Star rating system

[Pete69]

Has anyone ever tried to reverse engineer how the star rating system works? I'm talking about the number next to the star for your listing. It might be 5.0, 4.94, 4.88 or some other number.

Do you think it's based on the ratings given by every single guest you've ever had? The last 5 or 10 guests maybe?

And at what point does a 4.9 become a 5.0?

[Alon1]

@Pete69 

It's pretty basic really.

The percentile fractions (4.94, 4.88, etc) refer to overall rating from the first review Host receives in year dot. So it only takes one rating below 5* to mean one can never ever get an overall 5.0. Call it Paradise Lost.

Conversely, SuperHost ratings is annual over 4 quarters. In this period a 4.9 or any other fraction can turn into 5.0. Call it Paradise Regained. 

[Suzanne302]

@Pete69 Exactly what @Alon1  said. Every single guest ever. That's why I sit at 4.99 because of one single 4-star rating after 100+ guests.

[Pete69]

Well I've gotten a 4 star for value this year. Still sitting pretty at 5.0 for value.

[Suzanne302]

@Pete69Individual star values are different. I thought you were referring to "Overall" stars. Overall star values used to be displayed just like the sub-categories, so, one or two 4-stars and you would still be listed as 5-stars overall. ie, it would take several lower ratings to display your rating lower.

But earlier this year Airbnb started experimenting with displaying the actual breakdown of the "Overall" rating and that's why you now see the rating to the nearest decimal point.

There are actually several posts on this from back when they first rolled out the new display...