I'm thinkingof framing this and putting on the wall in the studio. Comments?
Please review your stay on Airbnb. I leave a review for all Seaside Studio guests.
As I’m sure you know, both Airbnb and Amazon (along with many other companies) use the classic 5 Star rating scale. However, Airbnb is unique in how it applies the scale. In my experience, few guests know this, and it can lead to confusion.
You will be asked to give a 1-to-5 rating in areas such as: value, accuracy, check-in, cleanliness, communication, and location. These ratings do not impact your Overall Rating. Please answer honestly. These ratings help me manage the Studio – they are not processed by Airbnb.
The only number Airbnb monitors is the Overall Rating. You award this independently of the above categories. This is where confusion can occur, as Airbnb applies the 1-to-5 rating in a unique manner for this single score.
For example, suppose you buy a book from Amazon. If it turns out to be a ripping yarn, you give it 5-stars. If it’s boring, maybe 2-stars. If it’s middle of the road, maybe 3-stars.
The above perfectly reasonable logic is not used by Airbnb for the Overall Rating. This is how Airbnb apply the 5 Star rating scale to the Overall Rating.
5-stars | Expectations met. The experience was okay (or better than okay). |
4-stars | Expectations not met. The host failed to deliver. |
3-stars | In effect, any rating below 5 is viewed by Airbnb as a ‘fail’ – it’s simply a question of degree. A rating of 1 to 3 stars is signalling that the venue is really bad. |
2-stars |
1-star |
An Overall Rating of 4.8 is enough to lose Superhost status. Fewer than 10% of Airbnb hosts are Superhosts and we are rightly held to a high standard.
Non-superhosts are sanctioned if their Overall Rating drops below 4.7.
I’ve published six books and would be delighted with an Amazon rating of 4.3 – however, in the Airbnb universe this score would put a host out of business.
As you can see, applying the (perfectly reasonable) ‘Amazon scoring logic’ to Airbnb could lead to unintended consequences. Reality: the only ‘good’ score is 5 – any score less than 5 is a ‘fail’.
This is not an underhanded attempt to win an underserved 5 Star review. I absolutely want to you to rate your stay honestly. If there reason as to why your stay does not ‘meet or exceed your expectations’, I’d appreciate you telling me while you’re still here and while I have a chance to fix it.
What do you think, fellow hosts?
Chris, UK