Accuracy Ratings - such a stupid system

[Mearns]

My last message; how do you cancel a wrong post?

[Wilburforce]

I don’t actually know. But seeing the only thing that came through to me was (addressed to wrong person) I guess you did it!

[faheem]

@jaquo

I hope that you’re right, @faheem - but no, I haven’t contacted them. I tend to weigh up the time and mental anguish involved versus moving on to the next guests and maintaining a positive attitude

Oh, come now. All you have to is write them a couple of lines. Saying, basically. “I noticed you gave me 1 stars, which is the worse possible. What can I do to improve the experience?” Then forget you sent them the email. Maybe a couple of minutes of work. Not really much by way of pain and anguish.

There are two relatively likely outcomes

1. no reply
2. a reply which says, no, we meant to give you the best possible rating. Or, possibly - “ratings? What are ratings?”

In the case of (2), contact Airbnb and ask them to fix the rating. The much less likely outcome is that they write back and say that they did mean to give you all 1 stars. I find that hard to imagine.

But I don’t know what I’m doing giving advice to a veteran host.

[Malagachica]

@jaquo IFYP (My new favourite acronym) I admire you very much for the moving on and keeping a positive mental attitude thingy … my own solution is to mentally stick pins in the voodoo doll of the bastards who gave us a ONE for location. @Barthelemy is right though about the averaging out of stars … for us that doesn’t work so well, as we tend to have longer stays so it’s more difficult to build up the number of reviews.

@faheem - ah, you are giving us the balanced, rational point of view. We don’t want that. We want to poke out the ungrateful jerk(s)’ eyes out with sharp stick. And then send them to Chen Suzanne for Guest Reeducation.

@Wilburforce[quote=“Wilburforce, post:17, topic:6507”]
I think Airbnb should make the guest respond to a question if the rating is below what the host normally receives -
[/quote]

Good idea - but I don’t see how it would be enforceable - they’d be relying on the guest’s goodwill, and they’ve already shown they don’t have much of that by giving the low star rating.

[Lucy_R]

@faheem

2. a reply which says, no, we meant to give you the best possible rating. Or, possibly - ratings? What are ratings?

I’ve had this response twice when asking guests who left glowing text reviews why their star ratings were lower. Both times I asked the guests to contact AirBnB to correct it, and both guests claimed to have tried, but that AirBnB told them the review could not be changed.

I’d love to know if anyone else has had a similar situation fixed!

[Yana]

That’s a great idea, and unless guests writes something there he can’t rate it less than 5*

[Mearns]

I am in total agreement Malagachica, these people need to pay, drawn and quartered and maybe then should be forgiven.

[faheem]

@Malagachica

@faheem - ah, you are giving us the balanced, rational point of view. We don’t want that. We want to poke out the ungrateful jerk(s)’ eyes out with sharp stick.

First, perhaps, find out if the guest meant what was recorded. If the guest did, then it’s poke-eye-with-sharp-stick time.

@Malagachica

Good idea - but I don’t see how it would be enforceable - they’d be relying on the guest’s goodwill, and they’ve already shown they don’t have much of that by giving the low star rating.

Um, it would help make certain the guest actually knew what he/she was doing. So, yes, it’s a good idea. But that doesn’t mean Airbnb will do it. But you could suggest it to them.

(Maybe we should collect suggestions/wishlist items people post about here and submit it to Airbnb as a list…)

[faheem]

@Lucy_R

I’ve had this response twice when asking guests who left glowing text reviews why their star ratings were lower. Both times I asked the guests to contact AirBnB to correct it, and both guests claimed to have tried, but that AirBnB told them the review could not be changed.

No, you should contact Airbnb yourself.

@Lucy_R

I’d love to know if anyone else has had a similar situation fixed!

(Raises hand.) I did. I could send you the correspondence from Airbnb by PM if you wanted. See the lengthy thread: Weirdly low star ratings on review. See particularly @Yana_Agapova’s comments. She correctly assessed that the guest had given me those ratings by mistake. If it hadn’t been for her, I would probably not have contacted Airbnb. And towards the end I add a brief summary of the resolution.

The Airbnb rep said they don’t normally change reviews, but they would make an exception in my case. But I bet if you wrote to them quoting the guest’s email, they would make an exception. They probably don’t want to have hosts pressuring guests to change their reviews (which I can understand), hence that statement.

[felixcat]

“It’s always a one-time courtesy exception.” I’m so SICK of that line.

[faheem]

@felixcat

I’m so SICK of that line.

Old wounds? Do tell.

[faheem]

Hi @felixcat,

Wow, how horrible. They’re obsessed with that stupid no-cancellation policy. Thanks for sharing. Speaking of wishlist items, what IB needs is a personal (per host) blacklist. I.e. a “WE DON’T WANT TO SEE THIS PEOPLE AGAIN IN THIS LIFETIME” list.

[Mearns]

Should be a matter of policy, since should fall under common sense. I am thrilled to hear I still have my ‘one-time courtesy’ available, a bummer you already punched your ticket @felix . LoL

[faheem]

@Mearns

these people need to pay, drawn and quartered and maybe then should be forgiven.

I sense a lynch mob forming. (Nah, just kidding.)

[Mearns]

Like the ‘Storming of the Bastille’; I still have many pitchforks left, if anyone needs one.

[Lucy_R]

I did first contact AirBnB myself, quoting my correspondence with the guest, and both times they insisted that the guest must be the one to request the change. Perhaps it’s a bit of a lottery in terms of which particular rep you get. In my case it just didn’t feel worth the time involved to push it.

[faheem]

@Lucy_R

I didfirst contact AirBnB myself, quoting my correspondence with the guest, and both times they insisted that the guest must be the one to request the change. Perhaps it’s a bit of a lottery in terms of which particular rep you get. I’m my case it just didn’t feel worth the time involved to push it.

Apparently so (re lottery). Sorry to hear that… Airbnb seems quite erratic and inconsistent. I wonder, can we ask for a different rep if we don’t like the one we get?

[SuiteRetreat]

@faheem

can we ask for a different rep if we don’t like the one we get?

Within the first 30 secs I can tell if I’ve got a dud. I just want to say “um never mind” hangup then try again. I think I’m going to do that next time it happens (even if it means sitting on hold again).

[faheem]

@SuiteRetreat

Within the first 30 secs I can tell if I’ve got a dud. I just want to say “um never mind” hangup then try again. I think I’m going to do that next time it happens (even if it means sitting on hold again).

Sounds like a plan. I’m impressed you can tell so fast. But what happens if you get the same person again? That actually happened to me once recently. I basically hung up on some guy because I got tired of trying to talk to him. Only to get him again. Embarrassing

[Maggieroni]

@faheem
Start with, how long have you worked at Airbnb (in a cheery voice) then ask how do they train you? Ha ha