NEW REVIEW PROCESS ( Resulting in fewer reviews from Guests )

Dennis234
Level 5
Saskatoon, Canada

NEW REVIEW PROCESS ( Resulting in fewer reviews from Guests )

I have been a host through Airbnb for two years now and as a *Superhost* have received a 5 star rating from the majority of my guests who stay for a day or a month. I have had people stay from all over the world and we cater to our guests with plenty of little extras to make their stay more comfortable. Breakfast, protein bars, chocolate and longer bookings, a bottle of wine. Recently due to the new review process which takes longer to complete I have had no reviews from many of my guests recently.  I questioned a few guests and they indicate it was the length of the review questions and they quit before the end of the survey.

 

Last week I travelled to Eastern Canada and booked myself into an Airbnb for the week. The accomidation was excellent and when I left I actually experienced the new review process with many new questions about my stay. Now I realize the length it takes to complete the review and kept thinking as i was answering the questions, how long was this going to take? No wonder reviews have gone down and time consuming in this day and age when most people are extremly busy with their lives.  Even thou it was a simple process no one has the time to click all the features to a question asked.

 

Has anyone else experiened the same trend and what did/can you do about it? I assume this will hurt our *Superhost status* if this trend continues that we have worked so hard for as hosts.

87 Replies 87
Susan151
Level 10
Somerville, MA

@Dennis234. The answer is yes. There are two threads about this already. Many of us are seeing a drop in the percentage of guests who are leaving a review. Some guests, it appears, "abandon ship" midway through. One can hope that the data analysists at AirBNB are noticing this trend and will simplify the review process again.

Letti0
Level 10
Atascosa, TX

@Dennis234  Your SuperHost status is tied to both the Overall Rating and having 50% of guests review you. I expect many SuperHosts to lose their status next quarter because the Overall star = 3* as expected, 4* a bit better than expected and 5* much better than expected. How many hosts are going to be given 5* for being much better than expected? If their listing is acurate and as listed they will get a 3* or 4* is my guess, a 5* is going to be hard to achieve now. How many listings have you stayed at that you would say were much better than expected? Most would say none or maybe one or two. I posted the below for the next Q & A, but it does not have any thumbs up really, so it will never make it to the actual questions answered at the Q & A but it gave me pleasure posting it to vent ;D

 

 

My Reviewed Trip Rating Has Gone from 100% to 93% with your "New" Review Process Format! Fix This!

 

Why am I being penalized because my guests have decided the NEW review process was just too much time, trouble & effort to be bothered with? So now, I'm having to beg for a review stating it effects my super host status & even then they said we're  5* it's just too much, so I get no review. How is this fair to your hosts?

 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Q-A/My-Reviewed-Trip-Rating-Has-Gone-from-100-to-93-with-yo...

Victoria567
Level 10
Scotland, United Kingdom

This explains my drop in guest reviews and also being given a 3 star rating as a comment for location from 2 guests despite being in the centre of the Whisky Trail in Scotland amongst stunning scenery despite going all out to continue to provide great service.

Im thinking of stopping air bnb after next year as I find the standards of guests has dropped significantly since starting 2 years ago and really I don’t know who I’m inviting into my home and the jumping through the ever increasing hoops is making me lose the enjoyment of hosting as guests seem to think it’s a Hotel rather than my family home.

Have noticed the same!

guests who rate highly on all aspects of the feedback (those who bother completimg the survey as there is a clear drop), and send me notes of gratitude telling me how awesome their stay has been etc, end up giving a 3 star, because I have  presented the accommodation accurately (!), which in turns makes Airbnb send me a notification of «recent low ratings» - come on, Airbnb - «as expected» is not a low rating! - it is me being correct and providing accurate description and information!

Hello Antonia I agree with you 100 %. I  have experienced the same. Getting 3 and 4 stars both in public evaluation and in the private. At the same time I had a lot of expressions from guests telling me they were very satisfied, our place was excellent, just what they wanted, they would surely come back etc.

We just had a guest, that rated us public with 4 stars and private we got one 3 star and one 4 star. But the guest did not leave any comments at all!!!

I contacted airbnb and they investigated the case. the answer from the guest was: He had expected high-end facilities (350 dkr for 1 night stay for 2 person).

I think the rating should not take place withour proper comments when it is negative. I think it should not be allowed and also that airbnb should make better instructions how to edit the rating, perhaps also make some quality check in cooperation with some hosts

 

I dont know how the rating questionaire is built up. I would like to have more answers

Kind regards from Freddy (not a superhost yet:-) )

I want to stay at your place!

Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

It seems noone will be able to keep superhost status and Airbnb plus program will fail  so at the end we will all be equal . What a relief!  uff 🙂

 

@Branka-and-Silvia0   I have posted on the AirBnB Plus situation it's a complete mess. More hosts are opting out than in. They control too much with it. Price, photos and declines. It's not working for the hosts involved in it they are not getting a good ROI with the limitations set by AirBnB, so they are opting out. 

Yes, I've seen your post @Letti0 that's why I said "plus" will fail 🙂

@Letti0, can you paste a link to your post on Airbnb Plus here? 

I agree! I just opted out after a terrible experience with the photographer and listing limitations. Also now that 3 stars is “ as expected” all of the plus perks for guests are what they will expect! Very frustrating!! 

hi ladies

Now that Airbnb have got directly involved in the hosting business, by buying property for the purpose of letting, it will be interesting to see how the review process evolves, based on the current incarnation not for the best.

 

i wonder is this the final  through of the dice, gathering enough information before they start  elimination  Mom & pop operation from Airbnb altogether?

Paul154
Level 10
Seattle, WA

@Dennis234

It is a total mystery me to me. Airbnb are such smart people, why do they do this?

The new review system creates bias. Only "yelp"ers types will bother finishing the review process. Yelpers tend to be blowhards - people who think their opinion is important or want to be hurtful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNH6SPvIJ1M

Unfortunately, these are not the "real Airbnb" guests that hosts want to attract.

 

 

@Paul154   There are various types of intelligence. Someone can be brilliant in some regards and totally stupid in others. It's a fact that a large percentage of people who gravitate towards the tech industry have a form of autism called Asperger's syndrome. These people are super smart when it comes to software programming, etc. but they do not relate on a person-to-person basis the way the rest of us do. They lack empathy and understanding of how humans respond and interact. It's a matter of brain chemistry. They are drawn to tech industries because they can mostly work alone, rather than have to interact with others, which they don't feel comfortable with.

So it would never occur to them that the 10 page review form they're so proud of coming up with would be a deterent to leaving a review for the average person. I believe that this also explains the language that the computer's are programmed with- "You have one thing to work on", "Too blurry"- they simply don't understand what kind of language most people find offensive.

I have a friend whose husband has Asberger's. She told me that it has never occurred to him to buy her a present in the 30 years they've been together- not for her birthday, not for Xmas, nothing. Not even pick a bouquet of wildflowers for her. He's not an **bleep**, he just doesn't have the ability to understand how that would make her feel.