Sounds like a fun place to hang out to me!
Weāre in New Jersey - just across the Hudson River from New York City. We get dinged for location - but itās not because weāre not in New Yorkā¦ itās because our block is a little shabby. But weāre in the nicest and newest building on the block - hence the cheap prices they get for a very nice space.
But I couldnāt stop laughing with a recent review where the girl who was coming to visit New York (as all our guests are), wrote, āI didnāt know New Jersey was a different state!!!ā
Well, thatās why itās not called New York, darlinā.
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Was this an American?
I detest the ālocationā thing. Here is my latest Locationā¦they gave me a 4-star on location. They want streetlights?
Private location feedback =
āAt night, kind of difficult to find your way back to the home because of very minimal street lights. ā
Definitely not fair!
Next thing in your listing - please use supplied torch due to lack of street lights in our area!
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Holy crap. What a-holes! Picky picky picky!!!
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In your amenities basket, place some minerās lights.
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I think if you state your place is steps to the subway, bus station etc and it isnāt, then you can be marked down. When I travel, I choose based in access to public transit. Or is you say waterfront and itās watefront, but there is a 100 foot dune in front of the building, (this happened to me in Cornwall pre Internet) and 200 yards to the water, then while it is waterfront, itās not easily accessible or viewable.
As far as I can tell, there is no connection between how well we describe our location and how it gets rated. We recently had a guest give us less than five stars for location. Here is his location feedback.
āA little bit outsider if the city. Not a problem just not centrally located. Staying with the hosts more than made up for it. ā
Not only does our listing have a map, as they all do, in the Getting Around section we state the distance to downtown in miles and in kilometers.
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I have ALL THAT and more. I still get cracked on location. I just had a guest today leave a review. I had thought I had gotten along great with this guest. She loved everything it turns out, but the location. So I was dinged for accuracy AND location. I explain in painful detail where it isā¦ I put it in the house rules. Please make sure the location is a fit for you before booking. I do everything but take a hammer and pound it in their heads. Yet they book anyway, not thinking about where it is in relation to where they wanted to beā¦ why? Because they donāt read. And because the Big Island is bigger than they thought. It is called BIG for a REASON. Hello it is the BIg Island. BIG BIG BIG.
But somehow that is also my fault. Go tell it to Pele! 
Iāve just inserted a detailed map of the island into my listing. The Airbnb one does not show an accurate location.
So disappointing. I just canāt win. 
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Truly frustrating. As a host with a small room I feel your pain as I have similar issues.
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I get the feeling that ABB works to drag negatives out of guests.
Location should be removed from ratings
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Actually, I donāt agree. The question should be: Is the Location as described? That answer has some value. Location, as it is presented, simply gives guests the opportunity to complain that they couldnāt or chose not to afford the location that they actually wanted.
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Well of course they do. āTell the host what he or she could do betterā¦ā Choke!
How about āFind decent guests who appreciate the great value theyāre getting and will not bitch about insignificant stuff theyād never think twice about at a motel theyād be paying twice forā¦ā :))))
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Exactly so ! And I agree @anon67190644 location is a meaningful metric however it should be was it as described ā¦ which is ironically so much like the other metrics.
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You are right, but it seems a bit much to compile a list of possible things that could go wrong and are, for the most partāout of your control.
āYou might see a homeless man on the corner asking for change.ā
āThe streetlights are rather dim so bring a flashlight.ā
āThe neighborās dog occasionally barks in the morning.ā
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Compiling a list of what might go wrong seems unreasonable to meā¦ warning that youāre 30 minutes from the beach is the sort of thing Iād expect
Of course increasingly guests are complaining about the former
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Iāve mentioned this here before but it was ages ago. I am in a fabulous location. The apartment is waterfront and walkable to the best places in town. (Restaurants, cafes, museums, speciality stores etc.) Itās about a 45 minute walk and five minute drive to the beach.
I describe it perfectly in the listing - for example I donāt give walking times to the beach but the distance. This is because I once told a guest that it took me about 40 minutes to walk to the beach and the next days she told me that she could do the walk in 25 minutes. OK, I amble and she marches.
But the point is that I get marked down on location. The most notable occasion was when a guest marked down the location because there were roadworks on the road to the beach!
I made a mental note to inform the city that in future they should not do any roadwork without my permission
All we hosts can do is shake our heads and think of Basil Fawlty and his herds of wildebeestā¦
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āthere is a garden, the garden has trees, there are birds in the trees, they may sing in the morningā¦ā
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