Am I missing something in these star reviews? Why do guests write such nice things in the comments but give me less than 5 stars, without stating what the issue is. Was the comment that caused the review to get less than 5 stars removed? It is also frustrating that AirBnB rubs my face in it when I receive less than a 5-star rating.
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Well, I can explain it from the point of view of a host reviewing a guest. Iāve had guests that left the bathroom ā not in a disastrous state or anything ā but also were not respectful enough to tidy up after themselves. Iāve found with a few guests (they tend to be East Asian) they LOVE to splash water on their faces and leave puddles of water all over the place, which they donāt bother to mop up. I donāt think itās serious enough to mention in the narrative of a review without sounding petty, but Iāll be damned if I am going to give these guests five stars for cleanliness. I hope this makes sense. (Itās pointless anyway I know since other hosts never see guestsā star ratings, but itās the principle, dammit!)
Hmm yes, that is possible that the issue the guest had probably thought it was not serious enough to leave on the public comments, but then again there is that āprivate feedbackā option, and guests should not say they āhad a wonderful stay and loved the houseā but do not support it by their star ratings (thatās letting me know āthe hard wayā they had an issue) and most annoying is that AirBnB complains to me when I get a rating of less than 5 stars. I donāt know about AirBnB, but I hear with Uber, drivers are ādeactivatedā if they get so many ratings of below 5 stars.
I think its time to look at other rental sites (but not Craigs list!) to post my listingā¦
i do agree that sometimes these āscoresā can just be s bit petty, especially when guests come expecting a five star resort when they are paying motel 6 prices, however perhaps you can improve things by paying attention to the areas you are being marked down. If itās value, you may need to bring the price down because guests donāt feel that the price matches the accomodstion offered, if itās cleanliness, well, you know what to do! No personal clutter should be around, particularly if you share a bathroom, try to remove personal bathroom stuff like pills, creams,any pharmacy or personal items (perhaps have a bathroom basket to bring in when you shower), and try to remove personal clutter from shared areas of the home, especially the room. If it is the location, well, thatās just a silly one, as thereās nothing you can do. But thereās always things we can do to improve. Nice new towels, better bedding. Lots of things can make a stay better for your guests. Think about your favorite hotel stay and what you liked about it, and see what things you can incorporate.
My cleanliness, accuracy and communication rating has been high recently(several ratings in a row have been 5), but my recent location and value scores is what AirBnB āscoldedā me for, which is just silly as my prices have been much lower than hotels and other hosts in my area, and I donāt know what guests feel wouldnāt be worth the cost; guests have their own private space in the upstairs of my house, with their own room and bathroom, along with access to the kitchen and the rest of the house, with breakfast foods provided. My room/bath is downstairs so Iām out of their way. But yes people expect some āroyal palaceā at basic motel prices. It is silly to even have a star rating for location. Location canāt be controlled. I made it clear on my listing on how I described my neighborhood /town and whatās nearby. Possibly these low ratings could come from people not reading the full listing description and are just expecting too much. My last guest gave me a 3 in location despite me making it clear about my neighborhood and town, and this person tells me my house is ājust 5 minutes away of where I need to beā, and said that on the public review. Go fig. This makes the AirBnB star ratings seem untrustworthy.
Hi kasage00,
I share your frustration with the location rating. It is the one for which we receive the most 4 star instead of 5 star ratings. In our case it is because we live in Los Angeles and people who havenāt been to Los Angeles (even Americans) canāt wrap their heads around how sprawled it is. Weāve had people tell us that on the map it looks like you can walk to the beach, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, downtown even though our listing states the distances to these places.
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Oh, I couldnāt agree with you more about that rating, and personally I find any guest that uses that way to mark you down to be very frustrating. The little circle on the map shows where we are within a very small radius, so any guest can very clearly work out the location before arriving. And if too lazy or so lacking Internet skills such as doing basic mapquest searches for travel times to beaches, city centers or whatever else it is they think makes the ideal location (which is totally different for everyone anyway!), then they can ask.
Ridiculous rating. I feel for you, and no host should have their accommodation marked down because of it. I totally agree how annoying it is that Airbnb keeps making the reviews and ratings such a focus. We do very well, but I still find it a stressful thing, and far too much emphasis put on it.
Obviously you are doing well. Sometimes the only way to improve things is to try to select better guests by having dialog beforehand to see if they seem like the kind of people that would be appreciative of what you offer, but this is not a reliable method.
Many here feel your pain!
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Hi, I just got my first 4 star rating after 24- 5 star ratings. The issue? The pillows were too fluffy and wouldnāt it be nice to have small pillow options because it hurt their necks. I asked my guests after the first night did they need anything and they never mentioned this! Further there were actually small (single as opposed to king sized) pillows on the bed albeit they had decorative covers they could have been used. Why when I take such special pains to make sure they have everything and have they have my telephone number on a placard to text me with anything do people not tell me what they need. No they wait till they are all checked out and tell me privately (which at least is not publically) and take stars away? I would literally do most anything to ensure my guests have a good experience. Help!
Because some are little princesses and princes . I had: but i never give 5* reviews. My sheets were not good enough for him. Please, paying half of motel 6 prices and fussing aroundā¦You will have more of those in a future, i am sure. You can never please people like these.
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There is no accounting for guests. I had all five stars until a guest - who left an excellent review - left one star for everything.This is a game weāll never win.
I am with you on this post so so much. Ive tried really hard to make our place luxurious & I constantly keep adding new items to the property, this week I have ordered Nespresso machines. I always bake a cake and leave everything in the fridge for a continental breakfast. I leave a drinks tray with Vodka & Gin on it, fresh lemon, tonics and ice.
The linens are all beautiful, I have really tried so hard, the place is immaculate- always.
I do draw the line at letting guests wander through our gardens, so I padlock the garden gate, but their garden is gorgeous.
Most comments are all really lovely, but every now and then I get knocked on stars. How much more do I have to do, it feels like your homework gets badly marked by the teacher!
People are so ignorant, this last lot arrived and came deliberately to the wrong entrance, rang the gate bell and demanded to be let in so they could drive around, having looked at the place on google earth!
Rant over 
If you search for āstarsā in the forum, you will see that, while we donāt have any answer to your question, you have many, many fellow-sufferers here! The general feeling is that the separate categories (cleaning etc) encourage guests to actually look for something specific to criticise. A good tip that people on here give is āunder-promise but over-performā so that guests actually feel theyāve got more than they are paying for! I donāt know how long you have been hosting, but I think that, with experience you may feel more relaxed about the odd 4-star. You have done the very best you can, but, to misquote: āYou can please some of the people all of the time, and all the people some of the time, but you canāt please all the people all of the timeā!
Mind you, if you leave a drinks tray like that out, Iām definitely coming to stay!
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I think the main reason for getting reviews less than a five star rating is because most guests donāt realise that anything less than a five star review is considered bad on Airbnb. Apart from two problematic guests leaving one star reviews, I have only had two reviews that are less than five stars. Both of these came when I first started hosting and both reviews were entirely positive with no negatives.
I am now in the habit of finding a subtle way to bring up the fact that Airbnb consider anything less than a five star review to be a negative rating and I havenāt had a problem with it since.