flaws in the review system

[Katie528]

Does anyone else feel that the overall rating should be a calculation from the other 6 review ratings?

I feel the overall review option for the guests to choose has too many times not added up to the proper rating. I will have 5/5 for 5-6 categories and review a 4/5 overall, or 3/5 overall. Mathematically that does not add up in the slightest bit. I fell that airbnb should let the guests rate the 6 categories and then calculate the overall rating based off the prior 6 ratings.  Anyone else agree and feel human error in this skews your rating.

Also does anyone else feel the same about the value category? The value category is did they get what they paid for, or are they happy with what they paid for. So if they rate every other category and possibly even the overall rating 5/5  and then say 4/5 for value, this again does not make sense. You are telling me that you were very pleased with everything except the price. But yet you chose your price, you could have chosen somewhere cheaper, but you wanted my place and where willing to spend that amount. But not saying at the end that everything was great but you didnt want to pay that price. 

These are all things beyond the hosts control that we are being judged for, and come from nothing but someones personal opinion, but not backed by anything.  

And i love reviews,  i feel they hold people accountable to be better. But i do not like unfair review systems that are flawed. Does anyone else seem to have this issue/concern?

[Kath9]

Oh @Katie528, there have been so many posts about the review system. Yes, it should be. The guest's overall rating is based on an average of individual items, but not the host's. Have a look at this recent thread: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Keeping-up-your-ratings/m-p/904795#M223665

[Huma0]

@Katie528

I understand your frustration and the same thing has been expressed my many hosts. I've posted about this on several threads, but there still seems to be a massive misundestanding amongst hosts about the individual category ratings.

If a guest leaves you 4 stars overall, but it is showing up as 5 stars for each category under their review, this does NOT mean they left you 5 stars in every category. It is much more likely that they chose not to leave any individual ratings as it is optional to do so. Likewise, if you get a 4 for Value but everything else looks like it's been rated 5. Mostly likely the guest only rated the Value category and didn't bother with the rest.

The reason I say this is because if a guest does not rate some or any of the sub-categories, they will show up as 5 rather than 0, but count as 0 in your total ratings.

See this thread for more detail: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/The-General-Confusion-About-Star-Ratings/m-p/866168#M213...

[Emilia42]

@Katie, There is so much more that goes into an excellent overall stay other then check-in, accuracy, cleanliness, location, communication, and value. What about comfort, amenities, privacy?  just to name a few. All 5 subcategories could be a 5 star but the bed was like sleeping on a block of wood. All 5 subcategories could be 5 star but the furnace ran out of oil. All 5 subcategories could be 5 star but the host was two steps behind me the entire time. There are plenty of reasons to rate a stay as 4 stars overall. Hopefully, the guest is transparent and communicates what the reasons are.