Reviews

John-Paul0
Level 3
California, United States

Reviews

Why doesn't Airbnb display the "stars" that guests rank you with?  They provide this high-level comment that you've had reviews that have scored less than 5 stars, but they don't provide any more detail than that.

 

For instance, if someone submits something lower than 5 for "Accuracy" with no detail about what was inaccurate, how are we supposed to correct it?

 

I think Airbnb needs to provide these details so that we can follow up with the guests with a goal to continually improve our services.

 

Thanks.

JP

23 Replies 23
Emad-Eldeen0
Level 1
Windsor, England, United Kingdom

I 2nd that, I got 4 stars for accuracy and I can not figure out what was the issue. The only thing the guest didn't like was the lack of WiFi which was stated in other notes and of course was not one of the available amenities. How could someone overlook a detail think it is an inaccuracy issue?

Exactly!  The last thing I want to do is to have an inaccuracy in my listing.  But, if the guest does not provide details, how am I to correct it?  In all cases so far, the written review will be positive and not mention any issues, such as with "Accuracy".   It's a total disconnect.  I think Airbnb needs to have a method to validate some of the star ratings, especially "Accuracy".  

 

Thanks for you reply.

Florian-and-Theresa0
Level 10
Mintraching, Germany

@John-Paul0 I'm not sure but I think there will a appear a pop up box if guests rate lower than five stars.

 

What I do if I receive low ratings: I aks the guest. Of course very politely like "I'm really sorry you were not satisfied with XY. I would be very thankful for an explanation cause I'm improving my listing constantly to prevent discontent". Some guests answer, some don't.  But the main problem ist: Guests don't rate related to the listing but to their own "inner scale". A query like mine could help the guest to become aware of their "inner scale" and maybe protect the following host of an impropere rating.

@John-Paul0 - I agree, it's hard to fathom some guests star ratings when they were so enthusiastic to your face about having such a great time, they'll be back etc and then their star ratings don't reflect that. I am lucky to get 5 star ratings across the board from most guests but they only one that 20% of the time drops to a 4 star is value. So 5 star for location, accuracy, cleanliness, communication, arrival etc - plus free wifi, free breakfast provisions, own entrance and fully equipped kitchen, bathroom, high quality linens, towels and everything else - and all for 50% cheaper than a hotel that offers no free extras - and yet 4 star for value? Go figure.

 

To me it just says - we loved it all, we just want it cheaper. To that I say - then find something cheaper and compromise on location or anything else.

 

I do think that it would be more useful to hosts if there was a comment box under each star rating that guests could add a helpful comment in to assist hosts to understand why the guest choice that star rating. Not all guests would say something but those that did could assist hosts understanding.

 

Occasionally I get an airbnb flash saying, you might want to reduce your price - and yet I have been fully booked at the existing, and in my opinion, extremely good value price.

@Maxine0 I absolutely agree with you about "price". And I think "price" and "location" shouldn't be rateable - if you don't like the price, don't book. If you don't like the location, don't book. If the host lied about the location, reduce stars at "accuracy".

But of course - the rating system is a "motivator" for the hosts to create the best experience for the guests, that's the Airbnb USP.

I agree about the guest experience Airbnb's USP, but they make it hard for hosts to improve with the current rating system.  What we thinkg is a good experience is not necessarily what guests are looking for. That is certainly true in my case. One guest complained about a street light shining in the window. How does a host fix that????

 

How can we find out if Airbnb developement will put something in place for us?  Does Airbnb respond to the community issues?

 

Lauren

Its very hard to meet everyones expectations.  We get dinged for value even though we are the least expensive around.  But some guests always think they are paying too much. No matter the price. 

 

 

Maxime - I think guests are asked to comment with each individual rating but I never got a single one. Perhaps they should have to justify ratings of 3 or fewer stars. In our case, for example, we’ve received 5 stars close to 100% of the time for everything and yet 1 person gave us 1 star for Cleaninless, Communication, Arrival, Location and Accuracy!?  I personally clean everything myself, write to guests, do the check-in... Would love to know why the 1 star, and a couple of 3 stars to be honest. The revews are always soooo positive...

Can I ask how you recovered from the one star. I got a 2 star recently for cleanliness on my second booking and it has affected bookings since. Not sure what to do now. I did leave a public response to them about how they hadnt replied to my messages so I was not certain they were coming etc. 

I do the same - follow up with guests.  But, it would be waaaay more helpful if we could actually see specifically which guest the stars ratings were associated with.  They only say something like, "you had fewer than 5 stars in some of your past reviews".  I think Airbnb should just simply put the stars along with the reviews, at least in the host dashboard.  The more information, the better, right?

 

Thanks for all of your replies!

 

JP

Gonçalo0
Level 4
Lisbon, Portugal

I honestly don't think Airbnb themselves have it all figured out.

 

We recently had a guest working for AIRBNB Ireland stayed in our apartment. She works as a coordinator in Airbnb for all the call centers around the world.

 

Nice girl, very nice to deal with at the check in and shared a lot of inside views about Airbnb. But at the end, she left a 3 star over view, 2 star in accuracy and location, saying that the location is too noisy. The description of location is clearly stated that the listing is in the party zone, that there will be noisy in the street till late.

 

When I confronted her she just simply said that she couldn't sleep (even tho we always provided ear-plugs ) because there are people partying outside. I asked if she ever read the description before booking and she just stopped replying.

 

Was really disappointed with the experience and I agree with @John-Paul0 that Airbnb should start having these kind of situation sorted out so that host can also work better on expectation management.

 

 

@Gonçalo0 What?! Even an Airbnb employee? This is really unbelievable. And absolutely not okay. You can't blame a host for a "lack" which is stated in the description. This is truly unfair.

@Florian-and-Theresa0 Yes. Then I called up Airbnb, all I got is this email:

 

Ryan S, Nov 19, 06:21:

Hello Gonçalo,

 

This is Ryan with Airbnb, thank you for taking the time to speak with me today. I hope this message finds you well.

 

I am sorry that you feel your guest, Stella let you a poor review, however her review was honest and positive. We firmly believe in an honest and open community, and unfortunately nothing in her review violates our guidelines.

You can review these guidelines here: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/262/what-are-the-airbnb-review-guidelines

 

Thank you for your understanding. Feel free to let us know if you have any other concerns.

 

Best wishes,

Ryan S
www.airbnb.com/help

And here is my reply that never got answered ....

 

 

Dear Ryan,

 
Thank you very much for your time and your listening.
 
We were not calling to complain the review of Ms. Stella XXXX, instead, we were calling to ask for help from the community spirit of Airbnb.
 
This is a simple case of guest came to an apartment with wrong expectation without reading any description. Under normal circumstance, we wouldn't have bother to pick up the phone to call. However, when it comes from a high level colleague of the Airbnb team, we feel the need of voicing it to raise awareness.
 
We have multiple listings solely with the Airbnb platform because we believe that as a community, Airbnb has been striking to encourage host to provide the best experience, while also assist in managing expectation from guests side. 
 
However, recently we have been receiving guests came with wrong expectations, guest who wants a banana yet buys an apple and complains the apple is not soft enough. We understand that as the platform is expanding prosperously, inevitably guest type will be more various as well. Yet if such a bad experience is from someone representing Airbnb, it needs to raise serious concern. 
 
A guest comes to a listing with wrong expectation is definitely a lose-lose situation for both side. Neither the host nor the guest would be happy at the end. There will never be the most perfect listing to everyone, but there will always be the most suitable listing for someone. 
 
As a host, what we can do is to honestly describe the advantage and disadvantage of our listing and provide solution to minimize it's drawbacks. In the case of our listing, we installed double glazed window and offer ear-plugs. But we cannot go to the middle the street to ask the party people to leave in order to have peace for our guest. However, just because there is situation out of our reach, does not mean that our listing deserve a low star rating!
 
If the people such as Ms. Stella XXXXX who representing Airbnb cannot set themselves up as a example to delivery the right message to other users, there will be more situation like this happen, resulting in bad experiences for both the hosts and the guests. 
 
That's why as a host, we think this is a situation that needs to raise awareness from Airbnb. We need Airbnb to help us delivering the message in order to manage expectation before booking. This way, you can really help us provide better experience for future guests, and to help guests find the most suitable listings.
 
Thank you very much again.
 
Cheer