I noticed today when browsing listings in my neighborhood that there is a “bottom 10%” note on the review page. I do wonder why these listings aren’t just culled.
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This rating translates to 88 out of 100.
What normal person would consider this a low rating?
That review system is far from being practical or realistic (not judging the quality of this particular example).
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As I have said previously, the review system is the stick that Airbnb uses to beat a host into submission.
Telling the world that this listing is in the bottom 10% is neither helpful or encouraging……88% is not a bad rating ….
But according to Airbnb it is a huge fail and no bookings for this host
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Exactly, being particularly called out for providing “miserable” service - how on earth does Airbnb think that this benefits their reputation/business?
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I do. I would never choose an Airbnb with a rating this low.
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You are an Airbnb veteran and have a deep understanding of how the rating system works.
As someone who orders from Amazon - I’d be somewhat confident to buy a product that has 88% 5 stars without batting an eye (unless the written reviews scream for bought opinions!!!).
So, I’d assume, that the not so savvy Airbnb guests do not necessarily see an issue with a 4+ star rating on a scale from 1 to 5…
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This is why I really wish ratings were eliminated or that you could see what rating each written review was connected to, rather than them being averaged.
While in most cases, ratings are a fairly good indicator, there are places in the world where their demographic of guests just don’t give 5* often, even if there aren’t any issues, and as long as Airbnb keeps telling guests that 4* means Good, many guests will innocently give 4* reviews with no intention to harm the host.
It does seem very mean-spirited and unnecessary for Airbnb to do this “in the lowest 10%”, when guests can see the overall rating and decide for themselves if they care whether it’s a 4.4.
They might as well just put a big red flag on the listing saying “Don’t book here!” In which case, they might as well just delete the listing.
Exactly.
I totally agree. Also, I could see an issue that some guests might even confuse the 5 star rating with a 5 star hotel - meaning that the guest would only feel inclined to leave 5 stars if the stay has been outworldly amazing - as in receiving daily fresh flowers and organic honey from the garden - stuff like that. On a scale from 1 to 5 I would never consider 4 to be the worst rating ( or 10% bottom ranking) an accommodation can have if it wouldn’t be for knowing how Airbnb works…
You can now. The overall rating is shown by guest along with their written review.
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Well, it would be helpful to be able to see the individual category ratings as well. As we know, some guests will give 5* in all categories and then 4* overall.
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The good news is you can read the review. I’m surprised at the number of 4 star reviews some of my neighbors get for no apparent reason (“we had a great stay and would recommend this to our friends” then give 4 stars)
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I almost never buy any Amazon product with less than 4.6 and I always pay more for a higher rated product and look for more reviews, like 16k vs 600.
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I did not mean to spark a debate about what is considered athe threshold for a low rating, but interesting discussion. The bigger question for me is why these bottom tier listings remain on the site. From this particular example, the reviews were pretty abysmal.
I have a lot of these types of reviews. The guests will only list what they like: “loved the coffee bar!” or “neighborhood had great attractions!” and leave four stars.
I prefer the guests who leave 5 stars but honestly reviews with their pros and cons. I’m thankful the individual star ratings are visible now.
Same. And I use a browser plugin that detects fake reviews on Amazon products. When possible, I’ll pay a little bit more to buy the same item from a big box retailer so I don’t have the risk of receiving a fake product. I’ve found Amazon has poor quality control.
But if Airbnb tags a listing as in the bottom 10%, no one will even bother to read the reviews.
So hosts like your neighbors, who get fickle guests who leave great written reviews but leave 4* overall will essentially have a dead listing.
As with most things on AirBnB, it’s a mystery! But here’s a real head-scratcher: this listing has a 4.78 rating (182 reviews) and is a guest favorite: Apartment Soleil-2mins from Beach-Amazing View
This listing has a 4.78 rating (62 reviews) and is a bottom 10% listing: Rainbow Heights Villa
I don’t see how they could kick the second one off the platform when the first one is a Guest Favorite.
They re trying to trigger a “race to the bottom” with host pricing.
Must be something to do with having no 5 stars in any category. The “guest favorite” has a couple of 5 stars (check in and communication), whereas the Rainbow doesn’t have any in any category. 
I feel like I’m being misunderstood here.
Allow me to illustrate another example of a 1 to 5 scale rating (as in how the world normally would rate things). If I’m supposed to rate a customer service experience I had on a scale from 1 to 5 and if my experience was so bad that it would fall into 10% of the worst experiences - according to Airbnb - I would have to rate it with 4 stars??? Even worse, since the (Airbnb) average of 4.4 would even mean that my 4 star experience was worse than what 10% of customers said. 
Oh, another just came to my mind:
If 4.4 represents the bottom 10% of listings then a 4 star rating is even worse than that (this may have been obvious to many, I’m still ‘learning’).
WOW. 
This “system” is off. A difference of 0.08 decides being 10% of the worst and 10% of the best. Well done.
A sure way to put themselves out of business…
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