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We are renting 3 bedrooms and bath during the summer only. We have had a great first season. Lots of lessons learned. Our reviews have been 4 star. The only complaints are that the rooms are hot and that it is a shared space. Our listing does not offer Air Con as an amenity. We provide fans. However it has been an wild unseasonable hot summer. So I am not unhappy with 4 stars. The shared thing drives me crazy as our listing specifically says shared and says our 25 year old son s on site. Reviews say what a pleasant guy he is so I doubt he is the problem. I think they just assume it is private when they read 3 rooms & private bath. Again, we can live with the 4 stars.
Here is the problem. Just had an email from Air BNB saying our account has been suspended for only having 4 stars. Is 4 stars so awful?
Now we are closed till spring and will plan on getting Air Con units for the space and be even more explicit about it being shared when we start up in May. But someone here was saying new listings get more prominence. Should we shut down entirely and begin again next spring? (Now the 8 months are just blocked off).
With verified identity, it would be really hard to start over again. I hate how people get suspended for 4 starsā¦thatās still āabove averageā in any rational system. Youāll be okay since you were planning to shut down for the off-season anyway. Iād consider buying a few window AC units (buy them now on clearance!) and have them available for the hot days. And in your main description going forward put prominently āthis is a shared space in our homeā front and center.
Thanks Sarah, that is what we were thinking. I donāt know how much more prominent we can be on the shared, sine we name our son and say what he does for a living!! I guess ppl donāt read. We will try!
Do Airbnb explicitly state anywhere that theyāll shut you down for anything less than 5 stars? Iām not doubting what has been said! Iām just amazed by it and Iām curious to see it written down somewhere. Anyone have a link?
There is a new host on my street, charging about ten dollars more a night than I do, and she has been getting 4 stars while everyone raves about loving her place in the writen commentary. Iām wondering if sheāll get booted.
I canāt figure out why the 4 stars when I get almost straight 5ās. We both rent MILs without kitchens, but she lists as a separate unit and I list as a room in my home. Her house is beautiful and mine is clean and tidy but nothing fancy (hers is a 100 year old renovated farmhouse vs. my mid-century ranch home). The only thing I can think of is that her house is harder to find than mine and it can be confusing to know where to park.
Is it all newly renovated? Maybe because itās old it looks dirty? Iāve been in older homes where things are older and worn and though itās clean, it just doesnāt look like it. Iām also mystified by why someone would be suspended for 4 stars.
@Martha is has been repeatedly pointed out that people donāt read. Are they sharing with your son and other guests or only with other guests?
The home was just purchased in the spring and I saw work being done to get it ready for sale. Of course everything looked amazing in the real estate pictures, but she re-used those in her listing instead of taking new pics. Presumably she has different furniture, so maybe that is causing the four-star ratings. Guests rave about the beauty of the home and complain about parking and finding the houseā¦ who knows!
Do you list it as āentire homeā or āprivate roomā?
By definition āentire homeā has to have a door that locks between the hostās space, and the guest space.
We have āprivate roomā but we offer 2 bedrooms, and thatās annoying because air doesnāt give me the option to enter ā2ā under number of bedrooms. I have to say itās 1 bedroom but then in my description plaster the words ā2 bedroomsā. We are about to start construction on re configuring things so we can list it as āentireā.
And yes, if you list it as āentireā then they are not going to understand that you son is actually right there in the space.
Sorry about the suspension, though. As a shopper of airbnb listings I see more and more with less than 5 stars. How can they suspend for 4 stars?
Also, whatās the point of the āsuper hostā designation if you get suspended for getting 4 stars? Why basically force everyone to be practically super hosts, and then suspend them for still getting a real life āabove averageā rating of 3.5-4? Sure, suspend them if theyāre consistently 2-3s, but 4 is good in real life!
We show as private room(s) with an option of 1-2- or 3. The site is awful for this. When 2 people book there is no option for 2 rooms, so I have to ask them if they are a couple and want one room or 2. Drives me nuts. Hotel sites have solved this problem so Air should too! Whatever we plaster in the description doesnāt get read by many guests! Very frustrating and irritating to get 4 stars on description and amenities (no air) when the description does not promise whole house and Air.
That said we were fully booked all season and have all winter to redo the description and by some Air Con Units. I will NOT promise central Air, even with the window units!
You could create separate listings for each room and put in your description that if someone was coming with a larger group youāll offer a discount on booking more than 1 room. You could sync the calendars and actually have a way to book all 3 rooms or rooms individually. I know thereās people on here that do this, but I donāt have a listing that this would work for so i havenāt tried.
But if someone was filtering for 3 guests, the first double room wouldnāt come up.
We have this kind of problem. We have 2 double rooms but we donāt rent them separately (we think the resulting shared bathroom wouldnāt give guests a great experience) so weāve come up with a slightly clumsy explanation in our listing. It seems to work but we are always frustrated that it might be a bit confusing.
I have now been reinstated. There was a button to click to be reinstated, with a firm and silly admonishment to read tips for hosts. Also a little threat that if my ratings donāt improve I could get suspended or cancelled. I do think it is bizarre. The reviews are all quite positive and the guests have all been lovely intelligent people.
I have had 5 stars in all but one category, so I think I am very close to five stars, but my listing has never shown partial stars. The only issues have been the two - no air con (We are in Canada, usually not necessary, and not promised) and the son in the house (but saying he was nice, just expected whole house) This when the listing is shared.
Oh and we did have a couple who slightly complained that they only saw the son once during their 10 day visit!!! Go figure.
We will go back to it in May and see what happens and then, if suspended will raise a ruckusā¦
@Geddy3 We found the same and next year will list as 3 bedrooms, private bath, accommodates up to 6
at a higher price. No more one room option.
Truly Idiotic. I wish you could edit the title of your Post to āAir suspended us for being 4 starā. I would love to hear if this is happening to others. Itās outrageous and shows how stupid their rating system is. Maybe as guests are filling out the ratings, anything below 5 star should stay, āAir ought to suspend this listing and talk to the hostā.
