The "new" host review form for guests to rate hosts

[Timothy19]

I just saw this on a FB hosting group and was shocked at how tedious this process has gotten for guests. I have several comments and questions.

1. Is this standard for ALL guests of ALL properties, or is this just aimed at select guests of select listings in order to verify the listing amenities, etc? This is literally 10 pages of questions (on mobile at least). 10 pages!

2. If this is standard practice now, well, wow. Does ABB expect guests to go through this whole thing every stay? ABB is pushing owners to get reviews get reviews get reviews....and then makes the get review process this cumbersome? I wouldn't be surprised if guests stop leaving reviews.

3. The entire "compares to your expectations" part seems like it will actually make the rating system WORSE than it was before. Guests already had trouble with ABB's interpretation of what 5 stars meant. We had owners pushing for 5* because ABB treated 4* like a bad rating. Now this new system looks even MORE geared to getting low ratings. Imagine you have a listing that just looks stunning....all the amenities in the world....picture perfect. The guest stays there with HIGH expectations and the owner delivers. "About the same as expected". That looks like a 3* rating equivalent. Even "better than expected" would only get this incredible listing a 4* equivalent rating.

----------- I think AirBnB just made their rating system WORSE!

[Rebecca181]

Well, that confirms it, then. Airbnb obviously wants to weed out all but the most 'Airbnb Plus' like listings, and they are getting the guests to do their dirty work for them by reporting on hosts' listings and having them act as unwitting spies. Will the insanity ever end?

[Oomesh-Kumarsingh0]

@Rebecca181 When it will end when the corporation will close it's doors.

[Vic30]

Dipping my toes in the water here, only been AirBnB-ing for less than year, wondering why I've just had only 2 out of last 6 guests post a review, now maybe I know why! Most of these were from US, don't want to go thru all that stuff. Can't blame them! Also got a 3-star review recently knocking my rating back, on reading whole review, find guest gave me 5 stars for everything except 'location'-like I'm gonna move my place (in a resort, self-contained environment) into town to keep 'em happy- yet AirBnB manage to convert that into a 3 star review! Sucks!!

[Mims0]

omg!! some of the expectations are unrealistic & unattainable. I have worked with RockStars that are less demanding than some of my guests! I had an adult man and his 15 year old son, tell me he was cancelling his reservation because the pictures showed 2 bedrooms and he was only getting one. Seriously!? you are an adult and you make a reservation based soley on photos?! you dont read the description or  house rules???!! Or any of the written information? good grief! And this is an acceptable reason to cancel? oyyyyyy vey! am a bit disillusioned at the moment

[Rebecca181]

@Mims0 Yep, after hosting now for over a year and having over 125 guests, I can confirm that most all guests look at photos and maybe the first couple of reviews, but they do not read the actual listing much, if at all. I had to get around this by stating in my House Rules that guests need to read my House Rules and agree to abide by them in writing before I will consider their reservation confirmed. The fact that this came as a surprise to most all of my prospective guests proved to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that they did not read my listing or House Rules, despite my stating that this was a requirement in my Summary. Meaning, most guests are not even reading our summaries.

[Mims0]

Would venture to say you are correct. I too, have hosted well over a hundred..... they have to check the box and " accept the terms of service", so they are signing that they have read and understand the rules..... go figure   😉

[Aurora62]

I recently stayed as guest through Airbnb and can confirm, this is the new reviewing process (and I don't think it's only for some but for all guests).

It's not only bad because it's long and tedious. It also gives the guest the feeling they have no control over what their final review is going to say. Sure, they can leave a great written review; but if answering honestly one of the initial questions ("was it as expected/better/worse?") makes them feel like they're forced to give a bad review (you understand that "same as expected" isn't seen as 5 stars, although it's the best compliment you can give to a listing), they are probably not going to leave a review.

I had about 90% guests leaving reviews, then the last 4 have left none. One even personally told me she had a great stay and would give me five stars, then confirmed this feeling I had: she said the reviewing process made her uncomfortable and feel like they were twisting her review for the worse, so she didn't complete it.

at this point, it's probably better this way, rather than receiving tons of 3* reviews for delivering exactly what you promised. sure, no superhost badge this way, but it's BS at these conditions.

[Fred13]

It struck me that this new type of 'review' is more designed to collect demographic data in order for Airbnb to have a clearer pictures of where their hosting stands today; and yes in the process discouraging many guest to not leave a review in the first place. This is unfortunate for those needing more reviews, and even for those that have more than enough for now they may not meet the 50% 'Trips Reviewed' criteria to remain Superhosts. Either way is a no-win situation for guests & hosts.

[Petra103]

This explaines a lot. The last reviews I got  were 2 or 3 stars, so as expected, or people who expected a luxery hotel like accommodation, which is not what I offer.  The pictures and listings are very clear, but people don’t read that, so they are disappointed not to get the luxery villa with private pool.

This resulted in my account being blocked forever. I am expecting this to happen to a lot more hosts, especially the ones that started renting out not long ago, like me.

Airbnb does. Not care about the hosts, but they don’t realize that without hosts, they won’t make any money.

[Elin1]

I have the same problem as you, I havent got that many reviews to start with since I only rent our house out a few times a year in the summer, so the last couple of guests who haven't used airbnb previously have given me lower ratings than I've ever gotten before, their only complaints have been about things that I either have no control over or have written in my ad which they clearly haven't read through, and they have really affected my overall rating. I've also gotten emails from airbnb saying that my listing risks being removed because of this.

When asking about the new review system and about the email I received and what it meant, I got a quite condescending response from airbnb by someone repeatedly calling me "Erin", not answering any of my questions and telling me instead that MY focus should be on improving my pictures (I know they're not good and I have planned to update them) which had nothing at all to do with what I was asking. They also linked me a help page on how to be a superhost - something that I'm not concerned with since I don't even have (or even can accomodate) the required 10 bookings a year and again, it had absolutely nothing to do with my question.

I just feel completely drained from the stress all of this has caused me and then the response from Airbnb. Sadly it's all currently overshadowing all of the really lovely memories I have from previous guests who have been the reason I've been doing this. 

[Dee32]

@ellin

Your house is beautiful I can't believe people can rent for this amount! Wow such a great listing. Keep your chin up! 

[Emily352]

The new review system is not a simple questionnaire to collect data. It has specific goals and objectives that will never be revealed. It is an impressive amount of data. You do not spend time and money just for statistical purposes.

The new revision system will determine an increase in the quantity of rejections and interruptions and, therefore, an overall decrease of the response rate (review), and this will determine inevitable distortions.

It is a questionnaire without filters. Is it useful for everyone to answer a certain question or should you rather introduce filters? For example, what’s the point in asking if there was an elevator when the apartment is on the ground floor?

Guests are in a hurry, have little time available and are intolerant of too long and tedious questionnaires. The drop in attention will cause the respondent to respond randomly, and in the typical case of multiple choice questions to position themselves on "refuge" response modalities such as "Not sure" in the case of semantic scales, or 3-4 in the case of quantitative scales 0-5, with sporadic deviations up or down.

Result? Excessive length will compromise the overall quality of the information collected, the value of which will become much lower than the expectations of AIRBNB.

[Cor3 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Emily352,

You are entirely right. Having said that though, there is a mathematical law, called: “Wisdom of the crowd”. So, when Airbnb can acquire enough answers from “semi”-experts (guests), the truth will slowly, but definitely bubble to the surface. Even better than what is actually listed by the owner (the expert). And still even better, when the individual answers may be of a somewhat poor quality.

Small example: In order to enter a property, one may have to enter 2 small doorsteps. An owner may consider this to be a flat entry. Whereas some guests may consider these as stairs. Maybe at best as a non-flat entry.

At Airbnb it is all about numbers. And they are aware of probability rates, influence of larger numbers, etc. They know, when to say: It is too close to call.

So don’t be surprised, when certain amenities will automatically be added or removed from a listing in due time.

A lot of hosts hate the location rating (hosts can’t move their property. Usually the location is also clearly listed or mentioned too). But for guests (so also pricewise), this is invaluable information! Even a distance of about 50 meters can make a huge difference! The view from one apartment may be marvelous, whereas the view from the adjacent apartment may be a bit cluttered. Another apartment may be at main street, whereas the adjacent apartment, is just around the corner.

All they are trying to achieve, is to capture basic human emotions in a mathematical model.

Don’t worry: All this data is not just meant to look at the hosts, they will also use this data to look at guests as well!

I.e.: When Airbnb notices that a particular area/accommodation in ‘general’ is rewarded lower by middle-aged guests from France. But being rewarded higher by younger guests from the UK. They can and will use this information in the provision of search results to potential guests.

End goal: As many bums on beds as possible, at a sustainable price. I would love to see that 1-page KPI report, which BC finds on his desk, every morning!

[Syl11]

@Cor3  Making sense now.....target marketing!  hope those guests fill out their survey reviews. 

[Vania36]

You're right. I did not complete the new guest review. I did not cooperate in the investigation.