Hosts need Airbnb support with "Compassionate Review Guidelines" for guests

Swati3
Level 7
Bay Shore, NY

Hosts need Airbnb support with "Compassionate Review Guidelines" for guests

I am starting this thread based on all the frustrations that I and so many of my fellow hosts are facing due to Airbnb's review system. I think it's time Airbnb takes some of the onus for educating guests on how reviews work and what makes a fair review. 

Please read ahead and if you think the changes I am asking of Airbnb are a good idea, "like" this post and add your own comments to this thread. I am hoping that if we have enough likes and comments, we may catch Airbnb's attention? (I dont know of any other way hosts can ask Airbnb for more support).

 

I recently read an article about how the discrepancy between the way hosts and guests think of reviews causes hosts a lot of stress. Here is the article, I think its well worth the read and fairly accurate: 
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sethporges/2016/06/29/the-one-issue-with-airbnb-reviews-that-causes-hos...


I tend to think there are two issues with reviews:

a)  Ratings in general - Any time we are asked to review something we start over-thinking, over-analyzing and tried to be "dis-passionate".  This is proved to be true most commonly with test audience when they are asked to watch a film in order to leave a review. They suddenly become over-critical, and almost never enjoy the film as much as a regular viewer who watches for the sheer experience.  Unfortunately, not  much can  be done about this aspect of human pyschology. 

b)  Ratings by guests - Airbnb style of hosting where hosts also get to review guests is fairly new to the hospitality industry (or any industry for that matter). Guests are used to a world in which the reviewing was always one sided, consumers got to review what they consumed: hotel stay/item that they bought etc. This old style mentality is pervasive, and can sometimes lead to a sense of entitlement where guests presume THEIR review of a listing is the only thing that matters, and the hosts are the ONLY ones responsible for creating a stellar experience.  One can't blame the guests, afterall guests don't receive threatening emails  from Airbnb saying if they got 4 star rating, Airbnb wont let them make another booking on their system!. So, in a way Airbnb has put the onus on hosts to be at their best but it is less stringent on the guests. Also it has put the entire onus of educating guests about reviews on the hosts. This is where I think Airbnb can and should support its hosts.

 

This is what Airbnb could do (just my thoughts, maybe others can chip in as well?)

a) Before check-in - Airbnb could educate Airbnb guests (espcially the first time Airbnb guests) that hosts also review guests and that Airbnb's entire model is based on two way trust and responsibility.  A pleasant experience at Airbnb is a shared experience. 

b) During Review- Airbnb could also give some guidance to guests regarding what I call "Compassionate Reviewing" (as opposed to "detached/ dispassionate/ critical thinking" humans tend to do when asked to review something). Before check-in/ after check-in/ on the review form, Airbnb could inform the guests that leaving is a review is important (so many guests choose not to review at all) and that reviews affect hosts in many ways - such as in the search results, their host status, their listing staying up on Airbnb etc. It could also educate guests on what makes a great review - for eg if the guest stayed at a small townhome, where the service was perfect & the host did whatever they could to make their stay comfortable, then guests should give the rating based on that particualr experience instead of comparing their experience with their last stay at the Ritz Carlon because that won't be fair! 

c) Airbnb should not allow the rating for location to affect any statuses like super host, search results etc. as hosts have no control over their location and guests know nearly exacly where they are going to stay  even before they book (on that note why is location even reviewed, reviews should be for things that are unknown before the stay!)  Either way I am unsure if Airbnb takes the location review into account in any manner.  Maybe someone else knows?

If Airbnb did some or all of the above (it shouldn't be difficult for them), it would do it's bit in educating guests about reviews, and reduce the discomfort and down right stress on the hosts about bending over  backwards to get "5 star reviews", because "4 star reviews" are actually bad! 

If as a host you agree with this, pleae like and add your own comments.

Swati 

 

 

67 Replies 67
Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hello @Swati3,

 

Thank you for putting together your thoughts on the review system. Reviews is an active talking point here in the Community Center, which you may have noticed. 

 

It is always fantastic to see ideas on how you think we can develop a feature or functionality and generally improve. 

 

It would be great to hear others thoughts on this and the ideas shared. 🙂

 

Thanks,
Lizzie


--------------------


Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


Looking to contact our Support Team, for details...take a look at the Community Help Guides.

 - thanks for your thoughts!  I do believe that creating a simple guideline for guests re: reviews would be an easy enough enhancement for Airbnb, and could have a great positive impact on the hosts! I am eager to hear what others think. 

Hello Ms. Swati

You're spot on !  I think in the final analysis, it boils down between someone providing a service and someone receiving it. With regard to first-time guests on Airbnb, one really just has to go by their gut feeling. whether to accept them or not. When the guest community in Airbnb, is growing in geometric proportion, there will always be an increasing number of first-time guests. 

I particularly liked your example of someone who stayed at the Ritz Carlton earlier and then compares it with an Airbnb stay - which isn't just like, say, merely comparing apples with oranges - the difference between an Airbnb stay and a stay in a hotel, is both of degree and of kind.

Best !

GK.

 

One probably has to be ready to take the bouquets with the brickbats, and be happy that lucklly the percentage of bouquets is very high as against the minuscule and negligible brickbats.

 

Thanks Ganapati . I agree there are more & more first time guests and their education is much needed.  Airbnb's original philosphy was one of "shared experience" so its a shame it has become so lop-sided and weighted against hosts. 

If Airbnb requires hosts to maintain 96% 5 star rating (4.8*) , it is essentially almost every one of our guests reviewing us as a 5 star host, it is very nearly impossible and causes much stress. Where else in the world do people have 96% success rate? Things really need to change from the Airbnb side. 

Rebecca181
Level 10
Florence, OR

FYI - anytime I try to tag anybody I am getting an error message (saying there is an invalid HTML in the message body). When I take the tag out, I can post. Hopefully Lizzie will read this and let the tech team know - because I cannot tag her! Lizzie, if you are reading this, I also cannot respond to PMs that are sent to me. I get the 'Ooops, this message cannot be sent' blurb. I am also being told by hosts that they cannot PM me. Maybe your tech team can look into this as well? 

Rebecca I have the same issue started about an hour ago. 

I  sent a PM to Lizzie about this  after I noticed it earlier.  I sent another PM just now telling her that others are having the same problem.

I just had the same isssue   As @Rebecca0 with the tagging and invalid HTML.

 

What an irritating glitch, Lizzie.

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Thanks again for highlighting this. For anyone reading this here and wondering the same thing, as I have mentioned elsewhere in the CC, I have escalated this to our Tech Team who are looking into this. I am very hopeful this will be back to normal shortly. 

 

In the mean time if there is someone you particular want to @ mention, just let me know and I will be happy to help! 🙂 

 

Thanks so much,
Lizzie


--------------------


Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


Looking to contact our Support Team, for details...take a look at the Community Help Guides.

Rebecca181
Level 10
Florence, OR

My reply to your post was deleted, Swati, let me try again:

 

Glad to see your post is now public. The other day I was speaking with an Airbnb rep who was obviously extremely caring and knowledgeable. I asked her why it was retaliatory reviews are at times allowed to stand, and at times removed by Customer Support / Case Management (I myself was successful recently in having an obviously retaliatory review removed and could not understand why so many hosts are not having this same experience). This rep said that reviews are meant to be 'relevant' and should not be 'harmful' to either host or guest. If she is alerted to a review that is NOT relevant and IS harmful to host or guest, she will remove these. She said that hosts who are not having this experience should insist that the matter be addressed as the review system is not intended to be harmful, and revenge reviews can obviously be very harmful to a host and their Airbnb business.


As we all know, the current review system IS harmful, and will be even MORE harmful starting this July when the Overall Rating requirement changes to 4.7 (Hosts) / 4.8 (Super Hosts). It is therefore my hope that they consider your ideas regarding 'Compassionate Reviews' - Not only would it benefit hosts and guests, but it would benefit Airbnb Corporate, as it would show that they genuinely care about their Host Community, versus just saying they care. 

Rebecca, well explained. 100% agree with you. Its disgusting that they have allowed this to go on.

Thanks!

Lisa723
Level 10
Quilcene, WA

(I'm having the same tagging problem as Rebecca.) I don't agree with everything Swati suggests-- for example, I think it's perfectly appropriate for guests to review a *property's* location, not a *host's* -- Airbnb's review system should differentiate more between host and property reviews. However I agree that it's a huge problem that Airbnb gives guests and hosts completely different messages about what ratings mean. This leads to a lot of stress on hosts, but maybe more importantly it leads to the whole system being pretty meaningless, where "every child is above average."  Ratings could reasonably mean many different things, but they should mean the same thing to hosts and guests and Airbnb should ensure that is so.

Thanks Lisa   , Sure guests can review Location, my bigger issue is that Airbnb shouldn't take that into consideration for Superhost status etc. Like you said, Airbnb review system should differentiate bwteen host and property reviews and use them appropriately.  And ditto on the "every child is above average" metaphor, very appropriate. 

Swati3
Level 7
Bay Shore, NY

 Rebecca,  I agree whole heartedly. The review system has become harmful, and because the bar is so high for hosts, many hosts are handpicking guests who seem more likely to give a better review but that requires researching each guest's past reviews etc, time better spent doing other more productive things in life.  Not long ago, I had an experience where the guest's younger cousin removed something from my house - I noticed it after check-out, considered it a mistake but when I asked the guest to simply mail the item back or perhaps send me money via the Airbnb system, the guest became upset and decided to have an argument with me instead of doing the fair thing. Immediately I knew that this will impact their review, so I reached out to Airbnb and ask them to block both the guest and my ability (only fair to block both right?) to review each other since we had already had an argument, and there is no way fair reviews could be written after that. Airbnb refused my request and the guest,  as expected, left me a damaging rating. Airbnb continued to refuse to remove their review / rating from my listing, and I didn't make the SuperHost status for the next quarter - so this had a very real impact on my listing.  So, what to do? Hosts should suffer anything & everything guests do, in fear of a damaging review? Or be extremely cautious by perusing through guests' past reviews of their hosts before accepting a reservation (but then Airbnb insists hosts should sign up for "Instant booking") .  Either way, what about 1st time guests with no review history? 

Reviews have become too important within the Airbnb system for Airbnb to have a hands-off approach towards them. A little education to guests will go a long way, and all that is needed is an email from Airbnb to guests and change of verbiage on the review form from Airbnb.  That will be a good start anyway.