How to ask guests for reviews after their stay?

[Nandini11]

Hi everyone!

I want to learn —how to  ask your guests to leave a review after their stay?

Do you message them personally or just rely on the automated Airbnb prompt?
Would love to know what’s worked well for you.
Thanks in advance! 😊

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Bhumika 

Our guests leave fun items in the book too - pressed flowers and leaves, polaroids of themselves, paintings and drawings, poetry. It is all wonderful!

[Nandini11]

Thats so amazing.

It means more than a review on any platform. It feels  so connected when guest leave such items….it clearly shows how much they loved staying at your place. 

I will definitely change my old guest record book. 

[Anika191]

@Kitty-and-Creek0 We also have a guest book.  Some people leave reviews, some leave notes in the book, and some leave both.  The hand drawings are fun!  Mountain scene is hand drawn!

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Anika191 

Wooo! That mountain scene is wonderful. Thanks for sharing it!

[Joelle43]

Hello @Kitty-and-Creek0 

After over 4 years of hosting I decided this month to leave a guest book in the apartment with a personal note from me saying that it was there as a way for hosts to leave any great restaurant/bar/coffee shop recommendations or special places they visited for the next ones staying.  There are so many possibilities for Cannes and even though they have a restaurant guide from me, there are always new places opening or places I have never heard about.

I'll see tomorrow at check-out if my last guests added anything but don't imagine it's something that everyone will do but as you say Kitty,  always lovely to read the comments, more personal than in their reviews in a way😉  

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Joelle43 

You're quite right - guests often write us personal comments that they do not share on a public review. They are treasures!

❤️

Aren't you delighted with the guest book decision ? 

[Joelle43]

@Kitty-and-Creek0 - yes I am and I thought I pull stick some previous cards that some hosts had left me a while back too to start them off. 

just had a message from my guest that they wanted to leave a message init but they couldn’t find a pen! My bad but good feedback - we live and learn all the time in this business 🤣

[Beth90]

Hi,

I've prompted guests a couple of times who have seemed to "forgotten" to leave a review and did so just this morning for guests who left one week ago.

Here's what I wrote: 

Just a quick note to ask you to remember to leave a (positive lol!) review when you have a minute. Of course if there were any issues preventing you from doing that please let me know here.
Thanks kindly.

She immediately entered a positive review.

Good luck!

[Bhumika]

Hi @Beth90 , this is interesting! 

Does this approach usually work for all the guests? Or have you encountered some, who miss the reminder message and choose not to leave reviews?

[Nandini11]

 @Beth90 

That’s amazing. I will definitely try this now with the previous guests who yet have time to leave a review.

Let’s see if that works for me.☺️

[Patricia2526]

Hi @Nandini11 

few hours after checkout, I always reach out to guest and ask if they could share feedback about their stay. And their thoughts mean a lot to us and help us learn, improve, and continue upgrading the experience for future guests. 

Whether it’s a suggestion, something they loved, or anything we can do better.

[Nandini11]

@Patricia2526 I tried double that but it doesn’t let them to leave a review 

[Bhumika]

Hi @Patricia2526 this is such a thoughtful and constructive way to connect with guests after check out! 

Do they usually respond when you reach out like that? I am interested in hearing if you had any guests that suggested any changes or improvements this way! 

Regards,

[Greystone0 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Nandini11 ,

Great question and really good feedback. We have evolved over time in our approach, here's some of our thinking:

- as you mentioned, the system sends reminders to post a review so even if you do not send anything, AIRBNB is sending the guest something. 

- in our case we get a lot of executive type guests and the thought of bothering them with a review request doesn't sit well with us.  I imagine that the CEO who booked by home would rather enjoy a vacation free from tasks and requests and needs to get back to important things.

- alternatively, we also get groups of younger-adults (for a bike race, annual ski trip, whatever) and this younger demographic is posting a review almost immediately. So no prompt needed.

- we operate with the goal to have repeat great guests. So when a guest checks out and the report from our crew is that all is well then we send a message with a discount for a future stay and a big thank you.

- if the guest posts a review we will also post but we don't make a habit of going first. We feel like there is review fatigue happening in general and don't wish the last impression of our guest to be one where we are needing something from them.

Just some thoughts and a great topic!

[Nandini11]

@Greystone0 
Thanks for sharing your approach — it makes a lot of sense. I really like how you consider the type of guest before deciding whether to ask for a review.

Your idea of thanking them with a future discount is a great way to keep things positive without adding pressure. Also totally agree about review fatigue — it’s smart to be mindful of that.

Appreciate you explaining it so clearly!