review ratings

[Lisa8107]

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 . . .?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Lisa8107 I would say that Airbnb expects hosts to maintain a 4.7+ average and with you being new to hosting another two 4s from him would cause you a problem.

[Zheng49]

I wouldn't allow a self checkin in this case. When personally checking him in, talk to him about why he gave you a 4 star and what you need to do to get a 5 star review from him.

[Rebecca]

Hi @Lisa8107, 

Thank you for explaining your situation so clearly! What do you think of the ideas @Mike-And-Jane0 and @Zheng49 shared?

It would be great to hear how you decide to approach this in the end, as it might also help other Hosts in the future. 🙂

[Lisa8107]

As I didn't get much advice I think I will just stick to my idea of writing to him. I will be careful not to offend and just mention that there's no need for him to continue rating the same Airbnb unless there's a change in the score. If he continues to rate me 4 I might rate him 3 and warn other hosts of his low scores. I know we are not supposed to let a guest review of our place influence our own score of the guest but I find it unfair that he seems to refuse to score more than 4 when all the hosts have given him 5. Also he arrived early and was late checking out so it's not like he's the perfect guest. Reviews are so important to hosts. I hope giving him a low score  might stop him from booking my Airbnb in the future.

[Marie8425]

@Lisa8107 

One question I would have was it all 5 and an overall 4 or a 4 in a particular area?  If he gave you 5s on the individual items and a 4 overall.  Then I would just be honest that makes no sense and nothing you can improve.  

[Lisa8107]

@Marie8425 That is a good point. Unfortunately he did give me a 4 in every individual category except accuracy and check-in so an overall score of 4 makes sense in that regard. I suppose it's all subjective but I spend 3-4 hours cleaning a one bed flat and can guarantee that it is spotlessly clean when the guest checks in. I have never scored less than max on both Airbnb and Booking.com when it comes to cleanliness. There is no way I can improve on that. I was very communicative and location (which is great) I can't change. I very much doubt there is anything I can do to get a 5 from him. 

[Marie8425]

I would just ask then a Host Guest did it to me on cleanliness because I smoke in the living room something I told him is not only disclosed I discuss with every guest before arrival.  He agreed he had said no problem but it was he didn't say anything to me but felt I deserved a 3 on cleanliness.  Just because a host don't be blind to a problem.