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.

[Michelle400]

@Scott54that's a good initiative - educate the consumer - first rule of successful business marketing

@Monika64  given Scott's shared his version, perhaps you'll share your shorter version please?

[Monika64]

@Michelle400 I usually use some form of this text (some part of it I got it from other hosts here in the CB but unfortunatelly I cannot give them credit becuase I don't remember anymore who it was, sorry!):

Thank you very much, again, for choosing our condo for your trip! We hope you had a great time!
We work very hard for good reviews as they help our business a lot. If you enjoyed your stay could you please write us a review on Airbnb?
(Please know that anything less than 5 Star on Airbnb means you had encountered problems during your stay, it does not refer to the Star rating of hotels. Please carefully consider the rating you might be giving us as it greatly impacts our future business!)
Also, if you have any suggestions on how we could improve could you please send them to me in this messenger as we welcome your feedback and love to improve.
Thank you, again!

I'm not sure how other hosts will like this ... I guess everyone has there personal take on this. Truthfully, I started to send this out once I realized guests really do not know how bad is a 3-4 star rating can be for us. And honestly some of them just don't care at all.

[Hanna28]

posted by mistake

[Lloyd12]

Hi Scott,

My name is Lloyd and I am a host in New Orleans. I too have been a victim of guests not understanding the rating system. Your document seems like a very straight forward and efficient way of dealing with this situation. I was wondering if I could get a copy of the document you use. I would reallly appreciate it. My email is: LMKELLY581@Yahoo.com. Thanks - Lloyd

[Elaine-and-Duane0]

I just bought carpeting and the salesman asked me to do a survey. Then he said my company considers anything less than 9 of 10 points to be a failure. Yep - anything less than 5 is a failure wire Airbnb. 

[Michelle400]

@Elaine-and-Duane0  I think part of the issue here is the basis from which these rating systems are devised.  There's a system called NPS - net promoter score - that basically requires ratings of 9-10 to drive good stats.  The thing being that total Promoters (those who score us 9 or 10) then have total Detractors (those who score 0-6) subtracted through some slightly flawed (in my opinion) algorithm.  Check the system out on wiki or wherever if you're interested to understand more.

So, extrapolating then, I suspect that airbnb is a 'dumbed down' version of this given it only provides for 5 stars, and also they'd have to pay a fee to use NPS and why would they do that?!  They certainly can, however, base their own system on the general philosophy.

SO WHAT?! I hear you all ask.  Well, I think it becomes a real challenge then to consistently attain 'perfection' rather than continually strive for 'excellence'.  It raises the bar for hosts to go all in and make using the platform a real focus that potentially sorts the 'wheat from the chaff' (to use an Aussie expression...or is it?)

Onwards and upwards 🙂

Cheers

Michelle

[Robin4]

@Michelle400

It's not that it becomes a challenge Michelle....it leads to completely false and misleading stats because everyone feels they are going to be crucified if they leave what they would regard as a genuine review.

Many guests don't understand that 5 stars is ABB's default star rating, and anything less than 5 stars indicates there was an issue to be addressed. Those guests who do understand the ABB rating system will not give an honest review because they are ever in fear of the hosts public response to their less than perfect review. The whole system is a total **bleep**-up and bares very litle resemblance to the actual hosting experience!

And those of us who have attained Superhost status are all to aware that if their 5 star review rating drops below 80% they will loose their status and the benefits that go with it.

The reason I say that it is not that it becomes a challenge. I, on two occasions have been told by guests they never give a 5 star review! Five stars is the ultimate and is un-acheiveable....the hosting was good, but not the ultimate. Even Trump tower would not warant a 5 star! That is not a challenge Michelle, it's an uncontestable statement.

I personally strive for 5 stars but I don't take any notice of them where others are concerned because they don't mean anything. I read the reviews Michelle, and as you say....that sorts out the wheat from the chalf! 

Cheers......Rob

[Cormac0]

@Monika

The thing that gets me upset the most, is the people you do the most for, empirically give the worst reviews, I had a young couple with a six-month-old infant take my loft apartment, which I explained in their inquiry was on the top floor obviously, only for them to give me a four star for location, when every other guest says it’s a five-star location.

There is an issue in my opinion with the IOS app and star rating selection, if you slide you finger along the stars and stop the screen immediately advances to the next selection, so if you’re not that diligent or did not observe what happened a guest may leave an unintentional rating.

Regards

Cormac

The Explorer's Club Krakow III

The Explorer's Club Krakow VIII

[Monika64]

@Cormac0 @Robin4 @Michelle400 @Elaine-and-Duane0

My most difficult guests always turn out to be the ones that I'm trying to please the mostby giving them early check in, late check out etc. 

I think one of the real problems guests just don't know and care about the impac

t of stars. Let me quote my last guest who gave a great review and left me 3stars: I was just tired, on break between study sessions and just gave this and that ratings. 

[Scott54]

Maybe Air BNB should create a second step being a confirmation check (Are you sure this is the correct rating ??) or something like that. That would at least give a guest a chance to say OOPS! I stopped on the wrong value and then correct it.  That would stop the accidental slip ups by a sliding or fat finger finger. 

[Monika64]

@Scott54 When we leave guest ratings there is a confirmation page before you post, just before the final step. Maybe the host rating doesn't have that?

[Michelle400]

@Scott54  that really is an excellent idea.  One last step to check your ratings before 'submitting'.  For both host and guest is a great idea.  It's too easy, particularly on mobile, for 'fat finger' or 'bad eyesight' to cause an 'oops' moment.  I like your idea!

Cheers

Michelle

[Betty62]

Or atleast gave us option to post it publicly or warn us before putting it on . I just started for 2 months and just one opinionated review and I dont have bookings now..great!

[Lizzie]

Hello @Monika64, @Michelle400, @Scott54, @David632, @Robin4, @Elaine-and-Duane0, @Cormac0, @Marit-Anne0, 

Thanks for starting this discussion off Monika. As Michelle mentioned, this is a really interesting thread. It is great to hear the suggestions made to offered to improve this, such as Scott's idea to have an overview step at the end of the review process. 

At the moment, up can edit your review within 48 hours of making it, as long as your guest or host hasn't posted theirs as well (because at that point it will be made public).

Based on the original post here, what would your thoughts be - do you think you would like to see a change in the amount of time you have to edit a review or do you think this should be done on a case by case basic (where you contact Support)? Or do you think there is a good balance at the moment, but additional steps or information could be added to improve this? 

I suppose if the edit time is extended or possible to change this can also work the other way around too in that a review can be lowered as well. 

Lots of food for thought, it would be great to hear what you think. 🙂

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Monika64]

Hi @Lizzie, how are you?

Personally, I don't think the edit time change would make any difference in these cases. When we encounter accidental reviews (like mine where the guest just clicked this and that rating because she completely didn't pay attention to the stars themselfs even though she left a great review and wants to come back to my place) we won't know there was a "mistake" on the part of the guests until it's published ... at which point even the guests themselfs cannot alter the rating.

I got very lucky with this review at the end thanks to a brilliant and very kind Airbnb case manager who saw the written review, the guest's note that the 3 star was an accident. He changed the overall star rating for us (which I thought was impossible so I was very pleasantly surprised) but he could not change for example the cleanliness rating.

I'm not sure if anything in general can be done, it looks more of a case-by-case kinda thing. Please, anyone who has better idea come forward ... I've been only hosting for 3 months so I'm not completely 100% familiar with the system.

One very important thing is that the guests HAVE TO BE EDUCATED on just how bed a 3-4 star review can be for the hosts. I'm reading stories here on the CB where 5 star hosts get there first 4 star rating and immediately they get an email from Airbnb to up their game because their hosting standards are slipping. I'm not sure if this is accurate (I myself did not receive any emails like this yet) but if Airbnb wants 5 star reviews for good hosts they have to let the guests know the 5 star does not mean a 5 star hotel.