Ratings, superhost ....just a few suggestions

Kemi6
Level 10
Johannesburg, South Africa

Ratings, superhost ....just a few suggestions

Dear Airbnb team, 

 

First let me say thank you for the platform to meet wonderful people from all over the world, as well as the opportunity to earn some extra income. It's been a generally wonderful experience with a few hiccups. 

 

We recently had some retaliatory ratings which caused a dip in our overall rating. I will not go into details, as I have read through a lot of threads on the community forum and the rating system seems to be the biggest bone of contention on Airbnb with such vindictive ratings at the very top. 

 

So I thought of a few suggestions that hopefully Airbnb can look into to help ease these frustrations that hosts are experiencing. It can really tire one out. 

 

Suggestions

 

Whenever hosts receive "unjustified" ratings, hosts should contact the guests via the message thread asking why such rating was given. At the same time, hosts should contact the review dispute arm of Airbnb and notify them that they are disputing the rating. Airbnb could then put the review on hold while investigating the matter (say for the same 14 days required to write a review). If there is no justified response from the guest after this period, the review should be taken down. 

 

Where guests acknowledge that the rating was a mistake, they should be given another chance to re-write the review. (it appears guests cannot change their ratings choice as the platform does not allow them, so I was told by a guest when I made enquiries). 

 

If it takes one guest to drop a rating, it should also take one guest to get it back on track. I read from a host that it takes about a year for a 3 star overall rating to be upgraded (I do know it takes a while for any low rating to be upgraded). This shouldn't be. If it takes one 3 star to drop a rating badly, it should take just one 5 star to correct that rating. 

 

Superhost status should not be a threat. I believe the superhost status was created as a reward system, but it seems to have become a hangman's nook. If it took a track record to get to superhost, it should take a track record to lose it. The same way Airbnb let's hosts know that they are on the way to earning the badge, hosts should host allowed to know when they are on their way to losing it. 

 

Those are my few suggestions. I hope it makes a difference.

 

P. S… I know the normal response from airbnb is that as long as a review does not violet airbnb's content policy it cannot be taken down. It may not violate the system's policy, but it oftentimes violates moral and ethical policies. It sometimes violates humanity's policy of fairness and is sometimes the sheer abuse of human rights. 



There are wonderful hosts and there are bad ones. But I do believe the good far outweighs the bad, else Airbnb would not have grown so much over the years. 

 

To fellow wonderful hosts, keep giving your best and let's keep praying and hoping for such in return. 

 

God bless. 

41 Replies 41
Kemi6
Level 10
Johannesburg, South Africa

Hello @Stephanie,

 

Thank you for your response. I am glad this has come to the team's attention. I do acknowledge that making the required changes is a lot of hard work, especially on a platform as huge as this. So thank you. 

 

On to your question: There really would not be any changes to the superhost criteria without the appropriate changes to the review system. It's the review system that determines the superhost status for any host (whether it is achieved or whether it is lost). So, the review system is what needs to be addressed.

 

Honestly, I have not seen any significant changes to the traffic flow to our listings since achieving the status. I checked our search rankings and it really hasn't improved. So, I don't know if the status really makes a difference.

 

It is well established that what drives people to book a listing on Airbnb is not being a superhost, but other factors like price, location, functionality and of course, reviews! 

 

So may I suggest again :

 

1.  that the team re-visit what the superhost status is meant to achieve.

 

2. Being a superhost should not make a host accept what is unacceptable.

 

3. The 1 year "punishment" for cancelation is in my opinion, too severe. Of course hosts should not cancel unnecessarily, but I believe this needs to be reconsidered.

 

That's it for now. Should I have any others, I will be glad to let you know. 

 

God bless. 

 

Hi, I think it would really help if airbnb explained the rating system better to guests. After three years with only 3 ratings of 3 stars way back when I started, 14 4 stars, and about 280 5 star, I have had 2 ratings of 3 stars in the last 8 weeks or so. I also have had 5 star ratings on each of the sub-categories, but 4 stars overall a few times recently. If the rating system was easier and explained more clearly I don't think that would happen. As in, explain that 5 stars does not mean it is a 5 star hotel, but 5 star as far as the value and what is expected from the description of the rental. I am 25 dollars less than a Motel 6, full house with 2 bedrooms and a fully usable kitchen, a yard with grill and picnic table, and you can drive right up to the door. I give a list of attractions and help in anyway I can without being overbearing, and put as much into it as I am able, new siding, new appliances, and the many things it takes to keep a house livable. Then, the more improvements, the more 4 star and 3 star reviews...

 

It should also be explained that it is important to read the full description, which is obvious guests are doing less and less. These would be easy fixes and would help hosts not get so up in arms about the whole rating thing. It is so depressing to have put so much work into the places we have only to get worse and worse ratings. The way airbnb was advertised at first was "live like a local," now it seems more like "sip wine off the balcony of you castle as you gaze at the Mediterranean." Everyone used to want to say hi, and now they don't, people would leave thank you notes, I had dinners and conversations with many guests, but in the last year or so, very very little of that. To me it is all about how it is advertised that makes the difference, guests and hosts working together to have a cool affordable and sometimes quirky place to stay. I am almost hoping that I drop out of Super Host so I don't have to worry about it so much!

 

And of course, occasional bad or questionable ratings should be able to be removed, some guests are just so picky and unfair. My fave recently was someone telling me my curtains were to stiff, therefore hard to slide open! I really did not know what to say!! That was one complaint from one of my recent 3 star guests...

 

So, in conclusion, it would be awesome if airbnb went back to their original program of more of a friends helping traveling friends by giving them a unique alternative to staying in a boring cheap hotel, or expensive one, depending on what the guest is looking for.

 

Thanks for listening!

@Robert523 Your suggestion is spot on. Guests need to know what the rating scale represents. There is much confusion about what a 5* means. I spoke with my sister in law who travels the world and thought her 4* ratings were compliments! She wants to go back to these places but had no idea these hosts were essentially punished for those ratings. She said she thought 5* was for "The Ritz" or when a place was super fancy. She didn't realize 5* really means that the host delivered what was promised. End of story. If the place is 5 miles from the store and the person didn't like driving 5 miles, they shouldn't have booked the place. If a place offers a queen-sized bed and the person wants a king they shouldn't have booked it. But part of the problem is also that many guests don't give reasons for the ratings other than feedback (4* for location, etc.). It's all subjective. How do you regulate a qualitative system based on subjectivity? It should really be a thumbs up thumbs down system.

Hi Stephanie,

 

I'm pleased to see that an administrator responded to these suggestions. 

 

From my experience, the biggest faux pa seems to be what the rating system means to hosts vs. to guests. Guests need to know what qualifies as a 5* vs 4*, 3*, 2*, 1*. In my estimation, a 5* is earned when the host delivers what they promised in the listing.

 

However, after surveying dozens of airbnb users, there is an overall misunderstanding of what the stars mean. A few of them told me that they never give 5* even if everything is spot-on because they don't believe in perfection. Many of them told me they have given 4* to places they adored and plan to revisit. When I asked why they gave 4* instead of 5* I was given various reason from not being able to book a different place they wanted, to thinking that 5* was only reserved for super-luxe places. One thing they all had in common was every single person thought that 4* is a good thing and actually helps hosts! Yikes! 

 

It would be helpful for airbnb to offer a legend that explains how airbnb sees the ratings. An example might be:

 

5-star: Listing as described; clean premises; hospitality was good; host was friendly, helpful, and responsive; host resolved issues that arose; host provided extra service or amenities

 

4-Star: Listing is missing one or two small elements (such as forgetting to mention steps to key areas of the home or that a kitchen doesn't come fully equipped), clean premises, hospitality was adequate, host was intermittently responsive, small issues not resolved after alerting the host

 

3-Star: Listing not as described (some aspects incorrect or misrepresented, such as not noting that pets  or children are on the premises), host unresponsive or hard to reach, moderate issues were not resolved while on-site, unclean premises

 

1 & 2-Star: Listing not as described (inadequate information, numerous aspects incorrect or misrepresented), several issues while on-site not resolved, host unresponsive or absent, unclean premises, major issues that were not resolved while on-site or after check-out

 

Another suggestion is that when guests rate an overall rating less than 4* (or when they give 4* or less in host feedback), they should be required to fill out a form or comment box that explains the exact issues that they had. For example, if a person gave a 4* or less due to the location and accuracy of the listing, they should have to provide exactly what was missing or misrepresented so that the host can correct the problem. As it stands, a host has to message a person who gives 4* or less and request feedback and most of the time guests do not reply. This is not helpful because the host has no way of knowing what earned the rating.

 

Finally, guests have no idea that not rating a host can be harmful to their ratings. Many people who use airbnb are traveling and do not have regular access to the internet. Many of my guests have texted me instead because the Airbnb platform does not work on their phones. Plus, while they are traveling they are not checking email or on their devices as much. If a guest does not leave a review, perhaps it should not be reflected in the rating. We cannot assume that just because a guest didn't leave a review it was because the experience was bad. In fact, many people will only leave a review if they have a negative experience. This should be taken under advisement when considering changes to the rating system.

 

Thank you for your consideration. 

 

Warmly,

Andrea

Stephanie, that's very nice of you to show some genuine concern. A lot of us wonder if Airbnb is ever listening to our concerns, and you have proven today that some representatives are.

 

I would add to what @Kemi6 has outlined in her original post, and in her response below, what Alice pointed out above: that if someone gets a retaliatory one-star review, it would take 19 five-star reviews to get that host back to the 4.8 scale needed to become a Superhost. 

 

I'm sure that when Airbnb first set this up, there was some logic to it. Now, however, it is clearly being abused by guests who know that they hold this power over the hosts. I've been hearing some absolute horror stories from Superhosts I know recently about guests--and younger ones especially, who don't have history on Airbnb--sending booking requests. If the host has suspicions and turns down the guest, then that hurts their chances of maintaining Superhost status. So, the host pretty much has to agree.

 

Then, the guests show up and cause total chaos, doing things they would never dare try in a hotel, because they know that they would be thrown in jail. The host, of course, can kick them out, but that will most certainly lead to a retaliatory bad review. Bye-bye, Superhost status.

 

Alternatively, the host can also choose to wait until the guests check out and then write an honest review about the guests. However, as soon as the guests see that a review has been published, then they will retaliate. We know some Superhost friends of ours who had some young guests this summer who were constantly drunk and caused a whole series of problems in the apartment and general area--the police were even called once at a local restaurant, when they were all swimming nude! But when these guests were checking out, the one who had booked the room said, "If you write anything bad about me, then I'm going to give you a 1-star review."

 

And so our friends chose to do nothing, because they didn't want to lose their Superhost status...

 

Stephanie, you can see the flaws in this system. As Kemi rightly pointed out in her original post, it takes so much time and effort for a host to get to Superhost status, and it takes almost nothing to lose it. These nightmare guests are learning that they have power over the Superhosts, and sadly, some of them are actually seem to be choosing Superhost properties deliberately because of this. 

 

That, to me, is the one aspect of this system that REALLY needs to be changed.

 

Thank you again for reaching out and showing some concern. Please take our points to heart. 

Lan1
Level 10
El Cerrito, CA

If you host longer, few years with multiple listings, over few hundreds reviews (I have 333 for hosting), it gets harder to achieve the super host statue. 19 five star review to cover one star, or 2 stars, circle again and again..., I just had a refund game skillful player, who first informed me there were some issues but refused to tell me what was. I was so worried and sent numerous messages to check if we can fix, how to serve her better, but no response until few days after checked out, she sent me private email, stated that prior writing her review, she needed inform me what issues were and requested compensation. Critical think: refund or bad review? I just refunded her but put the whole story in my review to her. Please be aware those skillful refund seekers..,

周蘭

@Lan1  You should have not refunded her. With her threaten email, you can show to Airbnb. It is considered as an extortion. In this case, if she had written a retaliatory review, the review would have been removed by Airbnb. Even though Airbnb review system is full of controversy,  Airbnb support still responds relatively quick. Normally within 1-3 days.

Debora151
Level 1
Tweed, Canada

I lost superhost status for canceling a guest 5 days before the booking.  I found her a new place to stay with a friend who has an airbnb close by.  I lost my status for the summer.  It really irked me to be honest.  A solid year of great reviews wiped out.  Things I need to work on is 0 cancellations per year.  I had 1.  They need to realize these are private properties and issues with plumbing etc arise. So what would have been worse, let the guest come with no hot water and broken shower (and get a terrible review) or cancel so the handy man could get in a do the job?

 

They have an extenuating circumstances policy for just this sort of issue. Your cancellation should have been penalty-free.

Kemi6
Level 10
Johannesburg, South Africa

@Debora151

 

You should let them know. And provide them with the proof of the damage and repairs.

 

And do not take no for an answer. I have had to really stand my ground with Airbnb on a few things.

 

All the best. 

I've had the same issues.

My frustration is that hosts are lured in by the appeal of being able to control who you admit to your home. 

Only to be "bullied" by the same platform to lower your rates or not to decline guests to avoid a less than stellar rating. Regardless of the fact that this is your home, your property...

I don't utilize instant booking to avoid being penalized for declining a booking request and yet I still risk losing my Superhost rating and profile visibility as a result. Frustrating! 

Flavia195
Level 10
Grande Prairie, Canada

@Donette1 i never followed the Airbnb tips about lower prices. Some people in my town rent the bedroom with full kitchen use for 22$. So. I calculate my electricity, water, gas for a shower and the use of my towels, bedlinen / wash/dryer, products and my own rate hour for clean and set the bedroom. So. My cleaning fee is 25$ and my bedroom is 53/55$ night and it is really lower than any horrible cheap hotel here in town. Many hotels here has old furniture, bathrooms so dirty and some drug dealers with weapons around. This town is for Oil & Gas field workers. Usually they have a good salary. Why I have to give my bedroom for 22$  for a perfect unknown person?  

My bedrooms prices are ok. And it is absolutely correct to set up a cleaning fee.

 

Any suggestions?

 

* sorry for my english

Olivia363
Level 3
Stockholm, Sweden

Hello,

I will stop AirBnb. I am into a bad experience right now. A 55+ couple from France. Yesterday they arrived later than ETA (which was fine for me, this normally happens that people give optimitisc ETA) and were furious because I had not given the doorcode nor the location of my flat nor my surname nor my phone number.

Of course all this information is listed and available for confirmed guests, but they had not bothered to have a look and were putting my words in doubt.

Now this morning the woman complained she does not feel welcome, "there is not even coffee". First of all, and this is also written in my listing if they had taken the time to read it, there is coffee and tea, complimentary. I even put a picture of the mugs/tea/coffee on my listing. She sounded like she was expecting breakfast. So obviously they had 0 clue about the whole AirBnb concept. Because they did not read anything they also did not follow my no-shoe rule (it s considered as very dirty to get in a home with shoes in Sweden). She was talking to find another place. I really really hope they do. I am at work now and really hope to have my place for myself tonight. No more AirBnb!

@Olivia363  I saw that you have not left any reviews to guests at least for the latest a few ones I saw. Were there any particular reasons that you did not?

 

I saw that guests have left you very good reviews. Hopefully you can enjoy your hosting.

Hello,

 

I did not enjoy my 3 last guests indeed:

* one couple invading my space (kitchen and outdoor)

* one teenager couple who booked through third party (the mother), who also invaded my kitchen, baking etc and who left a condom in the garbage without packing it in a bag and who did a late checkout

* current couple who is a complete nightmare, they are leaving tomorrow

 

I prefer not to review than review badly.