Guest accidentally left zero stars for Overall, 5 stars in all other categories

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Forgive me if this has been discussed before. I’ve searched and can’t seem to find anything.

Anyway here is my current situation:

A group stayed in our cottage for one night. All went well. Guest communicated well, the stay went without a hitch. Guest messaged me to say how happy he was with the stay and everything was great.
He leaves a great written review and in private feedback writes
“Thanks for the House and being so thoughtful on every detailing. We are so blessed to have u to host us”
He leaves me 5 stars in every category but sadly doesn’t enter any stars in the Overall section.

I have contacted Airbnb through the Help site and got the usual blather from them:

" First of all, we would like to thank you for being committed to providing extraordinary hospitality to our guests. We’re so thankful for hosts like you and it will be a pleasure assisting you.

Regarding reviews, once it is posted, changes can no longer be made. We apologize that some certain situations like this may occur, but it does not mean that we don’t value your commitment, we value you as a host, and we appreciate all the hard work that you’ve put in helping Airbnb with the business. I hope that this will not discourage from being the awesome host that you are, as I can see, the reviews obviously speaks for your greatness!

Thank you for understanding."

I’ve replied that I am very disappointed by the response and query if the fact that no stars were entered does that mean there simply isn’t a grade or have I in fact now been given zero out of 5.

Airbnb respond that yes, I have now got a score of 0/5 from this guest and no, there is nothing they will do about it. ABB then suggest I just be happy with the lovely comments and provide feedback to them via a link she sent me.

I know Airbnb has on rare occasions removed Star ratings left by guests. To me it seems obvious that it was just a simple error on behalf of the guest but Airbnb are not willing to help in any way.

Perhaps I’m just venting here but I feel so frustrated right now. We bend over backwards for guests to give them the best stay we can and when a silly little error happens Airbnb refuse to help. It just seems that more and more is being demanded of us with no support from them when we need it.

Arggh, sorry folks, rant over.
Appreciate any thoughts on what I can do or even just sympathy.

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Something similar happened to me. I contacted the guest about it via Airbnb. Then admitted they made a mistake on Airbnb messaging (3 not 5 overall). Airbnb could see this. They then upgraded the rating. Not sure if they will still do this, but worth a shot.

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This is so weird. Just a few weeks ago, I tried to leave a review and didn’t want to mark one of the star categories, and it would not let me continue without a selection. This was from the guest side.

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I know right! I thought you couldn’t leave the star section empty. I am fairly certain in the past I have always had to choose at least one star (even though on the odd occasion I would like to have left zero)

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Thanks Helsi. I have sent a message to the guest but have not had a reply yet. He is still travelling around New Zealand so I may not hear back till he gets home. The Airbnb support person was quite adamant that she would not be doing anything to help even when I asked if she could “reach out” (hate that phrase) to the guest herself.

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I’ve been in banking for 30 years and in that time I’ve seen: problems become issues, stories become journeys, areas become spaces, turning points become tipping points and contact become reach out to. And everyone always says that plain speakin’ is what’s most important to them. :japanese_goblin:

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Hahaha. Exactly! So many ridiculous new terms and catch phrases and Airbnb just love them all. I read on a forum once (may have been here?), “Unless you are a member of The Four Tops, then please don’t Reach Out. Just contact like the rest of the population.”

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Yes Airbnb is overly bureaucratic. Does the overall score have more statistical weight than the other scores?

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Yes that’s what shows up in your ratings and how you are assessed for Superhost status.

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I have had guests skip over some of the sub-categories in the past like location. When I went to look at the review, that category was completely gone and I thought ABB had finally done away with it. But no such luck! I’ve never had anyone skip over the overall score.

It sounds like you wrote to Airbnb. I would call and explain. You may have better luck over the phone.

But they’re not happy with just comments! Everything is based on the number of stars you get, not comments.

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It is the only score that matters for your “statistical” rating.

Funny what people don’t seem to know about how AirBNB works today. [not just this thread.]

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Duh, there I was looking at stars for cleaning etc… Don’t remember reading that anywhere over the last 3 years!

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I’m shocked, though I suppose I shouldn’t be by now, at Airbnb’s inflexibility on this, when it’s so obviously a genuine mistake, and the weasel words in their reply to you make it worse!

People here have sometimes suggested that Air may respond better to Tweets - worth a try, maybe?

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Thanks Mike. Yes, I have been in contact with ABB. They have been next to useless. Lots of rubbishy pandering comments to me but refusing to help at all. They have now just stopped responding to me but have not closed the ticket on it.
And yes, as you say, the nice words in a review mean nothing to Airbnb, they only care about the overall star rating so her comment to me is particularly grating.

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I agree 100%. Their weasel words drive me insane! I’m sure they just cut and paste all that crap to us.

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They also have a sheet in front of them of corporate bollox to spout at you over the phone. The less experienced have to go through their own learning curve before they realise what rubbish they are being made to spout forth to us. The really good ones know what the crack is, but have to wait for you to tell them, not they you. If you are really lucky, you can speak to someone who really understands, gets it, cracks up laughing and gives you a full refund.

I don’t ever email them. Only call.

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An update: (Not that anything has changed).

I have been messaging for the past 2 days back and forth. I was transferred to a new case manager. Unfortunately all I have received is cut and paste responses.

"Hi, Thank you for reaching out to Airbnb, my name is Vanessa I will be your Case manager.
I was able to see the review that your guest have for you, and I was able to see that they have forgotten to provide a star rating for your reservation experience.

Being your Case Manager part of my job is to be able to provide the best possible resolution and to ensure that as we provide your requested resolution Airbnb process and policies are being followed. Star ratings that has been posted will not be edited anymore, as much I would like to have you further assisted we do not have a way for the start ratings to be edited.

I hope I was able to provide the assistance you need on a timely manner and may you still use Airbnb in your future trips for we are looking forward to providing you the true experience using Airbnb that you deserve.

We’re truly passionate about providing our community of hosts and guests with the best
possible traveling experience. I’m really sorry that this hasn’t been the case here. Just know that we’re always working to improve our products and policies, and even when we aren’t able to accommodate requests, we absolutely value our users’ feedback.“As a customer of Airbnb, your voice is both powerful and essential and I’ll be sure to pass your thoughts on to the right team.”

The guest told me he didn’t “forget” to leave an overall it just sort of skipped on him and wasn’t able to go back. I’ve been pushing back against their responses and they keep telling me they can’t change the review. I am trying to get through to them that I don’t want AIRBNB to change the rating, I want the guest to be given the opportunity to complete it properly.

ABB’s response: "Hi,
Thank you for reaching out regarding your star rating. Though I understand your concerns, we are unable to alter star ratings.
I hope I was able to provide the assistance you need on a timely manner and may you still use Airbnb in your future trips for we are looking forward to providing you the true experience using Airbnb that you deserve.

We’re truly passionate about providing our community of hosts and guests with the best
possible traveling experience. I’m really sorry that this hasn’t been the case here. Just know that we’re always working to improve our products and policies, and even when we aren’t able to accommodate requests, we absolutely value our users’ feedback. ” As a customer of Airbnb, your voice is both powerful and essential and I’ll be sure to pass your thoughts on to the right team.”"

Bollocks.

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How frustrating! I had a written review removed once because it was a 3rd party booking and they never stayed here. Airbnb removed the review but said they couldn’t remove the 3 star rating (my one and only 3 star and lowest star rating ever). You wouldn’t think it would be that difficult to do. As you said, your guest didn’t even get the chance to rate you, which is even worse. I thought a 1 star was the lowest but apparently zero is. They should not let the guest continue until they rate at least 1 star.

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Airbnb have just messaged to say they have removed the entire review - both the written and the zero star rating. It took 4 days of messaging back and forth with them. Maybe it pays to not give up sometimes and keep fighting back. I think they were hoping I would just walk away from this. I know it isn’t a huge deal in the grand scheme of things but I am getting a bit sick of being screwed over by Airbnb/bad guests when I work my ass off to offer great accommodation.

Thanks for reading anyway.

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Airbnb have told me in the past it’s impossible for them to remove the star rating, only the written review can be deleted.