Review

Brock11
Level 4
Kelowna, Canada

Review

I am starting this conversation to bring attention to the MANY flaws in the Air BNB guest review system and the impact these flaws have on us as hosts. 

 

Id like to start off by saying that I love the entire rest of the platform, app etc and have nothing but good things to say about it all. 

 

The Guest review system and Air BNBs complete lack of concerns for my complaints regarding have been EXTREMELY frustrating. I have called in several times now to outline and detail these flaws, have received the exact same “non response” every time and there’s been absolutely no follow up or changes whatsoever. 

 

I will list the issues below in short form. I can go into much more detail on all of them and add ideas for solutions if Air BNB is actually interested in hearing it.

 

Please add to this conversation so that MAYBE they will actually address the issues. 

 

1) Guests do not have to justify all or any of their reviews in any way at all. Explanation should be required. 

 

2) Guests do not have to raise concerns by contacting a host during their stay which would give us an opportunity to address them. Instead they can say nothing the entire time and blast you in a public review. 

 

3) Guests can outright lie in their reviews and as long as it doesn’t violate Air BNBs conduct policy Air BNB will not do anything about it. 

 

4) Guests can leave 5 stars in every individual category and then a 4 star overall rating (for no particular reason) and it ends up being the 4 star that goes on our record. It SHOULD BE averaged across the categories 

 

5) Air BNB offers no help to hosts when it comes to explaining to guests exactly how the review system works and exactly how much it affects us as hosts. 

 

6) The “Value” category should not be a part of it that affects us as hosts at all. I have absolutely no control over what a person perceived as good or bad “value”

 

7) When guests have negative feedback that is Air BNBs fault or there own because they don’t know how to use the site/app properly it can potentially harm our ratings but there is no contingency for that. (I had a guest claim that claims he didn’t receive any checkin instructions in an email and also didn’t have access to them in the app who then waited until they arrived and were already angry to inform of me of this) 

 

😎 When trying to address these issues with Air BNB they have been incredibly unhelpful with no promises of addressing any of these issues or of a follow up of any kind at all. 

 

 

52 Replies 52
Rebecca181
Level 10
Florence, OR

@Brock11 Add: 

 

-Retaliatory reviews allowed to stand - Including when obviously a revenge review due to a damages claim. 

-Airbnb leads guests to believe a four star review is just fine, even 'good' - When it is not. Not for us hosts, at least, given it jeopardizes our good standing on the platform.

 

@Stephanie We hosts have been offering sound suggestions for improving the review system for years - as evidenced by a plethora of posts and comments right here on these forums. Airbnb's response was to release a new and incomprehensibly long review format last year that is so long and tedious many guests do not bother to complete it. Kind of disheartening, to say the least. 

 

 

 

 

Spot on.  There needs to be a class action lawsuit.

Anthony608
Level 10
Silver Spring, MD

I had to post my first "thumbs down" review the other day.  Thankfully the bad guest himself did not leave me a bad review, actually gave a good one surprisingly enough.  The issue was the person I think had used someone else's account and was not being honest about who they were at check-in, as they wanted all information about the house re-sent to an unknown cell phone number and, after departure, I think tried to get back into the house using an expired door key code.  Also took food from the family pantry and I caught him going through a desk in the family room looking through books, mail, and other papers.  Very uncomfortable situation!

Sorry to hear that.  I had a similar experience and reported the guest using the account of someone else.  Nothing was done and my bad rating from them stuck.

Donna689
Level 2
Woodbridge, VA

You are spot on. I have the exact same concerns as you. In addition, AirBnB does not abide by my house rules, and Let’s my guests get away with not abiding by them. Another issue is that it’s hard to prove marijuana smoking to AirBnB. How can you take a photo of an odor that permitted my property?

I now mention in my listings that the guest will be asked to sign a contract. In the contract they must provide official identification and it states that they must provide a security check on check-in. This way I am assured that in the event of damage I can recuperate my losses. It also mentions that smoking of any sort is not allowed and can jeopardise their security check...

Loretta55
Level 2
Cape Town, South Africa

Very good suggestions. Guests are also asked what can be improved? The mischievous lies annoy me, for instance saying that towels and linen is missing! Amazing that they got to sleep in a made up bed and shower yet never say a word to the host. Could Airbnb not then contact the host in that situation to double check with the host?  Missing soap and location are my pet peeves that people complain about. Liquid soaps are provided (I do not do bars of soap, it is wasteful and no one wants to use someone else's bar of soap) as well as shampoo and a tube of toothpaste. In South Africa people do not understand the concept of a studio apartment (we would refer to it as a flatlet or cottage) so in some guests minds this is a flat far removed from hosts. Location is crazy, sometimes it is so broad but it does boil down to guests being too lazy to double check or read the descriptions given by the host. I agree wholeheartedly with the star rating of everything 5 star and then 4 overall, averaging should be done.  I have noticed my rating go down to 4.8 due to this. Airbnb could have a section in the review system that is not visible to guests but only other hosts in order to tell the hosting community about a guest/guests and the hosts experience. It is not a good idea to get into a public spat with a guest that all can read.  Many guests equate 5 stars to a hotel, want to pay very little  but  expect the best. 80% of guests are fabulous.  I am keen to start a blog in order to teach guests to be good guests.   

 

Guests do NOT want to be educated.
My listing is in France and it is important to know that French people do not rate in the same was as other parts of the world. For a French person a 3 star means it is as expected, a 4 star means it is better than expected and a 5 would be very much better than expected. Whereas in other parts of the world a 3 star would mean below what is expected, a 4 star would be a little below what was expected and a 5 star is what is expected.
Therefore basing a 5 star system as though it is the same standard throughout the world is unfair to hosts in France and perhaps there are other countries that rate the same as France.

If airbnb could take this into consideration when coming up with their score standards, it would be much fairer.

Perhaps if it were done with little faces and people could see that 5 stars has a little smiley face, a 4 star has a neutral face, a 3 star has a sad face, a 2 star has an grumpy face and a 1 star has an angry face, that might be a more global standard and understood by everyone.