Review System Needs To Be Revised

[Rebecca181]

New standards for hosts are coming into play this year. Unless I am misunderstanding something, all hosts must maintain at least a 4.7 overall performance rating to remain on the AIrbnb platform. Super Hosts must maintain a 4.8 overall performance rating. Ratings will be based on the lifetime performance of the host (please correct me if I am wrong on this).

Those of us who have looked closely at the new method of rating our 'performance' believe it will result in many excellent, conscientious, well-reviewed hosts receiving warnings about their performance, including threats of having their listing deactivated; Super Hosts may lose their Super Host status. This should be a concern not only to all of us Hosts, but also to Airbnb Guests and Airbnb Corporate (the entire Community, really) for the following reasons:

1) Hosts will feel even more uncertain about how to intervene when guests are breaking House Rules, fearing a retaliatory review.

2)  Hosts will feel even less confident about enabling Instant Booking, as one poorly behaved guest could torpedo their ratings with an unfair / retaliatory review as 'Overall Experience' ratings appear to be calculated via a bell curve methodology versus a weighted average.

3) Competent, experienced, well-performing hosts may be driven out of the system / have their listings deactivated due to unfair reviews - Even one unfair / retaliatory review could cause untold damage to a host's business and reputation; in fact, it appears their listing could actually be de-activated if their rating is brought down below 4.7, even from just one review.

4) Super Hosts may lose their hard-earned Super Host status due to an unfair, retaliatory review.

5) Guests who cancelled are for some inexplicable reason allowed to leave reviews. So someone who never stayed in our listing could give a  host a 4 star or less 'Overall Experience' rating and our listing could be negatively impacted - Perhaps drastically.

6) From what I heard from Hosts who also travel through Airbnb as guests, when guests receive the prompt to review their stay, and their host, they are led to believe that a 4 Star rating is 'Good'; a 5 Star rating is 'Fantastic'. The truth of the matter is, a 4 Star rating is not 'Good' for us hosts at all, and can negatively impact our stats, our status, and our listing.

7) Hosts that have longevity on Airbnb will be unfairly penalized when the Overall Performance rating is determined by his or her lifetime statistics because a bell curve methodology is being used, versus a weighted average. Some hosts who have been listed on Airbnb for years are even discussing the need to delete their listing and all of their hard-earned reviews so that they can start over again with a clean slate. Also, new listings / new hosts sometimes need a learning period; they should not be forever penalized by ratings they incurred when just starting out. 

The other issue is that Airbnb seemingly is becoming more and more guest-centric - to the point where Hosts / Super Hosts fear retaliatory guest behaviors, including 'bad' reviews, for simply doing things like enforcing their House Rules or pointing out House Rules that were clearly stated in their listing, but the guest did not read. Also, guests who may have violated House Rules intentionally and blatantly are still allowed to leave reviews, which is of particular concern if the Host had to intervene when a guest was obviously breaking a rule. Sometimes these unfair / malicious / retaliatory reviews destroy a host's stats and can cause them to receive warnings that they need to 'improve' etc, or even cause a high-performing host to lose their Super Host status. 

I'd love to hear your thoughts on all of this before putting this out on Host Voice - Particularly if I am not understanding the new rating system being rolled out in July.  I actually hope that I am grossly misunderstanding something - Maybe it is not as dire as I currently believe! My initial suggestion is that a weighted average be used, not a bell curve, and all sub-categories be factored into the 'Overall Experience (aka 'Performance') rating (currently they are not - I confirmed this with an Airbnb customer support rep and his manager);  I'd love to get suggestions from all of you to incorporate into my eventual 'Host Voice' post (unless another host beats me to it!)

[Helen427]

Very well said Rebecca

Alas Airbnb must look after the Hosts & Guests they have.

I see under Airbnb on Google news that they are in the firing line in Amsterdam, Holland - alas isn't that also where Booking.com is based?

It's unfortunate that C/S for some of us is based in countries where English isn't there first language & that they only get paid the equivalent of NZ $5,595 per year.

Those people are probably desperate to keep their jobs to survive to alas they need to be mindful we to have basic costs of living expenses to pay that are considerably higher than they may be paying and for those who have been subjected to malicious/ vexatious / retaliatory Reviews it impacts on our livelihoods just like loosing the're jobs would.

Airbnb, like the Telco's, Microsoft etc if they were genuinely Customer caring & focused would ensure every country where they are based had a Customer services team in the said country that way they know the geography, get to know customers by their name etc

[Rebecca181]

ALERT: A mysterious post supposedly written 3 weeks ago by Airbnb has suddenly appeared at the top of the main CC page. It is on the new rating system - it 'explains' why it is a good thing. I think some of us feel differently. Please add your voice to the comments. Link to the post here: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-Updates/Clarity-about-the-recent-Superhost-criteria-chang...

[Helen512]

I totally agree with what you have said Rebecca.  I feel that many people don't care to leave a 5 star rating as the place was great, but not fantastic.  4 star should be very good!  Location is a particular peeve, as one is voted dowm because guests would like you to be near where they want to be, regardless of what you say in your description.  I have also had a 4 star from a quest, to whom I wrote to ask what I had done wrong in my photos, to mislead him, and he freely admitted that he had made a mistake because of a preconception.  Doesn't change my rating.  The whole system needs to be overhauled, in my opinion.

[Rebecca181]

This is not my property - It is a neighboring, property-managed (hostless) Airbnb. If it weren't so sad, I'd almost have to chuckle over this. Classic example of what we hosts are dealing with when it comes to Airbnb's problematic review system: 

Everything Was Great - Yet, Only FOUR Stars!

[Rebecca181]

Duplicate post, ignore!

[Sarah977]

@Rebecca181  That Send Message box is still there for me when I hover over your profile photo. Chrome on laptop.

[Rebecca181]

@Sarah977 Great to hear  - I bet it is because it is ME and why would i message myself? Must just be a glitch in the message system - I've been told by more than one person here that my messages can not be replied to and messages cannot be sent to me, but I'm sure it will clear up as so many of the 'bugs' here in the system do and I don't use the PM system much here anyway! Nice of you to respond, thank you, Sarah.

[Ann10 · Accepted solution]

@Rebecca181Rebecca-When I 1st started ABB I would get what is depicted in that screen shot a lot. I never could figure it out. I asked one European lady, "why"? She said, 5 was only for luxury. At the time, I felt I was catering more to budget travelers, but I was still providing a clean, stylish place w many amenities and extras that other NYC places don't have. Really, I just don't have a doorman. 

Now, I somewhat vet them before they book any of my listings , and after I send them a guest satisfaction survey. In the survey it says if you haven't read my listing please read it before answering. I think it specifically says it on the location and accuracy questions. I have all the same categories as ABB. I also added another survey questions which is, how well do you think the photos reflect what the place actually looks like(ABB took the photos)? 

I try to sent my survey right away before they review me. I think it really helps. 

I also have "Terms" they have to agree to before they book. One of them is that if something is wrong they have to tell me right away so I can fix it. I give a long list of things that can go wrong. I also state the same  in the contract.

I have had a few nut balls who committed libel and defamation of character against me in the review. In my response, I said I hope you find a cheap place next to the ____________court house because breach of contract and defamation of character ain't cheap. Boy, did those reviews come down lickty split. I called w proof that this one nutter was lying, and was breaching 10.2 of the TOS by defaming my character. The ABB rep said she understood that my phone bill was proof that she was lying, but in the ABB world, it didn't matter. So, no help for the loyal, honest, super host, but they took it down within minutes for the creepy liar(s) when they found out there are repercussions for libel.

[Victoria567]

To be quite honest it sounds like more and more hoops and hosts will get cheesed off and leave the platform.

[Rebecca181]

I agree @Victoria567. I wrote this post months ago, and it is only getting worse. I also do wonder why I rarely receive notifications anymore when people comment on my posts. Also, this post has 15 pages of comments and has never once been featured on the CC home page's 'Top Post' category. Odd.

[Ivo386]

I read your comment two years after you wrote it. How profetic you were. Last year (so after you wrote your comment) I lost my SH status due to a guest who claimed 200 Euro's or 100% discount on the room price 2 weeks after he checked-out, moments before his review timeframe closed. Internet was down in his apartment during the last 2 days of his stay (an outside cable breach by some construction activity in the area). As I did not comply immediately to his wishes I received a 2-star rating. Another 4* from a nice elderly couple who did not understand the Airbnb concept and used their review space to complain about stuff that does not even belong to the property they rented (a roof terrace of another apartment which they thought was a nice place to smoke). I contacted Airbnb support about both reviews. It seems their customer service has been outsourced to some third wild country and runs on default call scripts. They only send you email policy books and choose the easiest way out (meaning the least amount of work for the agent), based on the rather one-sided argument of "a need for transparancy for future guests". During the past week I had people smoking weed in the apartment and frying garlic to mask the smell. The entire building stank of garlic and it took about a week to get rid of the smell in the apartment.  From experience I know that when we confront guests about breaking house rules, they will lie their ass of or go banshee. I have had several hundreds of guests over the past years and not one ever admitted to any meaningfull damage (they can be very spontanious about a broken glass). Not even when leaving a completely bent front door key in the apartement, which would seem obvious. With this new review system, it looks like Airbnb is really only about the money as hosts can never correct a guests without expecting 'review revenge'. I have nearly managed to get my ratings up to SH status again, but there is little fun in this one-sided game of cat and mouse and risks for hosts of serious damage or misbehaviour from guests have increased. The whole thing has become much more transactional and much less fun. 

[Derek157]

After several hours reading through a mountain of mainly relevant, although worrying, posts, I have decided to do what AirBnB should be doing and educate my guests a little in the review system and the difference between AirBnB stars and commercial hotels.  Guests compare the stars to those used by commercial hotels ie the Ritz and Savoy in London are five star hotels, so how can they compare a lowly flat out in the sticks?  "It certainly is not a Five Star hotel, so let's not give more than a 3 or 4 star, whatever we write in the text of the review." In AirBnB terms what is perceived as meriting five stars?  What criteria can be supplied to guests for the various ratings - and here I mean the overall rating.  Is there any written guidance published anywhere within the AirBnB domain that I can draw on to give guidance to guests whilst at the same time not seeming to be begging for a high rating?  Like most hosts I merely want a fair review (and hope to retain SH status, so if you say "Wonderful hospitality, convenient space, and great local tips. Highly recommended." then give me a 5.  On the other hand if you say "Very nice place to stay and good value for money"  then why limit yourself to a 4?

This sort of guidance to Hosts may be written down somewhere, but if it isn't then AirBnB should provide it or stop sitting back and taking service fees from Hosts who are trying to go above and beyond to provide a decent experience for their Guests.

[Trevor243]

@Derek157Someone in the community recently posted a photo of the info she leaves her guests - it shows the 5 stars and what that means - AirBnB tell guests that 4* is good, but threaten us with removal, so 4* is punishing the hosts. Unfortunately, I can't remember where in the community I saw it ..... keep looking, it wasn't that long ago .....

[Derek157]

Thanks Trevor.  I will go looking for it.  Like most Hosts I want to give good value but I also want to protect myself from vindictive and unnecessarily critical reviews.

[Rajesh59]

i have 10 listings and lately was retaliated by a customer who broker bed and put a hole in the wall. after i put claim her gave me 2 star and airbnb refused to delete the review.