The General Confusion About Star Ratings

[Huma0]

I've seen a lot of posts on this forum where hosts are upset about receiving a four star overall review when the guest has given them five stars in every category. Those reviews/ratings look something like this:

There is no explanation given in the feedback or review as to what they were unhappy with and they have marked each category with five stars, so what on earth was the problem?  The problem is that they have NOT given five stars in every category. When a guest reviews, it is totally optional to fill in the star categories. They can rate some, all or none of them. Many guests choose to rate none and just give an overall rating (as in the example above). When this happens, all the categories will show up as five stars under that review in your Progress tab, but they do not count as five star ratings, i.e. your percentages in each category will neither go up nor down.

How do I know this? Because I keep track of my overall and individual star ratings (you can see these percentages under each listing in your Progress tab), so I can see each time a guest reviews which categories, if any, they have rated. Here's an example.

This is not fail safe as how much the percentages go up or down with each rating depends on how many reviews you have for that listing. If you only have ten, each rating can be worth 10%, whereas if you have 100, it would only be worth 1%. If you have over 100 reviews, you might not always see a change in the stats with each guest that rates. Still, you can get an idea overall if guests are rating the individual categories or not.

Of course, I shouldn't need to keep a log of these percentages. The stars under each review should only show what the guest has actually given, not show five stars for a rating that doesn't even exist. It is obviously causing confusion amongst hosts and Airbnb needs to change this, but I thought I would shed some light on it, so that next time you see that four star rating with five stars in each category, it is not so confusing.

[Sarah977]

@Dave52   I don't really agree that users should be allowed to change their ratings or reviews after the fact, because there are all sorts of reasons why someone could be coerced into doing so. (I would like to see star ratings eliminated entirely, as they are so subjective, and only allow written reviews)

If you are going to let guests know how Airbnb applies the star ratings to hosts and that 4*s is considered a "fail", the time to do that is before they submit their review, not ask them why afterwards, because that really does you no good,  although it might prevent the guest from leaving a less than 5* review for a place they considered "outstanding" in the future.

[Huma0]

@Dave52 @Sarah977 

I agree that if we have to educate guests on the star ratings (which we really wouldn't have to if Airbnb was consistent with their communicaton on this), the time to do so is before the review.

However, I did once (ages ago) get Airbnb to agree to change a 4 star rating to 5 because the guest made a mistake. I was 100% positive that this guest was truly happy with the stay and so was surprised that she left 4 stars. I messaged her simply asking for feedback on what I could improve and she said it must be an error as she was sure she hit 5. Airbnb agreed to change it once the guest confirmed this was the case.

It is tricky though, because how do they know for sure (other than the correspondence on the Airbnb system) that the host didn't pressurise the guest into changing the rating after the fact?

[Anna9170]

@Sarah977  My guest was very happy, wrote a great review and personal comment, rated everything 5*, but was driving, and did not click there and put 1 * total. She herself was very worried, wrote to support (sent me a PrintScreen), asked them to delete it if there is no way to edit it. So what? nothing))
Sometimes it should be possible, IMO.

[Sarah977]

@Anna9170  Yes, it's true that those things sometimes happen and there should be a way to rectify it. But  rather than a host or guest asking to change the rating hours or a day or two later, which could lead to abuse of that possibility by unscrupulous hosts or guests, it could be something as simple as there being a pop-up that appears right after finishing the review, that says to please take a look at the ratings you just left (that would be right there in the pop-up) to make sure you entered what you intended and then the user would have to confirm that before it was actually registered as submitted.

But really, not only should someone not be doing a review while driving, as it's illegal and dangerous, but they should wait to do a review until they can put a little time and thought into it. It would be a rare person who couldn't find 5-10 minutes in the course of 14 days, to sit down and write the review when they are relaxed and there aren't any other distractions.

[Anna9170]

@Sarah977   Ideally, it would be good to sit down quietly and consciously write your thoughts in the review, Yes. But in real life, guests simply can't imagine what a hellish vote counting system it is, and how even a 4* review can damage the host. They just don't give it that much weight, that's all. About actions while driving absolutely agree.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

I don't know if you remember, but Airbnb announced some time back on the CC that they were introducing exactly the system that you describe to prevent outlier reviews, i.e. if a guest left high ratings in the subcategories, but then left 1 star overall, a pop up would appear to ask them if they were sure.

I recently heard that this idea was scrapped. I have no idea why. It's annoying, because I assumed it was already in place. It's also annoying when Airbnb make a song and dance on the CC that they are responding to hosts' feedback by introducing such changes and then do no such thing.

I do think though that a guest who genuinely chooses to leave a 1 star review is very unhappy with a listing and not that likely to be coerced by the host into changing it, so if the guest says it was a mistake, it's probably true and Airbnb should listen.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

Yes, in an ideal world, but Airbnb keep making the guest review process more and more complicated. I don't know of many sites that require you to go through so many sections and questions (even if many are optional) unless you agree to a survey. That's what the guest review process seems to me: more of a full on survey than a simple star rating.

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  I agree, Airbnb is using guests as free data information gathering and to get them to say things they can later use as fodder to "investigate" a listing, even it's that the guest clicked on No, there wasn't any AC, even when none was offered in the first place. It's much more than a guest simply leaving a review and rating of where they stayed.

What seems odd to me is that Airbnb is so solicitous of guests, yet give them this onerous review form to fill out, which I can't imagine guests appreciate.

As I recall, that review change where it said a guest would get a pop-up if they rated less overall than the individual rating, said that guests would get that pop-up if they rated 3*s or less overall, while giving high category ratings, not 1*. But you're quite right, a guest who gives a 1-3* overall rating, unless it was just a fat finger or distraction situation, is not likely to change their rating, as it's their intention to tank the rating. However, in those cases, I doubt the guest would give 5* ratings in any category, don't you?

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

That's a good point. Yes, a guest who wants to tank the rating is unlikely to give 5 stars in any category.

What I meant though, was that this feature would be useful for the guest with the fat finger. It's a shame that it wasn't followed through on though if that is really the case.

I haven't been a guest in a year, so I am not sure. Anyway, I never had the fat finger problem, so I have no idea if this prompt exists or not. I just read here on the CC that the idea was canned.