As posts before, really gutted with first 4* review overall with everything apart from value marked as 5*. Guest stayed one night at our homeshare, was not easy to communicate with, arrived 2 hours earlier than he said, lucky we were in, went to his room , 5pm, and slept apart from coming down for a cup of tea around 8pm. Did say he was using airbnb as hotels were too expensive and marked us down at 4* for value! We are £28 a night including an offer of toast and cereal for breakfast!! I’ll get over it but I knew from the minute he walked in he would be an awkward one. Some you win. Thanks for listening. I’m better now!
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What an arse of a guest to host in your home! So sorry you experienced this, but the slap will go.
What I must ask is why your rate is only £28 pn, even off season???
In my first year, I had left the listing set up to Mr Joan, including pricing; a dreadful mistake. Now, I understood about the new host boost, and the importance of getting a slew of good reviews behind me, but when I realised that a) I was getting a few horrid people staying b) they were staying for £25 per room and it was not covering my costs, I took control. I put my rates up to circa £75-£85 pn, and noticed an immediate difference in the quality of guests.
I think I posted about my “Week of Weirdos” in about Sept 2017…
Glad you are feeling better for the rant!
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Hi Joan. Thanks for your response. We are not a tourist area so there is no season and for one room in our home, our rate is comparable to others in the area. We do everything ourselves and guests are a mix of business and people traveling and staying with us as a stopover or visiting family/ friends in the area. Luckily I have lovely repeat guests too. I keep an eye on what is on offer in the area and am confident we are pitched right, but this guy was ‘odd’, new to Airbnb, no reviews although he said he has stayed somewhere but I think he had limited understanding and poor communication… But he was clean and respectful whilst staying. Just peeved that this can impact on hosts who are otherwise reviewed well and appreciated. In my review I had already marked down for communication and had not recommended to other hosts and said I would not host again.
Regards
Hi Rebecca; we’re in a similar non-tourist town in Northern England. We’ve had over 100 guests, and our average rating is 4.97. Two of our guests were very similar to your latest guest - very non-communicative (one of them a “Superhost”) - and they both gave us 4*. The fact that they were both Scots is, I hope, nothing to do with it! Seriously, don’t worry, you’ll get over it. And I too would say that £28 per night with a bit of breakfast thrown in is on the low side.
Thanks. I do regularly check pricing and whilst we are not the most expensive offering cereal/toast, we are certainly not the cheapest and we do get lovely guests mostly. I wouldn’t want to go too much higher but I will take your thoughts and Joan’s on board and think about putting up again in a month or so. I had a flurry of Scottish guests last summer staying en route and they were all absolutely delightful! and with breakfast, some don’t even take it, or some just a cuppa and a piece of toast so I feel it is a bit of added value. We only put out small portions from what we use ourselves, no little jam pots, cereal cartons, milk cartons, etc so our cost is minimal really but by some, really appreciated and they come back, which is what I like most. Good luck and thank you.
Recently had a guest give me 5* overall and 5* on everything except value!! So I wrote and asked her why, considering she wanted to come back. Told me she did it “on principle” because of AirBnB fees. Told her hosts have nothing to do with fees and that we pay AirBnB a percentage of every guest stay, too, so we get dinged.
She thanked me for telling her that. So now I ask guests about value and explain the ratings/fees/taxes that hosts can’t control.
I’d write to him and ask why. He may feel the same way. IDK.
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I am so happy our 1st 4-star was from our first guests. We deserved it, and I thanked the guest for giving the negative feedback in private. I also thanked Goodness that he was so generous to only dock one star. Then we immediately fixed the problem (sick, stinky water well). Knock on wood…
all 5-stars since.
Some guests don’t even think 4 stars is bad. I briefly drove rideshare and all the drivers have the same complaints with the rating system that we hosts have.
Thank you. I agree that guest feedback is very important if it is given and have adjusted listing info many times in response. Even marking down for value is a personal thing but to mark down overall to 4* when everything apart from value is 5* seems a discrepancy. I have messaged him but his communication verbally and written was so poor I don’t think I will get an explanation. Thanks for your feedback.
Thank you. I have now messaged guest to ask about his overall 4* but as his communication was so poor and I marked him down on that, I am not holding my breath for a response!
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I forgot to mention, the guest did give 5 stars for everything but location (4 stars… we are 50 minutes away from where his group was recreating so I presume that’s why) and a 4 star overall. ‘SMELL’ isn’t one of the categories (wasn’t a cleanliness issue), and yet I can see how smelling farty well gas the whole time would detract at least a full star.
In the guest book, he wrote under ‘Favorite thing about our stay’: “Sitting outside.” I said, yeah I reckon so. 
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My private room listing (with private bathroom and full use of kitchen), is also $28/night. I have never had a bad guest, they have all been nice, respectful people who understaood the concept of a home-share. They have all left 5* reviews. It isn’t necessarily a low price that brings poor quality guests, it’s the location, what type of listing you have, why guests come to the area, what kind of guests you market towards and who are attracted to your place.
I am so sick of reading that low prices attract low quality guests. As if people who can afford to pay more are just generally better people.
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28 Quid … and no complimentary foot massage? No unlimited pints of bitter?
Outrageous …
Yeah sorry about that jerk!
Had a response from him… “4 is a good score, my old football coach said never give a 10. Sorry does that affect what people see. I’ll ask Airbnb to change it. I’m truly sorry, as I had a great stay”… Hey ho, Win some you lose some! Won’t be staying again!
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This man is a one off who doesn’t understand Airbnb, the first in nearly two years of mostly great guests who I would welcome back anytime and yes I agree, the higher the price does not attract higher quality. Had to happen sometime so I’m moving on and forgetting him.
OMG I hate people with that mentality. It’s abusive. UgUghh. I’m sorry he did that, but at least you know now. I always explain the rating system in a message and the night before they leave. I ask for constructive feedback and explain the stars and how it affects hosts’ ratings. It’s actually helped!
Thanks for your support. I have a couple who are newbies coming on Monday. They seem lovely through messages and am sure like our usual guests but would you mind sharing what you put in the message about the review system as am obviously a bit twitchy now!
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If it were me, I’d send this guest a private message back, saying that his coach wasn’t aware that Airbnb threatens hosts with delisting if their star rating falls below 4.7. At least he’ll be aware for the future and hopefully leave 5* ratings for places he is pleased with.
I am a host who explains the star ratings to guests, but as I home-share and have quite a bit of interaction with my guests, I can usually find a way to introduce the subject in the course of other conversation. I would never shill for a 5* review, and in fact, I don’t educate guests about Airbnb’s star rating system because I am afraid of getting a 4* review, but because I hate the hypocrisy and disconnect between what they tell guests and how they treat hosts. So I just let my guests know that while Airbnb tells guests that a 4* rating means “Good”, they then turn around and threaten hosts over 4* ratings. Most of my guests have been shocked to find this out, ask why Airbnb would lie to them like that (to which I answer- ‘Guests should put that question to them’) and thank me for letting them know- some have said they had rated places they were totally happy with and which they’d book again 4*s, thinking they were giving a good rating, but that now that they are aware, they’ll never do that again.
Yes, as a homeshare host, I could often bring this into conversation and I agree, I also feel uncomfortable pushing for 5*. Thank you.
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I don’t shill for a 5* review, I’m an in-home host as well and it’s easy to begin a conversation talking about AirBnB experiences, how they liked the place, and if they have any ideas to make the place even better.
THIS. This is what happened and I have no issue talking to them about their stay, too. It can be handled tactfully.
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I’m an in=home host and I don’t put it in the message, it’s a conversation I have during their stay. The night before checkout, I leave a checkout list for them and say “We strive to provide our guests with a 5* experience. We hope you enjoyed your stay! Please let us know how you enjoyed your stay here at the LPBH.” Since we’ve already had a convo about the rating systems for guests and hosts (I also discuss IB requirements for their future bookings if they haven’t used it) and (last year’s Feb guests aside), they’re happy to talk about the platform.
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