Explaining 5 star ratings to guests

Answered!
TracieandJason0
Level 8
Philadelphia, PA

Explaining 5 star ratings to guests

Hi everyone. I recently had a guest that was unhappy with their stay, never told me about the problems to which I had already designed my space to have solutions for and then gave me a 2 star review. I may now lose my superhost status but oh well. I've since learned superhost status is not that big a deal anyways and I should just be happy to have made some money since her reservation was 7 days long and she left the place with no damages 😊 I am expecting new guests soon and updating my house manual and thought I could share with you all what I added and would also like to ask if anyone has any constructive critcism as its a bit lengthy and wordy. Thanks! 

 

Credit to @Branka-and-Silvia0, who I used part of their response in the forum about Airbnb Answers: Protecting you from one-off bad reviews

 

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Top Answer
Kath9
Level 10
Albany, Australia

@TracieandJason0, @Branka-and-Silvia0, @Salem2, I have put something very similar in my guest manual recently due to the change in the overall rating system which is now based on the ludicrous 'expectations' question - of course people will only give 3 stars overall if it's 'as expected'! I have pasted below what I have written in my guest manual but I think yours is even better! I agree with @Salem2 though that the top part should show 3 or 4 stars overall to make the point.

 

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22 Replies 22
Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

@TracieandJason0

you successfully tagged us 🙂

We also have something similar in a map in our apartments. I have no idea if any of our guests have read it 🙂

@Branka-and-Silvia0 haha yea you probably have a point. The type of guest that would give me a poor review will probably not even read my manual...

Salem2
Level 10
Al Hadd, Oman

@TracieandJason0

 

I don’t understand the example, the top half, since the host got a 5* review?

 

Otherwise I think its a good strategy, I am thinking doing domething similar, perhaps putting the information up in the room.

@Salem2 Hm I see what you mean. The example is just to show how a review would look. The bottom portion is the example I am trying to use for my point. Do you think this is too confusing? Perhaps I should just remove the top portion altogether? I thought it would be helpful to include for new guests but I guess it's not really necessary. 

Salem2
Level 10
Al Hadd, Oman

Actually I think the example is good, but the overall rating should be 4 stars to emphasize the point you are trying to make in the bottom half.

 

So 4 star rating which appears as ‘better than expected’ to the guest is actually ‘possible delisting’ to the host...

 

...huge difference!

@Salem2 Ah okay, I see what you mean. I will change that part then, thank you!

Kath9
Level 10
Albany, Australia

@TracieandJason0, @Branka-and-Silvia0, @Salem2, I have put something very similar in my guest manual recently due to the change in the overall rating system which is now based on the ludicrous 'expectations' question - of course people will only give 3 stars overall if it's 'as expected'! I have pasted below what I have written in my guest manual but I think yours is even better! I agree with @Salem2 though that the top part should show 3 or 4 stars overall to make the point.

 

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@Kath9 I like the part where you mention your humble accomodation not being the Ritz and I think I will add that to mine as well! Thanks!

Kathryn125
Level 4
Tauranga, New Zealand

I really like your wording and the whole idea of doing this. Hope you dont mind if i copy it.  Never thought to add this to the manual as it seems a bit manipulative but having just received a 3 star rating for the first time and then being told that everything was great and they enjoyed their stay, but are used to having a TV in the room, I did think that maybe guests dont understand the huge implications of their reveiws and ratings. 

@Kathryn125, you're very welcome to use it in your guest manual. I felt uncomfortable about this initially as it feels a bit like emotional blackmail to me, but I think we do need to educate our guests if we don't want to risk having our average ratings fall. After all, 'as expected' should not result in a 3 star rating! I've also changed my listing description slightly to try to undersell it so that guests are hopefully more inclined to rate my accommodation as 'much better than expected'!

Kathryn125
Level 4
Tauranga, New Zealand

I agree with your thinking but do feel that Airbnb should be explaining this to guests when they request ratings. I have requested this of Airbnb.  Maybe this is why i got a 3 star rating from a guest who was happy with everything.  I also think it would be good if hosts could see how we are rated from guests.

@Kath9 with your permission, I'll also use and tweak it.  The rating system is so illogical. I  don't understand why the rating isn't calculated on 4 key criteria (communication, accuracy, cleanliness, value) and one question: would you recommend this place?  Simple.

Rozie4
Level 2
Putrajaya, Malaysia

definitely ***** 5 stars. if you don't mind , i would love to copy your statement. 

@Kath0 this is GOLD!! Thank you for sharing.