@Jefferson I can’t help but think that “Would you stay with us again? This is a 5-star review” actually raises the stakes instead of lowering them. I’ve rarely stayed in an Airbnb that I would stay in again. Your scale would not guide me to give them a 5-star review. I give the 5-stars if it is accurately described, it’s not filthy and the host doesn’t hit on me (true story 
). But if a 5-star depended on me wanting to stay there again, well I would be pinging hosts left and right. “Staying with you again” really seems like a 6-star, not a 5-star 
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Really? We generally enjoyed the places that we stayed in. Mostly, that is our trips to Europe.
We don’t feel that it “raises the stakes” and think that guests “get it”. Our goal is to avoid getting 4 stars by accident. If a guest feels that we fell shy, we want to know what needs improvement.
Our intent of “would you stay with us again” is not literal. We think that guests get the message and also have a great local area guide with many highlights, maps and photos. There is obvious effort into building it along with all the touches throughout the stay. We’re taking the new one to a whole new level.
If there is one thing that irritates me more than old testament like house rules, it’s folks who tout for reviews, and then also try to tell me what I should be leaving.
We had this in January when a co host said to me “you’ll be leaving 5* then”, which means it is solid guarantee that it is not going to happen. Takes away from the overall experience if a host pressures for specific review, in my opinion.
JF
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I agree… if someone tells me to leave a great review. This case is different because I’m not going to be directly messaging them to leave a good review. I want to add an page in the house manual book, which is only 2 pages currently. If people don’t read the manual book, then they aren’t going to see it. I don’t know the percentage of how many people actually read the house manual book. I am hoping this will be subtle enough that it’s not so in their face about it.
I’m assuming guests who wants to leave a 4-star review will continue to leave a 4-star review. I only want to inform guests who thinks 4-star review is a positive review. If I can change the mindset of those few guests, then this would be worth it.
Yeah, me too. But I tend to book last minute and end up taking what I can get, so many of the places are not something I would seek out a second time. They might be okay but I couldn’t say, “I would stay again”.
It doesn’t seem metaphorical or figurative 
But if you take your hosting to a whole new level, you won’t need to hassle your guests for 5-star reviews 
I don’t like review guidelines in addition to the one Airbnb provides.
I have 600 reviews. 590 5 star; 8 4 star; 1 3 star and a single one star which was by mistake. That’s the only one that really bothers me. I did talk to her about it to make sure it didn’t happen again because she had already booked her return trip with me. Her written review was over the top praising the place so anyone could figure out the deal if they saw it.
I don’t have a guide I just try to provide the best possible service and room I can.
I suppose my bias against review guidelines is that they remind me of students asking for grades other than what they earned. Anyway, other hosts feel comfortable doing what they do, it doesn’t affect me and if I stayed in an airbnb with a guide it wouldn’t affect my rating of them.
LOL. We don’t have this level of faith in new guests. We’ll stay the course until the wind changes.
I’ve grappled with leaving a “star rating tutorial” for guests. Out of 185 or so stays, I’ve only received two 4* reviews - of course those reviews were combined with 5 stars in all categories, and glowing written reviews. 
In my shared space I don’t have a “house manual”, I just usually go through any “points of interest” (AKA quirks) on the tour. Since re-opening, I give a very brief 2 minute masked tour, and leave a one page print out of anything they need to know. At the bottom I’ve added:
Message or text with any questions, issues, or needs during you stay - we strive to provide you with a 5-Star experience - no ask is too big or small!
I need to fine tune the verbiage (suggestions?), but do you think the 5* mention is subtle enough and not too bossy?
@yecatsr. For you, I would not change a thing, except maybe to build out more of a guest guidebook that they can refer to with favorite restaurants by cuisine, places of interest, etc.
Two 4 stars out of 185 … the results indicate that you are hitting it on all cylinders. Why mess with near-perfection?
Your short blurb encouraging guests to reach out with asks, etc is nice. I don’t think the mention is remotely “bossy” or negative. It states your direct intention to “wow your guests” and encourages them to reach out for any needs. Frankly, I LOVE it and will run it by Amy later today. We may well steal it, if you don’t mind.
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I think your message is okay. When educating guests about the Airbnb star ratings, what can backfire is if the guests feel they are being manipulated into leaving a 5* review. An explanation of how the ratings are applied to hosts by Airbnb is simply information they can do with as they like.
What guests need to understand is that hosts aren’t upset about 4* reviews because we all think our places are so fantastic or we’re such incredible hosts- it’s simply because of how Airbnb deals with hosts’ ratings. If Airbnb didn’t threaten hosts about how they need to improve if they get consistent 4* ratings, I can’t imagine any hosts would care one way or the other.
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Agree 100%. That was tacky as heck. There are ways to spin that properly and that’s not it. As fellow hosts, if that was the only bit off, we would let it go and perhaps give them private feedback.
For instance, two years ago we stayed in southern France during a brutal heatwave. The stay was lovely but had no fan - we got very little sleep. We still gave her 5 stars but privately recommended that she get a few fans ASAP.
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Not at all! Thanks for the compliments. I think even after the covid masking/distancing I will just keep leaving the print out in the room and keeping the tour brief. Guests these days, as opposed to when I first started, seem to want less interaction and appreciate the shorter tour!
I have a guide book online, does anyone even look at these? Honestly we have soooo many restaurants per capita and very close to me, the choices are endless. Guests do sometimes ask me in person what I recommend. I do my best but it’s tough with budget concerns (or not) and dietary restrictions. I need to get better at this I guess.
Tons of maps and brochures of hiking, bike paths and local attractions in the room. (Now being aired out in the sun between reservations 
haha)
Most of my guests seem to prefer to do their own online research, again, less interaction these days!
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I think that’s fine. You’re just saying “5-star” in place of words like “comfortable,” “perfect,” etc.
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OK, thanks for the feedback. I’ll stop stressing about it!
This is probably the best way that I’ve seen this done. It does have a subtlety that’s better. Also, it makes it about the guest’s needs and not about the host’s needs (looking at you @Jefferson ) and that kind of approach is what 5-Star reviews are made of 
This wouldn’t offend me as a guest like the other “education about how hosts need the guest to give a 5-star review” approaches.
It’s not about faith in the guests. It’s about faith in your listing and your hosting. I have the 236 100% 5-stars reviews with 60%+ new users to prove that new users don’t need an education about what they can do for you for your rating. It’s distasteful for you put that on your guests. The way you say it is offensive and needy, IMO.
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Yes, some do. Maybe once a month someone will mention having looked at my guide book online. For any guest who shows interest in having recommendations, I email them pdfs of my guides prior to their stay. This way they can make plans, reservations, buy tickets, etc but I leave a hard copy of the guides in the apt for everyone. During Covid, we are just rotating them out if they don’t need to be reprinted. By the time we re-use them, they’ve been sitting for at least a couple of weeks. If they are marred in any fashion, we print another copy.
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Yes indeed! I’m wasting a lot of paper these days with all the reprinting!
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Are they getting dirtier than before? It doesn’t seem like we are re-printing more than usual. But we did print out 5 copies of everything to be able to rotate them. If it’s only one page that is funky, then we only print that one page. I guess that page protectors or lamination could be disinfected but I don’t think I’d like that too much, so we’ll continue printing. We do use the rejects for scratch paper at least.
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I agree. I have a laminating machine but just prefer to print out new copies rather than wipe them down every time.
I exaggerated a little on the paper wasting…I don’t have that many print outs, but the ones that I do I just print new ones. It’s the maps and brochures that are a pain! Luckily I have multiples.
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No guides or printed house book anymore here.
One laminated, double sided information thingy with QR codes for WiFi and local recommendations.
So far, appears to be going down well and adds to the guest perception that you’re taking this shit seriously.
JF