The "new" host review form for guests to rate hosts

[Timothy19]

I just saw this on a FB hosting group and was shocked at how tedious this process has gotten for guests. I have several comments and questions.

1. Is this standard for ALL guests of ALL properties, or is this just aimed at select guests of select listings in order to verify the listing amenities, etc? This is literally 10 pages of questions (on mobile at least). 10 pages!

2. If this is standard practice now, well, wow. Does ABB expect guests to go through this whole thing every stay? ABB is pushing owners to get reviews get reviews get reviews....and then makes the get review process this cumbersome? I wouldn't be surprised if guests stop leaving reviews.

3. The entire "compares to your expectations" part seems like it will actually make the rating system WORSE than it was before. Guests already had trouble with ABB's interpretation of what 5 stars meant. We had owners pushing for 5* because ABB treated 4* like a bad rating. Now this new system looks even MORE geared to getting low ratings. Imagine you have a listing that just looks stunning....all the amenities in the world....picture perfect. The guest stays there with HIGH expectations and the owner delivers. "About the same as expected". That looks like a 3* rating equivalent. Even "better than expected" would only get this incredible listing a 4* equivalent rating.

----------- I think AirBnB just made their rating system WORSE!

[John1080]

@Timothy19, yes this seems very tedious and I would expect it will result in lower completion rates of reviews. And, most likely AirBnb is still not explaining to guests that anything below a 5 is 'bad'. More headaches! 

[Kelmany1]

I couldn’t agree more. I had a guest check out, I got five stars and a note saying “kitchen cleanliness and hair in bathroom” and he rebooked for this coming weekend again. Now I am on egg shells since it appears I need to be on the lookout for the hair he finds and the crumb he finds . Seriously . Whatever. I don’t care. This is dysfunctional and boarderline abusive to do this to us hosts who earn them money for maintenance of a worldwide platform. Seriously. Not impressed. I am gonna migrate a few listings over to a different platform. 

[John28]

This is just one of many things that have me getting off of this platform. I’m not sure if Airbnb has noticed, but there are quite a lot of booking sites online. They have too many hosts is the actual problem at the moment and the reason for all of this. What they didn’t think through very well was the fact that the bad hosts have a way of becoming bad on their own and what is going to happen is they are going to lose the good hosts and Airbnb will tank soon! 

[Margaret253]

I use Airbnb to suit myself.  I am not going to reduce my price and I am not going to try and rent out at  all costs.  Fortunately, I have enough income to suit when and how I rent.  I am also not in agreement with the questions they ask guests.  Guests do not read the blurb on where they are staying and they do expect the Ritz.  I consider my home to be better than the Ritz but do not have a maintenance team on hand and things go wrong in a house.  When you travel you must accept the good with the bad and if the people renting Airbnb do not accept this then let them pay the price of The Ritz.  Airbnb is becoming too big and the principle of it is being lost.  Other companies are starting to do the same thing so Airbnb should watch out  for their hosts as the alternatives increase. 

[Victoria567]

Well I will be experiencing the new guest feedback later this month as I check in and out of air bnb accommodation.

My point of view is that if guests take time to plan their trips abroad, including international air travel and choose their accommodation including hotels or other platforms, what’s the big deal in ticking a couple of pages worth of boxes.......it’s hardly the equivalent of writing the vast tome, War and Peace is it?

Are air bnb dumbing down?

Or have guests become so entitled, as not to bother spending less than 5 minutes of their precious “Me Me Me” time? to give us poor schmuks some feedback!

[Kelly149]

That is RIDICULOUS

And, yeah, if I've adequately explained exactly what the guest is getting thru a good listing and then they get exactly what they expected, somehow that is bad?!?

Apparently we aren't Thoughtful if there aren't flowers out?!?

Where even is our Overall Star rating in that whole thing?

Blech!! So glad that 80% of my reservations come from other platforms bc this does not bode well for anyone

[Emilia42]

This is so true! For those who have a great listing page with beautiful pictures and gleaming words how is being "about the same as I expected" a bad thing?

[Sarah977]

@Timothy19 @Kelly149    I've posted this info starting weeks ago. Maybe now everyone can see what I've been talking about since Timothy posted the screen shots. The "Describe your trip" is what translates into the Overall star rating for hosts. Guests no longer choose a star rating for Overall. So if we met their expectations, that's a 3*!!!! 

It's unbelievably outrageous, and we are now going to have to really urge guests to leave a review if we even want to manage those 50% guests reviews Airbnb wants us to uphold, because how many guests are going to want to spend 10 minutes filling out all these pages of BS?

And make sure to tell your guests that if they say you met their expectations, you'll probably get delisted.

[Tag updated :)]

[Shoshana6]

This is so enlightening! I didn't know about the updated review process. The review I see as a host hasn't changed. I was confused and concerned when my last guests rated me 5 stars on all the subcategories, no negative feedback in the the written portion, and I still was left with 4 overall. 

The new platform encourages nit-picking, and the invention of problems where there aren't any. I think it's very unfair.

[Jennifer955]

I agree! Whatever Airbnb provides guests, they need to be fair and provide the same to hosts.

So things like:

Brought accurate amount of guests?

Lost keys or took items from the premises?

Smoked on the premises?

Brought unauthorized pets onto premises?

Left excessive trash or waste?

Soiled linens excessively?

Left premises in the same condition as it was presented?

Caused excessive wear and tear?

Brought additional vehicles?  

Excessive Utilites use/bill?

Tampered with electrical/plumbing/panels/AC/heat/electronics/appliances?

Caused an unsafe environment to others on the premises?

etc...

[Victoria567]

Hello @Jennifer0 

well said!

[Tony134]

1,000 upvotes because this is obviously a list born of experience! Every host with many bookings has had every one of these problems at one point or another, and we usually overlook everything listed here in good faith !

[Karla161]

What other platforms do you use? I had a very difficult guest who was more than rude and condisending. I thought about asking him to leave and refund his 4 night stay to get rid of him but I know he is going to leave a horrid review and I have no way of letting other hosts know to avoid him - first time it ever happened. There should be a blacklist for other hosts to know what they are getting into - so I am looking for different platforms that someone has experince with.... thanks, Karla

[Donna240]

LOL, I buy fresh orchid plants and my guests think they're plastic. I don't think anyone has ever mentioned flowers in reviews, nor the half pound of gourmet, locally roasted coffee that greets each guest. I feel like saving the $30 spent on these for each new guest....luckily the orchids last through 2 bookings.