Airbnb Review System - needs work?

[Daniel-and-Leo0]

The Airbnb Reviewing appears to need a revamp. How they structure and determine an overall score doesn't seem fair. 

I am new to hosting, however I have used Airbnb as guest occassionally. A couple of days a go we had our first review. 

On entering the house the guest was polite and considerate to our rules, the guest stayed one night, during this time, no issues and we a number of good conversations, upon leaving I asked, "did you enjoy your stay, was there anything we could have done better" - I like to get a honest and open view, I did not put the guest on the spot, since she was aware that we only started hosting, and wanted to get an insight into how well we were doing - as she left, the guest gave me a hug.

Her review. 

"Despite the house is a small place Daniel provides you a lot of privacy. Thank you Daniel"

I was little startled how she started her sentence in a negative since my house is a 3 bedroom terraced house - 3 floors. For an average british home, it is quite big, eitherway she turned the sentence into a positive which I appreciated. 

Airbnb later sent us an email title "Earn better reviews to avoid penalty"

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You recently received a rating of 4 stars or less. We know you’re putting a lot of thought and care into hosting and sometimes bad ratings happen to great hosts. However, ratings that are consistently lower than average could result in your listing being temporarily paused and removed from search results.

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I do not feel that this email was valid upon looking at how we were scored in more detail:

Overall we a received a score of 3 from Airbnb

The guest scored us high on the following. 

Cleanliness : 4/5

Communication: 5/5

Arrival: 5/5

The guest provided a low on the following, my question is, the below appear to be heavily influenced by Airbnb or concerns that a host would have no control over - so should these really have as much weight on a hosts final score? 

Location 2/5  - The guest knew the location before booking, we are in the center of Maidstone. I physically cannot move my house to London

Value - 3/5  - A the time the guest paid £32 + plus 6%- 12% airbnb fees - giving that the average nightly rate in a hotel is £64 in Maidstone £32 to spend a night in a double room isn't much. I believe the Airbnb fees influences guests  final judegment on the value - however hosts do not have any control over these fees, Its unfortunante that Airbnb would give penaltys to hosts who fall short on these two rating values.  Considering pausing my listing, until airbnb system improves. 

Daniel

[Babs0]

Don't give up just now, @Daniel-and-Leo0 😉 Keep in mind that some people are not easy to please!

Can you lose the Instant Book?! Maybe you can start off in vetting the potential guest a little... Why are they in the area? If they are coming to see London, maybe it's not a good match! And try to exceed their expectations on the overall experience, so they will be les likely to be very critical when it's time to leave a review. It can be anything: leave some snacks/chocolates/small bottle of water/wine in the room, put some leaflets/menus of restaurants or guidebooks out, set up a little self-serve breakfast... Whatever you think can make a difference. It doesn't have to mean high maintenance or a lot of work.

If you enjoy meeting new people and are excited about your home and town, just let this one slide! 

Cheers,

Babs

[Robert-And-Nancy0]

Hi

I have been hosting for a bit and I have had the same situation. As far as location, I believe the way Airbnb allows guest to search is  misleading if they are not familiar with the site.  I am southwest of Boston and anywhere from a 40 to 70 minute drive.  I was curious to know why guests were asking me the proximity to the subway/Boston.  A friend did a search for me and when she searched “Boston” my listing came up.  There are tons of other listings a lot closer to Boston than me.   I know that is why I received a few 4 or less stars for location.  Airbnb puts my location into the mix of a Boston search.  If a guest does not check the map carefully it is misleading.

Value is another one that I have been hit on too and I have a hard time understanding that.   Out of my actual location I am the 2nd to lowest price for a house/apartment and do not change my price for weekends.  I am well below any hotel in the area.  So I guess it is the guest’s opinion but based on what?

Your listing looks wonderful and you mention that London is 1 hour away. I have never used instant book and do try my best to converse with the guests to get a feel for what they are coming for.  I have weeded out a few who thought I was a 15 minute ride to Boston.  I rather make suggestions for them to look at other listings then get a low rating on location. 

Don’t let it frustrate you. Unfortunately you started with a guest who was just hard to please and since you are her only review also may be inexperienced with ABnB.  Maybe get a few guests/reviews on your profile and then go back to instant book.  It is difficult to start with a guest who was not positive but more will come and appreciate the work you both do.

Good luck

[Michael75]

Yeah I just posted a separate thread about this as well.  Would be nice if the location rating wasnt so much a rating but it told guests what they would need to get around like three images to choose from (walking, a train/bus (representing public transit), and a car if you need to drive yourself and it should not factor into the rating scale.

Also value, I think hosts that book your place should have to see the cost of nearby homes (AVAILABLE at the time of their booking) providing similar services for the amount of guests they have for a direct comparison. Some of these guest book last minute and they are getting whats leftover and those hosts who have higher prices should not be penalized if their listing meets the needs of the guest.

Lastly, communication.  A host should be rated on content of communication with timeliness of responses listed next to the rating scale so guests know that this host has been responding to questions within an hour throughout their stay so a 3 may not be an appropriate rating.

[Amy65]

I do not feel that the review system works.  When I don't have good tenants, I do not feel that I can be honest about them because they can then come back and post publicly on my page.  This simply doesn't work.

Likewise, I read great reviews about places to travel but then they turn out to be a dump.  I believe this is because people don't feel that it works to leave bad reviews.

[Kayla94]

My feelings are the same as many above. We recently received a review that confused me. The guest reviewed as as 5 stars in all areas except one, which they rated us 4 stars for,  however, they gave us an overall review of 3 stars! This of course brings our displayed rating down. They gave us no feedback to indicate why they only gave us 3 stars overall, in fact, their comments were overwhelmingly positive. Now AirBnb has threatened to pause our listing for a low rating. And you aren't able to dispute an unfair review. This is silly. Surely your overall review should be a weighted average of the guest's individual ratings for cleanliness, communication, etc.