emotional level, communication, exchange of something, is not easy but is not impossible either.

If the Host give just a room and a cold expierence, the Host will get from the guests a cold rating too. 

This is the "abc" of hospitality, and really dosen't matter how beautiful, cheap or clean your house is, matter how they felt with you.

(of course the house has to be clean at least.) 😄

5 stars Hotel get 3 in Tripadv. based in how the staff member treat them, not beacuse the Hotel structure was bad or dirty.

Most of the time people not come back in a restaurant not for the bad food, but for the waiters. - : oh, very nice food but the waiters are rude, so f*%&'em. - True story happened to my friends few days ago while we talking about a restaurant, and maybe the owner thinks: - why we get low rating? the food is great, my restaurant is beautiful and the toilet is clean! this is unfair! - ...because your staff are rude, dude!

Not everyone can get 5 all the time, and that's ok, no one is perfect, but at least try to understand what your weak point are, and work on them.

Unfortunately we are not the only one in the market, so if you wanna stay up you have to work hard everyday.

is just for talking guys,

anyway good luck and good hosting, 

Cheers Raf

[Huma0]

@Raffaele-and-Astrid0, while I agree that if you are consistently getting lower ratings on a particular aspect like cleanliness, communication etc. then you should try your best to improve in that area. However, you do sometimes get guests that are simply impossible to please and are not going to give five stars even if they had a fantastic time.

I had one guest rate me down on location, even though she specifically booked in my location to be in walking distance of the course she came to attend. What can I do about that? Another rated me lower on location and accuracy because she found it very inconvenient to walk to the underground station. It is five minutes or less! Can I help it if the guest's fitness level is poor? I was lovely to both and especially helpful to the latter, but I was never going to get five stars from them whatever I did.

I think the comment re the higher the number of guests you host, the harder it becomes to get five stars everytime, relates not to mathematics and statistics but to the fact that the longer you host, the more likely that you will get some of these 'impossible to please' guests. For some reason, the percentages we see in our stats do not seem to be weighted equally. I also think that one four star review seems to push the average much further down than a five star review pushes it up. I'd love to actually know if that really is the case, because that seems totally unfair to me!

[Raffaele-and-Astrid0]

HI @Huma0

yeah, what you can do, sometimes is like this.

we get low rating form guest that we didn't expect, but it happen. 

one time we get 4 stars in overall, because the bed was too close to the window, (ahah)  (note: we can't move the bed in any way possibile, there is not space for moving) but 5 in everything else. so what we can do?  nothing, sometimes you just do nothing, accept and get ready for the next guest.

the system are not perfect and it never will be. just try to adapt and get the good from it, if you can fix - you fix, if you can't - you can't, that's it. do not overthink too much, just go over it.

cheers Raf