Do you ask for extra feedback after reviews?

[Huma0]

Many of us strive for the perfect 5* ratings across the board, and can get a bit sensitive when a guest rates down in a category. Now, it's not necessarily a big deal, and some guests are difficult to please regardless of what you do, but when you have a guest who seemed happy with their stay and provides no written feedback to explain a lower rating, do you wonder if there was something you could have done better? Perhaps it's nonsensical, perhaps it's valid and there is room for improvement. How are we to know though, when no feedback is given?

Here's an example. The guest leaves a short but positive review with no private feedback (also no note in the guest book, nor response to my message after check out asking if her journey went okay - neither of which bother me, but could potentially be relevant here). She gives me 5* overall and 5* in each category, except for cleanliness, which she leaves 4* for. That's fine. It's not a bad rating and not detrimental to Superhost status, but I now have no idea what made her rate down in that particular category. There must have been something...

Just a general question here. Would you be tempted to ask the guest (who was all smiles, never complained about anything and commented on how lovely and clean her room was and also had a shower to herself the whole stay even though bathrooms are listed as shared) what the cleanliness issue was? I don't mean in an accusatory way, just to get some feedback to improve and help avoid that issue in future, or would you just leave it alone?

[Mark116]

@Huma0  we used to always ask, now we do only once in a while.  The answers are almost always infuriating.  Example.  We received 5 stars in everything but 4 stars for check-in.  This seemed strange since to our knowledge the guests had no trouble checking in, so I asked.  The answer was that they found it stressful to have keys and would have rated it 5 stars if it was a keyless lock.

I really had to restrain myself from saying if keys are so stressful, maybe you should have chosen a place that had an electronic lock and not my listed space.

[Huma0]

@Mark116 

Yes, that's so frustrating and probably better not to know!

Of the two times I asked, one guest said it was a mistake and she was sure she left 5* not 4* because she didn't have any complaints at all.

The other one, that was frustrating. She left 3* but a nice review. When I asked why, she told me she had no idea that 3* was bad and her reason for the rating was "It was a bit over my original budget".

I only asked on those two occasions as there were zero issues during the stays and no negative feedback about anything.

I had nothing but 5* ratings for years, but then, in the space of a few months, I got a 4* and 2 x 3*. In every one of those cases, guests were complaining about stuff not only clearly stated on the listing, but discussed with them prior to booking! I find this a worrying trend, but not sure what to do about it.

I really go out of my way to make sure guests understand what they are booking, as I am sure do you, but what can you do when guests rate down on things they already knew about but didn't like? No one forced them to book!

[Huma0]

@Mark116 

PS did these guests have an electronic lock at their own home?

Seriously, I've never had a guest complain that keys are stressful.

I think it's partly the fault of Airbnb marketing which often suggests that keyless entry is, or should be, standard.

[Mark116]

@Huma0  I don't know, they were a little weird.  Their review was 'positive' but mentions its an old house with old house smells and noise....which I have no idea what smells she was talking about, and we have house noise specifically called out in the listing, as in you may hear sounds from the stairs in the rest of the house and you may hear street noise as well.

I've been tempted to do the keyless entry, but I feel like that could present more problems.  Our guests tend to do really poorly with any kind of 'gadget' that I would fear they would be constantly not finding the code or saying it didn't work, which would ultimately be more stressful than put key in the lock and turn it.

Yeah, her comment was weird, even in a hotel you still have to keep track of your key card.  

[Gillian166]

@Mark116 I’m with you, asking would most often infuriate me. For that reason I don’t always look at the ratings either. 

and actually I don’t write reviews for guests unless they write one for me, except for my “new” listing (the version of the cottage with only 1 bedroom) where I’m trying to get some reviews. We do over 30 hosts per month and the other listings have a good amount of reviews. I’m not chasing reviews anymore. 

[Huma0]

@Gillian166 

It was the same for me when I started hosting, and then I stopped for a long time, i.e. I only wrote reviews for guests that left one for me and never reminded them. Also, sometimes you can shoot yourself in the foot by prompting a review that is less than 5*.

However, I have found in the past 1.5 years that far fewer guests are leaving reviews. With long term stays, it's rare that someone doesn't review, but now it seems to be quite common. And, because they are long term, every review counts for a lot.

So, with the last guest, I did remind her, as the previous two (both quite disorganised people) hadn't left a review, even though one of them had told me she was going to leave a good one.

I wouldn't care if I hadn't gotten that 3* rating earlier this year. As I host so few guests and several haven't left reviews, that rating is still bringing my scores down.

[Gordon0]

I often ask. A recent one (which I thing I commented on here) was where my location got 4* because it wasn't near her daughters school (in High Street Kensington, where hotel rooms command in excess of £500 a night). Some people... 

[Huma0]

@Gordon0 

I had one couple mark me down on location, but they chose the location because it was a few minutes walk from their daughter's flat. The main reason they chose my listing was the location! 

They were annoying though. They didn't speak a word of English, so brought their daughter to check in to translate, and I also did my best to explain what I could in my broken, school girl French. Still, they marked me down on check in.

They marked me down on communication because they said they didn't see me after check in. Well, they were here for two nights, were using it as a based to visit places outside of London and therefore leaving very early in the morning and coming home late at night and going straight to their room, whereas I was at home. What was I supposed to do? Pounce on them the minute they got through the front door? Camp outside their bedroom door? So weird.

Anyway, I think they marked me down in almost every category for something odd like that.

[Sam397]

I put this on AirBnB for not requiring guest to give details when they give a lower rating. The purpose of giving reviews is to point out things that could be better and for that information to be used to make improvements and you cant do that if they dont say what was wrong.

[Huma0]

@Sam397 I agree with you, but I think at some point, Airbnb decided to also use the review system as a way to hold hosts hostage, i.e. make them live in fear of losing Superhost, therefore not challenging guests who break rules or asking for damages. 

They collect an awful lot of information about amenities (I assume so they can use this as a form of inspection or for data collection purposes), but then don't ask the guests to be more specific about their ratings. The review system isn't designed for the benefit of hosts, I'm afraid. 

I hope we see some improvements in the update.

[Debra300]

@Huma0,

Given that you homeshare with multiple guests at the same time it could be cleanliness that involved another guest (e.g., they didn't wipe down the vanity counter after each use and left water and water marks), and you weren't ever told about any issue.  The guest didn't leave you any additional feedback, because they don't want to explain why they negated to say anything during the stay, but downgraded that area in the review.  I wouldn't put a whole lot of thought into this one review. 

[Huma0]

@Debra300 

To be honest, I'm really not putting any thought into that one review at all. It doesn't affect my Superhost status. In fact, it's just another 5* overall that will help me. It just prompted me to ask a question based on the experience I had last year with the guest who left me 3* overall when nothing had gone wrong with her stay. So, I was asking hypothetically really, just out of interest in what others do.

As for the cleanliness issues with multiple guests, yes, that's something that is bound to have an impact. It's one thing handing over a spotless listing to one set of guests and walking away. It's quite another trying to keep things to a high standard in my situation because everyone's standards are different.

This guest was very clean and tidy. I wouldn't say she left things spotless, but she was very low maintenance for me in terms of cleaning. I did notice that and it was much less effort to give her room an interim clean because she kept it so tidy. She put away her dishes straight away unprompted, which is SOOOO rare, I can't tell you. 

So, for sure, she might not have liked that others sometimes left something by the sink or didn't wipe down a counter. Because I work from home, I am constantly tidying up a bit here and there throughout the day, which includes wiping down the kitchen counters. However, sometimes I do need to leave the house!

I always do a quick tidy up before I go to bed (and you know I'm a night owl, so that's usually after other guests have already gone to their rooms). The main focus of that is the kitchen, i.e. wiping down the surfaces, tidying things away, sweeping anything on the floor, sprinkling the bin with Bin Buddy etc. Still, pretty much every morning when I come down, there will be some crumbs, or even spills on the counter already...

[Gillian166]

I just had my first ever 3* review. OUCH. I am not going to contact her because I can't be sure I wouldn't be super snarky. Wondering if it's worth the pain of having it removed. 

[Huma0]

@Gillian166 

Oh no! I'm guessing that was Alex?

Deep breath.

Not sure what you can do there as the guest has already given feedback as to why they rated lower. I have only found it worth contacting a guest about the review when there was no explanation for the lower rating. The one time I contacted a guest about something inaccurate she said in the review, she became hostile, even though she admitted she hadn't read the listing. 

Not sure the criticisms = 3*, but they probably thought 3* mean 'good', rather than 'very good' or 'excellent'. What a bummer.

If you do decide to contact the guest, wait until you have calmed down and it doesn't hurt so much.

I think you have to base the decision on your impression of the guest's character and the rapport you had with them. Did they seem like happy guests over all or the type who wanted to complain about something? 

[Gillian166]

@Huma0  yeah, it's a bit ridiculous to complain about cold weather, and my welcome message 5 days before check in says " it's still very chilly in early spring, so be sure to bring your winter clothes". Complaining about it being cold in Spring is utterly ridiculous, and has nothing to do with me. She didn't respond to any of the 4 messages i sent her and she didn't read the House Rules, or she would have known the TV is for games, DVDs and streaming only. She didn't contact us as any point. It's just infuriating. We didn't interact with them at all and they were out most of the time. 

I'm not going to contact her. If she read the manual she will know that a 3* review is hurtful, and I don't want to interact with anyone who does that on purpose, or is ignorant, but marking me down across all categories is no accident. She marked me down on value, yet they had 3 large bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a huge living space, compared to other "luxe" listings we are great value. Anyway, my daughter and I have vented. thanks for listening!