What's something that sucks about being a Airbnb host?

[Robin4]

Here is a link to a post I just put up on another site.

https://www.quora.com/Whats-something-that-sucks-about-being-a-Airbnb-host/answer/Robin-Shannon-7

We have complained about the unfairness of the review system for years now and it is getting us nowhere! In fact each year the review system just gets more complicated and pushes us yet further away from the truth of the hosting experience.

As the company seem to be reticent to bring the review system more into line with accepted industry standards,  I think it is time for us to take our feelings out into the general community!

What do other think?

Cheers.....Rob

[Clara116]

@Robin4 hello Rob, I'm not sure many will respond to this cause we are all over the good, happy, celebrating and such during this time.

I tried to follow your link and they wanted me to click all kinds of stuff to be able to read - that is discouraging for sure - why do they need to know anything? I just wanna read.

Anyway, I wanted to let you know the above.

What's up mate? You typically reframe everything and I see you are not gonna do it with this post. 

Sure the review system is crummy - I think because there are a hundred other things that hosts are complaining about the review system gets diluted along with all the rest! When actually, it is and can be the MAKE IT OR BREAK IT factor for all hosts. 

Maybe until Hosts realize what is most critical, important and the determining factor the sheep will just follow the $$$$$ to the bank............and might I add, ignorant of how the platform works, what to do, how to do it and when to be really cool with Customer Service.  I could go on.

Sorry, I do love hosting and what I probably dislike most is people running a business/ actually their hobby/ and not doing any homework to understand how to make it great! 

OK, I'm off my little step stool now.

cheers good man, Clara

[Robin4]

@Clara116

Yeah I maybe should have thought of that Clara.

I am active on a few sites....'Quora' being one of them, and because I am an active contributor as far as Airbnb is concerned I received an answer request ......What's something that sucks about being a Airbnb host?  I guess you can say I am one of about half a dozen Airbnb aficianodos that answers questions which relate to Airbnb. I have given dozens of really positive responses over the past year or so, but when this question came to me, I thought about it for a while and then posted the following!

"Having to put up with the Airbnb review system!

The biggest source of conflict between hosts and guests is the Airbnb review system…

it is two faced!

Guests are advised in the review guidelines………

3 stars of a hosts listing means the stay matched their expectation! 4 stars means it exceeded expectation! 5 stars means it could not be faulted and far exceeded expectations.

Hosts are told in the review guidelines……

5 stars is the default star rating, and a guests review rating of anything less than 5 stars means there is an issue that needs to be addressed…….something needs to be improved!

A host can actually have his profile and listing suspended or removed for doing nothing wrong, having a succession of happy guests but simply accumulating too many less than 5 star review ratings! Many guests will say, they never give 5 stars…..5 stars is that ultimate that does not exist. Many guests will give a host less than 5 stars because the property was not where they wanted it. They booked it and then complained where it was, and the host suffered!

This anomaly breeds a strange culture between guests and hosts! We all live in this fantasy wonderland where we pat each other on the back and say what exemplary human beings we are in order not to have the wheels fall off the hosting wagon. The review system does not actually reflect the reality of either the guests or the hosts experience! Many hosts are virtually forced into a situation where they almost have to beg for a good review in order to stay in business. Many guests will use the review as a form of extortion in order to gain some sort of advantage. Some will go so far as to say they require some sort of refund in order to give a good review.

It’s a rotten review system but, unfortunately one we have to work with and despite years of complaint, Airbnb are not going to change it. The thing they consider is the jewel in their crown is actually doing them more harm than anything else….but you can’t tell them that!" 

That Clara is what I posted and ....I feel it is something that we all relate to, because all we want to do is make things as good as possible...and the review system is holding us back!

It sure would be a lovely christmas present from Airbnb if they catergorised both 4 and 5 star ratings as the ultimate pass...a 4 would be regarded the same as a 5 in our stats....

After all, in the guests eyes, it did, exceed expectations!

Cheers.....Rob

[Emilia42]

@Robin4, in your eyes, what would the perfect review system look like?

[Robin4]

@Emilia42

One that recognised that all listing are going to have their strengths and weakneses.

I cannot compete with the penthouse on Trump tower, that chalet on the race line at Whistler. I don't have an endless swimmer outside the cottage door.....a manicured 18 hole golf course through a gate in the back fence!! I can't move my listing to a more desirable location....

So why am I being compared and star rated on the basis of these things?

The overall rating criteria should be..... 'Out of 5 stars, for what you paid, did this property represent value for money and would you recommend!'....and Emilia, that is what we should be rated on!

Cheers.....Rob

[Susan151]

Quora still exists?  😉

[Robin4]

@Susan151

Absolutely Susan, Quora is about life, every topic you may have ever thought about exists there and somebody will have made a comment on. I concentrate my efforts there on Airbnb, although I have a had some other really poignant posts when something close to me has come along that I feel I need to respond to.

It is a diversion....and yes Susan, it still exists.....;-))

Cheers.....Rob

[Pete28]

I gave you an up vote 🙂

My sense is that someone down at Airbnb hq decided that if uber driver needed 4.8 avg then so should we. Your best guest is now a millenial uber user, who knows that we are all hustling for the man. Atleast we are not doing it for $9/hr.

We previously lived in the 80% 5* sun lit lands which is more like where tripadvisor users score most hotels. It get the impression that returning to that is no longer an option sadly.

The biggest problem Airbnb has is churn of hosts - they may have too many at any one time, but most don't last long. They have aggravated this with a review system where one 3* takes nine 5* to rebalance it.

Atkeast from where I am, the use of base price for search and map is hurting more. 

[Susan151]

---

@Pete28 wrote:

The biggest problem Airbnb has is churn of hosts - they may have too many at any one time, but most don't last long. They have aggravated this with a review system where one 3* takes nine 5* to rebalance it.

---

I agree that host churn is a real problem, but I don't think it has to do with the rating system. Of the 50 or so AirBNB spaces that went live in the same month as me, only I am still receiving guests. The other hosts had a crazy idea that AirBNB was easy and they would make tons of money quickly. Quite a few of them had more beds than legally allowed with no proper exit routes. Others were charging so little that there was no way that the math worked out. All of them, in fact, received really mediocre reviews, but not an occassional 3. Nope, they received 3's for cleanliness, check in, and accuracy.

But that churn is what keeps prices low, so AirBNB is quite happy with the arrangement. New hosts list with high expectations for income, aren't prepared for the amount of work required, and charge according to the price tips. The guests that eat up these low prices get what they have paid for, and never return to the platform. Meanwhile, hosts with good track records have empty spaces.

Until AirBNB decides that its greatest asset is quality, the churn will continue to the detriment of AirBNB's reputation.

[Robin4]

@Susan151  @Pete28

Susan you make a good point but, my feeling is this sums it up....and Pete, I am sure you will relate to this with your current issue.

When Airbnb started and was first growing, it was exactly what the named implied, typical B&B hosts being connected with typical B&B guests. Expectations by both were intuitive, set by the traditional B&B culture. Then it started getting big and Airbnb fancied itself to be the Amazon of the travel industry. Everything became about its next quarterly earnings, so hosts and guests were simply resources available for manipulation to enhance those earnings

The inequity is not that Airbnb fails to recognize that they don't own the properties that make the whole thing work, but quite the opposite: they are acutely aware that they own nothing and can thus sacrifice an owner to further its own goals. Sacrificing the reputation of someone else's expensive brick and mortar is easy. The customer is therefore not merely always right but his every whim is catered to because Airbnb is not the one with something at risk.

@Clara116 I am fully aware that this is happy time and to put this in perspective my run with Airbnb has been good and when this question request came to me I had to think for a while to actually find something  that did  actually 'suck' about dealing with Airbnb!

But, wouldn't you know it, I have just received another couple of overall 4s. One was from my last guest who gave me a 4 star (just for value) and followed that to the Overall! Now fair enough, everyone has a different idea of value. But this guest was late arriving and early departing and did not actually use any of the foodstuff and consumables that I supply, the rubbish bins were empty....she took everything with her. The fridge was emptied...the milk, bacon, packaged fruit, fruit juice bottled water and the entire cheese plate, the chocolates, even a boxed cake of Dove soap. Everything that was packaged went with her when she departed, even the jar of coffee. The only thing she left behind was the eggs! She then gave me an overall 4 star, the area that needed to be improved upon.....Value!

That guest will be seen as a great guest and I will be seen as a host that skimped on value...is there a fairness that I am somehow missing here?

Cheers......Rob

[Pete28]

@Robin4 its a sub species of guest that takes everything and uses nothing. Have had a few and the review never goes well 😞

I have no idea how to shift airbnbs approach to the review system. I did a usability study on the phone a while back and pointed out that they were slowly killing their business but nothing changes (esp as plus requires 4.8).

On the base price side I am slowly working through an email list of their execs, although I have a feeling that all email go into the junk pile. Sadly Chesky Twitter is in fact Airbnb help 😞 I may go tomthe Seattle office and doorstep a few staff to see if they can search by price on the website...

[Emilia42]

@Robin, why on earth would you give this guest a stellar review?? All guests who clearly take advantage of your services should get exactly that in their bad review! 

[Robin4]

@Emilia42

Her communication was great, she left the place tidy, would hardly have known she was there, gone by 6.45am. So, she took what she was entitled to with her. I did not give her a 'stellar' review Emilia, it was only a two liner, just thanks for staying and respecting the property. 

But if I had known before I penned the review she was going to be critical of my value I may have worded it a bit differently.

This is why I am in a dillema with the review response Emilia, I feel I need to make some sort of mention of what has transpired but I don't want to be seen to be paying her back.

Watch that space......

Cheers......Rob

[Emilia42]

@Robin, this is my take on public responses to reviews:

The guest will NEVER see it, nor will future hosts of that guest; so I only write a public response if it benefits me... i.e. To address/defend a guests concern/negativity or to highlight a positive aspect that the guest mentioned. Sometimes I will thank a guest or invite them back to make myself sound all warm and fuzzy 🙂

[Susan151]

@Robin4. If you are talking about Becs, why on earth would you respond to her one line review to discuss value? She doesn't mention it in her public review.... remember, your response is seen by future guests, not her.