Is no review better than a 4 star review?

[Karen2913]

A lovely couple, who are repeat guests, at last visit left a 4 star review, (though gave me 5 stars on all the individual items)  They have just left from the current visit.  I am wondering whether it is better to NOT review them this time, so they don't get the "Karen left a review for you - please leave your review so you can see it" notification.  Hoping that they don't give me another 4 star review.  Is no review better than a 4 star review?  Thanks.

[Laura2592]

@Karen2913  I have a few guests like this. Returning guests who leave a lower review each time. I think it is because of the way that ABB words the questions. The stay can't always be "much better than expected" if you have not made major surprise improvements from the last time the guest was there. Answering honestly will result in a low score.

The case can be made for booking these types of guests off platform.

[Gillian19]

@Karen2913 Maybe you should send them a private message and explain Airbnb's absurd rating system. I am sure they would give you an overall 5* rating if you explained. But I'm with Laura, repeat guests are taken as private bookings. Airbnb got their cut the first time!

[Sarah977]

@Karen2913  No review doesn't affect you in any way.  It's good to see reviews from repeat customers, as it shows people like it enough to come back, but if they are going to tank your ratings, then no review is better.

I do agree that maybe these guests just need a bit of educating. Airbnb tells guests that 4* s means "good" so most guests think they are giving a rating the host would be pleased with. If they are repeat customers, they certainly have no intention to do you wrong, they just don't know how ratings affect hosts.

But you have to be careful how you approach this. If it feels to the guest like you are pushing for a 5* rating, it can be offensive and backfire. But I have had review discussions with guests in my home share, which just let them know that  there is hypocrisy in what Airbnb tells guests and how they apply those ratings to hosts. 

My guests have been shocked to find out that Superhhost status is lost if the rating falls below 4.8, and that Airbnb warns hosts about ratings lower than 4.7.

And yes, as others have advised, you can deal with repeat guests you like off-platform if they're okay with that.

[Nick397]

I recently did a review as a guest and I was pretty disgusted at how the Air Bnb had completely designed the guest review.  Air bnb seems to have an idea of what a guests wants.   I live in my air bnb apartment but I move out when I get bookings. I live in Melbourne which had the longest lockdown in the world.  This year I virtually had no bookings from June to October 5 months.  Despite this December has been my most successful month ever by far.    The key to my success , be unique , offer what the others arent offering .   Too many air bnb apartments are carbon copies of other air bnb's .  Giving hosts a check list of what guests want is handy but if everyone follows that list , its going to get boring.  My guests dont book me based on good reviews, they book me because I can offer them a space that suits there needs and no one else in my area can offer them that.  They don't have a choice, they cant get a similar option so they have to book my apartment.   The beauty of this is that I don't have to compete on price with other airbnb apartments.