Overall rating 4 star with all other areas at 5

[Matt564]

Does anybody else get frustrated with the rating system and feel it is heavily weighted in the guests favour?!

i have just had 2 stays and reviews giving 5 star in all areas but then giving 4 stars overall. One has fed back saying they rarely give 5 and only when it’s ‘above and beyond’ but she made no other requests, no advice wanted for their stay on top of what is already given, and also made an issue of not being able to connect to the internet but didn’t contact me to be able to rectify it (never had an issue before but could have solved it I’m sure!) just fed it back after as a reason. The other one was for New Years and we have a bottle of wine and Prosecco and some chocolates FOC, they said they loved the place and stay but marked me down for value 😡 and on overall rating.

When reviewing them, as long as they have communicated and left everything clean and tidy, you don’t feel you can give anything other than a 5 star. But as a host, the overall rating seems to be one that is down to how they feel they want to grade it. I don’t see why it’s just not a rounded average of the 5 areas they rate individually which should be based on the listing/description and the main areas that would give the overall enjoyment of their stay. Or there should be clear descriptors where they have to give good reason to drop down on stars. It’s just too open to such a wide interpretation!

I do get frustrated with the ‘location’ one as well as I think there should be a criteria to rate the location based on what was booked and described. I have been marked down too many times just because I’m not in the town centre, but otherwise they love it, even though my description, location and information shows I’m not town centre (and the price they pay reflects it also).

It just feels that it’s not just what you provide, respond to and how you help that allows you to try and hold onto your 5 star rating. It feels like it is too lose for people to just haphazardly mark you down for no good reason which they don’t see any significance to. 

Does anyone else have this trouble/frustration? Is there any way to get Airbnb to rethink it?

[Kathy33]

It’s been posted many times on this. For location the guest picked you for the location and price. For me location and value should be dropped. Keep your head up and keep doing a great job! It takes awhile to get pass some of the 4-star ratings and even 3-stars. Funny thing is our 3-stars we did more for them an any other guests. Happy Hosting 

[Mike1034]

@Kathy83 Normally they picky ones give you lower star rating but demands more. That is from my experience as well.

I agree with you, the location and value should be dropped. I have a review which says that my en suite is very hard to find in the area with that price while she still gave me 4 star in the value category. I guess that it most likely it is because the housing is more expansive in SF Bay Area than the city where she is from. The location is something discussed by other hosts as well. What are the criteria for rating a location? Close to where they go? Close to public transportation? Close to downtown? Safe neighborhood? etc...

I also agree with @Matt564 . Overall star should be an average of stars given from each category. I believe that a host does not get a chance to give a overall rating for a guest. Therefore, the guest overall star must come from an average of three categories: communication, cleanliness, rules.

[Kath9]

@Matt564, there have been many posts on this. The overall star rating is not based on an average of the individual ratings (as it is for guests) but on this question:

"How did your stay at Matt's place compare to your expectations?"

Much better than expected = 5 stars

A bit better than expected = 4 stars

As expected = 3 stars

A bit worse than expected = 2 stars

Much worse than expected = 1 star.

So, your guests might give you 5 stars for each individual item, but say that your place was 'a bit better than expected'. Just feel glad they didn't say 'as expected' which many guests naturally would! The problem is that guests don't know they are only giving you 3 or 4 stars overall by answering the question like this, so I now have a little blurb about this in my guest manual to hopefully prompt them to leave me 5 stars!

Regarding the location question, well, you can find millions of posts about this - believe me, you're not the only one who thinks it's ridiculous.

[Matt564]

Thank you for your reply - I actually had no idea that this was what was prompted and now I understand why these 4 stars are given but it infuriates me more that Airbnb set such a high criteria for super host as it is in the lap of the gods as to what ratings you get above a 3 star it seems! 

Why do they not listen to hosts and review this system so it is in line with guests reviews?! It’s silly!!

[Mike1034]

@Matt564 Send your complaints and feedback to Airbnb

https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback

Hopefully they will change after they hear enough complaints from hosts.

[Matt564]

Kath, would you mind sharing the sort of thing you put in your pack to try and help guests see a prompt into reviewing more in line with how it should be rather than how Airbnb prompt you? I’m conscious of the wording not being too grovelling or antagonising to go the other way.

[Lynila0]

I have the same problem here, i also get 4 star because of my location, even though they pick my place.

[Robin4]

@Matt564

The biggest source of conflict between hosts and guests is the Airbnb review system…it’s two faced!

Guests are advised in the review guidelines………

3 stars of a hosts listing means the stay matched their expectation! 4 stars means it exceeded expectation! 5 stars means it could not be faulted and far exceeded expectations.

Hosts are told in the review guidelines……

5 stars is the default star rating, and a guests review rating of anything less than 5 stars means there is an issue that needs to be addressed…….something need to be improved!

A host can actually have his profile and listing suspended or removed for doing nothing wrong, having a succession of happy guests but simply accumulating too many less than 5 star review ratings! Many guests will say, they never give 5 stars…..5 stars is that ultimate that does not exist. Many guests will give a host less than 5 stars because the property was not where they wanted it. They booked it and then complained where it was, and the host suffered!

This anomaly Matt, breeds a strange culture between guests and hosts! We all live in this fantasy wonderland where we pat each other on the back and say what exemplary human beings we are in order not to have the wheels fall off the hosting wagon. The review system does not actually reflect the reality of either the guests or the hosts experience! Many hosts are virtually forced into a situation where they almost have to beg for a good review in order to stay in business. Many guests will use the review as a form of extortion in order to gain some sort of advantage. Some will go so far as to say they require some sort of refund in order to give a good review. We see the posts here often!

It’s a rotten review system but, unfortunately one we have to work with and despite years of complaint, Airbnb are not going to change it. The thing they consider is the jewel in their crown is actually doing them more harm than anything else….but you can’t tell them that!

But to your comment Matt, the most frustrating thing about the review system is reviews like these, and in my 200, I have accumulated 10 just like this!

Or this one.......

or yet again......

That is just three of the recent ones Matt. I can learn nothing from these reviews, not a hint anything that I could improve on. The guest could find no fault but the overall star rating in each of these reviews along with another 7 saw Airbnb punish me.

My stats should reflect that 98% of my reviews were faultless, totally satisfied reviews....instead of that I am sitting on 92%.

I have put these issues to the company but they have not seen fit to take any action to correct this.

OK….rant over!

Cheers.......Rob

[Matt564]

Thanks for the rely Rob, yes it’s totally bonkers and that’s what mine has done. All the comments are almost the same as yours and I can do nothing to improve (and like the one I mentioned, have had no comment on how I could have gone over and above more than I already did!) and yet my rating has dropped to 92% as well. I would not mind if as you say, there was something I could learn and improve on with it!

it does make me think about searching for a different platform, even though I know this one is the most widely used!

[Maria568]

Ohhh I have my first one of these today ... so frustrating ... everything perfect ... 4 stars ... as a Superhosts what can we do to make Airbnb to change it ??? 

[Maria568]

Yes , Matt you are correct , so frustrating .. we as superhost don't have levels of spectations for example ... and some guest are so differently placed in the whole spectrum of the 5 stars.. but if they are nice , reasonably clean and tidy and respectful I always give them 5 stars. Maybe I should change it .

[Matt564]

Exactly right and that is what Airbnb prompt you to do saying if there was nothing to mark them down on, then this is what you should do. However, it’s not the same for the guest about us and that’s my problem with the whole thing!! Marking me down on location because I’m not town centre yet commenting on how great our location is and how convenient to town it is still, knowingly booking and paying for an out of town space, is the one that gets my goat.........!!!

[Scott-and-Silvia0]

Yes, we have had the same. But that is more down to the guest. We say clearly we are up a hill and then had complaints that we are up a hill! 🙂 

[Scott-and-Silvia0]

I couldn't agree more. The problem of course is that one 4* can do a lot of damage! 

A recent guest gave us 5* for all the specifics and 4* overall (this has happened before). In these instances we always email the guest directly, thanking them for their review, noting the overall 4* and asking for their help in telling us what we could have done better. If they reply we thank them and leave it at that.

In the most recent instance the guest did write back saying:

"Hi Scott The overall rating was the first and separate question from Airbnb and we made a quick judgement comparing this with other places we have stayed in (we are new to Arbnb). The following  individual questions required specific answers  and we felt that on closer examination that we would rate these as 5 star.Sorry for any confusion"

I sent this to AirBNB and below is their reply:

"Airbnb Support

19:01

Good Afternoon,

My name is Márcio from Airbnb and I hope this message finds you well.

Unfortunately, the Guest will not be able to edit his review, because you and Roy have completed your reviews in the meantime.

Please confirm this information here:
[link to airbnb review rules]

I understand that for a Great Host like you a 4 star review will never be good, but is not possible to edit now.
The only option is deleting your Guest's review, if he asks us to do it."

So, even forwarding the guests email saying there was confusion, AirBNB say it cannot be changed. But, the guest could remove it.

Not very helpful.