Whats wrong with a 4star review? Nothing!

Dee9
Level 10
Moriches, NY

Whats wrong with a 4star review? Nothing!

I find it funny that people get so offended or upset over a 4star review in any category. Someone posted she actually asks guests privately why they gave 4stars. Really? I would think doing that would make them not want to come back - just my opinion.

Lets not be so hard on ourselves (or other people) by remembering...4stars is still a good "score"! 5stars means PERFECT, so maybe they didnt think every category was PERFECT. Thats their perrogative. PERFECT means something different to every single individual.

Stop stressing over the little stuff. And maybe stop interrogating people over a 4star review. Its not worth the stress. 4stars means almost perfect - whats wrong with that? Nothing!

 

72 Replies 72
Gillian19
Level 10
St Leonards, Australia

I wouldn't care in the slightest about 4* (or to be honest, even 3*) if it weren't for the emails from Airbnb telling me to improve and threatening to remove me from the platform.

 

So it does matter in Airbnb land. 

Absolutely!  I never asked for a review for the first 3 years but recently keep getting notifications that 4.6 is not high enough.  Meanwhile I get guests I would rate as 1 at best and no recourse.   I've also read on this forum that leaving a guest a negative is bad for your search rankings.  Don't know what the exact truth is on this though.   And yes the warnings are horrible, especially when guest rank on location, which is available or otherwise didn't read the listing. 

 

That's my 2 cents.  Send via venmo, or check, thanks.  😉

Rebecca181
Level 10
Florence, OR

Diane - You are aware that starting this July, hosts who consistently rate below 4.7 can be removed from the platform, right? That's the issue many hosts are having. Airbnb tells guests that four stars is 'good', but hosts are told that anything less than 5 stars is basically unacceptable. You don't see a problem with that?

Don’t get mad at me I don’t make the rules. I’m just saying I don’t beat myself (or guests) up over a 4star review. 

Gillian19
Level 10
St Leonards, Australia

So you would have no problem being removed from the platform because of 4* reviews?

Not mad at you at all, Diane. Just befuddled by your post. It's not that those of us concerned about the changes in July are whiney cry babies - We are simply hosts who are concerned that we now must maintain a standard that even the RItz Carlton in Paris would have trouble maintaining. And, to many of us, that just doesn't seem right.

Airbnb says this information you are referring to is incorrect. They state they are not changing hosting standards. And that there is no magic number like 4.7 etc that they are measuring by. 

I just asked. 

Then why in the world does ABB send threatening messages about improving hosting standards when we get a 4 star review?!?!?!?!

 

And under Progress >Opportunities > Basic Requirements

What you're doing well "Target"  is 4.7 stars.

 

What is a target?
Targets represent the average level of performance for all hosts on Airbnb. They help us ensure a standard level of quality for every guest stay. Your listing could be removed if you consistently fall below the targets.

 

This is ABB's words. Not mine~

it says...Targets represent the average level of performance.

therefore that number can consistently change based on the current average.

Im not trying to be right im trying to encourage people. But it seems some of you like to be unnecessarily stressed. To each his own

Diane, it's math. If you get only 4* review and a few 5*, you bet your score will be below 4.7 and you would be at risk of having the listing removed because some guests rated you like you were a hotel or because nobody is perfect.

I couldn't care about the 4 * if ABB wouldn't push it.  

You must be a new host. Wait and see.

Somthing I've noticed lately when I talk to Airbnb customer service reps is they often don't know answers to basic questions. I think that position has a high turnover and new employees aren't trained properly. My point is, I wouldn't trust whoever told you that. They may have just wanted to tell you what you wanted to hear so they could get off the phone with you faster (speaking from experience myself as an ill trained customer service rep).

That's bananas. A four or five star hotel is considered exceptional. 

4 stars mean the stay was unsatisfactory and the guest did not like the stay. 4 stars mean the guest thinks that listing/host should be removed from ABB. The ONLY acceptable, anything near good review is a 5 star review. Anything NOT 5 stars pushes the host a step closer to being suspended.

 

So....... when you get a trail of GOOD 4 star reviews that take your average down to 4.5 and you get suspended........ I'm sure you won't feel bad at all because being suspended is nothing to stress about  🙂

 

 

IMO, the problem is NOT about 4 stars or 5 stars. It's the fact that 4.7 average is the cut off for being suspended from hosting and that ABB defines ONLY  5 stars as GOOD. (by sending threatening messages to hosts, ABB defines 4 stars to mean "this listing/host deserves to be kicked off ABB")

I am not stressing at all.