Reviews and ratings by guests - somethings changed!

[Elaine119]

I've been hosting since 2016 and have been a superhost for much of that time.  Most of our reviews are 5* for everything with the occasional dip as we would expect as you can't please all of the people all of the time.  However our last 4 guests have marked us down to 4* on cleanliness and under this rating there are various comments eg "dusty" which I've never seen before.  Our cleaning is thorough and nothing has changed for us (apart from my cleaner is getting very upset because of the drop in rating). 

Is Airbnb suddenly inviting people to give too much feedback for the ratings and encouraging them to be very fussy? 

Has anyone else experience this recent change?

[Elaine119]

@Oad0 Thank you for your comments . I'll treasure them.  They are so polite and constructive .

[Christopher187]

As a host, I would actually argue in favor of efforts to spread the spectrum of ratings.  It just isn't useful for every host to have a perfect 5 star rating, simply because the guests are carelessly assigning 5 stars on everything.  It is useful to have a a more even spectrum of ratings on places so that guests can actually distinguish between a moderately clean place, and a pristinely clean place. 

Unfortunately, right now, the culture is that if you don't have a perfect 5 stars, you're probably a crummy host with a dirty place.  This needs to be changed so that 3 stars is ok, 4 is good, and 5 is flawless.

[Sarah977]

@Christopher187  I quite agree- it's the absurdly punitive way that Airbnb applies ratings to hosts that causes the problems. That's something I say to my guests when cluing them in to how Airbnb deals with hosts re star ratings- that in a sane system, 4*s should  be an acceptable rating- what's wrong with being good? Or even average? That Airbnb turns around and threatens to delist hosts who fall below 4.7 is crazy. While there are lots of entitled guests who think they should have the Ritz for the price of a Motel 6, there are plenty of guests who realize that if they want to be economical about accommodations they book, they can't expect 1000 thread count sheets, a giant welcome basket full of gourmet foods, and brand name salon-grade shampoo. Not every host is striving to provide a 5* experience, their prices reflect that, and their guests accept that. And that's okay. It means there's something out there for everyone, depending on their budget.

But I honestly wish they'd scrap the star ratings altogether because what one person considers clean may not be up to someone else's standards. Written reviews can make it clearer exactly what was lacking, then guests can decide for themselves if those things would be an issue for them. "Could have been cleaner" might not be an issue for a 20 year old college student looking for a cheap place to crash for the night, whereas they might pass on a "Place was unacceptably filthy". Star ratings really don't give guests anything solid to go on.

[Sk9]

You won't feel that way once your listing in your college town has been given 3 star ratings on "value" from parents who think lodging ought to be cheaper out here in the sticks.

One of my listings was suspended recently: we got comments including 'cozy', 'super-clean', 'great location', 'easy check in', 'great hosts', 'accurate listing photos'...and 3 stars!

So everything was outstanding except 'value'! What they're trying to say is 'I expect to pay next to nothing to stay here, literally the buses didn't run after 9pm so we had to take a $110 taxi when our flight was delayed, this is nowhere'.

I cannot give away short term housing at less than the costs of maintenance. Encouraging guests to rate on 'value' when they had 100% of the information when they chose the convenient location & amenities they wanted at a particular price is an outrageous abuse of hosts. I can control whether my listings are clean & accurately described. I can't control what guests think it should cost me to provide them that location, adequately heated & cooled.

It's not a question of culture, it's a question of policy: ratings under 5 stars will cause your listing to disappear. That means pressuring guests to give 5 star ratings with honest verbiage: 'If you review under 5 stars, this property will not be available next time you need it. The computer in San Francisco can't read but can add up stars. Please share your detailed comments--we want to provide an excellent guest experience--but don't ruin it for everyone by leaving 3 stars, you're allowed to not review' seems to have worked.

I am mad as hell that I have to bully guests into leaving 5 star reviews but this platform gives me no choice. The truth is, we can't give people comfortable, clean, perfected-sited lodging for their once in a lifetime experience at a loss.

[Sarah977]

@Sk9   "You won't feel that way once your listing in your college town has been given 3 star ratings on "value" from parents who think lodging ought to be cheaper out here in the sticks."

Who are you responding to here? My response was to Christopher's post and both of us said much the same- if Airbnb would stop penalizing hosts for 3* and 4* reviews, the problem would go away. Or drop the star ratings altogether. Then, if a guest complains in a review that they didn't get good value, when they got a nice place with all the comforts, you can just respond to the review in a way that makes them look small, and clarifies things for future guests. 

The only reason we have a perception that anything less than a 5* rating is an insult, and get pissed about it, is because of how Airbnb harshly rates us. If a guest rates 3*s, they are saying it's average, to them. So what, it might be excellent to someone else.

[Sk9]

So sorry, my reply didn't nest properly. My perception was that Christopher was telling you to be unconcerned with the new review system, because 3 is average and 4 is pretty good so don't worry about it.

As I explained--in the wrong direction, sorry--it's not a question of hurt feelings about ratings, it's a question of the review stars being used inappropriately by ABB. Counting stars, in lieu of a human actually reading the review & using human discernment to either delist unacceptable properties or not, based on what the guest appears to have actually meant, is cheaper for the platform. It has no other positive aspects.

[Sk9]

Further to your post: I only tell our cleaning crew (16yo niece & her friend, who had to be taught every step & use a laminated checklist) positive things.

If someone comments that it could have been cleaner--which, at the start, was accurate! and it was priced appropriately for the only help I could get!--I don't tell them. I just step up the amount of supervision & feedback. Maybe this is a poor personnel management practice, but given the limitations of the local labor market I didn't have any other ideas. And it's really worked--we get top ratings & extensive compliments on how clean the place is, consistently.

If you're a more experienece host & have other ideas for me, I'm all ears. We need those 'sparkling clean' ratings to offset the 'poor value', apparently.

[Sarah977]

@Sk9  Thanks for clarifying. The way I read Christopher's post is that it's unnatural and impossible for every listing to be a 5* listing and that Airbnb's method of applying the star ratings means everyone has to be constantly striving for that, guests are urged by hosts to all give 5* ratings (of course we try to encourage that, as Airbnb makes anything less than 5*s unacceptable), and it's this big rat race with the star ratings ending up meaningless, as some places are for sure going to be cleaner than others, or provide higher end amenities. I stayed in Motel 6s when road tripping with my family when my kids were young- it fit my budget and I didn't expect it to be the Four Seasons. You could call it a 3* accomodation and that was fine for an overnight, on the road stay with overly energetic, cooped-up-in-the-car-all-day kids. If only 5* hotels existed, with the prices they charge, we'd have been bedding down in the car or setting up a tent in a cheap campground.

Some star ratings guests give are what we feel is fair, and we can learn from it, like you taking to heart cleanliness issues and stepping up your cleaning crews' attention to detail. (By the way, I think your approach to that with your niece and her friend is perfect- hearing criticism would only discourage them, instead you've taught them to become good cleaners).

The star ratings from guests who are absurdly critical and don't realize or appreciate a good deal when they have one- there's not much we can do about that except let it roll off us.

FYI your post nested just where it should have, as another reply to Christopher's post, right under mine, but I wasn't sure if you were addressing him or me. If you hit the @ symbol when replying, you'll get a drop down box that has posters' names in it and you can then click on the correct name. Although only 5 names max ever appear there.