Listings Paused due to reviews under 4 out of 5.

[Jody20]

So today I woke up to a screen on AirBNB saying all of my listings have been paused due to reviews under 4 out of 5. Has anyone else had this happen? I don't recall any warning emails. I have one 11 bedroom guesthouse so 11 listings and another guesthouse with one main listing and one or two other listings. All listings were paused. I was able to get access by clicking on a button that said "I am ready to Host" and everything is back in order for now. But I'm worried. I'll never get all of my listings to 4 out of 5 across all fields and I don't aim to either. 3 to me means okay/as expected, 4 good and 5 awesome. Will this continue to happen until I lose my account now?  Is it just one bad review or a series of them? I have done a lot of work on photos, descriptions and I even have a "magic word" people have to quote to get a booking meaning they have read my description. I'm at the absolute cheapest end of the scale and I find many people book and then find they don't want basic after all. And we can have shocking days where guests trash common areas, we get a bad review from that because we don't have 24/7 cleaners. My reviews can vary wildly day to day. 

[Gene8]

Each listing has its own Ratings scale. This said, I would have developed your overall profile and business slowly and steadily. Managing so many listings out of the gate without real world experience or case by case study has to be daunting.

[Jody20]

I've been operating for almost eight years even pre AirBnB. I've never had issues before with the reviews that bounce around. I've gone through all the listings now in each area and overall the lowest room I have is still at 3.5 with majority at 4 actually. That's why this is a shock to happen suddently after so many years on the system here.

[Andrew90]

Never heard of pausing due to reviews. But it does impact your search ranking. I would consider raising your prices. I think you will find you attract better guests.

Also note the overall experience is the only ranking that really matters. I found the # 1 factor for reviews is communications.

If you look for only other posts on this subject I go into more detail.

Andrew

[Jody20]

So do you think when they are looking at the pausing thing it's just looking at overall listing ratings? I wonder how they work out how to pause the account if say half or more are at 4 and the others are at 3.5 - perhaps pausing the underperforming listing would be better. But then again I don't think 3.5/5 is bad enough to warrant this treatment anyway. 

[Jody20]

[Sandra126]

Hi Jody,

I looked at the listing and I love the title, ''rundown''. Should be no surprises. Basic, low cost. But I have heard from another host in SE Asia that their guest house was getting a consistent 3,5 star average and had been deactivated. Does this mean that Airbnb does not want basic budget, or that they expect guests to leave 5 stars if it was what they expected? Maybe put some thoughts together on this and put your idea up in Host Voice, the new thingy on top which Airbnd will be looking at for the community input on how to improve the site. It would mean that any backpacking type accommodation would be in a risk zone maybe? We need all types of accommodation!

[Jody20]

That was helpful. Thanks! There is two different type of reviews really - one where guests rate against some mythical five star hotel where everything is wonderful. So I get things like "soap should be better quality" and I'm thinking..hang on..$30 a night you should be glad you get any hotel style toiletries at all haha. So those folk are the ones that mark hard. Then other type are the ones that are like, oh, yes for a $30 a night room in a place with the name "Rundown" this is exactly as described and give the high marks! The first type of guest can rapidly crash reviews even when I have a series of emails - asking for "magic word" from description, then reminding them what they booked, then welcome check in email, day after check in check up and a check out email. People still turn up thinking they'll find something other than what I advertise. It might be something to talk about at the budget end!

[Melanie58]

I think it doesn't make sense too - I feel I offer a solidly 4 star experience in comparison to hotels.  Maybe a 3.5.  The 5 star ratings of my guests surprise me, because it isn't too fancy here.  Am I crazy to say I think at the end of the day it's only the thumbs up and thumbs down that should matter?  If a place is solidly 3 star but guests thumbs up it across the board, it should be good to go.  1's and 2's are the only ratings that should mean like, "this place had bed bugs and a hole in the roof".  But I would think those would be associated with thumbs down anyway.

[Sandra126]

@Melanie58, That is so brilliant. Please make it an idea on Host Voice. As changes get implemented, it might make the site more complex but this will simplify. All you need is thumb up or down, you are a superstar. It is unambiguous.

[Andrea9]

@Jody20 Exactly as @Melanie58 says, unfortunately though Airbnb seems to think that only 5 stars is the way to go 😞

Even Forbes wrote about the stress ABB hosts are submitted to:

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/#1a654a4b36a9 

... so looks like we all have to plod along in that yoke if we want to play the Airbnb game.

[C-C0]

@Jody0, it may have to do with the private remarks the guest makes to Airbnb at the end of the review questionaire. Maybe they've compiled a list of similar complaints. Don't know. It may be something more than sheer ratings though.

[Jody20]

I've been talking with AirBnB bout it on Twitter and they don't have a policy they will let me know. I sent detailed questions and first they sent this

"Thanks for providing the information. We suggest you visit airbnb.com/hospitality  for more in-depth information about our hosting standards."

I replied with a rephase of my questions "I understand your standards but I want to know the maths behind the pausing - how is it calculated that I fell below 4/5? Is it overall listing rating averaged over number of listings? Over a certain time frame? Or something else? When will it be reassessed or how often will this happen? What triggers it? Obviously I can work on raising standards but the issue is most guests think a 3 out of 5 is okay, a four means good and five means excellent. They won't understand giving less than a four puts me at risk."

This was final reply " Hi Jody,  it mentions that your listings were rated below 4 stars which was why it was deactivated. We aren't at liberty to disclose the specific number of reviews, but it takes into account the star-ratings you've received since you started hosting on Airbnb. We're positive your guests will notice your efforts to raise standards. Please let us know if there's anything else we can help you with. Thank you."

I don't think I will get the answers I need. And if it's since I've been starting well it's probably 2010 and thus a rise in any reviews is going to be very slow even if suddenly I got 5 on everything overnight. I'm really upset being an early adopter of the site and selling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bookings of course of which AirBnB has made a decent amount! I've always done it legally too and paid for insurances for guests and such. 

[Sandra126]

Let's just hope for thumbs up or down, no stars needed! Air values, would you recommend this 3 star airmattress to a friend? YES. NO.

[Andrew90]

I don't think they look at ratings for all time. I get the sense they focus on the most recent ones.