What do you message to encourage guests to write a (5 star) review?

[Alice425]

I’m quite new to hosting and I’m beginning to appreciate that Airbnb rewards hosts for the percentage of guests that leave a review, besides the star rating of any reviews.  It seems to me that we can influence whether guests leave a review by writing a nice message to them on checkout.  

I think it is crass to ask for a 5 star review outright. Perhaps there is some other way to communicate the importance of it to the guests?  Also, what about the timing?  Do you “hit them up” on the day they leave?  Or wait a day?  

Thanks for for any Input!

[Brian469]

I trust you have enjoyed your stay with us. Thank you for being a Five Star guest. You are welcome back to stay with us any time. We will be giving you a five star review and I hope you can do the same for us.

[Alexandra316]

@Alice425 I don't want to be glib, but all I do is give my guests a 5-star experience and they do the rest themselves. I really don't like asking for reviews. I've hosted 75 stays and I have 63 reviews, so 85% of guests have left something.  I also agree with the sentiment that maybe the people who don't leave a review are guests whose opinions you don't want: if they feel "meh" or even worse, negative about the experience, better that they just don't say anything.

I don't like the idea of requests for review, but what's particularly bad is the request for 5*. It just seems to smack of desperation to me.  The absolute, absolute worst is the people who say something like, "If you had a 5* experience, please leave us a review! If you didn't, please message us!"

[Swati3]

Hello all, I am adding a link to another post only because I think the conversation there maybe useful to many on this thread. https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Hosts-need-Airbnb-support-with-quot-Compassionate-Review...

[Alice425]

Hi everyone, this is the original poster on this topic.  A few months later and we have 44 reviews, all but one are 5 stars (the one 4 star review gave us 5 stars in all categories so go figure).  In the end I could not bring myself to ask specifically for a review.  We did put a note on our welcome sheet saying that we were new to hosting and that their review would help other guests understand what it was like to stay there.

It took a while for folks to start writing reviews.  However once there were some 5 star reviews out there, it seemed like it was easier for guests to chime in with their review.  I agree with those who said that the trick is to give your guests a 5 star experience and we were lucky enough to be able to do that.  I would add that for new hosts, also be patient.   If you respond to all of the needs of your guests and put yourself in their place, hopefully the reviews will come in.

Thanks to all of you who gave advice!

[Cammy0]

I'm happy to see different ideas on this regarding reviews and if or if not to ask for a review from our guests! Excuse the long winded post, but personally, I follow a standard messaging protocal with my guest and I have found that it has worked very well for me because an important part of our guests' experience is not only the home we are providing to them, but also the communication piece between guest and host. By following this messaging habit, along with speedy response times, and of course, guests having a good time at the home, I have found that it has led to 5 star reviews for the majority without having to explain too much to them about the review process. As well, it has led to more than 95% guests leaving our Airbnb a review. Again, it has worked for me because I am not always on site, but might not be the best way.

The protocal is split into 5 parts and is in my saved messages for convenience:

1) Right after booking confirmation:

Hi _____,

Thank you for booking our cozy home. I hope you and your family will truly enjoy your stay 🙂 Please check your email and follow instructions from “AUGUST HOME” regarding our self check in set up. Feel free to message me if you have any questions!

*** I have a set of house rules to which I ask my guests to reply and confirm to me at the time of booking confirmation that they have reviewed it. The trick is to ask them to reply back with my favorite quote that I have embedded in to the rules. You can view the post here. If they did not use the quote during their first message to me, I will kindly ask them to review it and reply back. 

2) 3-4 days before arrival: 

Hi _____,

In anticipation for your stay, the wifi info has been updated on the airbnb booking:
Wifi Network Name: 
Wifi Password: 

The keypad code for the main entrance will be provided to you through August Home and its app. Check in begins at 4pm. A friendly reminder/disclosure that we do have a security camera placed in the main door entrance for security purposes.

NOTE RE: PARKING: as a reminder, one parking space is provided on the driveway side by side. Please park on the *LEFT* side. Our driveway is suitable for sedans or smaller SUVs. If larger/longer cars or if more than one car, you can park parallel in front of the house where the bushes are.

IMPORXTANT: parking + self check in guide: https://www.airbnb.com/reservation/check-in-guide/X

Let me know if there is anything else, thank you!

3) A day after check-in:

Good Morning ______,

Just wanted to quickly check in to see if you are settled in comfortably? Cheers!

4) Day before check-out:

Good Afternoon ____,

I hope you enjoyed your stay! May I know approximately what time you will be checking out tomorrow? Check out time is at 11am but if you need an extra few mins, please let me know so I can inform the cleaner.

As a warm reminder, before check out, please kindly wash the dishes, dispose the garbage in the appropriate bins (recyclables in the white bins on the patio and the rest in the black bin in the front yard), clean the bbq grill (if used), and return any items/in the home to its rightful places (if moved).

If there isn't a need for extra few mins, please just message me back "____ checkout" when you have left the home. Other than that, thank you for choosing our airbnb! If your stay was anything less than 5 stars, please do let us know so we can improve 🙂

5) A day or two after check-out: 

Hi ____,

I hope you made it a successful trip back home! Just wanted to thank you for keeping our house so clean prior to your departure. If you could be so kind to leave us a review that would be greatly appreciated 🙂 cheers!

[Julie1431]

Hi Cammy, can you please repost the link about self check in. We are just starting out and it would be helpful. The link provided didn’t work. Thanks!

[Anthony608]

I really have struggled with this question about approaching guests about 5 star ratings.  I considered a template message as well as putting an explanation in my house manual that 4 stars were actually not considered a good rating.  In the end, I choose not the approach this issue with the guests for the reason that there was way too much danger of the idea back firing.

I've never had a 3 star overall but have had a fair number of 4 stars.  In all of those cases, I got the feeling I was dealing with people who wanted my house to be like a hotel.  Yea, it was okay and a cheap place to stay for the night, but it wasn't the 5 star Plaza Hotel.  I truly believe that if I had approached most of those people about giving 5 stars, or even sent them a message about it, a lot of them would have become upset and possibly given even lower ratings.  Especially even more so for a small handful who struck me as entitled and possibly looking for problems.

In the very beginning, there were some legitimate four star ratings and I learned a lot in the first six months of hosting about the house needed to be.  Now, I do my very best to provide a clean, comfortable place.  Some people, no matter what, are going to leave 4 stars.  I can only keep trying, but will never approach them about this for the reasons already stated.

[Laura2512]

I am fairly new to hosting.   I had guests who gave me 4 stars for Value and 4 stars for Accuracy, 5 stars for everything else.  I really don't understand the 4 star review for Accuracy.  There is nothing inaccurate on my listing and no other guest has ever mentioned that.

The 4 stars for Value I think come from her nasty comments which were exaggerated to the point of being untrue.  She wrote, "This is a beautiful, well kept cottage in Muskoka with great amenities including hot tub, kayaks, and paddle board. My only complaint would be with respect to how many times the owners (mostly Ben) showed up to the property (5-6 times) sometimes unannounced. The owners are very friendly and nice but it became somewhat disruptive and made things a little less relaxing for us on a whole. Apart from this, fantastic cottage!"

My husband did not go there 5-6 times and I didn't go there at all except to meet them upon their arrival and show them around.  The guest over exaggerated the number of visits and he always texted before he went.  The reason that he went over at all was because we were getting alerts from our security company saying that there was a high water warning in the furnace room.  

My public reply to her comment was,  "Ben apologizes for disrupting your weekend. He was receiving alerts from our security company that there was high water in the basement furnace room."  Being a fairly inexperienced host I thought this would be okay because potential guests reading reviews would think that we are just being attentive, responsive hosts.  I didn't realize how it would affect us with Airbnb's stringent requirements of hosts.

I have guests right now who have been there for two weeks.  Unfortunately, the deer flies are quite bad this summer.  They have mentioned it a couple of times.  And  because of where our cottage is located we do have more power outages than people from the city are used to.  The power has gone out twice during their visit.  My husband walked them through how to turn the generator on and they seemed happy.  They will be checking out in two days and I'm stressing about their review.  The bugs and the power outages are out of my control.  This is also their first time using Airbnb so they will know nothing about the review system which has me even more worried.

The Airbnb review system certainly seems to favor the guests.  Who would give a guest a bad review when we have to review them first?   How can this flawed system encourage trust and honesty?  Airbnb penalizing hosts for their own flawed review system is unfair at best.  Why would Airbnb say that 4 stars is "Good" and then penalize the host when they get a 4 star review? How does this serve their profit margins? 

My apologies for how long this post is.  I went on a bit of a rant.  I'm feeling frustrated by how much this is not in my control.  🙂

[Sarah977]

@Laura2512  You are under a misconception- hosts don't have to review a guest first and reviews are blind- the guest can't see your review of them until both reviews are published. There is 14 days after check-out to leave a review- if only one party leaves a review, that review will be pubished at 14 days. If both parties submit a review, those reviews will be published as soon as they are both submitted.

So you need to review your guests honestly- that is a boon to other hosts when deciding to accept or decline a booking and I'm sure you'd not want to accept a horrible guest thinking they were great because other hosts gave them an undeserved good review.

Bugs- I live in the tropics, there are lots of bugs. I find the best approach is to mention it when you're messaging with guests when they request to book. Don't be apologetic about it- it's just a fact of life. "So I assume you're aware that this whole area of Ontario is black fly country. There's really nothing to be done about it- it's what we all put up with in exchange for the natural beauty of the area.  I suggest bringing along some good insect repellent (or provide it for your guests) for sitting outside or hiking- you won't be bothered in the house, as there are screens. Oh, and also be aware that the power goes out all over the area occasionally, but we have a generator and will show you how to use it should that happen."

Something along those lines. Then when they arrive, just casually mention, when you're giving them the orientation tour that they should make sure to keep the door closed so the bugs don't get in.

Don't concern yourself with the guest who was fussed about your husband coming over to check the furnace room. had there been some disaster because of it she would have blamed you for not being attentive and demanded a refund. The fact that she exaggerated the number of visits (which were all given a heads-up by text) shows you what kind of person she is. Your response was fine and will clarify things for future guests reading the reviews. 

BTW, it's always a good idea to follow up a text message, phone call, or verbal interaction of something that might prove contentious with an Airbnb message, so Airbnb can see it if there's any dispute, refund request, etc. "Hi, XXX, just following up on why my husband needed to come over to the house- we keep getting alerts that there is a problem in the furnace room and want to make sure it's all okay so it doesn't impact your stay. The warnings might be a tech glitch, as we can't see a problem down there- we're checking that out."

Try not to be worried about reviews- sounds like you're doing a great job. Bottom line, complainers will complain, no matter what, other guests can experience all kinds of difficulties beyond your or their control and manage to have a great time anyway and leave good reviews. I think the more nervous you are about things like black flies and power outages or act apologetic about it, instead of just acting like it's normal for your area (which in fact it is) the more the guests pick up on that and will find fault. Just be casual and matter-of-fact about what is outside your control. "Yeah, I know, those black flies are such a pain. I guess they must have some purpose in the grand scheme of things, but I sure can't figure out what :-)"

[Rachel2318]

Nothing other than to say I feel ya! 
Thanks for being honest and know others are completely in the same boat as you!

[Nicole3327]

This is great thinking and a good way to encourage further conversation on the topic. I recently had a guest rate me 5 stars and somehow 4.67 in other areas and they gave me a 1 for location even though we were 8 minutes from downtown and near all trendy things but because its a big city, we have pockets of streets that aren't great and streets one block over where its beautiful. I mention this in my listing and the location is something known as you indicated. It applies to all of us in inner city zipcodes. It brought my nearly 5 stars in all categories down to a 3 STAR review because of the 1 they gave me. So it most certainly counts towards the average.

[Laura2512]

Thank you very much for sharing such great information with me.  I appreciate your support.  I will try to follow your advice and not let every detail stress me out.  My husband tells me the same thing.   🙂  

[Misty54]

I don’t believe it’s rude, my husband who works at enterprise asks daily to customers about being highly satisfied.  So therefore I don’t ask for 5 stars, I ask for a review saying it will help our business and hope we gave them a 5 star experience, which I believe is indirect but direct. 

[Mark1365]

The day before my guests leave , i send a bon voyage message thanking them and wishing them a safe trip home . I say that i trust they enjoyed my city and on a personal note, i hope that we earned their ALL 5 star review for their time at the house , come review time 

[Rachel2318]

Nothing other than to say I feel ya! 
Thanks for being honest and know others are completely in the same boat as you!