Guest reviews: they are asked to list what amenities you offered. What is the point???

Guest reviews: they are asked to list what amenities you offered. What is the point???

I have had less and less reviews from the guests this summer. I was a bit puzzled, but as I travelled as an Airbnb guest myself, I understood why. In the review I was asked if there was a washing machine, a coffee maker, hair dryer.... I got mad at having to click through all these things, and I am an active host and thus more motivated than most!!!

 

If Airbnb wants to check whether the host really provided these things, they could send in the gendarmerie! A guest feels annoyed at having to verify that a dozen different services were provided. "What am I, a surveyor?" was my thought. I almost stopped filling the review to the end, but then did it because the host was sweet and I wanted to give her good points.

 

Basically, if some item was promised, not provided and important to the guest, it comes up in the review. No need to make the guest go through a checklist.

 

Is there a way we hosts could influence this questionnaire? It is unfair to exept the guest to fill in lengthy questionnaires about the availability of shampoo or tea. That is the job of Airbnb. If Airbnb makes it so cumbersome to make a simple review, they should not be surprised that less reviews get written.

 

 

59 Replies 59

Rebecca - you have a great sense of humour!!

Can I ask a very stupid question - how do you make this #notification# to the person you are answering to?

@Karina-Каринa0  Unfortunately even that function is screwed up by AirBnB, also it's been acting funny since yesterday. You put the @ sign in and the last 5 people that have replied to the thread are listed and you can select one. It's hit or miss if put the @ sign and type out their name, it may go to them or someone else with that same name ;D

Kendra17
Level 3
Dawson Creek, Canada

Thank you for posting this!  I had no idea that the many amenities I listed is now actually onerous for my guests at the review time.  I pared down to bare bones, if something is important to a guest that is not listed they can message me before booking 🙂  I have seen a decline in reviews being left so maybe this will solve it 🙂

 

@Kendra0

Hi I don't know if what ammenities you list matter. I dont have a pool yet the guest was asked if I did. Also things like paid parking & random things that dont pertain to my listing. 

 

Kendra17
Level 3
Dawson Creek, Canada

Update: once I pared down my amenities (added them to the description) my guests reviews increased back to normal 🙂

Susan17
Level 10
Dublin, Ireland

As with most other posters here, my review rate has also fallen off a cliff over the last several months. I'm past caring though - as a 16 time Superhost with hundreds of reviews and a 5.0 rating, I still can't get a booking for love nor money, as I'm in a saturated market with search ranking priority being given to wave after wave of newbies and an ever-increasing army of "professional" management companies and commercial entities, all of which are pushing (have pushed) small, traditional, long-standing hosts like myself out of the market altogether. (But hey, Airbnb still want us little guys out there fighting their corner in regulatory battles with governments and local authorities, so they can maintain the illusion and perpetuate the myth that Airbnb is still all about the little guys using their hosting income to feed their families and stay in their homes, as opposed to the huge, cash-grabbing, power-hungry, manipulative, dishonest behemoth it's long since morphed into)

 

The review/rating system was already an abusive, incompetent farce but the implementation of this sneaky, time-wasting spy charter is not only potentially catastrophic for hosts' earnings and reputations, but it hammers home several more nails in the coffin of the already perishing host-guest relationship on the Airbnb platform. 

 

There was a time when we all genuinely looked forward to meeting new guests and welcoming them to our neighbourhoods and to our homes. Over the past couple of years however, with the gradual and insidious introduction of guest-centic policy after guest-centric policy, and the inequitable (and frequently shameful) elevation by Airbnb of guest over host, often at great personal and financial cost to the host, and with hosts apparently being demoted from "valued partners" to worthless servants who must cater to guests' every outrageous whim and petulant demand - or suffer the consequences - Airbnb has somehow managed to turn their own platform into an adversarial battleground, pitting host against guest, and annihilating the culture of fun, chilled, organic host-guest interactions that was once the hallmark (and USP)  of the brand. 

 

Now though, with every new guest that comes through the door, we're full of doubt and suspicion, wondering what rules they might wilfully ignore, how disrespectfully they might treat us, what damage they might to to our homes, what stunts they might pull to screw us out of our money, and how badly they might destroy our reputations and our earnings potential when they finally leave and shaft us with a crappy review afterwards.

 

Well done, Airbnb, well done. You've taken a wonderful concept and ran it into the ground with your greed, your hubris, your Messianic delusions, your relentless (yet incompetent) scaling, your insatiable need for power and control, your penchant for squandering oodles of cash on ill-advised vanity projects (and expecting your "community" to foot the bill for it), your lies and obfuscations, and your utter contempt and disregard for the very hosts on whose backs your fortunes were built.

 

Airbnb has democratized the hospitality industry?? Nope. They've bastardized it instead. 

#susan you must be in a bad mood. Surely it is not that bad

Hi@Karina

This is what happens when some hosts pen the wishy washy, touchy feely, very vague review that is NO use to man nor beast!

 

If you get a rogue guest, if you get an entitled guest....then bloody well write an honest review as a host.

 

Hopefully with some schadenfreude these virtue signalling hosts will finally stumble across the “perfect guest” with wishy washy, touchy feely vague review penned by another such host, where everything goes.......Sorry, not in my family home!

Letti0
Level 10
Atascosa, TX

@Susan17  I can relate to what you say. Here's some proof that AirBnB is spying on the hosts with this new review system. How may hosts are aware if they tick off essential amenties provided and the guests review doesn't back it up they can be penalized by AirBnB and their listings removed. So a host that runs of toilet paper gets a mark against them, even if the guests in question used 1-2 rolls a day per person. They are cross checking these reviews with your listed amenities, so you as a host are relaying on how observant a guest actually was. If they can't remeber whether you had shampoo, a hair dryer or an iron because they didn't need them or they were in a drawer they did not open. It was over a week ago and thier minds have moved on you are screwed, so another mark against you. So every host must now go through there listed amenties and make sure they are noticed at their rental. 

 

Another thing  am guessing on this review system @Victoria567  keeps saying her's was 2 minutes to complete when I know my guests was much longer than that to complete as I was with her when she did it. I think that depending on the listing the review maybe longer or shorter. If it's an entire place they want to know more because more anemities would be provided than if it's a private room or guest suite with no access to the home or kitchen. My listings both have 44 anemities listed I just looked at a few private rooms they had 9-12 listed anemities that's a big difference. 

 

Clarification on essential amenities: Hosts can choose

 

Earlier this year, we announced that hosts will soon be required to provide a specific set of amenities in each listing that we consider “essential” to a comfortable stay.

 

Since then, we heard it was impacting some hosts’ ability to host successfully. So now, we’re giving you the choice.

 

You can choose whether or not to include the essential amenities in your listing. Having said that, we strongly encourage hosts to include them. Guests come from regions all over the world, and many tell us is that these five items are the minimum that they expect to find in a listing.

 

The five essential amenities include:

Toilet paper

Soap (for hands and body)

1 towel per guest

1 pillow per guest

Linens for each guest bed

 

We’re currently exploring the best way to keep guests informed about which amenities are provided in each listing so that accurate expectations are set.

 

Please, only select the Essentials option if you really are providing those items in the listing. Keeping listings as accurate as possible is a really important part of building trust with guests and setting you up for success as a host.

 

Listings that have Essentials selected but don’t actually provide the five items listed may be subject to penalties, including removal from Airbnb. 

 

Read this Help Center article for more details on essential amenities.

 

Thanks for being a part of the Airbnb community and for everything that you do to provide great guest experiences!

 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-Updates/Clarification-on-essential-amenities-Hosts-can-ch...

Victoria567
Level 10
Scotland, United Kingdom

It's not a question of air bnb spying  on hosts.

Just as there are rogue guests there are rogue hosts .

 

There is an element of trust on being a host and sharing your home with a stranger.

On the same level there is an element of trust as a guest in choosing to stay in someone's home.

 

It works both ways and I as both a super host and a guest have no problem with air bnb checking the amenities I list and provide as a host and also as a guest I welcome the quality control being practised by air bnb.

 

 

OOOOO. I never got that message. Could it be that is was sent to certain geographical areas only?

Same here

Sheri59
Level 2
Puerto Vallarta, MX

I have problems with guests immediately asking for and expecting things which are not listed on the amenities list. Can I charge these guests for the 7se if things I intentionally did not list but provide anyway, most of the time giving my guests my personal stuff which I then go without. I am getting tired of charging less because of the límites amenities, then giving the guests things Not included on the amenities list, for free. Can I charge for the extra stuff they want?

 

@Sheri59  But Sheri, in your listing, it says "If you need something and I have it, just ask". It doesn't make much sense to say that in the ad and then be upset when guests do that, does it? Guests are doing exactly what you've told them to do!

Guests should not expect or ask for things which aren't mentioned as being provided. First, remove that line from your listing info, Then, if you continue to have consistent issues with this, I would mention it in a message to guests when they book or request to book, along with whatever other information you send them. "Please be sure to read the amenities list in my listing information. Only what is listed there is provided and can be expected." Or something to that effect.

It would be hard to charge extra for things people ask for, because I would imagine those things vary from guest to guest. You'd have to mention in your listing info what you charge extra for. And if you charge them in cash and they report it to Airbnb, you could be suspended, because we aren't supposed to charge cash to guests. (Sometimes I'll drive my guests somewhere, and they'll insist on giving me gas money- that's different, they've offered) It's better to just practice politely saying no. "I'm sorry, that's not something I provide." "I'm sorry, but there is no washing machine usage listed in my ad. But there's a good laundry just down the street."

What sorts of things are guests asking for? If you find them asking for the same things over and over, you might consider adding those things to your listing and upping your nightly price a bit to cover it.

Susan17
Level 10
Dublin, Ireland

"Guest reviews.. guests are asked to list what amenities you offered. What's the point???

 

More a data heist, than a review form. Data is now the world's most valuable resource. 

'