Underhanded Guest Leaves Great Review - Low Star Rating

[Michelle1588]

So Airbnb allegedly "heard our cries" about retaliatory reviews and the stress and duress it causes some of their most hardworking hosts - so they offered to do something about it, beginning.... who knows, 2023?

Anyway, I've discovered a new more sinister, passive aggressive, covertly - hostile practice by more seasoned users posing as guests (20 to 30 positive reviews or more - and sometimes hosts themselves). 

They are writing excellent front end reviews that do not include any slander or language within that would cause it to be flagged and eligible to be taken down should a host call complaining about it being retaliatory in nature. 

Nope.How cunning. What they are doing now is smiling in your face, telling you how much they loved staying with you - then, on their flight home or somewhere when no one is looking - they add 2 stars to accuracy, 3 stars to value or this or that..... 

If those on the frontend were able to read the star rating created with the review they would be confused, as I was when it happened to me, twice. This is not to say I haven't learned anything about the "pro-type" who would most likely do this sort of thing - because I already read right here on this forum to look out for potential guests who:

1. Live locally

2. Have tens of 5 star reviews

3. Are hosts themselves

4. Don't have a photo

(these 2 guests fit all of these descriptions - except #2 lived out of country so she claimed - One was a baby boomer the other a millennial) 

It's well known that these can be signs or red flags of a difficult guest most hosts want to avoid. 

But what I wasn't prepared for is the contradicting style review and my best guess is - neither are Airbnb support reps, should I point this out. That's why I haven't called in to address this yet. It wasn't mentioned in the updated info to hosts on Airbnb. I am not looking for a solution but if you feel you have one - I'll read. I'm mostly writing this to bring attention to it and to find out if anyone has experienced it yet.

I'm not looking to be scolded or have my experience undermined in any way, so please do not do it. I won't read through replies that are mean-spirited, cold, self-righteous, know it all-ish, or patronizing. If you lack empathy, just skip this post. 

Hosting on Airbnb has afforded me the time to write 2 books, and many other creative aspirations and dreams of mine. I love doing it - no - I used to love doing it, but I've lost hope for it. I have one more book on my list of things to do before it's over for me .... I'm not sure if hosting through Airbnb is going to remain the revenue stream to help me achieve that goal. 

Things have gotten crazy, unpredictable, and there seems to be no way to spot these kind of guests who just to want to impose themselves on hosts, who are inconsiderate, and who will look for 1 reason to shoot your listing down so they can have an excuse to turn a blind eye to the tens of reasons to be appreciative of the space. 

I wonder if there is something in my listing attracting these types. I've thought this over for a while. I've made changes here and there as needed. I read the listing of Superhosts all across the map and studied their writings and listings and compared it to mine, to no avail. Am I saying too much, too little, like what is going on? There are too many variables involved.

Last 5 guest all 5 stars, but one contradicting star rating before and after these 5 almost made me lose my SH status. Airbnb is starting to feel like a job. If I want that exhausting feeling I'd go work for corporate again. But I don't want that feeling so I chose this because it made me feel good and like I was doing good in pleasing and having travelers enjoy their stay at my place. I like to serve. Now it just feels like catering to entitlement & the heavy dreadful feeling that comes with anticipating these undeserved and unpredictable ratings. 

I want to match with guests who are not trouble makers. It's been hard. Keep in mind, I am a live at home host. This is a different ball game and it requires some thought. It may have something to do with the type of mindset that draws a person to NYC. Like I said, so many variables I do not know where to start making it better. Thanks for reading! 

[Sarah5258]

I am fairly new to hosting, 9 months. I had a 5 star review rating, just recently I had a young girl stay with me and she left me a review like you stated her verbal words were really nice but then her star rating was a 3.

i was really confused and the way the air B&B has It set up when you see guest verbalization. It gives you the option to replied to it and I put in something really nice however I would not had if I had seen her star rating. But the way airbnb has it set up is you see the guest comment First. It gives you an option to comment. And then it takes you to the star rating. Which I think is absolutely annoying. I never would have said the kind words that I said had I seen her star rating. There were things that she did wrong, but when I saw her verbalization review was I figured she was leaving a good star rating as well. Very upsetting 

[Michelle1588]

Apologies for the late response, Sarah.

Unfortunately, this is a thing now. In the future, navigate to the section within the application (if it is available on your phone) where you can read the entire guest review, including the star rating. 

If you're unable to see it on the application wait until you're at your desktop computer to read it in full. 

***Hold back on leaving a comment until you have seen the review in its entirety. 

I empathize with your disappointment. The brighter days of air b&b seem to be over for a large section of their host inventory. For many hosts, there are just as many stresses to take in as there are dollars. It didn't take long for this company to transform itself into the corporate monster that political & corporate greed pressures create. A significant amount of hosts are affected and no no one cares enough about it.

Too many hosts are complacent and easily conform to new sets of forced ideals that do not benefit us. This used to be a great way to meet new people, do nice things for others, promote & establish multicultural friendships, and make good money while doing it. That has changed so much and as a consequence created more work for us!

Hosts must now diligently vet guests before saying "yes," especially if you live in the accommodation.

And that doesn't always work either. The system itself is set up to make things difficult or challenging. I guess hosting was too easy, pleasant and beneficial at first 😞

I wish you the best on your hosting journey for as long as you can do it. You can do it for as long as you can!