This forum is dedicated to connecting hosts with other hosts. Sign up to get the latest updates and news just for AirBnb hosts! Note that we are not affiliated with Airbnb - we are just passionate hosts!
I just got AirReview working again! I sure find this plugin helpful, even more now that it shows you how many stars a past guest left for their host. I find it illuminating because some guests drop stars when the written portion is only positive.
I do my best to provide a comfortable stay, manage guest expectations, and offer pleasant surprises. I observed my recent guests who left less-than-5-stars had a history of leaving 3-4 star reviews. One guest had a history of leaving only positive written reviews. The other two guests listed one criticism amongst mostly complementary reviews. I also gave myself peace of mind that my upcoming guests overall leave positive reviews unless it is something deserved, like a dirty space.
Drawback: spending too much time obsessing over capricious guests, arbitrary reviews, and things out of our control.
How do you use AirReview as a host? What hosting strategies do you, if any, use when you know you’re hosting someone who has a history of leaving less-than 4 stars?
I used to use Air Review, but it glitched out. I found this out when I asked another host who had posted something on another forum why he didn’t leave reviews for any of his guests. Air Review was saying “Host did not leave a review” under all of his reviews from guests. He responded that he reviewed all his guests, and when I cross-referenced profiles, I saw that he had.
I had never really looked to see how guests reviewed their past stays, and only do so now occasionally. But I get easy-going, really nice guests, and I’ve never gotten less than a 5 star review, so it’s never seemed that important a thing to do for me.
I used to use it to screen inquiries but it’s a lot of work. I find that even if they are picky and nasty people, there isn’t much I can do as I’m on IB. I have not cancelled on any guest because they have left bad reviews for previous hosts. I think the search ranking hit would be terrible as I’m in a competitive market.
Nowadays, I just use AirReview to turn on the strictness about things they need and encourage the nasty ones to cancel. Anytime they ask for an exception I ask them to cancel so they can find another place that meets their needs. Some how denying their requests and demands turns them into more manageable people, they probably understand that I’m not a person they can take advantage of. Some guests have still managed to screw me, but I’m accepting that as a cost of doing business.
But I don’t worry about reviews as I used to. I am approaching 500 reviews and I feel that it’s better for me to focus on getting more five star reviews than worry about the occasional non-five star review I’m going to get.
Ugh, I wish I had not seen this! lol, my current guest has a solid 5 stars over 12 reviews, He wrote 8 reviews , 3 were 4 stars, one 2 star and one 3 star and the rest were 5’s
So now I have to kiss his ass and his BS undeclared not paid for service dog and likely still only get 4 stars. Yay, happy holidays.
Leaving the dog unattended isn’t against the Airbnb TOS. The TOS is a legal document- not leaving the dog unattended is just an Airbnb policy, which they may or may not enforce.
I follow your thinking. Leaving the dog unattended “proves” it is not a service animal to AirBnB, but lying about a service animal doesn’t violate the TOS, so the review stays.
Yeah, something like that. And just because a guest breaks a policy or a house rule, that isn’t grounds to have their review removed. The review itself actually has to violate one of the Airbnb review policies.
