'Dynamic Reviews'

[Mike--Leonora-and-Samant0]

I have just had an hour long chat with 'support' and discovered that there is something called 'dynamic reviews' which apparently are only visible on the mobile app. The reason this came about was I happened to be looking at one of our listings and saw that, amongst other things, we had '17 recent guests said this place was sparkling clean', now I thought that sounded a little low and I checked my progress page which says 'your last 33 Cleanliness ratings were each 5 stars'. I did not realise that there was a difference between 5 stars and 'sparkling clean', but apparently there is. The 'Dynamic Ratings' are only visible on the mobile app and are special comments made by your guests once ( I believe) they have been prompted by AirBnB upon submittting a 5 star review. On the web page these are not visible, and they mix 'star' reviews with dynamic reviews on your summary page which is where I obviously had my confusion.

Surely as hosts we have jumped through enough hoops to get a 5 star review, without then further nit picking into these 'dynamic' reviews. Personally I think it sounds much better to have a description that says 100% of recent guests (however many that may be), have given a 5 star revew than saying x number of recent guests said that this property is sparkling clean. Do guests really know the difference between the two, as it is quite significant!

Thats now an hour and twenty minutes rant ... do I feel better?

[Huma0]

@Mike--Leonora-and-Samant0 

Yes, you are right, this is potentially confusing to guests. There was a lot of discussion about this on the CC last year when Airbnb introduced this. If you search, you should find quite a few posts about it. I have never heard it called dynamic reviews before, but something like 'home highlights' or 'listing highlights'. A lot of hosts are against it, or at least think that the host should be able to choose which 'highlights' are displayed.

However, I don't believe it is visible only on the App. I have seen it on all of my listings whilst using a browser on my laptop.

[Daniel1598]

@Mike--Leonora-and-Samant0 I am able to see these dynamic reviews using my laptop browser as well. If you haven't used airbnb as a guest in a while, perhaps you weren't aware that these additional questions came out during reviews. Personally, I don't find any problem with this. As a guest it helps me know what I can look forward to for my upcoming stay.

[Huma0]

@Daniel1598 

I don't think it is the highlights themselves that are a problem, but the percentages given that are misleading.

If you have 100 reviews and 100 of those gave you 5 stars for cleanliness, it means all guests think your place is sparkling clean, but by putting "17 recent guests thought this listing was sparkling clean" suggests to potential guests that only 17 out of 100 thought so. If the guest isn't familiar with the process, which many aren't, it would be easy for them to think this.

[Daniel1598]

Ah understood. I can see how that might be misleading. I guess it's a matter of perspective.

As a guest if I skimmed through a few great reviews and also read that "17 recent guests thought the listing was sparkling clean" I would think that the host was on a roll! Essentially I'd see it for what it was intended for a "home highlight." But I'm sure that other guests might initially think about the gap (17 vs. 100). What would your perspective be at first glance @Huma0? 

[Huma0]

@Daniel1598 

It's difficult to say, because I already know what it means, but if I saw "17 guests thought..." my first impression might be that not all guests thought so!

Perhaps once a guest has gone through the review process, they realise what the highlights mean. However, I get a lot of first time guests, some guests don't leave reviews, and I believe also that you can skip this section if you want. So, there are a lot of guests out there who are not aware of how it works.

I don't think it is a huge issue personally, but I know a lot of other hosts very strongly object to these highlights. I would also rather have a highlight based on total reviews than just the recent ones where the guest filled in the highlights section, e.g. 100% of guests gave this host 5 stars for check in.

[Daniel1598]

@Huma0 Very legitimate response. Thanks for your two cents.

[Mike--Leonora-and-Samant0]

Hi Huma, I pretty much agree with you and to be honest it isn’t a big deal but it just another ‘niggle’ and one that should have been thought out prior to activating.

Having ‘squinted’ at the app I can see how it may possibly be of some use but only if everyone is aware of how the information is derived, without that then it is possibly a misleading statistic. ( like ....  guests in your area are spending on average x dollars less etc...)

[Mike--Leonora-and-Samant0]

Hi Daniel, what browser are you using? I use Safari and it doesn’t appear on that.

[Mike--Leonora-and-Samant0]

Probably that is part of my ‘issue’, my main working platform is the desktop using Safari and to ‘discover’ that I am missing a sizeable hunk of information, was a bit of a surprise.

i am of that age/eyesight that working on a tiny screen is only something I do for quick replies or to compete with my teenage daughter! 

[Huma0]

@Mike--Leonora-and-Samant0 

I can see it on Explorer and Chrome. I don't know about Safari as I don't use it.

I have been told by other hosts that Chrome is the best browser to use for Airbnb. 

[Daniel1598]

@Mike--Leonora-and-Samant0 I agree with @Huma0's comment about Chrome. I use Chrome almost exclusively and it works wonderfully. 

[Mike--Leonora-and-Samant0]

Just downloaded Chrome and was expecting to have my socks blown off, but it looks exactly the same as Safari and Firefox, obviously I am missing something fundamental here.

[Huma0]

I think it will look the same, but the Airbnb site seems to work better on that browser, i.e. with less glitches. Also, you can install the AirReview extension, which I find really helpful because then you can quickly see the reviews guests have left for other hosts, not just the reviews they have received, all there on the guest profile. The reviews guests leave are often more telling than the ones they receive!

[Mike--Leonora-and-Samant0]

I've downloaded Chrome and for the life of me I can't find these 'Dynamic Reviews', what page are they on? All I get on the 'Progess' page is the standard 'Stars'? Is it possible that it is only available on the browser in certain countries?