Can Airbnb just get off their high horse and allow AT LEAST star review alteration when ...

[Monika64]

... the guest CLEARLY makes a mistake????

I completely get it that they don't wanna allow review chages BUT when the guest leaves a great review and wants to come back but makes a mistake with the star rating WHY is it impossible to change it? It ruins our reputation, pulls down our search position, lowers our revenue ...

Also, they DO NOT educate guests on the fact that a 3 star review is NOT A GOOD rating!!!!!

I know I'm one of the hundreds of posts complaining about it but I just think it HAS TO BE a way to fix this problem.

[Monika64]

Oh, and this bit is just for fun:

When I contacted Airbnb, a Traveler got back to me who is a community expert now. First time ever. I didn't see this one before. With all do respect to Airbnb guests, I'm not sure if I would like travelers to advise me on host problems.

Any toughts on this?

[Marit-Anne0]

@Monika64

I believe the best way forward would be for the guest to contact airbnb and tell they made a mistake.  

[Monika64]

@Marit-Anne0 It doesn't matter, Airbnb still won't do it. It happened many many times over with lots and lots of hosts, sometimes guests don't realize 3-4 star is not good or sometimes they just click on 1 star on their smart phone purely by mistake. Once it's done, it's done, nothing can change it ... even if the guests request for it ... which is the irritating and crazy part I'm complaing about 😞

[Scott54]

The explanation needs to be BEFORE the guest does the review NOT after.  Its too late then.  I have a document that explains the value system that air BNB has created and my understanding of what each cataegory means.  I also explain that if they feel I should have less than a 5 in any category, I should have a chance to talk to them about it and make whatever changes would help my business and earn a 5 instead of a 3 or 4. 

Ther are two categories that we have little control over. The Value category is purley subjective and we have no control whatsoever over the guest"s opinion on that one, except to lower our price.   Not something I would do when we have a great occupancy rate.   I received a 4 on that category, simply because a guest was BNB hopping and one of them was cheaper than mine.  They had not yet  even been to the cheaper one!   It's a catagory that should be removed. 

We also have little control over the  "over all" category, however guests need to know how important this category is to maintaining a Super Host Status.   I carefully expalin, in writing,  that according to air BNB a 4 in the "overall category" is considered a failure, especially if you are trying to maintiain a Super Host Status.   Most teachers believe that a 4 is a great mark and no-one deserves 100%. (i.e. a 5).   Fine in their world but a failure in ours. Guests need to know that BEFORE they write your review, 

 We as hosts need to become proactive about explaining the review system to our guests.  If the reveiw system is as important to you, as it is to me, then you need to manage it just as you manage the rest of your business.   It can be done.  The document  is a very sensitive one, since your  asking them for a 5.  I had 7 or 8 friends review it before I ever gave it to a guest.   Try it.   It works. 

Scott

[Monika64]

@Scott54 I do send out a very similar message but apparently not everyone read it ... even though it's only a paragraph or so long. 

My problem is that once the damage is done it's done even if the guests themselves would like to correct it. 

[Farah1]

@Monika64 @Scott54 when and how do you communicate these to guests?

One guest left me a 1 star for location while bus stop (that will take you to downtown and other places) is less than 5mins walk and restaurants, bars, cafes, grocery stores (you name it) are 0.5miles away or less. There is a map that the guest can see in the listing detail. I even specify distance to many different places + my place considered one of the cheapest option (with other places that has comparable location/amenities). So, that definitely make me disappointed. And it is not like it's under my control (like cleaning I can improve for example), but I'm sure cannot move my house. 😞

[Monika64]

@Farah1 I do use the help center because I don't wanna open a Twitte acct just for Aibnb and I really don't have 40-50 minutes to be put on hold if I call Airbnb.

Location is one of those things that people get less than 5 star a lot and how could the guests not know where they book so it doesn't make any sense 😞

[Farah1]

@Monika64 I meant to ask if you did explain to guests prior to their stay or prior to them leaving a review that 3/4 stars can hurt hosts? I'm interested to know about that as I'd be interested in being able to communicate this to my guests (especially new users) without sounding arrogant/annoying.

Do you know that now we can see the star ratings for guests too? I think you can only see it if you use the ABB app on your phone. It is still a bit random for me because sometimes I can see it and sometimes I cannot.

This is one of the reasons of why I take the star-rating seriously when I review my guests because it seems like it is so easy for guests to mark host down while if they break a house rules, usually they act like it's not a big deal.

[Monika64]

@Farah1 I do tell my guests that we work extremely hard to get 5 star reviews and I ask them constantly if there is anything we can improve but I so far I did not specifically told them less than 5 stars means trouble for me. I think I will have to from now on because I do see now that they either do not know or they just completely don't care.

As @Scott54 mentioned it, it is a very delicate thing to communicate because you do not want to come across arrogant and straigh out ask for 5 stars but than how do you educate them? Believe it or not, my 3 star guest just told me she was just tired when she wrote my review so she gave random stars here and there. And this is after I told her how much we pride ourselfs in providing a 5 star experience. I'll just have to literally spell it out to guests: 5 star doesn't mean 5 star hotel, it just means there was no problems at all.

[Michelle400]

@Monika64the way you've summed up that '5 stars does not mean 5 star hotel it means there were no problems' is clear and concise.  I like it a lot.  It's a really straight forward way to communicate 'give me a 5 please', particularly when followed with some encouragement to make contact if there ARE any problems.

A very interesting thread that has given me some new ideas and things to think about.  Thanks everyone!

[Betty62]

Same here, we are just like 2 months , we have some service need to improve, now if they wont  delete a guest review based on unbiased opinion, just one review i got 2 guest cancelled on us..freaking unbelievable..I might delete our account here.

[David632]

@Scott54: will you please share the full context of your letter/saved message you send your guests about the star rating? your asdvice is awesome and no sense recreating the wheel! many thanks!!

[Scott54]

 Yes David ! I have atttached my draft of the letter I give to each guest one day before they leave.  Its my way of getting proactive with the issue.  I don't believe we will change Air BNB's rating systyem, but that doesn't mean we can't do something proactive about it ourselves.  We need to learn to manage not complain!!! I have not received anything less than a 5 on ANY category since I started this. That's not to say it was perfect, but I was able to communicate and resolve or manage any issue.

Cheers from a Canadian, now retired in beautiful Mexico

Dear Guests

We would like to take a few seconds to explain the Air BNB review system as we believe one of the most important components has been misunderstood in the past. 

When your stay is complete, Air BNB will ask you to rate your stay with us. There are 6 categories.

Accuracy       As of this date we have received 42_ 5’s out of 45 reviews.  Did we accurately describe our accommodation on the air BNB site? If you are aware of any inaccuracy in our listing we would appreciate your letting us know so that we can either fix the issue or revise the description.  In the past we have had some issues with the hot water, which resulted in some ratings being less than perfect.  It appears we have resolved this issue. 

Cleanliness  37_ 5’s out of 45.  Each casita is thoroughly cleaned each time a guest leaves.  The casitas are then locked until the next guest arrives.  If you find the casita is not clean upon arrival, we would appreciate your letting us know.  We are a little perplexed especially when we receive so many reviews about how clean and new the casitas are.   Your comments would really help us if you don’t agree.     

Communication     47_ 5’s out of 47.    We work hard to maintain this level, and really appreciate the response.

Check-in    47_ 5’s out of 47.   More hard work has resulted in a very appreciated response. Haven’t flubbed one yet.

Location    38_ 5’s out of 47.    A tough one for us as we can’t move our home.    If you feel we have not accurately described our location on Air BNB, please let us know how we can change it.   We have carefully marked our location on the map in our listing.  The bus stop across the street is very handy.   Its only one block to the lake and we are surrounded by a large variety of stores.   Can you suggest a better description that would help us?

Value   40_ 5’s out of 47.     A purely subjective evaluation that indicates if you believe you got your money’s worth.  We hope you did.

Over-All     39_ 5’s out of 47.      Air BNB demands that we achieve an 80% grade or higher for this category in order for us to maintain our Super Host status.   That means we need to achieve 4 _ 5’s  out of every 5 reviews.  We have twice had guests leave reviews that were 5’s for every category except for the over-all.   That’s frustrating for us when the only one that really counts for our super host status is the Over-All category.   We are not asking for a 5 where there is reason for it to be less.  We only want our guests to understand the importance of the Over-all category.   We are not a five star hotel, however, we are trying hard to be a 5 start BNB.   A “4” sounds like a great mark in the over-all category, but it’s a failure according to Air BNB. 

Just wanted you to know.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.  

Scott & Paula

[Monika64]

@Scott54 Thanks for posting this! It is very useful. I have something similar but much much shorter and I send this info trough the message system to the guests on the morning of their check-out (I doubt they'd read anything longer than 6-8 sentences in a message).