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
Joe492
Level 4
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I only got few reviews this month. Most of my guest are lazy to give a review, and some of them do not want to give a review because of privacy. They do not want others know they stay at my place... 😞

Jens90
Level 2
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Hi Joe/all.

Good to see another host from KL here.

I have exactly the same problem as you and Alan - I'm losing my SH status next week due to a 46% review rate, whereas almost all reviews (that I do receive) are 5 star reviews.

I agree with you Joe, the guests in the market here are generally very hesitant to leave a review. They only do so after I ask them to, which I feel like Alan is rude.

Many of my guests are non-english speaking and, in my opinion, just do not 'klick' with the AirBNB review system. Also, many of my guests are 1st time guests and unfamiliar with the system.

I'm talking to the support team, and they are just repeating their mantra that they remind the guests and I can remind them, too...

It's really frustrating.

 

Shawna33
Level 10
Columbia, MO

I often host groups and I fi d that groups are even less likely to leave reviews. Only 1 of The 6 guests in the group even has the ability to do so. 

Additionally,the star system is worthless when anything less than 5 is a huge negative. I had a guest leave a3 star review for a bug that flew in while she left the door open to bring in several loads of stuff. Killed my ratings for a long time and it was not something I could have solved.

Alan138
Level 5
South Carolina, United States

To my understanding the guests only see the average review star rating and not the individual star ratings associated with each review that we see in our hosting panels. It is unavoidable that you will get the occassional really picky or unreasonable guest review. Over time as you continue to provide superhost level service the occassional low star rated reviews have less and less of an effect on your average.

 

VALUABLE TIP FOR ALL: 

You may have noticed that AirBNB case managers almost NEVER remove an unreasable or vondictive review when you ask for one to be removed. So before you call in to request the review to be removed message the guest to produce some back and forth message dialogue on the topic. More times than not teh guest will reveal in the messages that they were being vindictive or unreasable. The case manager then can see those messages and will use that as supporting proof that you were right, the guest wrote a vindictive review to try to harm your future bookings ... and they will remove the review. It actually only makes sense .. gather supporting proof from the guest before asking for the removal - You are helping the case manager to do their job and honor your removal request.

 

 

Val29
Level 2
Gloucester, United Kingdom

I have the same problem as others who have repeat bookings - my 'trips reviewed' has tanked under 50%. I have a guy who has stayed 3 nights a week for 3 years - is he really expected to review me every week he stays..?!  

 

I contacted Airbnb on 6th Oct and got the following response:

 

"My name is Sayaka, an Airbnb expert and a Superhost. I'll be happy to assist you today.
You are right, they do not have to post reviews if they are regular guests, however the system will prompt that as it is automatically generated once a trip has ended. Your guest is free to ignore the review as it will not count to your stats if your guest does not leave a review."

 

Does not count towards my stats?! It obviously does as I review every other guest that stays with us!

 

I replied to this effect only to get a different response from another 'expert':

 

"My name is Abel speaking from Airbnb. First I would like to thanks you so much for letting us know about that issue.
Concerning your message, the system automatically sent a reminder for every guest at the end of a stay. So even if it is a regular guest, this email will be sent.
For now, we do not have an option to block the review reminder after a stay. It is the same for all the hosts unfortunately." - doesn't really answer my question about 'does it count'...

 

Very disappointed that airbnb a) include a measure of reviews from guests, as I consider it rude to ask them to do it and b) cannot cope with recurring guests that obviously make them a lot of money!

 

Airbnb - you need to remove this requirement from the superhost measures!

Michelle-And-Robert0
Level 2
Blairgowrie, Australia

Hi I’m a Super host now for 3 years and I totally agree the system is flawed the reviews aren’t always honest and I would never ask for a review from anyone as you mentioned it’s like asking for a tip if I was a waiter.

 

When I commenced with Airbnb guests I found to be more respectful to myself and my home now it’s anything goes many guests could care less I thought I’d now only accept guests with reviews but many hosts aren’t honest and therefore I can’t trust reviews anymore I’m actually seriously considering taking a break from Airbnb it’s not the same and most of the time I now feel like I’m a cleaner and Airbnb keep sending stuff about dropping my cost forget that the work cost and effort I put into Airbnb wouldn’t justify continuing on.

 

if Airbnb want loyalty and hosts continuing on they have to start appreciating the job we do and start thinking of us instead of them making money. 

 

Perhaps as superhosts we should all band together and tell Airbnb to fix the review system to be a fair and honest  and stop telling us to drop our prices and look after us without superhosts Airbnb won’t exist.

 

michelle 

Totally agree, Michelle!  I took up Airbnb in the ethos of sharing my home with travellers and now it seems to be if you aren't a full-time commercial concern you no longer fit the Airbnb business model.  This latest pressure to make guests write reviews is one step too far.

 

Fi 

Kelley53
Level 1
Starkville, MS

I have held a superhost rating for over a year and a half (got it the first time I became eligible). However, I just lost the rating only due to the fact that I had a 47% response rate (rather than the 50%) for my guests reviewing me. We have one guest that stays with us weekly, he doesn’t review us regularly and I don’t think that Airbnb should penalize us for him not! Airbnb should be able to see that repeat guests = pleased guests! This is utterly ridiculous!  Quite frankly I didn’t even realize this was one of the qualifications until I lost the rating. I only received a warning about how many times I was rating my guests.  I rate all of my new guests, but I didn’t start repeatedly rating regular guests until I got a warning about the policy.  The policy only warned about my review percentage though.  

 

Regardless, REGULAR guests SHOULD NOT be be required to review us and as hosts, we SHOULD NOT be required to review them (at least in a 6 month or yearly term).  Airbnb is supposed to be an easier, more care free system for guests.  Having this review system policy is just senseless for guests that are staying with the same host(s) on a regular basis.  Now I am likely to lose out on income due to losing my superhost rating ALL BECAUSE I have someone who enjoys staying with me on a regular basis.  Makes perfect sense... NOT!!

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

I don't have a problem getting repeat guests to leave reviews for each stay. They seem to just do it without me asking. However, I have had some guests whose stays are split across more than one booking, e.g.

 

1. Guest staying for three months, but wanting friend to stay for the first two weeks. No way to add the additional person to the booking just for the first two weeks, so we did it as two bookings.

2. Guest staying six months, but wanting to arrive two days early. Changed check in date and then Airbnb tried to charge her nearly £1,500 for two nights! Airbnb would not fix it so we ended up splitting the bookng.

 

What I find is that in these circumstances, the guest does not want to write two reviews for the same stay. I guess also that it is strange for them to leave a review close to the start of their stay when they still have a long way to go.

 

Unfortunately, that one guest, leaving one review for two bookings = 50% review rate.

 

I don't want to harrass guests under these circumstances to leave an additional review, but I guess I'm going to have to.

Fiona58
Level 6
Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Totally unfair - but whether it's a repeat guest or not, why is the onus on the host to hustle for reviews?

Claire475
Level 9
Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

.What I have found is the guests who leave the room in a mess seldom leave reviews. I think the application should be changed so that hosts can see how many “stays” a guest has had and how many reviews they left. 

Being a Superhost requires effort and dedication, you should absolutely not be penalised for something out of your control. 

 

Carol354
Level 4
Thames, NZ

Hi 

 

I think this thread addresses some of my questions.

 

Firstly, do 50% of your guests still have to leave a review for you to stay a Super Host? Where do I find that stat if that is the case?

 

& I have just had a guest stay for the second time. Didn't leave a review the first time, so my husband asked him if he could leave a review this time. the guy said no, he said it is obvious he is happy staying with us if he comes back!

 

So my question is, to maintain Superhost status, do I have to review him? I did review him the first time. He is planning a trip to Bali, so it is in his interest to find how the system works.

@Carol354  Yes, 50% of your guests have to review you. Whether you review them or not has no bearing on any of your stats or your Superhost status. However, if you don't review them and they leave a bad review which you feel requires a public response, as far as I'm aware, you can't do that unless you've left a review.

To see your review rate, look under Progress on your hosting pages, then click on "Opportunities" then on the Superhost box.

What did you say to the guest who said he wouldn't leave a review because it's obvious he is happy with the accommodation? I should think that if you explain to decent guests that you are rated on the % of reviews you receive, and that they could actually cause you to be stripped of your Superhost status just by them not taking the few minutes to leave a review, that the majority would comply. I make sure to mention to my guests, when informing them of how the review process works on the host end, that it's not at all necessary for them to spend time composing some major literary work, that just a line or two is perfectly adequate. I also tell them that hosts think it's a ridiculous requirement to grade us on what a guest chooses to do after they've left, but until or unless we can get Airbnb to realize this, that's the situation.

Over 2 years of hosting, 94% of my guests have left reviews.

Thanks Sara

 

Most of our guests have left a review, so I don't think we are any danger, but I would like to check.

 

I didn't say anything as the guy was just about to leave, so my husband mentioned it. I wasn't in the room. This guest comes across as a bit arrogant & we are his first Airbnb hosts.

 

 

@Carol354  Well, in that case, you were good to take a guest who is new to the platform with no reviews to go on. Perhaps don't bother to leave him a review, either, but send a private message saying that as he wasn't willing to leave a review, you haven't either, which, unfortunately, will lessen his chances of being able to book places, as many hosts require some positive reviews as a requirement for accepting guests. But leave that until day 13, just in case he does decide to review. I'd never do such a thing to a nice guest who simply didn't bother to review, but given his attitude..... 

Of course, if you foresee he might be a repeat guest who you'd welcome because he was non-problematic, in spite of his arrogance, forget that.