Guest ratings a con?

[Craig366]

We all know that as soon as we get anything less than a 5 we’ll never be able to get back there as the law of averages means it’s no longer 5. My one listing is now 4.94 and my profile is currently 4.9. 

I’ve noticed that guests might have a 4.5 rating before staying with me and after I’ve given them all 5’s they’re suddenly rated back at the round number of 5. 

Has as anyone else noticed this unfair rating system where guests appear higher rated than what they really are?

[Danielle476]

It could  just be the median number - you giving a guest a 5 star review when they only have 3 or 4 others is going to impact their rating much more than a 5 star review to a host with 150 other reviews.  

[Susan1028]

Yes @Craig ...

So sorry you’re experiencing this too.

seems to be another platform glitch no one seems to be able to resolve.

youll be offered an electronic “feedback” form, and that will be the end of it unless you get creative or one if the admins here can get a different answer.

[Suzanne302]

@Craig366  I think it's because host scores are now calculated to the nearest tenth, whereas guest scores are still calculated to whole or half stars. Forgive me, I'm not a math whiz so not sure the proper terms, haha!

But, for example, a guest who has an average of at least a 4.6 is rounded back up to 5. A host who has an average of 4.9, well, they still get 4.90. So until a guest has so many low scores they drop below 4.5, they can still be shown as a 5 star guest.

No, it doesn't seem fair.

[Craig366]

This is exactly how it seems. They get the benefit of .5 rounding whereas we get displayed to the tenth decimal as you say.

Which is really annoying as guests would view a host with a 4.6 rating as very low but a host with a 5 as a super star host. 

[Kath9]

@Craig366 Yes, that's exactly how it works and it is annoying. For example, if I give a guest 5 stars in two categories and 4 stars in one category, they end up with 5 stars overall, not a percentage of 93.33. We also don't rate them overall as guests do with us - in other words, their overall rating is a rounded average of the individual category ratings. Not so with hosts - we are rated in individual categories and then rated overall. Guests can (and do) give 5 stars in all categories and then 3 or 4 stars overall, which seriously affects our overall ratings. And as you say, once we get one 4 star rating, it is impossible to have a perfect score ever again, no matter how many 5s you get.