Ratings & Reviews Guide for Guests

[Massimo242]

Dear friends, I have seen a lot of posts about the problem of guests giving 4 stars overall after having given 5 stars in all categories and expressing satisfaction for the stay. They are not aware of what 4 stars overall means in the AirBNB system: basically you consider your stay a bad experience to the point that if many other guests have the same the host should be removed.

I created a little sign to help the hosts to be considerate with their review and I was wondering if you could give me some feedback. Please feel free to use it for yourself. It is based on this article: https://www.thornpoint.net/blog/Airbnb-Review-Etiquette

Here is he sign. THanks a lot for your opinions. Massimo

You can see the sign here: https://it.casamariodeipini.com/abnb-review-suggestions

I also copy the text here:

Our Rating & Review Guide*

5* ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	Satisfied: I enjoyed my stay here and I may return one day.
4* ⭐⭐⭐⭐	Not satisfied: It did not go that well, several issues here that need to be corrected.
3* ⭐⭐⭐	Annoyed:  It went bad. There are major problems with this listing
2* ⭐⭐	This listing should be removed
1* ⭐	This host should be banned

(*) AirBnb’s rating system can be misleading. Although it sounds nice, 4 stars overall actually means that you are not satisfied of your stay. With less than 4.5 stars average hosts can be removed from AirBnB. 

If you are satisfied, 5 stars overall is unfortunately the only way to express it at the moment. Hosts are asking AirBNB to introduce decimal ratings, so you could give 4.8, 4.7 etc if things are not 100% perfect. But this is not available yet. If you think 4.5 or more, please give us 5. Thank you for your consideration. Casa Mario dei Pini. 

[Title updated by Community Manager for relevancy]

[Elaine701]

Thanks for that, and it makes good sense. It's a worthy guide. 

However, I would be concerned that it appears solicitous. As if we're begging them to write a 5 star review, which we would never ask of any guest.

OR ... with certain guests, it could encourage them to give really low marks, just because that's how they are .. it could be interpreted as offensive - as if you think they're too stupid to write a fair review ... or as if you get a lot of bad reviews - something like putting up a sign telling them not to throw food at the TV (as if that happens a lot??) - or as if you're not really confident that your accommodation is worthy. 

In our case, I'm inclined to stick with letting the guest review as they see fit, without soliciting anything in particular.

But perhaps it would be a good idea to publish that guide when sending out the post-stay reminder to guests encouraging them to write a review? So that it comes from Airbnb, not the host?

[Hugo847]

I'm inclined to agree, in that we talk to our guests to ensure that they enjoyed their stay and even drop in a '5 stars coming your way!' as they depart, so it encourages them to reciprocate. If the accommodation is worthy of 5 stars then guests will give 5 stars.

[Gwen386]

I have paused my listing due to taking care of family, but received this direct message from community management and wanted to respond.

I do not believe a 5-star rating should be given because a guest is “satisfied.” A 5-star should be given when it is beyond doubt that the host went above and beyond of what was expected to make the guests entire stay enjoyable and memorable. This includes that everything in the rental was spotless, clean and sparkling. There was plenty of toiletries, toilet paper, paper towels, and bed and bath linen (not worn out); and if a kitchen, there was enough dishes, utensils, pots/pans, glassware, etc. There was concise and clear instructions—not a laundry list of things to do. (Example, rental is on a septic system, please don’t flush anything except toilet paper).

When I was renting my basement apt, I knew I would get 5 stars. Why? Because I did all the preparation beforehand to ensure it. In addition to top notch cleanliness, I’d do a second run through to make sure that there was not dust or a dustball, a stray hair, spots on glassware or utensils, or cobwebs anywhere. I dusted fan blades, baseboards, and bookshelves after each guest stay. I vacuumed furniture and mattresses and areas with carpet.  I cleaned and waxed floors. I made sure stainless steel appliances were shining and wood furniture was polished. 

I made sure there were trash bags, broom/dustpan, cleaning supplies in case guest wanted to touchup. I never charged a cleaning fee and was rewarded because guests cleaned up after themselves without me having to ask them to do so. 

Yes, all of this was back-breaking work, but I got the 5 stars to prove that it was all worthwhile. 

And when I stay at an AirBnB, I expect the same thing before I’ll give 5 stars. Just my 2cents.

Also I agree with @Elaine701 , I don’t want to appear that I’m soliciting a 5-star review. so maybe a point system makes sense. 

[Elaine701]

@Gwen386 

Yes. Exactly. 

You can't expect guests to give 5 stars because they're simply "satisfied". It should be extraordinary. And hosts should strive to achieve that.

It's actually just good business. We're in the hospitality business.  Over time, those top ratings enable you to command a premium price for the class of accommodation. Whether you simply pocket it or reinvest it into habitually improving it is up to you. But generally speaking, you can't run a 5 star business of any kind without spending time and money on it.

The Airbnb rating system I suppose is (misguidedly?) designed to encourage excellence, but in practice, it actually encourages mediocrity, because anything less than 5 stars is generally considered "unsatisfactory". So, if the guest is "satisfied", it's assumed to be 5 stars. But guests often have their own ratings calibration. So in an Airbnb, it's always wise to shoot for perfection, to ensure you get those ratings. And if you don't, look in the mirror before blaming it on something else.

Hosts that personally administer their Airbnb business are more likely to take all those points seriously. But hosts that own properties administered by a third party are less likely to be concerned with delivering exceptional hospitality, and more interested in generating as much revenue as possible, with minimum operational cost, and that's how they operate. That also could be argued as "good business".

On the upside, when mediocrity is the norm, it enables those who deliver excellence to clearly differentiate their product from the mainstream. So perhaps we should be thankful for the status quo. Maybe we should just shut up and continue doing what we're doing :-).

[Jeff2589]

I'm inclined to agree.  Adding a suggestion or request area might do the trick.  This allows the guest to send what would make their stay even better. I've had a few and add them as I can. It's an offer to communicate privately to the host.  

Five numbers does not allow any fine slicing !

[Doris6]

I apologize for sounding critical but as someone who has done proofreading for dozens of years as part of my job, there are many grammatical and spelling errors on the Thornpoint blog it comes off as unprofessional.

[Lisa8107]

I have a holiday let in Bath, which is coming into it's second year. I am listed on airbnb and booking.com. Though airbnb is my preferred platform, I agree that the 5 rating system is problematic. I have 13 reviews and had a score of 5 until my last guest gave me a 4 which reduced my overall rating to 4.92. I made a personal comment to the guest about the score and that any feedback would be appreciated so I can improve. He didn't respond. Now the same guest have booked my place twice again. I am of course grateful for the bookings but I dread what another two scores of 4 will do to my overall rating. I have done some research about the guest and can see that he consistently rate 4 wherever he stays. I would love some suggestions of how to go about this. I don't feel comfortable to prompt the guest to score me a 5. Could I maybe explain the situation to the guest and ask him not to give me a review? I assume a guest is allowed not to review? On booking.com many guests don't bother reviewing but on Airbnb it almost seems compulsory. On his profile it says that he is also a host so he might be offended if I lecture him on ratings. What to do . . .?