Will AirBnb please inform the guests how the feedback works

[Robert852]

Normaly and in real life the 5 star system works as

1 Star = Poor

2 stars  = Could do better

3 stars  = Good

4 stars  = Very Good

5 stars  = Excellent

BUT in Airbnb's system

1 star  = Disgusting

2 stars  = Crap

3 stars = Poor

4 stars  = Could do better

5 stars  =  Passable

So in normal times a guest leaving 3/4 Stars is thinking Good/ Very Good but in Airbnb's system we get Poor/Could do better

Would they please make this clear to their clients

Thanks

[Sunny-and-Jeff0]

This is an excellent idea! We start our conversation with guests with a short list of "Terms and Conditions" we need the guest to acknowledge and accept if they want us to approve their booking request (and we note that we will cancel the instant book if they do not respond in 24 hours). We will definitely now include the following under our T&C's: "Please note that we only leave reviews for guests upon notification that we received a review". Thanks so much for this idea, should have thought of this ourselves!!!!

[Yulianna0]

Oh, I wonder how could it appear 4 with all 5 in other categories. It sounds like “everything excellent but you could do better”? To wake up at 6 to make them breakfast with leaf tea ( exceptional for Spain! ), suggest to pick them up because they were lost - is just 4? And I have to go on smiling, thinking what else my wonderful guests will feel bad about... 

[Jan508]

I agree.  I am hosting in a third world monarchy.  I represent my place as in a working class neighborhood, not a resort, equiped as a typical house in this country would be.  I am reviewed on trash collection practices of the third world.   

Yes, the historical center is clean because wealthy, retired, government officials live there.  Working class neighborhoods...not so much.

[Louis141]

Yes! Totally agreed! Really sick with this. One of my listing, I has mark down “ this listing at noise place, please DO NOT book if you light sleeper! “

And guest book, stay and COMPLAIN my place noise and rate me 3 star. This system is totally unfair to host! And Airbnb keep send email to us about our rating. 

What we we can do with this? 

[Aurora62]

I wrote about this in the Q&A... hopefully they'll read it (or the thousands of versions of this)

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Q-A/Why-is-the-reviewing-process-so-unclear/idi-p/793313

[Julian234]

I think we need something we can share with guests. A short write up we can leave in the room that explains how Airbnb's draconian system works and the amount of damage even a 4 star review can do to our hard won reputations. It's not something we can share in a message as that would probably be seen as "coercing" a positive review.

 I have had guests write a stellar review and then give us 4 stars, thinking they were giving us a good rating. And a 4 star rating *should* be a good thing. Nothing is ever 100% perfect and a 5.0 rating should be virtually unattainable.

Apart from all the other valid complaints above, the star system has really just been reduced to a 2-state system -- "good" and "not good". A bit like Facebook's silly "Like" system. 

[Joe208]

My biggest concern with the 5* rating system is you can get 99% guests giving 5 stars and then suddenly someone will give 1 star after staying in the same apartment. They will make comments like "not enough toilet paper" when we leave 4 toilet rolls for a 4 night stay, or after 6 people shower for 15 minutes each and then say "not enough hot water" thus making this whole system meaningless.

[Julian234]

I agree @Joe208. Like any good statistical analysis, they should throw out the "outliers" (the top and bottom reviews) then average the rest if they must.

While we are on the topic... another weakness is the equal weighting for length of stay. A one night bad review should not carry the same weight as a 10 day good review, or vice versa.

The only solution lies in educating our guests. And continuing to complain to Airbnb -- we do after all provide the spaces that generate the fees that put food on their tables. 

So let's collaboratively come up with a "guests' guide to the stars" shall we? Something to leave in the room (or print as a poster in hot pink so they are sure to see it). I will offer up a couple of draft snippets to kick around (off the top of my head):

"...If you have found anything lacking in your stay, or have a suggestion for how we can improve, please let us know in the private comments section of your revew.  You can of course make all your comments public, but we would ask that you think about the impact that may have on our reputation in the future. Everything you (and we) write in reviews is public, permanent and cannot be changed or removed".

"...You are under no obligation to write a long-winded review, either positive or negative, if you don't feel the need to. Sometimes less is more and silence speaks volumes! We would just ask that unless something was wrong with your stay and we haven't been able to work it out together, you give us a 5 star rating. 5 stars, to Airbnb, simply means that you are pleased with the property and your stay. It does not mean that this is the best place on the planet (unless of source you think so, as we do!)."

"...Conversely, a 3 or 4 star rating which most people would think means 'pretty good to very good', actually means 'lacking' to Airbnb and starts in motion a whole series of things that wind up hurting our business."

"...What you may not know about the Airbnb review system is how it is used to reward/penalize hosts. Even a slip of 1 star can make a huge difference. In fact, a listing can be removed from the site altogether  if it does not consistently achieve 4-5 star ratings. A single malicious guest can put years of work in jeopardy. " 

"...It is far more important to read what you the guest has to say about a property rather than the number of stars you may give. One person may think 4 stars is an excellent rating, while another (and Airbnb itself) will find it somewhat negative.  It is unfortunate, but Airbnb's star system is 5 = good, less than 5 = not good."

[Bonnie56]

I now have a rating of 4.9 due to a guest who obviously did not understand the reviewing wording or process. She states that there was missing toilet paper, missing towels, missing soap, missing linens, missing pillows. All were there. I do not skimp on such details. In the wording of her review, she was very complimentary. I tried to write a comment after her review, and just received a continuous blue dots. I have 350 5 point reviews prior to this new reviewing system. People are not understanding the review process. AirBnB must take another look at it and tweet it so it works for guests and hosts.