Reviews and disappearing listing

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Reviews and disappearing listing

Hi, I am currently in a rather poor value situation, where the accommodation is of low quality (e.g. a 49sqft "room"), and the host seems to me rather mean, and the price is the same or higher as much better listings I have been in the same area,  so I am going to leave a 2-3 star review (not a negative one). But I have noticed by looking at the host's page that the same room was previously advertised with a different listing, which has then vanished. My guess is that they know well how bad value is their listing, and they make the negative comments disappear by re-listing the same room from scratch in some way or another.

 

How do I contact AirBnb to alert them to this possible trick?

1 Best Answer
Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Piercarlo6 

 

Piercarlo I assume you did compare other listings in your area search before you booked this property. I am not saying this is an honest or a dishonest host but, you were not compelled to book that property. And as @Mike-And-Jane0 says some hosts will lower their listing prices for imminent dates to maintain occupancy. 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing!

 

Also as a host, I to have an issue with both the Value and the Location categories.

The latter is easy.....the guest booked it and I can't move it to where they ideally wanted it.

But where this ties in with value, the guest booked the listing because they couldn't afford one where they wanted it! So now I am the villain  because my price was right but my location wasn't.

See, it's a totally dopey category and one I have been marked down on a number of times! 

 

Value: 

I am not saying you are bringing up an unwarranted issue here  but Piercarlo you booked the listing and if it was not as described in the listing description and you can prove that, you have the right to lodge a claim and request a partial refund from the Airbnb Resolution Centre. 

But from my point of view value is a subjective thing. I am the one who goes along to my local supermarket manager and negotiates a deal to make cheeses, eggs, bacon, milk, fruit, bread as  cheap as possible so I can provide my guests with, value.......value you would have no hope of achieving, but I am currently on a value rating of 4.92!!!

That is 8 % of my guests felt I didn't provide value for them. Considering I charge $95.00 AU pr night (£ 50. 52p) I could bloody well give it away, just come in and help yourself, it still wouldn't represent value to some guests, and no matter how hard I try, for some that value bar is never going to be low enough! And as a consequence of that, we end up with a 2-3 star review and I consider that, not fair!.

So that is why my post may seem a bit critical!

 

Cheers..........Rob 

 

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6 Replies 6
Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Piercarlo6 As host I have never understood the value rating. As a guest presumably when you booked the place it was good value and other cheaper/better places were not available. By booking the place you were guaranteed accommodation and able to book travel etc. Now, just because other unbooked hosts are putting firesale prices out there why does that make your choice poor value?

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Piercarlo6 

 

Piercarlo I assume you did compare other listings in your area search before you booked this property. I am not saying this is an honest or a dishonest host but, you were not compelled to book that property. And as @Mike-And-Jane0 says some hosts will lower their listing prices for imminent dates to maintain occupancy. 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing!

 

Also as a host, I to have an issue with both the Value and the Location categories.

The latter is easy.....the guest booked it and I can't move it to where they ideally wanted it.

But where this ties in with value, the guest booked the listing because they couldn't afford one where they wanted it! So now I am the villain  because my price was right but my location wasn't.

See, it's a totally dopey category and one I have been marked down on a number of times! 

 

Value: 

I am not saying you are bringing up an unwarranted issue here  but Piercarlo you booked the listing and if it was not as described in the listing description and you can prove that, you have the right to lodge a claim and request a partial refund from the Airbnb Resolution Centre. 

But from my point of view value is a subjective thing. I am the one who goes along to my local supermarket manager and negotiates a deal to make cheeses, eggs, bacon, milk, fruit, bread as  cheap as possible so I can provide my guests with, value.......value you would have no hope of achieving, but I am currently on a value rating of 4.92!!!

That is 8 % of my guests felt I didn't provide value for them. Considering I charge $95.00 AU pr night (£ 50. 52p) I could bloody well give it away, just come in and help yourself, it still wouldn't represent value to some guests, and no matter how hard I try, for some that value bar is never going to be low enough! And as a consequence of that, we end up with a 2-3 star review and I consider that, not fair!.

So that is why my post may seem a bit critical!

 

Cheers..........Rob 

 

Nice post Rob!!

The value promised in the listing and the value of the accommodation can be completely different things, I guess that's pretty obvious as we are all quite familiar with advertising.

 

The value rating in the after-the-trip report is about the actual quality/price ratio of the accommodation as experienced by the guest, and in this case it turns out that the accommodation is very low quality, way below the quality of other AirBnb places in the area, while the price is average for the area, one to which I return often.

Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Piercarlo6 One other thought. a 2 or 3 star review is a negative review. Hosts can and do get their listings suspended below an average of 4.3

Sandra856
Level 10
Copenhagen, Denmark

Dear @Piercarlo6 🌿

It is possible to snooze a listing if a host needs some vacation, the listing needs renovation or because the listing is unavailable because of whatever reason. I do very often snooze my listing if I need a break from hosting or a break from receiving requests etc. Reviews always follow the host - so you as a guest will be able to see ALL reviews ever given to your host   - including reviews giving to the currently snoozed listing. 
So if you visit your host’s profile you will see all reviews in cronological order - also from the snoozed listing.