Reviews! Absolutely NO star selection option for OVERALL rating words only. We are screwed!

[Letti0]

This is a screenshot by screenshot of a review I completed today for an entire home/apartment rental. Not the best of shots the lighting on the computer was just crap today, but you will see it all for the most part.There is absolutley NO option to select a star rating for the overall score. The overall is to Describe Your Trip, no star option is given. It's the words only which work out to Better then = 5*, a Bit better = 4*, As expected = 3*, A bit worse = 2*, Much worse = 1*, so I am surprised more hosts are not getting 3 stars on their reviews. Well they maybe are but they just post on the forum. They are even lying about it saying help other guests find the right place for their trips your host will only see the answers that multiple guests have picked. The next screen says Step 4, but you have only had 2 screens before it, so it's actually step 3 not 4. I am so pissed by this review format it's not even fair to the guest let alone the host. It took me over 15 minutes to complete on a laptop when all was said and done when writing the private and public comments. I have no clue if the shared places have the same review or not, but they have shortened it since last May on what they are aking about the place. There were no questions on linens, toilet paper, and basic amenitites supplied anymore. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gillian19]

@Letti0 So really, if a guest gives better than expected the host should be marked low on accuracy!! 

[Letti0]

@Gillian19  If a guest gives better than expected you get a 5* review. They can actually give a star rating to accuracy and the other 5 categories are also still actual star options,.Overall is just no longer a star choice option, it's just words so a guest has no clue they gave you a 3* on the most important mark that AirBnB uses for Superhost status. This host should have been given a 3* as the place was as expected. Nothing special. The pictures were accurate and the place was fine just as listed, but not over the top in anyway. I gave a 5*  by picking much better than expected just so I did not tank her ratings even though it really wasn't. It was as expected, so why mark her down since I know how AirBnB rates hosts. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Letti0

yes I've seen this earlier this month and thought the same as you do.

I also gave my host everything 5* because I am not picky, I know how Airbnb works , the listing was as I expected and I felt comfortable. But it was not "much better then expected" neither it should be for the price I paid.

So yes, this way how Airbnb presents it is misleading. I wonder is it purposely or the team who invented this kind of reviews is just clueless?

[Rebecca181]

@Letti0 After all of the thousands of comments and many, many dedicated posts on how the former review system was unfair and damaging to hosts, this is what Airbnb came up with. It reveals such a blatant disrespect of hosts (one could say it was devised to damage our overall rating even more, given most guests who don't understand the system will now be giving us 3 stars if we meet expectations) that there seems to be a hint of deliberate cruelty infused into the final product. 

Hope it works for them. I know for sure it is *not* working for me...

[Mark116]

Last time I used airbnb there was still an option as the first question to give the overall stars, and then after that was better/same/less than expected.

I really don't know why they can never improve anything with the constant tweaks that create more bug and headaches and never mind they never ever inform hosts of what the changes are and how they need to redo xyz in the listings.  It is truly insane.

[Sarah977]

@Letti0   I posted this information about 4 months ago, although without the screen shots. I became aware of it when staying with a friend in Canada who is also a host. She had just used Airbnb as a guest and called me over to look at her screen when she had the review form up. This new format may have rolled out in different places at different times, but it has been thus for at least 4 months in many places. 

I agree with Rebecca, they couldn't have come up with a more sadistic and fatally flawed review change for hosts if that was their intention. So it was either their intention, or they are just as totally clueless about the consequences of their "improvements" as they seem.

[Letti0]

@Sarah977  I also saw the review when it first started. A guest showed me. It had more question than it does now about towels, toilet paper, linens, soap, etc. they have now removed a bunch of them. I just figured since I was doing the review I would document it for others that had not seen it. 

[Sarah977]

@Letti0  Yes, it's good you posted this as a new topic with the screenshots. There are still a lot of hosts who have no idea that the guests did not in fact give them a 3 or 4* rating, they just checked a box that doesn't indicate that the accomodation or the hosting was lacking at all.

[Letti0]

@Sarah977  This is the reason I removed some photo's and I am now down playing my amenties some hoping to get the wow factor to get the 5* reviews. I am thinking about adding some of the photo's back since I am higher priced and I need to justify my costs a little more on AirBnB. I left everything on HA/VRBO, Trip Advisor and Booking.com alone. I seem to be getting most of my bookings from HA/VRBO, but the guests there rarely leave reviews which is annoying. Most do write in my guest book which I am thinking about removing to see if that helps with reviews over there. 

[Pete28]

A while back I was thinking of moving my other rental over to Airbnb, but the constant change in SH, rating, plus, hosts being delisted etc just makes it hard to commit an asset which generate $40k to Airbnb. In less than 1 year :

- SH went from 80% 5* to avg 4.8, making one bad review deadly

- Plus require 4.8 avg, seems to have an endless listing process and gives Airbnb complete control of your listing

- Now it seems guests don't even know they are rating you 😞

[Kath9]

@Letti0, whoever is working this review system out is clearly not a host...completely ridiculous...