Is Airbnb review system credible enough?

Nikolay26
Level 3
Moscow, Russia

Is Airbnb review system credible enough?

We stayed at Airbnb places multiple times and everything seemed OK until we once booked the room in the NYC. All reviews to this place were generically well but the site turned out to be just ugly. Cockroaches, stench, unfriendly host... I just can't believe my eyes! I riched out Airbnb support and they checked whether all reviews were real. They were.  Furthermore, I kept to monitor the place and people continued to call it "gem", "perfect stay" etc. Unbelievable! 

 

My guess, due to a strict policy of "uncorrectable, undeletable one-chance reviews" people are trying to be overkind to prevent any chance of a bad review on themselves. While it could be good to some extent, all reviews seem to turn into "kindness exercise" rather actual ones. They are simply misleading.

As a guest ("client") I also feel sometimes uncomfortable. I pay money (comparable to the hotel most of the time) and willing to expect some freedom and service rather thinking all the time, whether I left the room clean enough or did enough kindness to obtain positive review on myself.

 

Recently I got another false negative review and I believe it was caused by my initial fair demands of the host. She obeyed and was very sweet, even kissed me on check-out (now I understand that is all for better stars!). Nothing looked squally, so I left the perfect review (hiding initial problems that could help future guests).  So, it looks like a kind of "revenge" from the host and simply odious.
I feel that is just wrong.

 

After two years of exiting of Airbnb I changed my mind due to these reasons and now booking.com or similars are my first choice again, keeping in mind the fact that many places are now listed on them too.

 

Any thoughts? 

 

51 Replies 51

@Sarah977 the issue is that I never left a mess after me. The last host seemed to did expect "heavy cleaning" and another one was the false claim, in fact, we left place even cleaner than it was. 

 

To the hotel environment, I still do think that I have right to expect something if I pay the comparable amount for the comparable amenities. For the truly "staying in people's home" experience there is a CouchSurfing when people do not charge money for that.

Mika8
Level 10
Zürich, Switzerland

@Nikolay26 .. I only checked the last bad review for you (the French one) .. there you pay less then 35 Euros per person per night to the owner if you are two people, if you are three people  you pay less then 30 Euros, for four less then 25 Euros ... please show me a comparable hotel in that region, thank you!

 

But nevertheless .. You book by somebody private -> respect it.

Your sentence   To the hotel environment, I still do think that I have right to expect something if I pay the comparable amount for the comparable amenities. For the truly "staying in people's home" experience there is a CouchSurfing when people do not charge money for that.  clearly shows, that you don't understand airbnb, don't use it anymore!

@Mika8 according to booking.com, 50 to 100 euro per night is the most common price range for this region, we paid 70, just check.

 

I really don't understand why do you think I  do not respect people. If I expect some service, and equal respect to me, it does not mean that I do not respect hosts. I never left hotel rooms messy either. 

 

In my last bad review host seemed to be happy with me and even kissed me on so long. There was no single objection on the check-out!

They met us at the train station (with her cousin) and delivered back to the train station, voluntary, it was very kind. They did not ask for any money and said it free, but we paid 20 euro anyway (this regular taxi rate), and she not rejected it. I tried to get the reason of this review from the host but she didn't answer to any of my 5 messages. OK, she got a money and perfect review, why to bother. This I call "do not respect!". And this is a reason of doubts for the review system!

@Mika8  Have you had a chance to read other posts about hosts staying in places that they had to actually clean the bathrooms, toilets (superhosts) before they could use it because it was unclean. As a witness to unclean, unhabitable studio, the paint peeling off bathroom hanging by its mm, cm, (Ie like scales of a fish), dirty walls all over, carpet filthy, wasn't a cheap price either aprox $180 AUD a night, how does a host get away with that with good/great 5 star reviews? how does one get away with that?

@Nikolay26 @Kath9 @Alexandra316  I am a guest whom stayed in approx 11 properties in the states, I used airbnb 11 times, VBRO once, I have hosted probably 40 guests, experiences two bad guests, one trashing guest, two stingy guests constantly trying to justify why they pay. However most were brilliant and super!

 

My thoughts are hosts that are also guests can offer ways how to improve the system because it is not credible enough. Like Nikolay states, you start to feel sorry to write a lesser review because you don't really want to hurt them or even easier, I don't write one! I move on without biterness or whateverrrrr!

 

Re-editing reviews could make it more feisty and I agree that when it comes to negative reviews, would be wise for a secondary hold for further communication between guests and like some people have mentioned, both party guest and host exchange communication to agree or disagree.

 

Hosts take the plunge to host and that is their responsibility to state their boundaries, their expectations etc. Guest can gage whether they can meet these expectations or are suitable for the stay. Problem is many host want their calendars filled to the max and many do not space their preparation time between guests bring more problems with early check ins, late check outs, homes not cleaned well and so on.

 

THERE ARE TWO SIDES TO EVERY CONTRACT, this forum is host and host and host and brave guests coming out to speak on their experiences or problems. Every one has their right to free speech and to say hey you have  negative reviews, so what!!! you may one of these days get a crap review also.

 

Go stay at a hotel!  , trust me i prefer to stay at a beautiful boutique hotel after the ***** stars dirty bathrooms, dirty bed mattresses, crapppp!

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Letti0 Yes, I've read posts here by hosts who are selling their home, say the new owners want to honor the bookings that have already been made and are pending, and can they just let the new owners do this (not creating a new listing in the new owner's name). That's so short-sighted, for just the reason you said. If the new owners are terrible hosts and the listing is still under the previous owner's account, that could end up meaning the original owner would now get a bunch of bad reviews, when they may have had only great ones when they were hosting.

Nikolay26
Level 3
Moscow, Russia

@Kath9, technical question - how did you count 4 of 9 recommendations? Do I miss something and there is a counter? For the French and Russian reviews, you have "Translate to English" link next to them.


 Common question: do you really use these reviews to make a decision? I found that it's funny to read reviews while I select next place to stay but in fact, I do not rely on them at all. Location, Google street views and photos are much more important. Reviews are only helpful in the part of facts, like "there is no AC" so I understand that there is no AC, but all these "exceptionals! and gems!" mean nothing. If so, what the reason for this system?


My post, however, was about review's system, not about me.
For example, you probably counted my very first stay at Airbnb with "open windows" as a negative review, so other hosts probably will do the same. However, it was nowhere stated that I have to keep windows closed, the neighborhood looked safe and I always keep windows open in my own house. I'm not sure what I did wrong, why it was a mistake and why it was mentioned in the review. Perhaps, it's a common known in this area or country but should I really have to know that?

This is a mild version of such misalignment in reviews, the hard version I explained above. The point is that that current system does not allow to correct or prevent such missreviews, whether they are "mild", honest version, or "hard" ones when host or guest post review specifically to hurt another party. Such reviews are basically misleading as well as many positives ones that were left just because people want to be kind (overpositive perhaps have even less meaning). 

Mika8
Level 10
Zürich, Switzerland

@Nikolay26 .. if there is an AC or not, you find listed under the amenities .. no necessarity to review no AC. Guests only have to read what they book.

@Nikolay26&Kath, (Kath won't tag for some reason), the ''hosts recommend'' is fairly new. Guests do not see it, but hosts do. However, it is misleading as I see it because since it is fairly new, the stays you had BEFORE the new system started will not have a recommend attached. I have noticed this since I have had guests book who have been recommended by 3 out of 5 hosts, yet the reviews are all of the ''welcome back'' variety. Basically hosts are asked on check out if we give the guest a thumbs up or down, in addition to the regular review. But when Iarbnb makes changes to the system hosts are not usually given an explanation or a warning, so we have to work these things out for ourselves. But this means it could be possible that someone did NOT recommend you, we just have no idea really.

Mika8
Level 10
Zürich, Switzerland

@Nikolay26  .. interesting .. then you have a totally different booking.com site then me https://www.booking.com/searchresults.en-gb.html?aid=376364&label=bdot-6Sv9DCNWRIBAVjeomqNaYAS267754...

 

nevertheless .. the few cheap apartments of booking.com would probably also be from private people like as airbnb .. many airbnb hosts use also booking.com.

 

 

@Syl11 .. I only refer to Nikolay not in genereall ... but yeah, perhaps even guests are not honest in their review .. the bigger problem I recognize is that hosts don't want to tell the truth in reviews because they don't like to be bad and therefore don't wirte a revies .. and with this behavior don't warn other hosts of this guests. 

 

Nikolay26
Level 3
Moscow, Russia

2018-07-29 13_06_43-Window.png

 

This is what I see.

 

hosts don't want to tell the truth in reviews because they don't like to be bad

Exactly. This works in both directions. And there is another side to this: sometimes people want to be bad to hurt. Both versions do nothing about a real representation of what we are expecting from reviews. 

Mika8
Level 10
Zürich, Switzerland

 

@Nikolay26 .. I saw not one listing under 100.- (of course last minute, as your stay was too) .. but as said .. on booking.com are also many houses listed which are also listed on airbnb. booking.com is not exclusevely for hotels, therefore the price you paid is comparable to other private listings. But anyway .. you go into a private house, respect this.

 

My experience is that guests are really direct and more strong with their reviews (and especially don't understand that everything under 5* is revealed as bad for airbnb).

 

But perhaps you had have really bad luck with this two airbnbs .. as I look deeper and checked other reviews this host have given to ohter guests, I saw that the French one only gives the review bien for all other guests who have revied her listing. No more words, only bien.  Not really a good behavior of reviewing. The other host have noone of his guests who reviewed him given a review --- also not a good behavior of reviewing. 

 

This is a kind of research which I recommend doing before booking a home, this shows much about the host. At the moment the reviewing system is at is is .. but you could deal with it for your favor (e.g. crosscheck other reviews the hosts have given to prior guests). 

 

And of course, give airbnb a feedback, how they could improve their system. 

Nikolay26
Level 3
Moscow, Russia

@Mika8 yes, you right if I select filter 50-100, then I get only 3 properties below 100 EUR (and all of them are hotels, btw). Our price was definitely better, that true. 

 

I made attempt to invite our host to this discussion. That would be curious to hear another side, right? 

Nikolay msg .png

 

 

 

 

 

 

@Nikolay26

Maybe you just weren't a good fit with each other......... 

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Nikolay26   In answer to your question if people really take reviews into consideration when booking a place, a lot do (both hosts and guests) and some don't. I do read reviews of my potential guests, and my guests have told me they definitely read reviews of a listing before requesting to book.

 

Reviews definitely have to be read and filtered- if as a guest, you have 8 reviews saying you were a wonderful guest and 2 that complain about your behavior, for instance, I would actually look a little deeper- I would go to the profiles of the 2 hosts who gave a bad review (although mentioning something the guest did that wasn't acceptable isn't necessarily a bad review- I've had guests who left a mess and marked them low on cleanliness, but thumbs-upped them for recommendation and given them 5* on the other things and a 90% positive written review- they weren't bad guests, they just need to understand that how they left the place wasn't acceptable) to see how those hosts have reviewed their previous guests. If I see that those hosts have a habit of nit-picking everything their guests did, or complaining about the cleanliness of most of their guests, I'd pretty much discount whatever negatives they had to say about you.

I also would look to see what kind of hosts gave the reviews- lots of airbnb's now are run by property managers with tons of listings- they never even meet any of their guests, and give cut and paste reviews- "Nice guests." Those reviews tell me nothing, and I would ignore them.

 

And if I were a guest, I'd do the same in reverse. Read the listing reviews, see if anyone said bad things about it, then go to the guest's profile to see if that guest always complains about the places they stay, or vice-versa, they give all hosts the same generic nice reviews.

 

In the end, we are left with the fact that some people complain a lot and always find fault, some are easy-going and accepting, some are scared to be honest, some outright lie. A review system will always be subject to the vagarities of human nature.