IB hosts-- what is a "good guest" star rating?

Laura2592
Level 10
Frederick, MD

IB hosts-- what is a "good guest" star rating?

After 100 plus stays I still can't wrap my head around what is supposed to be a "good" guest with IB star ratings. Here is my confusion.

 

- all reviews are either good or glowing

-over 3 stays, stars are at 4

 

So someone really didn't give them a fully great score. Or maybe several people didn't. They said nice things and marked down on stars that not everyone sees. Got it, but how do I interpret this without anything to go on in the written rating? Were they messy? Did they bring a dog when the host said no pets? Smoke in the house? What?

 

If we use the host lens, of course this guest would not be acceptable. Anything below a 5? Out! But is a 4 a bad guest? is a 4.5 a bad guest?

 

Help me out here. How do you interpret this?

21 Replies 21
Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Laura2592  This is why I consider star ratings to be useless. They tell you nothing. I've mentioned before that on another hosting forum, a host described their guest's behavior and asked for feedback on how to rate them. The responses, all from experienced hosts, ranged from 2*s to 5*s. 

 

The ratings hosts give are just as subjective as the ratings guests leave.

 

I have never used IB, so can't see star ratings. Written reviews and communication are what matter to me and I have never had a bad guest.

Emilia42
Level 10
Orono, ME

To me, a 4-star guest is not a bad one or one I wouldn't invite that. In fact, I think every guest who came to stay with a 4-star rating got a glowing 5-star review from me. Like Sarah, I don't put much weight into the star ratings but I'm glad that they are there.

Elaine701
Level 10
Balearic Islands, Spain

We use IB, but have set it for guests with only positive reviews/ratings.

 

I'm not sure how Airbnb defines "positive", but so far, we've only had great experiences with guests who qualify for IB... So far. 

 

In truth, however, I'm not sure how important IB is for getting bookings. Airbnb says it's important. VRBO says it's important. Booking.com has ONLY IB (anyone can book it, and hosts have to accept whatever they get, even if the guest's identity can't be verified - and they don't have host ratings of guests, so you can't review their history). 

 

But only maybe 20% of our bookings are IB. So, I'm not sure it's all that important.

 

It's probably like "smart pricing". A ridiculous, seemingly random robotic pricing system, which IMO should NEVER be enabled, but Airbnb says its important. 

@Elaine701  Airbnb pushes IB because they like to make things easy for guests. The easier it is to book, the faster bookings come in and Airbnb collects its service fees.

 

I realize that there is fierce competition in some areas and that IB would give hosts am edge in search rankings, but that's only because Airbnb gives top priority to IB listings. So in fact, it isn't just that they try to encourage hosts to use IB, or try to scare you into thinking you won't get bookings if you don't use it, they outright punish hosts for not using it through lower search rankings. It's blatant coersion.

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Laura2592 

 

If I am looking to buy a new vacuum cleaner I will go straight to  'Product Review'  and I will use all the previous reviews of the product I want to guide me to make a correct decision. Product reviews are great because they relate to genuine past experiences, some will be great, some will be poor, but they are all genuine and they do highlight potential issues.

 

Airbnb reviews and star ratings are essentially useless because Airbnb can't differentiate between what is good and what is excellent. For the guest, a 3 star is a satisfactory review, Airbnb tell them it is .....'The stay met their expectations'! But for the host that 3 star puts them in dangerous territory and they need to pull their socks up, 5 stars is the default review!

 

For this reason as hosts and guests we all live in LaLa land where provided nothing got trashed the guest was a wonderful human being, and provided the host gave in to all the guests demands he was worth 5 stars.

As a reference system Laura, it is completely useless and I do not look at the guests past reviews or their star rating, I know its not going to tell me anything meaningful. I base my decision to host around the initial message. Sometimes the guest doesn't have any past reviews, or maybe just one....that doesn't tell me anything, but that first communication with them tells me a lot.

 

@Elaine701 

Almost all my business is IB and I prefer IB. IB guests don't want to ask questions, haggle about something or other, they like what they have seen and just want to stay....they are good guests.

Reservation requests invariably come with a question or two ...."I know you say not pets but we have a cute Pomeranian who is adorable and will be no trouble, do you mind if we bring him"?  

Or.......

Reservation request.png

Every time a reservation request comes to me I can bet it will come with a question for something I do not include in my listing description. I far prefer IB, a lot less hassles!

Every booking this month was/is an IB

Current reservation April 2021.png

 

Cheers.......Rob

Elaine701
Level 10
Balearic Islands, Spain

@Robin4 

 

Yes, well, it would be great if all guests qualified for IB and used it. I'd enjoy that too. Yes, less hassle, better quality of guest. Perhaps it's a cultural difference over here. Even guests who qualify to IB tend to write and introduce themselves first. 

 

However, I was only pointing out that while Airbnb seems to make a bit of a fuss about the importance of IB, in our experience, it doesn't seem to be quite as important for bookings as everyone makes it out to be. I respect the fact that your mileage may vary. 

 

Regarding the ratings, yes, there's a certain truth in that both hosts and guests don't bother to be truthful in their reviews. But we call it like we see it in our reviews of guests, and I'd hope other hosts would do the same. Otherwise it doesn't work.

 

In terms of guest reviews of hosts, again in our experience, they're extremely important. The star ratings, unfortunately seem to have a very limited range, with the vast majority of listings sitting somewhere between 4 and 5.

 

But it's what guests write that makes a difference. Also the fact that Airbnb's placement algorithm gives higher priority to 5* rated listings. We, for example, consistently shown up in the first or second page for searches in our region. Its due to ratings. 

 

And even if the star system is too compressed between 4 and 5, it still serves as incentive to hosts to deliver a higher quality product, which is always a good thing. 

Most of you guys have stayed at some Airbnb homes as guests....do you know what your Guest star ratings are?

 

 

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Anonymous 

I have had 12 Airbnb stays as a guest,  10 under my own profile and 2 under my daughters.

11 gave me 5 stars and the 12th did not leave me a review!

I must have p*ssed him off or he didn't get around to it!

 

And of those 12 stays I left eleven x 5 stars and one x 3 star. The three star did not relate to the host who did not review me, that was for a host who would not communicate in any way with us other than delayed generic messaging! I think she left me 5 stars without knowing anything about the stay, her communication was simply via automated responses, as was her review. Not a host I would stay with again, if you are going to be a host........be one!

 

Cheers.......Rob

@Robin4  How did you discover which ratings your prior hosts gave you as a guest? This information is not usually disclosed to guests.

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Anonymous 

As you know Andrew, I am pretty **bleep** about this review business and a couple of months back I asked my last host, Marie to take a screenshot of my review history, which as you know Andrew, the link to which is in the message stream. She did, and this is what that revealed about me as a guest, rated by other hosts!

 

Star ratings 6.png

 

So mate, although Airbnb chose not to share their guest star rating of hosts with them, it's information that is easy to obtain, You just have to think outside the square!

 

Send me an enquiry and I will shoot back yours in a DM if you are interested!

 

Cheers.......Rob

@Robin4 I am totally doing that when I get a chance! Let me know what my star rating is 🙂

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Inna22 

Hey do you want to know your results here or by DM.....I might add your hosts think you are a star! 

@Robin4 it depends on what you find out! If it is less than 5- don't post here. Although now that I said it, everyone will know it is not five if you end up not posting 

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Inna22 

Well here you go....on these results I hope we get the opportunity to host you one day Inna!

 

Inna's reviews.png

 

There you go mate, your'e a star!

 

I should add, if someone wants to find out but not make it public send me a DM....when you put the request in here, it does sort of become public!

 

Cheers......Rob