Ratings suggestion:..remove overall rating

Kemi6
Level 10
Johannesburg, South Africa

Ratings suggestion:..remove overall rating

Hello Airbnb team,

 

How are you all doing? @Quincy @Laura_C @Stephanie @Lizzie @Anonymous @Brian

 

Here's another suggestion from me. 

 

It's either guests (especially the new ones) are adequately orientated into how the overall rating works so they can rate fairly or the overall rating is removed completely. 

 

Hosts are now having to "educate" guests on how the rating system works, because it's becoming more and more obvious that guests don't know. 

 

Guests love their stay with hosts and give 5 stars in all the categories and give a 4 star overall rating or even a 3 star not because they are being mean (though some are), but because they believe they are rating hosts high, not realizing Airbnb is scoring hosts low. And the host is now saddled with the task of fixing what they didn't break! And boy, isn't it a task. And for hosts like me, that tend to host more long stays, you can only imagine! 

 

May be you guys don't know, but this is wearing hosts out and there has to be a change. Please guys, do something!!!! And something good too.

 

Looking at the guests' rating system, there is no overall rating. The same can be applied to host. The overall rating is proving to be a serious drawback.

 

Airbnb started out as a unique platform and that was the attraction. I enjoy being a host. My husband and I have met wonderful people from all over the globe and have made friends. The rating system really dampens my enthusiasm sometimes and I have to always encourage myself, sometimes even after shedding some tears. (I take my hosting to heart a lot) 

 

I really hope something gets done about this quickly. 

 

God bless. 

Kemi

 

P. S..... Joe, Brian and Nathan, If I lose my superhost status due to this rating experience, I personally hold you 3 gentlemen responsible! 

 

@Ann72 @Robin4 @Rebecca181 

10 Replies 10
Yadira22
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Hello @Kemi6 

hope you are well. 

I agree with the element that Airbnb does a discredit to hosts in making guests feel as if 4* overall is fine when it really affects us and I wish this were to be remedied but i suppose this is more so down to the host as to educate guests on this matter. 

Regarding averaging the overall stay I am not for this. Often guests do not read listings and Mark down on accuracy, realise that they booked outside of central London and score less, expecting to pay basement prices a property with a view of Buckingham palace, etc- this is particularly common from guests originating from smaller towns where a walk across town is 15 mins, obviously in London the equivalent will take much longer. In fact I have had several guests give me 3*/4* ratings in check in because they got lost as they did not follow directions sent to them several times (google maps and actual screenshot of map) and apparently as the host I should anticipated this *SMH*. I think this would do hosts a discredit. 

I think it would be better to warn guests who have for example scored the host 5* in all subcategories but 4* overall- as this seems more probable of being an error, etc. Location should be changed to neighbourhood... as a guest i would be more interested in whether it is safe, transportation links, amenities, quiet during the night, etc. Location itself is more subjective based on what you as a guest hope to accomplish during your stay and it’s proximity to said activities. 

Just my two cents.

have a beautiful day! 

Yadira 🙂

 

Kemi6
Level 10
Johannesburg, South Africa

Hello @Yadira22

 

I am doing well, thank you. I do hope you are too.

 

Your suggestion using "neighbourhood" in place of location is fantastic!! I believe it will really help guests better understand this category.

 

We are all in this together. We need more suggestions from hosts regarding this ratings/review system.

 

Your 2 cents are worth a whole lot 🙂 

Sean433
Level 10
Toronto, Canada

Everyone loses on the rating system except airbnb. Guests and hosts both come out as losers in this metric system they set up. The only one to who truly benefits is airbnb. Pretty smart how they set it up that way for the short-term. Maybe not so much for the long-term.

 

Superhost status is overhyped. I just got mine a few months ago, nothing has really changed. It's all been diluted with Airbnb Plus and Luxe program. Supposedly your search ranking goes up as a superhost. I have not noticed this. The only ones that have great search ranks are those on Airbnb Plus. So what is the point of keeping superhost status?

@Sean433 You have raised some really good points about the Superhost status, because while I do know that some guests look specifically for Superhosts when they book--I have friends who use Airbnb for booking, for instance, and they have told me that--I have also been reading posts from many hosts who, like you, are questioning whether it is worth it.

 

Here's an example of how it can work against you. We have two good friends of ours in Portugal who host two apartments, one in the husband's name and one in the wife's. I'm not sure why they don't do it as a team, but they both have Superhost status and seem to think it is better this way.

 

Well, this summer, each of them in their respective listings had groups of young women from hell as guests. They came, got drunk and partied the whole time, broke or ruined things in the house, disturbed the neighbours, made a mess in bars and restaurants in the area to the point where the police had to be called, and so on.

 

But here's the catch: our friends refused to write a bad review for these guests, because they knew that as soon as the guests read that a review had been published, they would write a bad one in retaliation, and our friends would lose their Superhost status. So instead, they let these "ladies" get off Scot free, with no consequences--until they turn around and do the same to some other poor hosts next time. (And believe me, we pleaded with our friends to write a bad review, even just before the 14-day deadline. But they just wouldn't do it.)

 

So, you can see how the Superhost status can actually work not only against the hosts who have it, but also against other hosts. Clearly, this is a problem that needs some investigation and repair, and we can only hope that someone in Airbnb is listening. 

 

 

 

 

@Rich-and-Yan0 

Reviews do not become public unless both parties have written theirs or the 14 days after check out has passed (whichever comes first). 

If anyone has bad guests please write an honest review as to warn future potential hosts, Thank you. 

@Yadira22 Of course you're right. My point is that our friends had a lot of problems with these guests and had to visit the home they were renting often--once after midnight.

 

So, they were sure that the guests knew that they were not happy with them. And they assumed, based on this, that the moment they wrote a review, the guests would know it was a bad review--even before they were able to read it--and would write a bad review to retaliate.

 

Thus, our friends chose not to write ANY review at all. They guessed, probably correctly, that if they had written a review and Airbnb had let the guests know that a review about them had been written (but had not yet been made public), then it must be a bad review. And so, they would write a bad review themselves.

 

This is what I was saying about Superhost status. From what I've been reading here, it's hard to earn and very easy to lose. The current system seems to favour the guests, not the hosts. And if you have guests who are REALLY bad, to the point where the police are called or the owner has to do damage control after midnight, these guests still have a lot of power with their reviews. 

 

This, to me, is the problem with the current system. 

 

 

Lan1
Level 10
El Cerrito, CA

After hosting in Airbnb many years, dreamed many time to achieve super host but always pulled back by one or two hard to please guests or refund game players. about over 340 reviews, over  71% 5 stars, finally I learned painfully that it wastes time and energy to be frustrated by reviews. No more emotional unfair feeling or even tears,  I am starting to believe myself: as long as I did my best to accommodate each guest, treated them with care and kindness, I reward myself as super host. I am even tired to discuss Airbnb review system....it is true one or two bad review won’t effect the business that much, because the majority of the guests speak out the truth.

周蘭

You’re overthinking it.

 

BTW, you have gorgeous Airbnb listings and a knack for decor and photography.

 

Most guests don’t care about star rating or Super Host status. They care about photos, pricing and previous guests’ reviews.

 

Stop sweating the stars and status. Those all go towards Airbnb analytics. I don’t see this analytics helping their marketing much other than to put hosts in a tizzy (.... the mind games to influence hosts to outdo each other).

Silvana136
Level 10
Katoomba, Australia

Oh wow, a light at the end of a very dark tunnel. I have been going insane trying to work out why guests would rate me 5 for every category, yet I would get a 3 overall. It was doing my head in! When I asked Airbnb to see what it is the guests fill in (finally understanding that something must be up, as it just didn't make any sense to me), I was told I can't see that.

 

Why not? I'm sure most hosts go over and above what they should provide because they love what they do. I do, but it seems every time I add an amenity or feature, thinking it will help boost bookings, it either makes no difference or someone asks for something else.  As an example I provide lots of items for breakfast, but no fresh milk or bread as I don't live nearby. I explain this clearly in my listing. So naturally I've ticked Breakfast as an inclusion. Would this be misleading?  One guest recently absolutely loved our place, gave glowing reviews, said they can't wait to come back. But rated us a 4 for Accuracy because there was no milk.

 

I agree with all of you above, that the guest is unaware as to how this may affect the host. This same guest even said she didn't mind that there was no milk, and admitted it was an easy fix.  Here I am thinking this affects the possibility of ranking as a superhost, and getting very stressed! 

 

So I think I will take everyone's advice above, and stop worrying about Superhost status or reviews. And simply focus on making my guests feel 100% at home when they stay. Their word of mouth and memories shared with others will always outweigh any online booking system. Thank you to all, you have literally helped me smile again.

Silvana136
Level 10
Katoomba, Australia

But yes, I agree, the overall rating needs to go!!!