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That’s wild! I remember Dario from when I first started hosting 3 years ago, and he already had bad reviews. I think he got too big, too fast. A lot of the reviews were that he nickled-and-dimed everything like extra towels, and that they couldn’t actually get ahold of anyone to come on site and assist with issues. I’ve seen other professional hosts (not Dario) with reviews like, “I was given a different address in a different neighborhood” and “Nobody answered the phone so I couldn’t check in. I ended up getting a hotel room.” I can’t believe AirBnB leaves these listings up since surely these guests never use the platform again.
Then again, the first time I used AirBnB as a guest in 2015, I was moved from Burbank to Anaheim (an hour away) and had to spend $60 on an airport shuttle to get back to Burbank. I didn’t think to complain to the company or insist my reservation be canceled. I mentioned this in my review and the listing stayed up and nothing ever happened. I didn’t realize the company wasn’t actually monitoring the reviews.
I’m sure they found some in-home hosts to fall for it and testify. There’s a house on my street that used to be a STR even before AirBnB, but it’s a mom-and-pop rather than investment situation. The family retired to one of the islands and put the house up for rent as a vacation home so they could have a place to stay themselves when they were in the city. As soon as they heard regulations were coming, they closed up shop! I can imagine AirBnB found some small-time hosts to sucker into thinking, “this will hurt my business too!”
One would think. But I’ve hosted many people who tell me of their substandard experiences at Airbnbs but they are still using it. And Airbnb must figure it’s a free market. If the bad reviews are there and people keep booking them, who are they to interfere? Here’s excerpts from a review I read recently (the review is from this month as well) for a very upscale entire home rental. I’m guessing the guest is referring to bad experiences in pricey Airbnbs. bold text mine
My experiences with AirBnB have been by and large poor. The places are never clean enough, there are endless issues and clutter in the space. In almost every instance I’d gladly shell out 2-3x the price of the best Airbnb for a luxury hotel. When you have a bigger group and a 1 year old it’s hard for hotels to accommodate however So it was with some trepidation that I booked an Airbnb for our recent trip… The home and host did not disappoint. The house is immaculately clean and has just what is needed and nothing more. Host is responsive and very helpful. When we had a little issue with the heat one room he immediately ordered a couple space heaters which arrived the next day. I would highly recommend this spot even to those who don’t like Airbnb.
Japan has certainly sorted it out. We had a holiday there last year and I had just booked 4 different AIrbnb’s early in the year when they clamped down and thousands of listings disappeared from the platform. We were ok as my daughter works for JTB and told me to make sure they were ok with local laws and had the required licence number. In the fall out she said they had so many people ringing desperate to find accommodation for large family groups that had had bookings and they were cancelled only a few weeks away from travelling.
We had to provide photos of our passports to every Airbnb host either in person or via an email. One conversation I had with a host who spoke English said it was a slow process to get a licence so that is why it took so long for hosts to get their listing back on line. But there are not as many as there used to be.
I could care less about the warm and fuzzy model…I’m here for the money. I prefer not having people in my house when I can’t fully vet them. And I say this as a landlord for LTR as well as for in home STR roommates for decades.
This is not good because then any guest can get a listing removed just by leaving a bad review. We already know that Airbnb allows untruthful lies in the name of the guest’s perspective so it would quickly cause problems.
I have seen listings with multiple reviews from people saying they never received the door code or that the photos were fake or that they were moved to another listing in a different neighborhood. Do you think these should stay up?
Absolutely not. I think hosts with 4 stars overall shouldn’t be allowed on the platform. I think Airbnb should purge listings much more aggressively than they do. I hate that I’m on the same platform with much of what is on Airbnb. But I also see where they do nothing. Caveat emptor.
The problem for Air is that we are the product. If they start yanking enough hosts based on 4 star reviews there is less to sell and less to entice new hosts because the standards are too high.
This could describe me. I rent my place in the Catskill Mountains two hours north of New York City. I consider both my rental apartment and my cottage my HOME. I am at my cottage VERY frequently. Usually after every two guests. When I was working it was an average of two weekends a month; now that I retired, it is more weekday stays. My house is the opposite of bland and neutral. It is my vision and an expression of my personality. It also ties into my theory of why guests are so respectful of my house on the whole. It is exactly because they sense they are in a home and not an anonymous rental.
I would consider buying another Catskill property, but I can guarantee you that I would also be staying in it, and pouring my heart into it, when not rented.
I would not agree with this. Four stars is perfectly acceptable. The idea that everyone has to have five stars all the time has rendered the whole system meaningless.
I don’t mean a few 4 star reviews. I mean overall 4 star average. I’m not the most well traveled person on this forum by any means and I’m not a expert or professional Airbnb expert. But I will say this without equivocation: 4 star overall average is not good enough. Maybe it should be but it’s not. I’ve stayed at several Airbnbs and I’ve looked at literally 1000s of listings. Every city has plenty of 4.5 stars and up listings. It’s just not that hard to maintain. Not sorry if I’m stepping on toes here.
The 4-star (or less) listings I’m concerned with are the ones where multiple reviewers complain about issues that should be deal-breakers: bait-and-switch listings, door code not being given, the unit not being cleaned in between guests.
Do you think this applies across the board or only after XX number of reviews? What about a new host who gets 3 reviews, 2 5 stars and a 1 or 2 star (whether thier fault or not, they are new and will likely learn from it). I could agree if it was a 4 star average over say, 100 reviews.
Is anyone buying shares?
I have no shares in anything and no idea but wondering if in 20 years this will be like the equivalent of buying Microsoft in the 80s.
The problem is that the investor hosts playing all these games ALSO have rigged the review system so that
Their buddies in their fake review cartels can provide tactical 5* reviews to counter the negatives and pull up their average
Their fake reviewers can ALSO provide tactical counter-reviews that SPECIFICALLY MENTION how they “disagree with a previous guest who complained about X, Y and Z.”
It’s almost comically obvious and brazen.
tl;dr = The review system is a farce.
Mods @KKC and @jaquo, again, I can provide a link or two or screencap of an example if that is OK.
Nothing absolutely applies across the board. Every host is an individual. LOL. I think a new host should be given a chance to learn and improve. The only 3 star I got was during my first year so I understand it can happen.
But if a host has 100 reviews and a 4 star average I think that’s terrible and I think they should be removed from the platform. I’ve just seen too many listings that are all 5 star to think it’s that hard to maintain at least 4.5. I don’t really want to say more because there are people here who will get offended and defensive and I’m not interested in that argument.
There are also problems in the regular host community. I’ve seen the advice here of having some friends “book” your airbnb after a bad review and have them give fake good reviews. I’ve seen multiple hosts post here about not reviewing as a quid pro quo or coming to other understandings with guests in order to manipulate their reviews. Yet I believe the vast majority of hosts are like me, every review is honest and earned.
