Explaining 5 star ratings to guests

[TracieandJason0]

Hi everyone. I recently had a guest that was unhappy with their stay, never told me about the problems to which I had already designed my space to have solutions for and then gave me a 2 star review. I may now lose my superhost status but oh well. I've since learned superhost status is not that big a deal anyways and I should just be happy to have made some money since her reservation was 7 days long and she left the place with no damages 😊 I am expecting new guests soon and updating my house manual and thought I could share with you all what I added and would also like to ask if anyone has any constructive critcism as its a bit lengthy and wordy. Thanks! 

Credit to @Branka-and-Silvia0, who I used part of their response in the forum about Airbnb Answers: Protecting you from one-off bad reviews

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@TracieandJason0

you successfully tagged us 🙂

We also have something similar in a map in our apartments. I have no idea if any of our guests have read it 🙂

[TracieandJason0]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 haha yea you probably have a point. The type of guest that would give me a poor review will probably not even read my manual...

[Salem2]

@TracieandJason0

I don’t understand the example, the top half, since the host got a 5* review?

Otherwise I think its a good strategy, I am thinking doing domething similar, perhaps putting the information up in the room.

[TracieandJason0]

@Salem2 Hm I see what you mean. The example is just to show how a review would look. The bottom portion is the example I am trying to use for my point. Do you think this is too confusing? Perhaps I should just remove the top portion altogether? I thought it would be helpful to include for new guests but I guess it's not really necessary. 

[Salem2]

Actually I think the example is good, but the overall rating should be 4 stars to emphasize the point you are trying to make in the bottom half.

So 4 star rating which appears as ‘better than expected’ to the guest is actually ‘possible delisting’ to the host...

...huge difference!

[TracieandJason0]

@Salem2 Ah okay, I see what you mean. I will change that part then, thank you!

[Kath9 · Accepted solution]

@TracieandJason0, @Branka-and-Silvia0, @Salem2, I have put something very similar in my guest manual recently due to the change in the overall rating system which is now based on the ludicrous 'expectations' question - of course people will only give 3 stars overall if it's 'as expected'! I have pasted below what I have written in my guest manual but I think yours is even better! I agree with @Salem2 though that the top part should show 3 or 4 stars overall to make the point.

[TracieandJason0]

@Kath9 I like the part where you mention your humble accomodation not being the Ritz and I think I will add that to mine as well! Thanks!

[Kathryn125]

I really like your wording and the whole idea of doing this. Hope you dont mind if i copy it.  Never thought to add this to the manual as it seems a bit manipulative but having just received a 3 star rating for the first time and then being told that everything was great and they enjoyed their stay, but are used to having a TV in the room, I did think that maybe guests dont understand the huge implications of their reveiws and ratings. 

[Kath9]

@Kathryn125, you're very welcome to use it in your guest manual. I felt uncomfortable about this initially as it feels a bit like emotional blackmail to me, but I think we do need to educate our guests if we don't want to risk having our average ratings fall. After all, 'as expected' should not result in a 3 star rating! I've also changed my listing description slightly to try to undersell it so that guests are hopefully more inclined to rate my accommodation as 'much better than expected'!

[Kathryn125]

I agree with your thinking but do feel that Airbnb should be explaining this to guests when they request ratings. I have requested this of Airbnb.  Maybe this is why i got a 3 star rating from a guest who was happy with everything.  I also think it would be good if hosts could see how we are rated from guests.

[Margy6]

@Kath9 with your permission, I'll also use and tweak it.  The rating system is so illogical. I  don't understand why the rating isn't calculated on 4 key criteria (communication, accuracy, cleanliness, value) and one question: would you recommend this place?  Simple.

[Rozie4]

definitely ***** 5 stars. if you don't mind , i would love to copy your statement. 

[Margy6]

@Kath0 this is GOLD!! Thank you for sharing.