I’m not sure who whom I am at replying, but I’m getting confused and maybe it’s because it’s storming like crazy here in Vermont, but I am seeing a discussion that seems to include a discussion about using God as an excuse for not giving full points and children being addicted to bad food and their screens. What’s happening or what am I missing?
It hurts to be criticised, but a five star review is not a right. There has been no mention of what was marked down and was that fair. Everybody has different expectations, so listening to the comments can help to see things from another perspective, and maybe improve your offering.
Sure, it doesn’t work for everything. We’ve been marked down for location but given 5 stars for accuracy. They chose to come here despite the accurate description! So I changed the description a bit in an effort to be even clearer. Obviously what’s clear to me is mud to others. One man’s meat is another man’s poison, and all that.
I’ve never had anyone try to explain the rating system to me and, as I’m not a newbie to Airbnb, I’d be concerned about the motives of a host who did.
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Threads here often go off topic. But if one starts at the beginning of the thread and reads each post in order it makes slightly more sense.
Thanks, KKC. I know that it can go off topic on the forum, but these topics seemed particularly unrelated. And even though logic told me that the weather couldn’t affect the discussion, I allowed myself to think this might be the explanation. Anyway, it’s a beautiful, sunny day today and hopefully things will calm down here in Vermont. Thank you for replying.
I’m pretty sure that ‘god’ was closely monitoring this guest’s review and made that her top priority, right after organized sports and answering the calls from folks having sex…
If I talk to guests about the rating system, it’s not a pointed conversation, it’s something that might come up, as a homeshare host, in the course of conversation over coffee or a glass of wine and a broader discussion about their past Airbnb experiences, or them saying they have thought about hosting themselves, etc.
I’ve never fretted about the ratings a guest might leave me, and amazingly, all my guests have left 5 star reviews, whether we have talked about the review system or not. So my motivation in mentioning the rating system isn’t shilling for a 5* review.
My motivation actually stems from annoyance at the hypocrisy of Airbnb telling guests a 4* review is Good, and met their expectations, but telling hosts that 4* isn’t good enough. When in fact, there is nothing wrong with Good in the real world.
I have also read so many posts with hosts saying they will decline a repeat booking from a guest who left them less than a 5 star review that I think guests should be aware of that. One guest said she had been leaving 4* ratings for places she thought were fine, liked the hosts and would book again. She was shocked to find out that hosts wouldn’t be happy with a 4* review and thanked me for cluing her in as to why. She had no idea that a Superhost could lose that status because of a couple of 4* reviews tanking their overall rating and said she’d feel terrible if the ratings she had left in the past resulted in that.
I tell them that because Airbnb stresses hosts out about the ratings, if everything was fine and met their expectations and it’s a place they would book again without hesitation, that is a 5* Airbnb review. But that of course, if they felt things could be improved, they should rate accordingly, not feel pressured in any way to uprate if it isn’t deserved.
So I agree that talking to guests about the rating system is tricky and could also backfire if the host’s motivation is to get a 5* review, rather than to just educate as to the behind the scenes workings of Airbnb. Some guests have said they were considering hosting themselves, so it was valuable info for them in that respect. One guy said his sister was a host, so he was aware of the stress hosts have about ratings and thought it duplicitous of Airbnb that guests are led to think a 4* review is fine, when it really isn’t.
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Comical as this is, I use caution when responding to reviews. I find that taking the high road and just responding about how hard we work to make them comfortable etc if the best approach. We’ve been superhosts for years now and the majority override the failed grumblings of the few. You can also say you wouldn’t host them again—(the wrath of the creator … of their Airbnb 
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LOVE this! Thank you for the perfect star to a busy day. 
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interesting reading! Question- wouldn’t ‘3’ stars still be considered above average?
Considered above average by whom?
Only a little?
I’d say they were close to needing inpatient mental health treatment.
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- we are not marked on the Hotel rating system
- God won’t be happy she used His name to be a c*nt to you .
I’ve never ever in my life met someone with this level of zealotry. My husband’s family are very religious, and his gran once whispered to me “follow the lord, my dear” as some parting advice, because clearly her spidey senses could tell I was just trying to get along with them all.
I would reply to her: the roads to hell are paved with good intentions. You have hurt my business because you don’t understand the airbnb rating system, which is not the same as a hotel, I’m sure God will forgive you. Have a blessed day.
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I’m sorry your guest gave you a 3 star review. That’s frustrating. Rather than focus on her religious views, why don’t you ask her why she felt. “Your listing is not a 5-star property”? The rest of her comment, " and if I gave you a five star review, I would be lying and it would not sit well for me with God”. Is probably just her explanation for why, after you explained the rating system, she didn’t feel good about giving you a 5 star review. If she still doesn’t feel that your property deserves a 5 star review after discussing her reasons for the 3 star review then asking her to request that Airbnb remove it might sit better with her ethics and won’t hurt your metrics.
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Will never have sympathy with people who discriminate against me because I’m gay. Things are way too scary here in the US right now as it is.
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I was being sarcastic. I guess I wasn’t OTT enough.
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I’ve just come back to this forum after three years of not hosting at all and am glad to see it is still active - and entertaining!
I was quite peeved last week when a guest left me a review of 5 stars for everything and rapturous comments, but only an overall rating of 4 stars. Having enjoyed a couple of evenings (and bottles of wine) with her I commented on it privately to her and she was horrified, said it was user error and offered to rectify (but couldn’t, of course). Thank goodness she didn’t say it was because God told her to …
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I never knew what that (/s) meant! Please thank your teenage son for educating me!
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I can understand guests fat-fingering the wrong star on a little phone screen, what I don’t understand is people hitting “Next” or “Submit” without noticing what’s on the screen.
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