Damaging Review

[Nick1866]

Hi there,

Would love to have fellow hosts thoughts on this one.

My last guest left a review which, while reasonable on the whole, suggested my place was "a bit of a mess". In fairness, she still gave me high rankings - five stars, and four on five for cleanliness.

But I am concerned that this could drive away new business - as this will be the first review many people will see. People will go back through my profile and see many more positive reviews, see I am a superhost with a 4.86/4.87 average. But it's often one bad review which can turn people off.

My place isn't a palace - but it's clean, and cheap.

Am I overthinking this one?

[Nick1866]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all your comments and support. I had a lovely new review from a guest I hosted this week, called Kate.

However, it's not appearing at the top of my profile when it comes to reviews? Anyone know why this might be? I contacted Airbnb and they are insisting it is appearing at parity with Lauran's review, but It's not.

Profile is at www.airbnb.com/h/nick468 incidentally 🙂

[Sarah977]

@Nick1866  I see Katie's review first on your listing. Reviews do not necessarily appear in the same order on your profile as they do on your listing ad.

To see your listing as it appears to others, you need to call up your listing in incognito mode on your browser.

[Robin4 · Accepted solution]

@Nick1866 

Nick, with the Airbnb format, reviews show up on your page in a complicated way!

If you are searching using the English (Irish)  language the English language reviews will show first in a public search. If you are searching for an English listing and you are Chinese using the Chinese language the previous Chinese reviews of that same English listing will show up first in the review section.

So, the review placement floats with the mother language of the searcher. I note that 'Katie' is a resident of Belgium and the review may have been written in French or Dutch and translated into English for English searchers and if this was the case the review would not show as your latest review.

I note also that Katie has had three previous stays with you Nick, and that may have effected her review placement as well.

But what I am saying to you is, reviews will not necessarily show up in order of stay or in order of writing! Where they appear is governed by a number of mysterious factors......as does much of the Airbnb platform!

Cheers........Rob

[Sarah977]

@Robin4  In my experience, the reviews that show first aren't pegged to the language preference of the user, but to the language of the area that the IP address shows. If I view my listing while I am in Mexico, the reviews from Mexican guests show first, even though my language preference is set to English. If I view my listing while in Canada, the reviews in English show first.

[Robin4]

@Sarah977 

It's not as simple as that Sarah, you are looking at your listing from various localities. A English person in Germany looking for a listing in Ulanbatan in Outer Mongolia is not going to see the German reviews first simply because he happens to be in Germany when he is searching!

https://www.airbnb.com.au/help/article/1885/why-arent-my-reviews-shown-in-order

Cheers.......Rob

[Roberta2]

Hi @Nick1866 

I would not sweat too much on the review.

If you would like to make a bigger impact to future guests, I would suggest new pictures.

Turn on all the lights in the room - and take them on a sunny day. Your living room, in the picture, looks quite dark.

tidy kitchen counters - leave them as uncluttered as possible.

Tidy the bathroom - there is one picture with 2 pieces of cloth on top of the toilet that just, to the untrained eye, look like dirty clothes / underwear.

this would be mure more impactful, in my view.