Guest reviews

[Michael954]

My guests are not reviewing my house and their stay.  I get a notice to review the guests the day they check out and I review them right away.  Am I supposed to wait until they review me before I review them?   What am I doing wrong?  

[Marzena4]

Possibly nothing wrong, @Michael954. I've been observing that fewer and fewer guests are leaving reviews. It's because they treat Airbnb hosts as service providers. It may also depend on their home training and manners. There will always be a few factors. Some people write reviews only when they want to complain.

[Matthew285]

@Michael954, I have never been a big fan of hounding the guests for a review... so I don't.

I'm not sure what a host *could* do to encourage guests to review them (especially if the guest doesn't like writing reviews).

I'll bet you aren't doing anything wrong at all.

It could just be the nature of the guests that travel to your area.

What percentage of your guests write reviews, would you say?

We are relatively new, and it has been about 71% for us so far.

I'll be the percentage drops as you go along, because when a host already has a lot of reviews, the guest might feel like the host doesn't "need" another one.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Michael954

Most guests are travelling and might not immediately be able to write a review, but also a lot of (new) guests are not aware of the 14 day limit so my suggestion is to wait about 1 week. During this time you can draft a guest review and wait.... if the guest hasn't posted a review by day 8 or 9 you could send a reminder, very politely saying you hope they are well and got home safe, hope they enjoyed staying with you and would really appeciate a review from them... and reviews can only be written within 14 days after checkout so they only have about 5 days left.

[Rene-and-Zac0]

@Michael954 There’s this thing women do, we can place a thought in a man’s head and he doesn’t even realize it. We give the encouragement of “Great job Honey!” but it was all orchestrated. 

Plant the the seed in the guest head to leave you a review. 

On your check out message, they usually say they had a wonderful time or whatever in response. This is your window to slide in the request but low key not in their face.

At that point I pour two cups of sugar into one cup and get it really sweet.

”OMG! That is so amazing to hear.

I can’t wait to read your review about us!

Travel safe New Friends”

Your technique will develop but it’s just like a sales position, always be closing. 

If you liked this advice, like my place to your fantasy wish list and look for my advice column in the Community section under “Ask Rene”.

’You know it’s hard out here for a Host’

[Robin4]

@Michael954 @Marzena4 @Matthew285 @Jessica-and-Henry0

Michael you are doing nothing wrong, and it may be that you have just managed to link a few together who do not understand the importance of the review system for hosts.

We don't want to beg for reviews Michael but, it often pays to say to guests somewhere in your contact with them, "We are not part of a hotel chain, we depend on each other to spread the word through the review system, and by doing so, we all benefit, it only takes a few seconds but.........it is worth it"

Another major issue we have seen creep into the review system this past year, a lot of guests now feel 'intimidated' by the review process! They are all the time being asked to provide some sort of rationalie as to how things could have been done better. If a guest gives less than a 5 star in any one of 6 categories a box will appear asking them for a comment on what could be addressed to improve that particular category for future guests.

Many don't want to do that, they don't want to instigate some sort of bloody inquisition! They just thought it was good, but not perfect, and resent being asked to explain why it was less than perfect, so they decide that it is all to hard and don't worry about taking the time to put their heads in a noose!

I have passed this observation on to the Tech team and asked if it would be possible to compare review rates of today with those of two years ago.  But I have not had a response and don't expect one, but hopefully that statement may prompt someone to look and take a note of what is happening....who knows, it can't do any harm!

Cheers.....Rob

[Fred13]

   I think many of my guests have the inherent attitude of - 'What else can I say in a review that hasn't been said before?'. Most however, love to write essays in the Guest Book during their stay, on the spur of the 'moment' and always with much sentiment.

   Nowadays, to encourage reviews, I have taken the tack (like Rene) when they mention something they found specially fun, I usually follow with - 'Guests coming would love to hear about that!'. It usually elicits a review, with a new twist.

  Honestly, I now find the whole review scene a chore, since I do get to exchange with my guests on a one-to-one basis during their stay, and repeating the exchange publicly feels redundant, but I accept it is part of the bigger picture.

[Michael956]

When I began hosting a couple of months ago, I told my guests that I was a new Airbnb host and that I needed and would greatly appreciate if they could write me a review.  Everyone I asked happily complied.  Now that I have a good number of reviews, I only ask those whom I'm sure had a fantastic stay and who my intincts tell me will write a great review.