Location Star-Ratings

Nancy67
Level 10
Charleston, SC

Location Star-Ratings

A year ago, last October I wrote a scathing diatribe on the ills of allowing guests to rate  Location in a review. At the risk of another crush of emails that hosts in agreement, filled my in-box for, for months, (and another just the other day) I am still frustrated that this rating point, continues to plague, we hosts.
 
As I have stated the exact location of my property in the description a minimum of 4 times, including the subtitle of the property, I cannot make it any clearer where I am. As I  cannot "improve" my description or location of my property, and am at a disadvantage, as the guest chooses me and not the other way around-- I am reaching out once again to beg the Powers-that-Be to reconsider this as a review point. Whereas, when I have received less than 5-stars, (it's usually 4) it is inevitably from the dreaded, 1st time newbie guest, writing his/her first review,  who feels the vast weight of adnausium details, to illuminate potential, future  guests, ignoring the review of the 460 thus far, who came before them. Ironincally, I dont receive lass than 5-stars, ever for accuracy-- so explain that rationale, Airbnb...
 
Please-- I'm begging you, answer this simple question Airbnb-- WHAT are guests rating "My Location" to? Help me understand.

Afterall, It's their itinerary, and they are, choosing ME with a map of my location in front of them before booking-- This entire catagory is grossly unfair, (because there is no way to improve)  and makes the hosting experience unnecessarily stressful.

 

If hosts "5-star Location Rating" is so damned important, perhaps you,  <Airbnb> should start vetting hosts, properties and locations before allowing a listing to go live,  to make sure the new hosts are holding your high "Location" standard?

47 Replies 47
Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Nancy67   Absolutely 100% with you and have sent very similar feedback to Airbnb about this. If you haven't already, please send this in "feedback" form to airbnb. While they don't respond personally to feedback, if they are constantly barraged with this issue by tons of hosts, perhaps they will come up with an acceptable solution. I see nothing wrong with a guest being afforded an opportunity to talk about the location, but it's absurd and unnecessarily damaging that it is included in the host's star ratings.

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

And, as it stands now, guests can talk about the location via the review without negatively affecting the host, anyway. If they complain about how far a walk it was to the nearest store, the host can always give a public response like "Sorry you found the walk onerous, Susie. That's why I'm very clear in my listing description about the distance". Or a guest can mention that the walk might be too far for older guests, which to me, is a fair warning to other guests, and doesn't require a response.

Inna22
Level 10
Chicago, IL

@Nancy67

while I agree with you that it is not a metric that should be used, I can understand the logic. I once rented a place pretty far from the city center in Madrid. It was my choice based on my budget. It was not a good location for a tourist and I knew that. If I rated that place (it was not an airbnb) I would have probably given it three stars for location because it was not a good one, that's all. Independed of the owner, accuracy or anything else, location was just not good. Also, particularly in Chicago, you can hit a pretty bad street in terms of bums, corner bar, etc which again can affect the rating. You would not know this just by looking at the address. Again, I agree it should not be utilized (just like value- also so subjective) but this is what I assume the guests mean when they ding us. I have gotten a four star for location I think once and was completely dumbfounded. There are many faults with my place. Location is just not one of them

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Nancy67

 

Absolutely with you Nancy, although I would say, I see a downrating by a guest for either value, or more particularly Location as saying a lot more about the guest than it does about the host.

Guests so often mark a host down for location because the listing was not where they wanted it, but it was where the price they paid said it should be, and this is not something the host has any control over.....

The whole object of the rating system is to help hosts improve from a guests perception!

Rate the host on something they can fix....but not on something they can't!


I have said before, there should a comments box for both Value and Location but not a star rating associated with either box.

If the guest wants to make a clown of himself by bringing his thoughts out into the open as to why it was the hosts fault that the guest booked in the wrong spot...well great, let him do it...but please Airbnb, don't penalise the host because the guest is a tight ar*ed goose! 

 

Good on you Nancy, you have every right to keep 'bangin' on about it. Sooner or later the heirachy may just get the hint.

 

Cheers......Rob

 

 

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

I agree, @Inna22 , that's why airbn needs to remove this from our star rating, because guests don't understand what they are rating (the host) and airbnb does not explain it to them. So there needs to be a different place for them to mention it, if they so choose.

@Sarah977 great point, they can mention it in feedback without ruining our rating

Christopher305
Level 2
Christchurch, New Zealand

some guests just not understand about the ratting, or airbnb need to explain to the guest how they should rate, I got a 4 star on accuracy because my house showing on airbnb map is a bit off the side, which leaded them went to the other street:  Problem is i can not change the placement where the dot is on the map, All i did was when i set up the house, i just type in my adress, Airbnb system put the dot there. which is the system is not accura, also location i got 3 star before, because I am not close to the city centre where the guest liked, They choosed me, because of my price and service, and compalined about their decition about location. you can't win.

Michael956
Level 10
Salvador, Brazil

I just now got my first 4 star rating ever, and it's for "location" (the overall review was a 5).  It's infuriating because 1) I'm in the absolute dead center of the city in the city's hippest neighborhood, and just 2 blocks from a subway station.  The guest even praised the location, both verbally and in her review.  I guess since my house is not inches from the Golden Gate Bridge she couldn't give me a 5.   "Location" needs to be stricken from the host reviews!

Edward156
Level 2
Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Thank you all for your enlightenment of "Location" rating which is quite subjective and the same time can downgrade overall ratings.

Any of you please correct me if you know differently, but what I understand about reviews is that the only one that matters is the Overall rating (and the sub-categories DO NOT affect the overall rating -- it is its own stand alone rating).

 

So, if a guest gives you all 5*s in every sub-category, but then marks you as a 4* in the Overall. Then the thing that matters for SuperHost and what shows on your listing is the 4*.

Alternatively, if a guest marks you 2* in location, value, & accuracy, but 5* Overall, then the 5* is what goes into your SuperHost grid & shows on your listing.

 

So, that being the case, the Location or Accuracy or Value ratings are only as important as the effect they have on the guest's judgment for the Overall rating. So, for me, this subject has gone into the bin of things about ABB that are annoying but that I give no attention to.

@Kelly149  I just can't understand why airbnb can't have a page for hosts which CLEARLY and unequivocally states EXACTLY what criteria are counted towards Superhost, and EXACTLY how. It's the most absurd guessing game. Airbnb deals with this like the way books advise parents to talk about sex with their young children- "Only answer the question that is asked at the time, don't go into further details, don't overshare."

That said, I just got my first 4 star for location (from the only hand-held-needing guest I've had so far) and it seems not to have affected the 5 star overall rating.

one other thing that I just noticed today is that the new "Work" category has a requirement for the sub-score on Check-in. So, I suppose at some point any of the sub-categories could matter for some requirement or another but as of right now that is the only sub-category that I've seen that is a factor.

Alexandra316
Level 10
Lincoln, Canada

@Nancy67 It seems that hosts keep submitting this feedback and Airbnb just isn't listening. It was rated as one of the top questions at both of the recent Q&A's and it's still not being addressed. It really is the dumbest metric. As you say, people know where they're booking before they book. If they wanted to be on the Strip in Las Vegas but they could only afford the outer suburbs, why should the host be dinged? As long as the host has accurately represented their location and hasn't lied in their description (i.e. "5-minute walk from the subway station!" when Usain Bolt couldn't make it there in that time), how can the guest really complain about it?

Stephanie365
Level 10
Fredericksburg, VA

I am also in agreement with Nancy.

I have received 4 stars on "location" because I am not in the city. What part of, "I'm a few minutes off the beaten path" would make you think I am?

I have finally resorted to putting in the "things to know about my property" that if you feel that driving a few minutes to amenities will be an inconvenience and your review will reflect this, to please consider a property closer to town.

Since doing this, no one has given me less than 5 stars on location. 

Now I understand making a notation about location if the rental is in a part of town where there's trash piled on the sidewalks, abandonded burned out cars and bums standing around a 55 gallon drum with burning trash in it and giving reduced stars for that. But if a listing clearly states that you're in a rural area where peace and quiet abound and you're 15 minutes from downton, you should not be penalized.