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
Flavia195
Level 10
Grande Prairie, Canada

Hi @Olivia363 . I am really sorry about that. I had two really bad guests.

One for SouthAfrica use my kitchen despite my House Rules "kitchen is off limits" and not only use, he let everything dirty, crumbles over countertops and floor, milk stain on the kitchen floor. He also eat in my bedroom, despite again my house rules.  Last but not least, he let the bedroom window open during the night without being in the bedroom. At 3am i heard storm and the wind was so strong inside the house....i knock the door twice... i understood nobody was there....i get in and close the window. In the morning at 8am someone rang my bell. It was he with his muddy clothes and without problems....get in and told that he lost my keys.  As I have no rules about lost keys...he doesnt pay.

 

Other guy, came with full size grocery and frozen meals...despite my "kitchen is off limits" rules. 

In the end, nobody cares about House Rules at all. They check just the price and about it i dont want to be the cheapest.... 

 

Is absolutely rude for me come inside the peoples house with shoes or with some terrible wet socks with stranger odor. So, i ask my guests to use slipers inside the house.

 

I cancelled the access to my kitchen after I realize that really less people spent time washing their hands after use the bathroom....and i would feel uncomfortable to tell to adults to please wash your hands before use my kitchen. 

 

Good luck.

Oh yes I forgot!

The first couple I mentioned left the window open aftef checkout. I live in ground floor and the window had stayed open all day until I came back from work.

Current guests had not read anything so could not find the flat, did not have the code etc, did not take off shoes etc. 

I have now unlisted my place, will need a serious break.

Flavia195
Level 10
Grande Prairie, Canada

@Olivia363  did you take in consideration to insert your house rules in the House/space description instead to set it in  House Rules? Maybe the next guests read it. 

 

Riser your price, set new house rules. Maybe it would work better.

They are in both....

Alice595
Level 10
Concord, CA

@Debora151  In the case of no hot water and broken shower as you mentioned, it is considered as extenuating circumstances. When you can provide the evidence, that cancellation can be excused.

 

A cancellation made by a host will suffer a penalty of one year not eligible for Superhost.

Rebecca181
Level 10
Florence, OR

Airbnb could change the rating / review system if they wanted to. But they don't. In fact, when they 'revised' it last year, they made it worse. Welcome to 'The Machine'.

Kemi6
Level 10
Johannesburg, South Africa

Hello again @Stephanie 

 

I hope you are doing well.

 

As mentioned previously, here are a few more suggestions :

 

1. Guests review criteria - 

 

 Since it appears that the star rating system is here to stay, I suggest that the same strict criteria applied to hosts should be applied to guests.

 

 

Guests should not just be rated on 3 categories, there should be more. And each category should be broken down into sub-categories just like for hosts. This is only fair. And I really believe this will create a more equal playing field for guests and hosts. 

 

 

For example :  We had a guest who was not available for her checking out. I messaged her the day before to ascertain her exact checkout time, but did not get a response. 2 hours to her check out time, I message her again and she eventually responded saying she was out of town and would be available soon. Guess what?? She showed up over 24hrs later!!! I don't even want to recount the ordeal we went through and the upset that the airbnb case manager caused me. I did put it on her review and did not recommend her as a guest. I don't want anyone going through what we went through. 

 

If I were to rate that kind of guest, there wasn't any clear option to choose from. It's all lumped up. 

 

 

Accuracy*** should be one of them.

 

We had a guest who took all the toilet tissue in the cottage. I mean all (there are 2 bathrooms, and we usually have extra tissues in the cupboards). The ones on the tissue rail as well as the ones in the cupboards were all taken.

 

We also had another take a large tub of toothpaste. (I said to myself: I guess it's because its Colgate :).)

 

 

Hosts have had things stolen, broken or out rightly destroyed. And where do those ratings go? 

 

 

There should also be a category called Energy Efficiency. 

 

Some guests are just plain inefficient with electricity. We've had guests leave lights, fans and heaters on, (there's no central heating in SA, so we have different types of heaters). This of course adds to our electricity bill.

 

 

 

2. Guests star ratings displayed. 

 

Guests' ratings should also be as visible as those of hosts. I have read on a few threads that guests do not see their ratings. Displaying these should help guests know what needs to be improved, the same way hosts check to see areas of improvement, especially when given low ratings (assuming they are not retaliatory ratings). 

 

That's all for now. 

 

Dear hosts, please add more suggestions.

 

 

God bless.

 

@Robin4 @Rebecca181 @Robert523 @Alice595 @Olivia363 @Flavia195 @Lizzie @Quincy @Sarah977 @airbnb @Anonymous 

Yadira22
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Hi @Kemi6 

yes - similarly their check in process from a host stand point should be considered. A lot of times I have had guests beg me to meet them at a certain hour which I agree to (I work from home so have flexibility) but then they arrive 2+ hours late stating very silly excuses such as “I was hungry so I went to eat” 🙈

This is not only an issue with communication and “respect  for host” (another category) but is outright rude. 

Thanks 

Flavia195
Level 10
Grande Prairie, Canada

@Kemi6  excellent !

Sue332
Level 2
Pilling, United Kingdom

All excellent and relevant suggestions.

 

I would further suggest that the "Location" review should not be part of the review system.  I am at 98% 5 stars overall, made up of 

 

98% accuracy with all 5 stars apart from 1 x 4 star

100 % cleanliness

100 % communication

98% check in with all 5 stars apart from 1 x 4 star

97% value with 1 x 4 star and 1 x 3 star (the group that gave me 3 stars said they dropped the value because of the location

92% location - 92% stars - 2 x 4 stars; 1 x 3 star and 1 x 1 star, the group that gave me 1 star were from a city and didn't like the unlit country roads.

 

My location is the one thing that I can do nothing about.  My listing title states that I am rural, and in my description I state that it is a quiet rural location.  People can see exactly where I am because of Satnav and Google maps so there is no excuse for this 1 star.  

 

Having received such a low rating it is taking me an extremely long time to drag my location rating back up to match the others.  I really think that this should not be part of the rating system.

Donette1
Level 2
Sandton, South Africa

So I'm curious as to whether any of the suggestions have been taken aboard or responded to by AirBnB?

 

Ali114
Level 2
İstanbul, Turkey

Hello everyone!

Airbnb needs to reconsider entire Superhost system, and maybe it must be turned in to a ranked system. Under current circumstances having 1, 2,3, or 4 stars means exactly same thing. While there is perfect communication availability, and full time dedication to my flats and to my guests needs, when they choose to not communicate and mention their issues during their stay, i have simply no chance to fix potential issues just because im not informed!

Current system is making hosts slaves or employees, Airbnb must simply remember they are business partners with hosts, but nothing else.

Guests who have less than 5 reviews must not be allowed to make an advanced review which will affect your entire rate.

 

For example, recently a middle aged guest rented a private room in a shared flat, but just because he never experienced Airbnb before, his expectations was beyond my service. While all other Airbnb guests are making 5 starred review for the rooms in same flat, this man made an awful & inaccurate review with only 3 stars. Just because this review now my hardly earned 3 years Superhost title is under risk. One more similar guest who has 0 idea about BnB culture, and all hard work will be suddenly gone!

I'm a host and guest via Airbnb since 2011, i met many different people. Some people are impossible to satisfy, and they are pretending like they rented you, but not your flat! While we have lots of issues, and while we have to deal with too many different people as hosts, Airbnb must make life easier for us. 

If this system goes like this, Airbnb will seriously turn to Airbeg, since hosts are almost being put in a position to beg guests for a good review in plus to high quality service and hosting. This feeling is totally unfair. Ranked host system must be replaced with current one, or there can be some like / dislike button instead of useless rating system where all ratings except 5 stars is just plain punishment to host!

 

You can also consider to increase rating range from 1-5 to 1-10, so at least 8 stars will keep superhosts status safe if there is a little disturbance by guests. For example a guest just gave to flat 4 stars because they got disturbed by pillows (it was orthopedic, less soft and fresh unit), i would immediately replace those pillows with softer pillows. But guests never mentioned this issue during their stay, and i just noticed their problem in the feedback part of their review! So is it really fair this way? 1-10 points will give a larger scale to hosts if they have small disturbances like on this example.

 

Also quality check of hosts are almost at zero tolerance level. I pay a high price of stress to keep superhost status, i give my time by waiting for guests for almost half day. Same price must be applied to guests, and guests with low or non ratings must have limits to make a full review as i have mentioned before. Otherly people who have 0 idea about Airbnb culture, are becoming able to make an unnecessarily negative review while they are expecting 5 stars hotel service from a regular house owner.

 

Abusive behavior of guests must be seriously prevented. There must be a double check before they rate less than 5 stars, so guests can now consequences and reputational damage they gave to host. Believe me, current system is punishing the good, not the bad.

Long short story, I expect a major update about this disappointing matter as soon as possible.

 

With my thanks & best wishes to everyone,
Ali Ersöz