First 4 Star Review

[Summer64]

Got my first 4 star review. I emailed her to ask what caused her to give me 4 stars so I can avoid in the future. Of course I didn't receive a response from someone who left my home telling me that this was a fantastic airbnb and had no complaints. However, a 4 overall with Location (she asked before booking distance to Lantana and I gave her mileage and minutes to get there), Accuracy (her own review states that it was exactly as described) and cleanliness (I got nothing, my home is crazy clean). Cleaner than she is actually.

I'm so disappointed and discouraged by this. I guess I should have known when she waited till the last possible minute to review me. 

When you get an unfair review, do you follow up with the guest and ask why they gave you that rating? 

I've already made a note not to host her again and will definitely decline any future requests, but now I'm worried that others will follow this example and score me lower on reviews when I work hard to give my guests a great experience.

Just totally discouraging as a host. Things like this make hosting not fun anymore. =(

[Leslie7]

I don't do instant book and I have a few questions that I ask them to answer in their booking request. One of them is to acknowledge that they understand the Airbnb rating system and how it differs from a hotel. It has worked fairly well.

[Anthony608]

4 stars reviews happen all the time and are the result of guests comparing AirBNB star ratings to those of hotel standards.  I have a page in my house manual (a great template, copied from this forum) which explains the difference in a professional way. 

Even so, I have had about 15% of all guests give 4 stars, some for no other reason than it was too hot outside, it rained on the day they wanted to go somewhere, or they had to walk too far to the bus stop which is literally right across the street.  Only about 2% of those 15% have ever given meaningful feedback and, of that feedback, perhaps 1% was actionable.  So, I really have given up getting upset about 4 stars. I'm also speaking of 4 stars overall.  Individual star ratings a lot of 4 stars, some who gave individual 4 stars but then 5 overall.  The overall is what counts in the end.

3 stars is another matter, only 2 people ever have given me three stars and one of them was overturned by AirBNB as an outlier and possible retaliatory review.

[Robbie54]

I also have had two 3 star reviews (out of over 300), and one of them was yesterday. I had a feeling the guest was going to be trouble when she said she was bringing 3 cars when one of the house rules is only 2 cars max, which is clearly written in bold in the description when she booked. I reluctantly relented, only because I'd rather help than for it to be a pain. However she was one of these guests where nothing was good enough, and she critiqued a lot in her review,  which is unheard of for my property. One of her comments was also factually untrue, the rest was nitpicking. I had the feeling she was expecting Claridges.  I felt she was retaliating because of the parking situation, even though I gave in. She gave 4 stars for everything apart from overall stay. I learned a long time ago that you cannot please everyone. 

[Colleen253]

@Robbie54 “I reluctantly relented, only because I'd rather help than for it to be a pain.”

No good deed goes unpunished. When someone throws up red flags like that, I silently thank them and firmly close the door. Not worth the payout. 

[Robbie54]

@Colleen253  The guest literally told me 24hrs before check in, I simply wouldn’t have time to fill the dates, so in my view it wasn’t worth cancelling (the dates would also be blocked by AirBnB if I cancelled, which wouldn’t be overturned in time given Airbnb’s horrendous customer service).  Plus it is worth it (just) over 1 extra car over 2 days. However I expected a 4 star review, not a 3.
I’ve started to care less and less and Airbnb’s review system, it clearly hinders hosts far more than guests. 

[Colleen253]

@Robbie54 “I’ve started to care less and less and Airbnb’s review system, it clearly hinders hosts far more than guests.”

Absolutely agree. I just meant in general, a guest throwing up red flags before even getting in the door is usually going to cause some further grief, draining the payout. Airbnb does a great job overall, cultivating bad guests. It’s exhausting battling them.  

[Ann72]

“Not worth the payout.”  Great phrase, @Colleen253.  👏

[Anthony608]

@Robbie54- Yes, I saw in your reviews who that was.  Obviously a difficult person, probably was indeed looking for problems and issues.  I have had a small number of such people, including some who have literally pulled furniture away from walls and gotten down on their hands and knees looking on the floor for anything to complain about.

The review is surrounded by positive reviews, so people will probably see it for what it is, retaliatory in nature.  Also, you might have a case to contact AirBNB about irrelevant statements such as "furniture being old and tired".  I mean, what does that even mean?  Its a long shot (AirBNB can be very difficult when it comes to removing reviews), but worth a try.

[Ian611]

@Summer64 I have a couple of 4 star ratings ,some for value for money another one for location,even although the actual review said the flat was ideal area for them.Some folk are nuts.

 I see that hosts have only 3 ratings to give to guests but hosts have 5 ratings to give to us hosts.

Why is that I wonder.

 I recently had a guest say she couldn’t work out how to use the induction hob because she had a gas hob at home,all the instructions for appliances are in the flat with a note in the house manual and a written note on the foot stool where all the instructions are. I had one person in 2 years message me on how to operate said hob but nothing else.

[Fred13]

    Note the more reviews the lower the star rating and once you approach 100 reviews 4.99 (or lower is common) and as you approach 200 then 4.98 is the norm - no matter how fantastic your place is. 

   The more guests one has the greater the chance a guest will find something to be mad about or the host will encounter one of the "I never give 5 stars" type of guest.

[Brian2036]

@Summer64 @Fred13 @Anthony608 

The “I never give 5*” people are telling you that they are never satisfied with anything.

They need to be informed that their attitude has  consequences.

Like, “I never accept guests who have denigrated my listing in the past.”

[Fred13]

Or "We never want guests that must find fault with something to make themselves feel superior among others".

[Jane2692]

We just received our first four star review in two years.  

The reason- the guest (and his friends) thought the fact we had books available to read and a very small photo album showing pictures of how our 500 year old house looked over the years were maybe relevant for other guests but not for them!  So he left four stars.  Yes, seriously…I can just imagine the riveting conversation they had about that!!!! So anyone who gets what you think is a lesser review than you think you deserve, really let it go and don’t worry about it. You definitely cannot please everyone!

[Fred13]

The ones who tend to write the long travel logs full of minutiae or feel compelled to leave a review about every place are the ones that are the most 'dangerous'. One lady long ago that was the most obnoxious full-of-self-importance even reviewed cheap roadside taco stand run by some local campecino as if the world was holding their breath for her opinion about such insignificant places.