Guests who give all 5s except overall...

[Kenneth12]

Are of course rather frustrating;   at this point we get a few of them,  and a few 4s here and there.

I'm trying the following for now:

"Hi again GUEST,

I was a bit surprised to see you left 5s for individual ratings and a 4 overall.

Hosts are evaluated by Airbnb on their percentage of 5s overall-- nothing else. I'm sure most would rather have a 5 overall and 4 on every individual rating.
I'll hope you might keep that in mind when reviewing hosts in the future.

Otherwise, only about 1 in 15 people do not give us a 5; is there anything we could have changed or improved?

Best regards and thanks,"

Otherwise I'm tempted to put "thanks for the 4-star review" in their review replies ...

Any other ideas or comments here?

[Anonymous]

@Laura2592 The thing is, as distorted as those ratings seem, it's not always all that odd from a reviewer's perspective. The individual categories often fail to reflect the thing that the guest found less than perfect. For example, there's not a category where you can express that you found the mattress too uncomfortable, even though that's a far more reasonable thing to be critical about than Location.

[Laura2592]

@Anonymous  oh I understand. But we are attentive hosts and would have been happy to correct the offending blue light had we been made aware and given the chance to do so. These guests got a welcome with sparkling apple cider; local artisanal chocolate, honey, preserves and bread, a hand addressed card and communication throughout. It just seems like a minor issue for a full point on the overall experience. Add to that the fact that we have a second bedroom and bath they could have availed themselves of, had the issue just been too annoying to bear. I don't like to grub for points as a host and would normally never say a word to a guest. In this case I felt it was needed. We didn't get a chance to make their stay better.  And I honestly think that there must be some kind of misleading way these scores are presented to guests. I'm sure they didn't mean to punish us. 

[Anonymous]

@Laura2592 It sure does sound like an awfully minor thing. And all you can do is take it at face value, since you can never know whether their real issue was something they weren't comfortable talking about, or even just the mood they were in at that moment. 

I stopped inviting guests to join us for dinner when one rated us low on Cleanliness because I'd apparently failed to clean the kitchen at the exact same time as I was cooking his free meal. On one hand, it was a relief that he acknowledged that rooms he was actually supposed to be in were clean. But that one interaction kind of soured me on one of the things I used to enjoy most about in-home hosting. I wish I'd never looked at the star ratings. 

[Allison2]

It's when I find my behavior modified by poor ratings that makes me really disappointed in Air's punitive review system.

I used to include my garden in the listing amenities. The garden is surrounded by walnut trees, which make it a lovely shaded place to sit, but the leaves and nuts leave a lot of litter.

It doesn't help that the squirrels find it comfortable to sit on my outdoor cushions while husking the nuts!

After one lady complained bitterly about my "filthy" and unusable yard, I removed it from the listing. Now it's an "as-is perk". Perhaps she can find better at a staffed resort, but there is no way for me to remove every piece of leaf litter while still holding a full time job.

[Sarah977]

@Allison2  When guests come up with absurd complaints, rather than letting it make you feel defensive, irritated or downright angry, I'd be inclined to use some humor that makes it evident how ridiculous they are being. 

"Oh yes, I fantasize sometimes about how nice it would be to have full-time yard maintenance to deal with things like the leaves, but unfortunately I think it's going to have to remain a fantasy, as I certainly can't afford such things and still keep my pricing low enough for guests to want to book."

[Kira32]

@Kenneth12  I would break my head sometimes why some guests give a 4 star but not anymore.

Just never ask guests for explanation why they give a 4*.

Some people are just miserable by nature and their ratings are not that important because the next guests comes along and gives you a 5*.