How do you stop worrying about maintaining 5 stars

[LoneStar]

What’s it like to own the most-visited Airbnb in the world

The article also list some really beautiful high-end Air rentals, but the most visited AirBnB is relatively humble… What’s it like to own the most-visited Airbnb in the world [image]

This is the most popular AirBnB listing on the planet. It has a 4.86 star rating.

Just saying: If you haven’t found a better reason to stop sweating this, here it is.

[Flyboy]

I dont even look at stars anymore TBH. I only look at reviews from emails and life is better

[Barns]

JOEY DON"T SHARE FOOD! Type ‘friends joey’ into google, then click the pizza slice!

[Nya]

Hey all just wanted to give an update they left on Friday and left a review straight away gave me 4 stars for communication, outstanding hospitality and a 5 overall.

For anyone struggling with mental health and hosting Id say I’m happy that I was clear from the start on what should be used, and that I let them know straight away that eating my food or going through my stuff wasn’t okay all in all it turned out well. Even if it didnt I know I’ve done my best and stuck to my boundaries. I think you can be as “unreasonable” as you want in your own home. If you dont like whats going on say it, the consequences wont be as bad as letting things you don’t like carry on.

Thanks everyone for all the tips and advice!

[Kat_Hansen]

Glad it worked out for you, Nya. It’s hard to tell a person with anxiety not to get too worked up over 5-star ratings (I, too, have anxiety).

For me, 5-star reviews and Superhost enable me to set a personal benchmark. If I do everything I can to reach those goals, I can be fairly sure that I am offering the best service to my guests. There’s a lot I will do to meet those standards and make guests happy, but I do try not to drive myself nuts striving for perfection. Welcome to the biz!

[sarah1]

Double your nightly rate and let them eat the yoghurt.

[alkira]

@Brian_R170

I figure once you get a review that’s not 5 stars, then you no longer have 5 stars and you can never really get back to 5 stars (except by rounding error), so you automatically stop worrying about it.

Also, ask yourself: Why did I get into this business? Was it to maintain a 5-star rating? I hope not. The only thing that matters is whether you are meeting your own goals for price and occupancy rate. A high star rating typically means that you are doing the right things to ensure your guests are happy and that will help you meet your price and occupancy goals, but, you can consider your star rating irrelevant unless it drops low enough to affect one of those two things.

Hi Brian
Everything you say is true, except that if you are a Superhost, if your rating does drop you lose this status plus all the perks it offers (more exposure etc.) so there is an added amount of unnecessary pressure which makes hosting a lot more unpleasant if we take star ratings seriously. Personally, I loath the whole star rating thing, but I suppose it is a general guide on how well we do things.
All the best
Al

[Charmed59]

In my particular market AirBnB is not yet popular for full house rentals. So for now I list on other platforms. However I use AirBnB quite often as a guest. I must admit, until I read this forum I didn’t realize the whole worry about 5 stars, nor did I realize guests were rated. (And was pleased to find I have a 5 star guest rating.)

When I search on AirBnB I know where I want to be and search by location, meaning maps. I find the lists overwhelming, despite filtering for all my needs, so I narrow it down by searching in particular locations that sound interesting to me.

I look at the pictures, check the amenities list to ensure I have my must haves, read the first 3 paragraphs of description, skim the rest, and then read the reviews, especially recent ones. If there is a bad review I look for more recent ones that often rebut their claims. Or echo them, but in a nicer manner.

If the complaint in the review doesn’t apply to my stay, say the street was closed due to repairs that are long completed, or the duvet was stained but has now been replaced, I’m not going to give it a second thought.

All this to say for this guest a super host rating means nothing, and a 5 star rating versus a 4.5 star rating means little if the complaints were things that don’t apply.

[Militaryhorsegal]

@Charmed59 If only more guest were like you…

[KKC]

@Charmed59

for this guest a super host rating means nothing,

You sound like a great guest. I do filter for SH because it does some of the work for me but it’s great that you are doing the work yourself.

[tenrooms]

Couple of ideas that may help in your situation. 1. Buy a small plastic bin, label it ‘For Guests’ and put their items in the bin. 2. With a bold sharpie marker label your food items. Put Nya on your items and Guest on theirs.

I have a house share and in one drawer near the fridge there are several Sharpie markers for the guests to label their food items. If something is not labeled it could be fair game.

[JJD]

@tenrooms

Put Nya on your items and Guest on theirs.

I completely forgot that Nya was the OP and thought that Nya maybe stood for “Not Yours A**hole”. I thought it was a little harsh.

[KKC]

@JJD

Nya maybe stood for

Or she could put “Nunya” on the bins… LOL

[tenrooms]

Everything can be funny. N Y A .

[Yana]

That’s why I stopped serving breakfast and put fridge in guests room . No more taking my food.
I at one point became superhost twice . It happened when my husband was taking care of guests when I was away . Cleanliness was not how I keep it and in general maintenance was lacking …like broken pool screen was never replaces and other things but nevertheless guests gave him 5s left and right
His secret is that he is super nice and people pleaser . He never confronts anyone …ever. He would never ever reinforce the rule of it’s being broken . I had a group of 4 sleeping in queen size bed under his watch.
People smoked and did drugs and brought hookers over and took hose from neighbors without permission to add water to our pool. I only found out when pool guy called me that pool is completely disbalanced. Over the years my sweet husband became " better" . Now I am kind of secretly admiring him for being persistent and re-enforcing house rules sort of …but still it’s a big accomplisent .

Then when Yana comes back all kids behave nicely …noone opens windows with AC on…there is no door slamming and noone sneaks on my kitchen to cook. And my reviews start to plummet . The house is cleaner , better maintained and still i manage to get to 4.6-7.
People don’t like when they are told they are doing something wrong .
But it doesn’t mean we should keep silence .

[Yana]

Hehehe…won’t work at all

[Militaryhorsegal]

I can totally understand!

[justMandi]

Welcome, Nya. I also was very concerned about my 5 stars, and I have anxiety. What I found was that something had to give. This came in the form of a 1 star. I fought as hard as any perfectionist, but my 2 years straight as a Superhost was obliterated.

The things that I can control include doing my best within the context of my price point.

What hit me hard was not being able to control guests. They can and will do whatever they want. You may be able to root out most of them, even 99 percent. But never 100 percent.

A lot depends on your arrangement. A home stay is more challenging than a house. Sometimes the easiest way to deal with them is to shorten the stay.