A lot of posts recently have complained about poor star ratings based on things like 'Value' and 'Location' .
I am finding the same thing! People are loving their stay, say what a lovely lot of extras are provided and how they enjoyed the experience, but I am getting an increasing number of 4 stars. My 5 stars are now down to 91% from 98% a month ago.
I think it is tied up with the new system Airbnb have introduced for guests to rate their experience.
Airbnb are now actively asking guests in the review process what faults they found with the listing or the experience. Airbnb are prompting guests on such things as floors and carpets, temperature, smells, noise, even 'bugs' for goodness sake.
No longer is the guest asked......'Were you impressed with the cleanliness of the listing'?...a positive statement.
They are now asked.....'What was the main issue relating to the cleanliness of the listing' ......a negative statement.
I would guess many guests would have thought some trivial little issue not worth mentioning until Airbnb bought it up and required a response.
To put it in perspective, a 5 star is still a 5 star, just as it always has been, and if a guest simply clicks that 5 star in a particular category and ignores Airbnb's prompts, they move on to the next category. But if a guest decides to check what happens if they click 4 stars or less, that's the time the negative boxes and statements appear.
I have not been a guest under this new review process and what I have said here is pieced together from the sketchy information that is now coming to the forum from Lisa, Andrea and others, but I have seen enough of it to in future warn my guests what will happen in the review process, and how 'thinking you are doing the right thing' is in actual fact penalising the host. I have printed my 'Stats' page of one month ago showing my percentages and I have printed my current 'Stats' page to illustrate just what a couple of 4 star reviews does to the host. I showed it to my most recent guests who left here yesterday and they were genuinely shocked to see the result…..particularly when shown what happens to hosts who fall below a particular percentage level!
It seems, in a way, unethical to have to manipulate the system like this, it's almost scaring people into giving a 5 star, it's getting away from the genuineness of the review. But, that is what Airbnb are doing and I am just trying to fight back in any way that I can.
How do others feel about this?
Cheers....Rob