List of Guests Who Leave Unfair Reviews

Jonathan477
Level 3
Gulfport, FL

List of Guests Who Leave Unfair Reviews

After 4.5 years and hundreds of guests in our home, I find the review system is broken. Or never really did work. This is after getting two 4 star reviews in a short time. 

 

Maybe that sounds petty but they unfairly pull down the average.  They were two short term guests, one of whom said he did not read a single word of the listing before or after booking, and even after I cautioned him to by email.  First time on Airbnb, he thought he was renting a party house. My wife and I did our best to accommodate and they had great parties past 3:00 AM.  We could have lived with it...life throws you curveballs sometimes, but in his review, he left a four star overall rating.  I emailed, asking if it was a mistake and even got Airbnb to talk to him.  He was happy with his choice.  Did I mention, my 73 year old wife dove in the ocean and saved an expensive Go Pro camera his 30-something friend had lost?

 

The transaction isn't done until the review is done.  Would you like to host this guy?  There is nothing in the review I left that would warn you. We need a system, outside of Airbnb, to list those people who will accept your hospitality and happily damage your livelihood with unfair reviews.  Yes, this might be subject to abuse by poor hosts, but every host I meet is making a great effort. It's very competitive.  Guests are not held to anything like the same standard.  Perhaps this would push Airbnb to fix the system.  For starters, they could educate guests, some of whom think 5 stars is like a 10 in the olympics. (I had a guest take off a star once because she was too heavy and weak to pull herself up out of the pool.  Her own words...!).

 

If something like this already exists, please let me know...maybe it's on FB, which I quit years ago. We go all out for our guests and even something this small takes the joy out of it.

25 Replies 25

@Sarah977 I am finding the rating system very frustrating. Our guests have all complimented our place, I've had beautiful conversations with most of them, and many of them have boasted in text and person how much they love our place and our hospitality. Two of these groups had gave us 4* reviews and the comments were only positive. If Airbnb tells guests that 4* is good, then why don't they treat hosts who get 4* with gratitude and praise instead of threatening our status and listing? Like @Chiara572 I have anxiety every time someone checks out now because they could have the most amazing time in the world and they might leave less than 5* or not rate at all because they are busy traveling (this has happened several times...people just don't "have time" to rate in the 2-week window that airbnb gives them sometimes). 

Pamela63
Level 2
Kula, HI

Iʻm in agreement with all of you who recognize that 4 stars is "damaging" because it drags down the potential 5 star average. I work so hard to get my 5 star reviews, but like all above, there are guests who complain about the strangest things.  The part that infuriates me the most is the potential "disconnect" between the individual categories, and the overall category. Classic example: today I got a three star overall review - but the guest gave me 5 stars in 5 out of 6 categories, and 4 stars in the 6th category. How does that become a 3 star review? And I have several reviews where the guests gave me 5 stars in all 6 individual categories, and then gave me 4 stars overall. Hello??  I have complained to AirBnB endlessly about this issue. If *AirBnB* gave me the overall average of the individual categories, ALL my reviews would be 5 stars. Iʻm extremely frustrated by this clear inequity, but nobody at AirBnB seems to care :((((   

Jonathan477
Level 3
Gulfport, FL

I think the problem could largely be solved by Airbnb with education.

 

There are five stars, just as (in the US) there are five letter grades for academic performance. A through F.  A is excellent but its not PERFECT.  One can get 10% of the answers wrong on a test and still get an A. So the argument, 'I gave it 4 stars because there is always room for improvement' is invalid. These are not hotel ratings or Olympic scores.

 

Five stars is an A and anyone working really hard and representing their place accurately, deserves, in my mind, an A.   But I think some guests don't want to be thought of as chumps...they want to appear thoughtful, independent and critical, like they work for Zagat's or something. 

 

I believe Airbnb hurts us,  too, by asking for the overall score to reflect their 'overall experience'...something like that.  I, too, have had five stars in every category and 4 for the overall.  How is this fair?  it might factor in the weather, having a fight with your girlfriend or my lady who was too fat to get out of the pool. I'm sorry it made you feel bad about yourself but IT'S NOT OUR FAULT.

 

Airbnb, I hope monitor this stuff.  How about a couple of sentences explaining reviews in the real world and the consequences of them?  And drop the 'overall review' number...it's totally subjective.  Just use a composite of the other scores.  These are measurable and can be confirmed and contested. 

 

My last four star, she complained (after the fact) that we didn't tell her in advance where to park.  I guess meeting her on arrival and pointing to the parking space wasn't enough, even if it was ok with the 240+

previous guests. 

Hanoisoul0
Level 2
Hanoi, Vietnam

We are small group of Hanoian and provide free guide, we would like to take food tour with guests around the world to share experience when they come to strange country. There alot of guests book us and ask us pay foodbills....they refuse tour after knowing they would pay food bill and rate us 4 stars with no cancel reason. It is unfair when host have not cancel permission

This is black list guest of us

Nakul

Alexandra316
Level 10
Lincoln, Canada

@Jonathan477 So I read your review of the guest who left you the 4 star review, and I have to say that my sympathy is limited. You describe them as being considerate: no mention of not reading, no mention of parties to 3 am, no mention of 7 guests when there should have been 4 max, no mention of anything: a host reading your review would have no hesitation in allowing them to book, and yet you describe a bad guest who you would not want back. Why are you doing other hosts dirty?  If you're not leaving honest reviews yourself, I think you're part of the problem with the broken review system.

I think you're right, Alexandra.  Or at least partially right.  And it's a slightly different subject...hosts leaving rosy reviews vs guests leaving unfairly crappy ones. But thank you for the feedback.

 

Perhaps your experience is with 'entire home' rentals, where you may have minimal interactions with guests...possibly never even meeting them...?  We have guests in our home, which is a much more intimate experience. It is also different because it selects for well-adjusted people who are willing to or even hoping to share some amount of time and space. They arrive expecting to behave as you would in someone else's home and we have almost entirely really good guests - if they have read the listing. 

 

So I have no experience writing anything but five star reviews...if you saw my piece above...5 stars meaning 90% performance or above.  A very few guests got no reviews because of some weird circumstance that I didn't think fit into a review format.

 

I was reluctant to leave these guests in question a review but on the last possible day, I decided to do so...it was their first airbnb experience. The failure to read the listing was massively discussed and I'm sure will never happen again.  I specifically allowed them to have the parties (I had forgotten how late young people can stay up) but that's on me.  As much commotion as they created, (it was a big event to ask his girlfriend to marry him), they made a good effort to clean it up. Rescuing the Go Pro?...that was a cool thing my wife did but not something to take stars away for.  (All this for a two day rental....we have guests who stay a couple of months.)

 

So there was not that much to call them on.  It probably should have been four stars and I am determined to be more thoughtful about that, but it's very different taking stars off a guest you never met vs one you have invited into your home. In fact, I did tell this story in the only place I could, in the public comments following his review of us.

 

He should have left a nine star review based on our efforts to accommodate him after his screwup. He failed, in spectacular fashion,  to recognize when someone had treated him better than he had any reason to expect.  The transaction isn't done until each have fairly reviewed the other and I was seeking solutions to unfair reviews...that is what prompted my post.  Possible takeaways from all this, so far:

 

1. Suzanne302 says there is a blacklist on FB.  No good if we don't use it so will check this out.  Thank you Suzanne.

 

2. I suggest we promote the comparison of the star rating system with academic grades as an appropriate way to understand them, and to dispel the notion that five stars requires absolute, unachievable, nirvana-like  perfection.

 

3. Urge Airbnb to educate guests further.

 

4. What is with people leaving five stars in every category and a lower overall score?...this is particularly galling (he and the next guest did this).  On the face of it, this is manifestly unfair and should be changed.

 

 

@Jonathan477 You had the opportunity to tell the story when you reviewed them: you chose not to. The chances of a future host seeing your response are slim. 

I do host in my home and interact with guests, although my listing is a separate space, and you can bet that if my guest had done what you describe, they would have been on the receiving end of a frank review. This guest broke Airbnb terms and conditions and your rules, and you still gave them 5 stars. How is that fair to anyone? That's not failing to achieve "Nirvana-like perfection": many hosts would have thrown them out on their ear when 4 people booked were actually 7 and planned a party for your lisiting. Being honest about the number of people staying is a fundamental part of making a booking.

He may have done you a disservice also by leaving you a less than 5-star review, but please don't say how wonderful your guest was in their review when they clearly were not.

Rachelle47
Level 2
Chilliwack, Canada

I just quit Airbnb because they Airbnb gave me a 4 start review even though the guest rated all 5 categories as 5 star and left many compliments but failed to answer one question on how would you rate followed all house rules and left it blank probably because what are the house rules for the owner host that are to be followed. They enjoy rating people unfairly and I spent a whole stressful day off work attempting to get support which was ignored and nobody called back until evening by the time I quit. The case manager was ridiculous and I could not speak to anyone above her. A terrible way to treat a super host and that is so meaningless. I am planning to retire soon and planned on staying at Airbnb's  when I travel extensively but not anymore. Good luck all the system they used is flawed and can cost you bookings and money unfairly.

My sympathies, Rachelle. For what it's worth, we still find the good guests way outnumber the ones who do as you describe.  But they really take it out of you.

 

I'm not sure how the 'algorithms' work but I did notice that after two such guests...5 stars in all categories but 4 stars overall, our listing seemed to move further down in a search of our town.  I don't look very often and it's not a scientific test, but worrisome. We have new 5 stars now and I'll be looking to see if we move back up. 

 

Since Airbnb has become a large corporation and uses all the tools to advance its interests, like donating to a political party I completely disagree with, the warm fuzzy is long gone. It's just a business and we should run our own with as little emotion as possible...kind of hard when your business is inviting people into your home.  I think they're ripe for competition from a funded ex-employee who has learned all the things they do wrong.

 

Good luck!

I am agree with you Rachelle 

Susan1857
Level 2
Alexandria, LA

How can I block someone that gives you a FALSE bad review? I would not want them to EVER return.