Reviewing Reviews!

[Bruce0]

It may be fair to say that Corporate Airbnb's after-stay guest rating system (the Star System, Super Host and all) is the most common gripe of hosts. No one likes it after their first seemingly unfair 4-star.

Does anyone know if Corporate is seriously reviewing it? My thing is that a good system should have totally acceptable as the mid and most common rating. The current system leaves no room for exceptional service. I have had many guests say something like "I wish I could give you more stars but 5 is all they allow!"

In a related topic, does anyone have a copy of the questions asked in the guest's review?

[Clare0]

@Bruce0  Wish I had a contact at the HQ, and I don't know many that do.  Those that do I'm sure have bent their ear on the review system. 

Can't tell you whether or not they are actually considering changing it. 

That said, I wouldn't be overly concerned about reviews unless you get notices from Airbnb that you need to pick up your game.  I've seen many, many hosts with 100's of reviews (which statistically makes it almost impossible to acheive Super Host status as you can imagine) who are laughing all the way to the bank.  For me, that's the biggest reward!

I have been a Super Host for about 9 months now, but I realize that it's because I have occasional guests who don't have the typical guest problems.  In reality, other than an 'atta girl from Airbnb, it really doesn't mean much. Most guests don't even know what a Super Host is.  I had a really instructive conversation with a recent guest where I asked her how she came to select my listing amongst all the others available.  Here were her priorities: 

1. Pictures: She wanted to see the actual beds.

2. Reviews: The key for her was how many previous guests would recommend my listing. 

3. Price

I asked her if Super Host status meant anything and her response was "What's that?" And I'm not the only host who has gotten that feedback. 

From what I can tell, Super Host status is nice only because people can use it as a search filter if they know what it is.  As for search placement?  I've seen Super Hosts way down the list. 

Sorry for the long dissertation on the subject!  As for other fixes I'd like to see, there are others that I would prioritize before revamping the review system. 

Hope you enjoy hosting!