Reviews Required To Not Lose Superhost - Rude To Ask Guests For Reviews

Alan138
Level 5
South Carolina, United States

Reviews Required To Not Lose Superhost - Rude To Ask Guests For Reviews

I am starting this discussion in hopes that AirBNB management will see it and modify their Superhost qualification requirements because SO MANY of us have replied to this discusion all in agreement that they should change the requirement. SO Please reply and comment if you agree this should be changed.

 

I am a Superhost and quickly on my way to losing my Superhost status even though my superhost level of service has not changed one bit.

 

I have learned that you must maintain a certain percentage of reviews to keep your superhost status. In other words, if enough of my guests do not decide to leave a review I will end up losing my superhost status.

 

First, in my opinion, asking your guests to leave a reviews is EXACTLY like a waitor at a restruant asking you to leave a tip. It is just simply rude no matter how you slice and dice it.

 

Second, I now have 4 regular guests who come stay every week and/or 1-2 times per month. It is ridiculous for teh same one person to have to write a review 4 times a month, every month, month after month, for me to not lose my Superhost rating. To ask them to do so so I do not lose my superhost status goes beyond being rude but becomes abusive to my guest. Additionally, 4 reduntant reviews from the same guest every month, 24 of the saem reviews from the same guest in 6 months, my review panel will certainly start to look suspicious like they are made up reviews.

 

Third, it is well know in life that happy customers are less likely to leave a review while pissed off customers always leave a review and that is true no matter what product or service cosumers buy out there. Also many people are just people that do not spend their time to write reviews.

 

Requiring a superhost to make sure all of their guests write reviews to keep their superhost status is an incorrect system design that does NOT serve the guests whatsoever. Having to secure enough reviews to firts earn your superhost status is fine but once you are a superhost, percentage of guests writing reviews shoudl no longer be required.

 

So what do you think? Please tell AirBNB to change their system or you yourself will eventually be a superhost that no longer has a superhost rating just like me.

81 Replies 81
Lucas266
Level 3
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

maybe this is cultural but I have no problem at all on thanking my guests in the end of the stay and asking them to leave a good review if they had a pleasant experience.

it usually works like charm! 😉

 

reviews are quite usefull for rating where you go and are probably one of the best features of airbnb imo...

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Alan138  I don't consider it rude to ask guests to please leave a review. Most guests are completely clueless about how the review system works on the host's end, and since Airbnb doesn't tell them, it unfortunately falls to the host. None of my guests has been offended by my enlightening them, they've been shocked that we are rated at ridiculous %s and rated on things we have no control over, like guests bothering to leave reviews or not.

That said, of course it's unfair to hosts. Of course, if you have repeat guests, it's absurd for them to have to leave a review of the same listing over and over. If a guest rebooks your place because they love it, that should be rewarded by Airbnb, not penalized because the guest doesn't leave a review.

I have certainly given feedback to Airbnb about the senseless 50% review requirement, and I'm sure other hosts have as well. It falls on deaf ears.

Alan138
Level 5
South Carolina, United States

 @Sarah0 Thanks Sarah for contributing on this topic and well said!

Victoria567
Level 10
Scotland, United Kingdom

I consider it pushy, to ask a guest for a review....it also may cause embarrassment to the guest.

This is problem that MUST addressed by air bnb directly by changing their rules.

 

Fiona58
Level 6
Edinburgh, United Kingdom

I so agree, Victoria - surely it's Airbnb's responsibility to chase for reviews if they want them so badly!!!  Would it ever be considered detrimental if a guest never leaves reviews anywhere?  I doubt it somehow...  Cannot see the point in this and would definitely be embarrassed to ask guests to review their stay online...

Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

@Sarah977I will just repeat what you said:

if you have repeat guests, it's absurd for them to have to leave a review of the same listing over and over. If a guest rebooks your place because they love it, that should be rewarded by Airbnb, not penalized because the guest doesn't leave a review.

Alan138
Level 5
South Carolina, United States

YES - Repeat guests is a level above Superhost and should be rewarded and YES it is retarded for the same guest to have to write a review every week, week after week for me to not lose my superhost.

 

Since I posted the discussion I picked up my 4th new regular guest that will be staying 3 nights every week. I provide such a level of quality and service that people who need to come to my area of town for work on a regular basis do not want to stay anywhere else. THAT is a superhost.

 

I guess by the time I lose my superhost for lack of reviews percentage I will have enough regular repeating guests each month that my calendar is full and I won't need AirBNB anymore anyways! Lol

 

But this is a valuable discussion for AirBNB management to see what we all are saying and to undertstand there is a legitimate flaw in the design that needs to be fixed.

 

If your guests are all regular repeat customers, why do you need Superhost status?

If you have repeat guests over and over on the Airbnb platform, it will affect your metrics and standing if they don't review. It is absurd, of course, but that is the way it is. I have a number of repeaters including one with over a dozen reviews. Same deal. 

 

The upside for a 5 minute review is that your metrics will keep getting stronger. 

 

It's a minor favour after the many you do. \

 

 

Still doesn't make it right to penalise a host because a guest hasn't left a review!!!  It's not in our power to force people to do anything!

Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

This is (and was) a bit of an absurd idea (Trips Reviewed) as pointed out back in the late Spring in this forum at length when it was first introduced and realized by some participants. In essence, it is asking the host to 'ham' for a review, though explaining (and selling) the review system of Airbnb to guests (while yes do asking for a review) is more than acceptable and pragmatic. Unfortunately, the problem got worse with the latest addition. 

 

The recent change to the lenghty exercise the guest must go through to do leave a review has definitely exacerbated the problem further.

 

P.S. Airbnb presently is trying to understand how many of its existing features are in reality working out in the real world of guests & hosts, by getting direct feedback from them via a formal 'selected group advisory program', and without a doubt this quandary will definitely come up.  Now as to solutions...

 

 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Fred

 

I agree. I have noticed my review rate percentage drop since the guest review system became more complicated.

 

@Alan138I agree with some of the other hosts who don't find it rude to ask for a review. The way I do it is either when saying goodbye to a guest, or in a thank you message to them after they've left. I simply say, "It would be great if you could leave a review when you have a moment and I will of course do the same for you." No one seems to have been offended so far. If I'm not so keen on the guest, however, I don't encourage them!

 

I do agree with you overall though that hosts being judged on review rate is just stupid. If we were rated on how often we left reviews for our guests, that would be fair enough because that's something we can control.

 

If you want Airbnb to hear you and the rest of us, maybe start a discussion in the Host Voice forum, as that is apparently where they look for suggestions and feedback from us. I wouldn't be surprised though if someone else has already done that. I will take a look...

Yulianna0
Level 10
Madrid, Spain

I wonder why not to make it simple? “Recommend” or “not recommend”. People can write their opinion, it will be useful for others. But without affecting raiting. Just informative. So hosts will feel much better about leaving reviews, without any fear. Airbnb can use % of “recommended” feedbacks to value the host. We don’t have to bag for good reviews or keep silent for not to get low stars

Letti0
Level 10
Atascosa, TX

@Alan138  The new review process has tanked a lot of hosts review stats, mine included. The ones who started to do a review and stop because it's too long and time consuming probably won't even bother trying again in the future even if AirBnB does remove most of the the data mining and spying requests. They'll never know if the process was made easier because they just won't bother again, so you've now got repeat AirBnB users who will never review again in the future and hosts who will be punished for it. The repeat guest is also not going to review you more than once and why should they unless somethings changed since their last visit. Again AirBnB punshishs the host for having made guests so comfortable and happy they want to return again and again. The guests do not know that less than 5*'s means a bad hosting job by the host. They are not aware that no review in AirBnB's eyes means you're not doing a good enough job and that this puts your SuperHost status on the line. How would they know any of this since AIrBnB never tells them.  As a host I think at this point if you are asking your guests for a review not a good one mind you just a review or explaining the review star system it should be an acceptable practice, even though I don't like it one bit.