New host need help on 4 Star reviews

[Esther886]

We are new to Airbnb family as a host. And we're very frustrated with receiving 4 star reviews, would like to ask any advise to improve. One 4 star review we got was from a guest who provided us all 5 stars in the detailed category, but 4 overall, and there was only one word review "Great!!". Another 4 star review we got from a guest who's totally satisfied with our service and even said will recommend us to her friends and family. When we contacted her for 4 star review, she said she totally was not aware of 4 stair is a bad review.  We've just started our listing for less than 2 month and have got two 4 stars like this which is so frustrating for us. Any suggestions for situation like ours? 

[Fred13]

@Esther886  This does happen a lot, for some inexplicable reason. Over the long-run the 'negative' impact of it tends to lessen as you get more 'normal' 5-star rating. What guests have to say I think is by far more important than the star rating, which many may not notice or put much emphasis on.

[Paul-and-Ceci0]

Hey Esther, I'm happy to give you some tips since I'm a Superhost with 7+ years of hosting experience! Let me know if you'd like to book a quick one-on-one session to go over some tips I've learned that make a big difference:

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[Hillstop0]

Hi Esther,

I wish I had an easy answer for you. Unfortunately, the whole review process is geared towards the guest and NOT the hosts and there is almost nothing you can do.

For example, we had one guest stay at our place.  Police were called by a multiple neighbours because she was under the influence of drugs and causing issues in the street. Police attended and she was issued a warning (all unbeknown to us as we don't live in the same town).  She left a horrible review which had nothing to do with the house but about her interaction with the police and in doing so, dragged down our whole rating. 

When we approached AirBNB (with the police report) to say how unfair this was, they said they would not remove the review even though it had absolutely nothing to do with the house. 

Until AirBNB decides to support hosts more, you'll likely encounter a number of unfair instances which threatens the success of your property.