I have a holiday let in Bath, which is coming into it's second year. I am listed on Airbnb and Booking.com. Though Airbnb is my preferred platform, I don't like the score system of 1-5. As a host you need to be close to a 5 rating or you might as well close your business. I have 13 reviews and had a score of 5 until my last guest gave me a 4 which reduced my overall rating to 4.92. I made a personal comment to the guest about the score and that any feedback would be appreciated so I can improve. He didn't respond. Now the same guest has booked my place twice again. I am of course grateful for the bookings but I dread what another two scores of 4 will do to my overall rating. I have done some research about the guest and can see that he consistently rate 4 wherever he stays. I would love some suggestions on how to go about this. I don't feel comfortable to prompt the guest to score me a 5. Could I maybe explain the situation to the guest and ask him not to give me a review? After all he has already reviewed me once. I assume a guest is allowed not to review after a stay? On Booking.com many guests don't bother reviewing but on Airbnb it almost seems compulsory? On his profile it says that he is also a host so he might be offended if I lecture him on ratings. Then again, as a host he ought to know how important ratings are.
What to do . . .?
