5 Star Rating System flawed

[Richard-Carson0]

I think the 5-star rating system is flawed. First, I drop in and out of the Superhost category yet the experience I provide for my guests is always the same, though of course tailored to their specific needs. I get guests who have traveled the world using airbnb as well as a lot of newbies. I think that newbies sometimes look at the overall 1-5 star rating and think of hotel ratings. A 5-star hotel in Nashville such as the Hermitage charges $500 a night. I charge one-fifth of that yet have three times the amount of room and give much more personalized service. A 5-star hotel is vastly different from whatever a 5-star airbnb space is. The point is that it's impossible to accurately use the 5-star system when no airbnb is exactly the same as another. Being fully aware of this, I have never given a host less than 5-stars (assuming, they have been responsive and easy to work with). Out of almost 400 guests, I have only given less than 5-stars one time and that was an extreme case. I would like to see airbnb come up with a different system for rating. I'm not sure what  it should be, but I would like to hear ideas from other hosts. Richard

[Gladys8]

Richard,

You may be correct about guests expectations about 5 stars related to 5 star hotels. Like everyone has a different definition for continental breakfast, everyone has different expectations about what is 5 stars. I had a guest text me before arrival to say he just wanted to give me a chance to go shopping for the things he liked before his arrival. He went on to say he wanted pecan pancakes, and a few exotic items I can't recall now. I had to explain to him that I get guests from all over the world and it just would not be cost effective for me to try to specialty shop for all their varied tastes at the economical price they are being charged. I told him while I could do his pecan pancakes because it is one of the breakfast items I normally serve, the other items were expensive items to expect in a continental breakfast.

It might be helpful for AirBnB to explain their 5 star system to the guest, however knowing that guests rarely even read the listings, it might still be just a waste of time. While on the reservation page it clearly states whether a guest is renting an entire space or a private room, AirBnB even has a map of the rental space associated with the space, and I have GPS coordinates, street names, bldg. numbers for directions, people will still call saying they are confused and lost. I frequently have people expecting the entire space. Air BnB has made several changes that addressed many of the repeat problems of people not reading listings, e.g. the saved message system where one can copy from the listing to answer questions that guests ask repeatedly because they have not read the listing. I am doubtful that even if they made a video on the 5 star AirBnB rating, there will still be many that won't see it.

As a host I have learned that even though something is in the listing, you have asked the guest to print out the reservation confirmation and bring with them because it has directions and house rules, even though you may have a welcome card in the space reiterating the same things, many will still call and ask the same questions again.  You may need to explain the 5 star system yourself as you are showing the guest around. I have had to explain to guests that I could not prepare a different breakfast for everyone in their party, that the party could choose between the available choices for the entire party. If I did not explain this, I could not afford to be a host at all as it would be both too time consuming and too costly. Just imagine fixing a different breakfast for 5 different people as if I were a restaurant, or a parent catering to their 5 different children's tastes??

[Ange2]

As far as I  can see the stars are for AIRBNB filtering out system and not for hosts, except to keep the pressure on at full volume.

The host rarely gets to know what "you need to improve", and if it is even an option,  such as location.

As far as I can see AIRBNB star rating  is as follows. 

5 stars = PASS   ---     4,3,2,1 Stars =  FAIL

Fail could be anything from it's not being a 5 Star hotel to they didn't read the description, to petty grievances such as the sheets are blue in the photo and the ones on the bed are pink, even the weather such as all was great but my holiday was ruined by the rain so 3 stars only.  More recently I had  " clean means I can eat off the floor!" so only 4 stars!    Not sure why one would want to eat off a floor that has been trod on by shoes and socks and bare feet. But there you go!

There seems to be no way to tell guests what the stars mean without being invasive. I found out a few times from guests who loved it here and wanted to tell me the few minor things that didn't garner me a 5 star rating. One was that I am not the Ritz!

It's a thankless  task to become addicted to stars when their meaning is so nebulous. Only problem is AIRBNB penalize hosts.

The whole system is somwhat Kafkaesque.

[Rob36]

hi.   Where can we see the number of stars associated with a review?    I agree with Richard about the star rating not properly applying to the airbnb scenario.  I see verbiage when I see reviews, all of which have been full of praise.     I just saw my percentage of 5-star ratings, and I was surprised that it was not 100% to match the comments.  

Also, like Richard, I rarely give anything but 5-stars to my guests, even when I've needed to remind them of houserules.   As long as my guests are nice and do their best to respect the space...  After all, it's a home with finite resources of which the guests are well-apprised, not an institution.    The only two times I did not give 5-stars, I chose not to submit reviews - they would have been negative, and I saw no need.  Interestingly, the same two people did not submit reviews.   The people had not been harmful, but they caused me to add a lot of rules which better attracts the type of guest I want (and repels those I don't want).

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

If it's any consolation not a single guest who has stayed with us was aware that we were superhosts - they looked at stars and reviews. Neither had they used superhost as a search criteria.

It's really a nice pat on the back for your hard work and consistent offering and experience, but guests in our experience have no idea what it is or means,

[Sandra126]

That's right, they don't. I have had guests check in saying things like ''So, you're a SUPERHOST!'' with a light of expectation in they eyes. I have to explain what it means.

The hotel/motel star system is simple, but nobody knows that either: Whan you buy your stars (yes, you pay an annual fee for official stars) you get inspected. There are tickboxes such as pool, chipped paint, all night check in, whatever. Than you get awarded your stars. This is why an unattractive dump last decorated in the 1970s which fills all the criteria can be 5 stars. It shows what amenities are available, at least in Australia.

[Jeremiah5]

I also do not think guests know the impact of a less than 5 star review especially newbies which are 75% of my guests. I have guests that say they would stay again loved the place and leave 3 stars! They are paying as little as $35/night and the review says great value but still 3 stars. Then I have experienced guests that say the bath was not as clean as they like and leave 5 stars (BTW the bath is scrubbed with bleach/soap after every guest but it is a 60 year old tub with some iron stains). Out of 180 reviews I only have three that are one and two star, but still my ratings are too low.

Then it takes a year to clear them off your rating, meanwhile some guy accross the street hosts for six weeks and jumps ahead with superhost after handing his buddies coupons to stay for free. I do not even use the coupons because I am too busy hosting 7 locations and spreading the word for for free to mess with links and coupon codes.

[You-Von0]

Dear Airbnb management , 

I have had in all intents and purposes collected lots of 5stars from my guests , but somehow the 5 star percentage  are still at 79% after a few more 5 stars ..... Does air bnb update their ratings to hosts more frequently so that all of guests most recent ratings are added on ?  Just that I have worked exteremely hard and every quarter when i looked at the ratings its still 79 % ! 

Please chevk on my ratings once again 

[Kimberly178]

Apparently AirBnB know all of this and have regularly disergarded changing their FAULTS on this issue. 

[Kimberly178]

Yes, I am about over the AirBnB thing, I don't work for nothing.  And their raiting system, though I have been Superhost almost the entire time on, I see more and more how they do not work with the hosts and side with the craziness, the unstableness of "certain guests". 

Their rating system is very flawed; guests should be marking a tiny issue as a tiny issue not giving someone a 1 for a tiny issue, I mean tiny, such as dust behind a couch or something similar- and they do.  While the guests makes a new emai and is a new person the next day.

AirBnB should have a more comprehensive rating, such as three of these things can add up to a point or two taken off, not as it currently, all of a sudden a drastic crazy person at the controls!  AT THE CONTROLS of YOUR BUSINESS!  

Like I said, I am about over this AirBnB thing. They have seen on the complaints.