I quit my successful Airbnb rental because of the review system

Manon87
Level 5
Edmundston, Canada

I quit my successful Airbnb rental because of the review system

That's it, I quit.

I am counting the weeks before I can walk away from Airbnb. I hosted hundreds of guests in a little over a year, and what started and a very pleasant experiance, now has become source of constant stress and anxiety. All the good things about hosting have been taken away by the now flawed review system.

Last summer, I used to say that Airbnb was a blessing in my life;  It was a pleasure to host people from around the world plus it was a good source of supplemental income. 

It was also a blessing for people who needed a break in their journey(I am located right in the middle of two large metropolis that are 18hours of driving away). My place was a convenient stop at very modest cost and guests were very appreciative. 


Now, Airbnb accounts for 15% of my income but also, 90% of the stress in my personal and work life combined. Not worth it. In the last few months, I also feel that the type of guests have changed, they are reviewing us like hotel cutomers would, not understanding the harm it causes hosts. The highest hotel rating in my area is 8.9/10. Airbnb rating system is asking us to remain at 4.8 or higher to keep our superhost status, that's 9.6/10. If Airbnb is attracting more hotel customers, they have to adjust their rating system to adapt to these new guests.

 

I asked myslef what could be done to keep my rating up, I have doubled my operating costs and time invested compared to last summer to improve guest's stay and, it did nothing. It did not change the rating I am getting. If anything, I have lost a few percentage points. Another downside is that it keeps me from raising my prices in fear that a higher price would affect the reviews negatively while I am having close to 100% occupancy during the summer months.

The current review system is not helping us improve guest's stay, it only creates stress and anxiety on the hosts. It would be better if guests told us what could be done to improve their experience before leaving a review without even undertsanding what it means.

Guests are leaving four stars with great comments in their reviews. THEY ARE NOT LEAVING US ANY CUES FOR WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED!  If I don't know why they are leaving a four star, how can I fix it??!! I don't think they even know themselves sometimes. 

It was a wise decision to open my calendar only 90days in advance, so I don't have to commit to hosting on Airbnb any longer. --Walking out

55 Replies 55

Make you a deal, you come to DC, you can at my digs for free, if you let me do the same at yours.  BTW, where are you?

 

Amber1
Level 7
Key West, FL

I hear you. April 15th is my "walk away" day and I am counting down the days! 5 years of it!!!

Mick-and-Mar0
Level 2
México D.F., MX

Hey everyone! Count us in between the people who are leaving AirBNB.

 

We've been Superhosts for more than a year, but the stress and the money are simply not worth it. Our worst review was a 3 star review, which came from a guest from NYC, who complained about the noise one of our neighbors was doing while installing a new toilet in his apartment. The noise started past 10:00 a.m., and we didn't know of it in advance, so we were unable to warn our guest about it. The guest checked out of the apartment abruptly, even tough the security staff at our building assured us that the noise didn't last longer than 15 minutes. Fortunately, we left this guest a honest review, which in her case, was a harsh review. Evidently, we received the same from her (except for the "honest" part, of course). We have learned the hard way to review guests as honestly as possible.

 

On another occasion, a guest returned at night to our apartment, while being drunk. He wasn't able to open the building's main entrance with the key we gave him, which worked perfectly fine, but wasn't "drunk proof". We ended up calling the building's security staff at 4 a.m., to ask them to open the door for our drunken buddy.

 

We've had wonderful guests, but honestly, for us, 1 bad review eclipses 30 good ones, and the AirBNB algorithm seems to "think" the same.

 

Anyhow, we've decided to quit, and rent our properties the old way, not having to worry about whether we can provide some guest a paper clip, in a timely manner, to change the SIM card on his IPhone (we don't live in the properties we rent, btw, and any adult should be able to solve something as simple as this, by himself, considering our property is located in the middle of every kind of store you can imagine).

 

On one of our properties we have bookings until the end of April, and we've already blocked May and the upcoming months after it, so we don't receive any more bookings. On our other property, our last booking is in August, but we're considering canceling it, so we can get out of AirBNB as soon as possible. Only a sense of responsibility is stopping us from doing it.

 

Best to all, folks!

 

- Mick & Mar

I am with you, these guest leaving sometimes 1 star review, about been drunk and you not answering 5am in the morning is crazy

Caroline679
Level 2
Paris, France

" they (Guests)are reviewing us like hotel cutomers would"

And why wouldn't they when most hosts are in for the money only and guests find their rental key in a box when they arrive instead of a human being welcoming them ?I remember my 1st stay as a guest in Prague with an American friend We never thought it would be that money oriented and had even brought a bottle of French wine to give to the host thinking it would be a cultural encounter more than just a host-guest transaction ....Now no need to say i would never ever bring a present or anything to an Airbnb host as he/she would most probably be bewildered as our Prague host was when we gave him the bottle of very good French wine!

Pam1395
Level 2
Phoenix, AZ

I feel similarly. I have absolutely loved sharing my home via airbnb. However, a recent guest damaged my home, disrespected my house rules and neighbors, left a huge mess, then left a libel review saying that "they harassed me". First, I did not harass anyone. Also, there is no "they", only me. And, I am two hours away from the property, so there is no way for me to harass a guest, except through messaging, but as they can read, I was nothing but nice. The agent says she is sorry, but it is beyond their control. It is one thing to lie in your review, but it is another to libel a person. I feel like I need to leave airbnb, I had a 4.93, now I have a 4.89. The part that disturbs me is that we give them a decent amount of our money, so I feel they should protect us, including from false lies and libel in reviews.

Katrina284
Level 2
Clovis, CA

I absolutely understand how you feel. We charge very little in order to maintain our 5.0 rating. But we get the occasional 4 pt rating and it takes us 20 5.0 ratings to make up for the 4.0 rating. 

Airbnb is very easy as long as you have perfect guests and no issues. The moment you have any issues, the hell begins. It takes me forever to find a phone number to talk to someone and lately I receive little to no support. 

we recently had a guest that ruin bedding, towels, etc. I took pictures etc, and I received no support. And of course the guest never replied or tried to compensate. 

Most of the time we eat our losses because it’s just not worth wasting time trying to get support. 

The final straw was this weekend when a guest walked through my main home illegally because he had problems with the fully functional lockbox. And here’s the thing, I have no recourse for this guests behavior. He illegally came into my home and started to yell at me about the lockbox. I walked over to our guest house and showed him that it worked. No apologies or anything. But I bet I get a bad rating! 

Yup, I’m done with this too. Simply not worth the $ anymore.

Gail656
Level 2
Charlotte, NC

I’m walking away from Airbnb too, but as a customer. Maybe my reason could help you. I’m so tired of  places not looking like the pics that are posted. 
Possibly have someone unbiased compare the pics you post with your actual place. Lowered ratings are due to unmet expectations so identify what that is.

I am with you, I host over 100 properties and on the last year a lot of guest are not common guest they enter the property as quality standar and checking if everything is wrong or a little details just to get a refund out of the stay, its everyday more common, that instead of guest enjoying the place they are trying to complaint of any small detail that you can have on thousands of five star hotels and not getting any refund on these, plus we are not hotels.

Bhumika
Community Manager
Community Manager
Toronto, Canada

Hey @Rodrigo1098 ,

 

Just came across your comment and wanted to ensure if everything is okay!

 

Are you running into any difficulties with a recent guest? 

 

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Please follow the Community Guidelines

Hi Bhumika

Not at the moment an specific guest but several times while opening a case having a problem with guest 9 times out of 10, they end up doing a 1 star review and its always based when I open a case when something is broken or any kind of charge, so I really believe once a host or a guest opens a case this review cant be valid as its not longer about the stay its about a revenge for both parties when they get affected and involve airbnb resolutions