Star ratings

[Carol8]

Air bnb should not have a star rating unless they disclose what the stars were for exactly, after all unless you receive all 5 stars we want to  know who & why they left the less than perfect rating. We can not improve if we don't know what they feel we need to improve on. Seems like a no brainer!

[Shandy0]

Location is my problem too!!

Why us it even a rating? They booked the place knowing where it was! I state very clearly that I am in a residential neighbourhood and that transit us close by, yet I'm getting less than 5 stars on location? Don't book outside if the city if you done want to stay outside if the city! My price also reflects that, so this is very frustrating when I spend so much time cleaning and shopping etc. for people.

[Trinity-And-Cristina0]

omg i swear it is ridiculous! you took the words right out of my mouth! and why are you allowed to edit your review for 48 hours?? that defeats the whole purpose of giving an honest unbiased review??

[Jenn-And-Jay0]

I completely agree with your suggestion to prompt guests to rate based on your DESCRIPTION of the location. Unless you're smack dab in the middle of down town ten minutes away from a world famous café, a museum, theme park, and a breach I suppose anyone coulf say your location was"lacking". We can't really control where our location is, only how we describe it. Don't allow penalization for things outside our control.

The star rating system can't go away because there has to be a metric measure for the automated system to go by... However what if they changed it to a slider that goes up to 100? That is more liberal and allows a guest more wiggle room. The guests may feel that five star says PERFECT and they may be reluctant to say "perfect" ergo giving 4 stars. They may mean 98% great in their minds but just can't give that 100% (5*) so they do the option below it, 4* but that's like saying 70% when really, they wanted to give you 98%.

A larger scale would give them that freedom without penalizing hosts to such a degree

[Elizabeth98]

I agreed. I have all great reviews, but I just find out I have a three star and a four star! so Two guest gave me lower rating for the "value" and one guest gave 3 stars for everything. I don't know who did that? That's crazy since my "value" which is the lowest in my area. And 3 star for everything when they all say they would give me 5 stars when they leave. And I allow them for a free late check out most of the time as exchange! That's crazy! Who should I talk to??? If there is really something to improve, I would like some feedback from my guest! 

[Kt1]

i totally agree. its not helpful to not know why you were rated down. in fact its more useful to

to have honest feedback. i recently got an amzing review, the lady said she was going to recommend 

my place to everyone, awesome location etc and in the personal feedback she said, nothing to improve on and then

just to confuse me

rated me down on overall experience, value, location, arrival. How is this useful or honest? 

This  rating system isnt useful to me-i spent so many hours cleaning and improving /fixing my apartment.

im more than happy for honest feedback and each time ive asked for it ive got nothing back.

if airbnb want a really good system each star rating should have a section where the person has to say why.

or ditch it.

or ditch the star rating.

[Kt1]

wow i just read all the comments....and another thing..

i see people with 9 reviews as Superhosts!!!!

wipe out this system!

i spend HOURS cleaning my apartment,which is pretty large, above and beyond the call of duty, 

and then i get "room for improvement' from AIRBNB. i'll give them room for

improvement. so rude of them and focused on the negative. They dont inspect my place

so what the f*** would they know? 

in fact i have no room for their rudeness!

i have a friend who is a superhost. He stalks his guests on Facebook and then goes and buys

books from the Op shop that relate to their job or hobbies and has their kind of music playing

on his computer as they walk in!

i think airbnb needs to get right back to the basics of what they founded their business on,

not this competitive capitalistic UNCREATIVE approach which makes some people winners and the others losers,

Goodwill, trust, welcoming strangers and Journey people into your home ...yes?

and guests need to read listings! 

Many hosts are providing a decent place to stay with decent core underlying values

and want to make people feel welcome, comfortable ,and safe, usually for a pretty reasonable price.

The hosts that are renting out numerous properties with little personal exchange/value are a whole other kettle of fish.

the star ratings gets zero stars from me! down with it! pah!

what about asking the guests DID YOU LIKE THE ARTWORK or WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE EXPERIENCE THERE?

or HOW HOMELY DID IT FEEL or WHAT WAS THE NEIGHBOURHOOD LIKE? 

there needs to be honesty on both sides, the current system is not fair or helpful.

email airbnb (if you can be bothered) and let them know what you think or any ideas to make it better.

[Aoi0]

I have more than 200 reviews, and we have been Superhost since 2014.

For those who gave us 1 or 2 stars, they complained about bed or mattress, it is very personal thing and after providing pick up at the station, travel advice, very clean enviroment and lots of help. Some problems, such as small room( well, this is TOKYO, and it is the standard size), bed..etc..

If they wanted to stay at really good bed in a big room , they might need to look for it somewhere else and they need to pay much more,  for those guests who gave lower stars, they wanted to pay hostel fee and want 5 or 6 stars hotel room quality. It is unfair to us.

Why I could know it because after  the guests give the review? I check my 5 star rate after reciving the review, I am 99% sure who gave us the low stars. 

Anyway, my concern is, if Airbnb gave us a lousy guest, no matter how hard we tried, we still got very low stars. It is not fair, I am also thinking of quitting this job, too . Because every few months, they would look at our stars and renew the status, and I really think once we won Superhost, we should have the honor for longer time, such as six months. But for those who did not win, should have the chance after 20 days instead of a few months. 

I think Airbnb should try harder to keep good hosts by changing the sytem better

By the way, my secret to win 5 stars all the time is 

When the guests check out, we asked them the most enjoyable part while staying at our place?

Do they think the enviroment is clean or very clean?

What is the best advice from us? 

Just for your reference. Thank you.

[Sandra189]

ABSOLUTLY---I get the stupidist comments/star reductions.  IE: more comfy furniture in LR---my home is 150 years old and furniture is victorian antiques.  They want overstuffed bean bags or what?

Add ashtrays on front porch....not gonna happen.  No smoking allowed

I list I have dogs.  Then people say dogs irritated allergies.  Then dont stay here.

Check in early then lower stars because I'M NOT PREPARED????

The "star" rating is a stupidity guage.  I go overboard on EVERY GUEST and serve 5 star breakfast too.  All the written reviews are glowing.  then they hit those dang stars.  Ridiculous!!!

I write a NOVEL on communication/check in.  I meet EVERY guest at the door and give them tour.  Then I get lower stars for communication.... how is that possible????  Same with LOCATION...full paragraph should leave ZERO ????'s about location.  Still they hit with lower stars because I live in a Historic Neighborhood that is being re claimed and most are already re-modeled.  

I charge 1/4th the price of hotel.  I live in a completly re claimed 1875 Victorian Mansion.  I serve 5 STAR breakfast.  I have actually had a couple of people tag me on VALUE.  WHAAAT....how is that even possible??????????????????????????????????

[Caring0]

Anonymous star ratings prevent hosts from retaliatory harassment of guests who give an honest (albeit poor) evaluation. To mitigate the risk that a guest will give a low rating on an aspect of their stay that is out of the hosts control, such as location, the star rating system could have categories such as cleanliness, demeanour, flexibility, and quality of amenities. These categories are just examples; I'm sure a team of Airbnb employees develop a better, more representative set of categories.

[Kt1]

the airbnb employees? who are they? the people who are hosts are the ones with most experience of the glitches in the system

such as the star ratings

the only people i can ever talk to are young people paid to be on the phone, but generally with little hands on experience.

star spelt backwards is...rats!  its currently a rats rating!

[Victoria92]

I love the 4 star ratings that go with the review like "everything was perfect!" Really? So, if everything was perfect, the heck happened to the other star? clearly it was not all perfect, so tell me your issue?!?

[Tora-Birgitte0]

Thats exactly why i know ask guests to rate me 5 star. kind of crazy but i think you need to explain to them the importance of a 5 star rating. ALso i know ask guest to read the house manual before arriving so that they know what to expect. Trying at least to get people to read or reminding them to read it as often guests book accommodation without reading the listing properly.

[Monica171]

I'm getting fustrated me too with the stars system. It should be made clear to guests that if they give less than 5 star the host get a penalty. Plus guests leave annoying feedbacks. A couple recently wrote the double room bed is a "camping bed" when it's real and tall maitresses, almost brand new. I took a photo of the maitresses and add it to my listing. A girl complained about the cat when it's clearly written I have a cat and I even have a photo of him. Plus I had some guests who left rubbish everywhere in the room, I gave them a poor rating but I'm unsure this will be of help to other hosts. The system needs to be improved of course.

[Zandra0]

Star ratings are hugely frustrating and almost single handed my ruined the experience of hosting for me ( being a superhost was the other issue).

The main problem I have with the star rating is that it's really not clear what 5 stars is meant to be. Have I delivered what I said I would, in a clean environment with good interaction with my guests? Yes? Then that's surely 5 stars? Nope it's not, because some guests book at budget prices but hope you'll turn out to be luxury. They hope that small room you said you have is actually a cavernous bedroom with walk in closets.

In the beginning I consistently got 5 stars and very pleasant guests; I became a superhost and then I started getting rather different guests, ones who despite getting cooked breakfasts, access to a full fruit bowl etc were still giving 4 stars. I then had a guest give 3 stars because they ignored my advice on how to find the property. No matter what I did, it felt like I couldn't meet my guests demands. I lost superhost status despite continually improving my listing and keeping prices fairly flat.

I got resentful. I started to scale things back; free access to the kitchen went, breakfast got pared down to cereal and toast; I started to tell guests if they did things I didn't like. I decided if I was going to get 4 stars anyway I'd start taking back more of my home.

I'm glad to say the resentment didn't last; once I started putting boundaries in place hosting became easier again.

I don't engage with star ratings anymore. It just was too emotionally draining trying to work out who said what and why.

[Anne-And-Gordon0]

the star rating is total garbage , if you cannot see why you have been marked down and no chance to reply it should be scrapped.

Airbnb expect us to do our bit, it is time for them to improve their business model as without hosts they have nothing.