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!

[Cormac0]

@Timothy19

I wonder what the default setting are for these questions?

[Aurora62]

..empty? no default

[Simon385]

Totally agree. The rating criteria is now nonsensical. It was bad before as it allowed for no “nuances” in experience. Individuals also have very different expectations and further Abnb must understand cultural differences on how people rate. This is so bad now that I’m thinking of switching listing to a different site. 

[Elly0]

Hi all,
They'll be having another Host Q&A and I've just submitted this issue.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Q-A/Guest-rating-system/idi-p/793601

Up vote (thumbs up) this to get this on their radar, or also post your own.

[Debbie338]

This explains the weird comments that have recently been generated like ‘kitchen cleanliness ‘ when I know for a fact it was clean..I also just got thru asking abb cs for a list of what they ask guests to review, so we would at least know what to expect and of course it was avoided..when I get a statement like ‘kitchen cleanliness ‘..I want to know what exactly they are referring to! Was it a spot on the floor? Etc..because for example I’ll get a sparkling clean comment ..then a 4star on cleanliness in the same review..whatever is going on it’s making me crazy and so paranoid if something is out of place ..where as in the last year it was fun and comfortable to host..now it’s a fear there’s going to be some ding on the ratings..it’s like Airbnb just encourages the guests to nitpick or something ..sad...

[Sonia323]

I am actually quite shocked by this and had no idea that this 'new' way of rating the host / experience was in place.  I have had 100% responses until now and in the last 3 /4 weeks 2 guests have not left a review and one even rated my kitchen (which is not for sharing), the additional guest price (which is on the listing) and the price which is raised due to the huge demand during the Edinburgh Festival.  I have been marked down and feel let down by ABB.  As a proud Superhost and someone that has had to open our home to strangers due to the financial crisis that we are still in I am now seriously considering leaving ABB.

[Victoria567]

Hi @Sonia323

I am getting quite tired of the march of the entitled guest this season,who think its OK to treat me like a servant and my family home like a hotel.

To quote  Sir Bruce Forsyth....”It’s NICE to be nice”.....but this season ...thankfully only 4 months worth, has seen a spate of food fads, food intolerances, “allergies” etc......never previously experienced before.

Having working in a professional capacity in the NHS , for several decades,Ive seen more of these food intolerances during the month of August (where I had two bedrooms at full occupancy) than during my entire career!

Only this month of August I’ve had “allergies” to 

Plums, apples,cherries, citrus, lactose, wheat, barley, gluten, fragrance.

 If you have time look up YouTube,  JP Sears How to become gluten intolerant.

Being worried about the advent of the ambulance chasing lawyer from such entitled folk, I have been really draconanian with my house rules including that my home is not suitable for Nut allergies, food intolerances or allergies, as it IS my family home and not a hospital setting!

[Victoria567]

Hi @Sonia0

I stayed in a great air bnb in Edinburgh last week.

It as my first experience of the new guest review system, first hand.

It took me all of 2 minutes....you have to be either a total illiterate not to understand or quickly complete it.....for goodness sake it’s even got nice wee icons in case you cannot read!

No we are all suffering less guest reviews......even from a pair of ‘Philadelphia lawyers’ who I assume must be able to read and write.

Sadly they were part of the growing breed of entitled guest, who give tiddly squat about writing a guest review....why should they?.....air bnb is a cheap commodity to them, a much cheaper alternative to a hotel but the entitled guest expects or even demands, 24/7 service and full attention in our family homes.......I’m nobody’s servant btw!

These entitled guests delusionally think we are a cheapo version of the Hilton plus they can’t be arsed to courteously bother to write us hosts a review......why should they?.....they’ve paid for a room what more should they do?

[Emilia42]

@Victoria, I agree with you. I just recently sat through the review process as a guest. It was super easy and super quick. Click, click, click on a few yes or no questions and then a short and sweet blurb as the written review. I have not noticed a drop in reviews. In fact more guest this summer have left me reviews then I expected. Personally, I don’t think the new review process has anything to do with a guest leaving a review or not. Some guests just don’t see the point or could care less about a review whether or not it takes a full 2 minutes to complete.

[Victoria567]

Hi @Emilia0

like you I have found the guest review process super quick and easy.

I have found a drop in reviews but my theory is, that it’s the entitled guests who can’t bother themselves to pen a review.

The last 2 seasons I’ve had nearly 100% reviews completion rate.

This year it has dropped......every last single one of them, entitled guests.....one Philadelphia lawyer a bit miffed as she had been waiting at the front of my home for an hour......well check in is at 16:00 hours......I arrived at 15:58........No review.

[Emily352]

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₥   ₥   ₥   ₥   ₥   ₥   ₥   ₥    STOP THE NEW REVIEW SYSTEM

[Elly0]

Hmm, I wonder if Airbnb has in fact simplified the review system (listening to our feedback!). In June at least, I had a severe drop in reviews, but now I'm getting mostly all guests reviewing again. This matched with these recent posts here who have also been guests recently, saying it was easy to leave a review.

[Christine615]

In all honesty can we do this for guests (actually - I'm being facetious).

!. Did guest leave hair in the bathroom and on the linens.
2. Did guest leave linens stained?
3. Did guest tidy up before leaving?
4. Did guests bring in uninvited guests?

5. Did guests bring pets, ghosts, poltergeist, drugs, filth, bad attitudes, bad karma, etc?
6. Did guest act like they were in the witness protection program?
7. Did guest act like they were part of European royalty?
8. Did you make a love connection with the guest?
9. Did the guest creep you out?
10. Was this a SugarBaby hookup? Was your space used for illicit  purposes.

11. Were there drugs? Did they share? 
12. Are you still willing to be an Airbnb host after this guest?

🙂

I'm just being funny but.......Fill in more because honestly, I was a guest and when I checked out in August I got hit with this idiotic multipage evaluation. No wonder some guests don't leave reviews. You need to set aside an hour to fill it out.

Even hotels don't do this. Is there ANYONE awake in Airbnb management? I mean, what is going on up there?

Sigh

[Tony134]

Hi All, I'm late to the party here, I had no idea this happened because I stopped following my reviews.

Even without being aware, I covered the solution pretty well in my post. If you are upset about this, or Airbnb policy and CS team always seeming to be asleep(poster above me), please keep posting in the following thread:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/How-to-Start-Fixing-Airbnb-CS-and-Many-Common-Issues/m-p...

The squeaky wheel gets the grease.