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I just finished hosting a guest who had no previous stays or reviews. He joined Airbnb in 2023.
He is from a low cost of living area of the USA.
I got a three-star review from him saying “The place was nice and clean but the price was too high”
He stayed for four nights after Christmas which is the busiest time of the year for me.
I charged him a higher than average rate but I can always do that around Christmas when other hosts are sold out. I charge less than half the Christmas rates from May through November.
I’m looking for suggestions on what kind of response I should write to his review so future guests will book with me.
Thank you for your feedback. We’re glad you found our place nice and clean. Regarding the pricing, we aim for competitive rates, especially during high-demand seasons like Christmas. Your input is valuable to us, and we hope to welcome you again in the future.
I wouldn’t respond. The guest won’t see it and future guests will have already seen you price point as well as your competitors before clicking on your place. Responding calls attention to the review, esp if you don’t make a habit of responding to every one.
We recently got our first (and only) 3*. Nothing in the write up or during his overnight stay indicated he was annoyed, missing anything/other dissatisfaction. Just new to Airbnb and didn’t realize how Airbnb ratings worked. In that case, after I had nursed my hurt feelings!, I sent him a private message letting him know the Airbnb ratings were different than hotels, how many 5s I would need to overcome a drop in overall ratings from his 3, and other hosts may be disinclinded to host him if they knew how he rated. Never heard back from him but I felt better. BTW…I only dropped from a 4.98 to a 4.97 so it really wasn’t a big deal.
I do include a “Star Rtings” interpretation page in my manual but I don’t call attention to it. Maybe for newbies I should pointit out but feel awkward doing so.
Anyway, his review will be buried after a few more stays, few people look beyond the first few. I’d have a drink and let it go!
If you really want to say something to him…maybe use balivilla’s comment in a private note - minus the
Statements like that get on my nerves and provoke a sarcastic “Yeah, right!” response because they are so over used. Like “Safety is our first concern” whenever anyone gets hurt in a public place or “Our children are our number one priority”
This is just an industry standard practice. Hotels vary their prices from day to day, so do airlines. And so do a lot of hosts. There’s no need for you to explain this to potential guests as most people are fully aware that prices fluctuate all the time.
The fact that one guest said that the price was too high simply shows that he was being foolish for booking accommodation he can’t afford.
Not a fan of disingenous replies. This guest’s input was neither valuable nor do I imagine the host would welcome this guest again.
It’s like Airbnb filling their responses to an issue with “We so appreciate all our Superhosts and the great service you offer guests” platitudes, while sending you cut and paste “help” that has nothing to do with the issue you outlined and is of no help at all.
If I felt the need to respond to that review, it would be "The nice thing about Airbnb is that there are listings to fit all budgets, and no one forces a guest to book something they think is ‘too expensive’. Of course, during busy holiday seasons, smart shoppers book ahead, as prices normally go up, and cheaper places all get booked as the dates get closer. ".
I don’t want to come off as snarky. I actually don’t care about responding to this guest… just want to write something that potential guests will love and feel encouraged to book with me.
I respond to each and every review. Usually I pick something in the review and reinforce it as a plus point to book with me such as location, cleanliness, responsiveness, amenities in the apartment complex, etc.
I have enough reviews that I don’t care about the stars anymore. Just want to make potential guests warm and fuzzy with my response… I agree with not using platitudes (esp ones that are actually the opposite of reality).
I do respond to reviews if the guest left misleading or inaccurate information and my response would be useful to future guests. Like the one that complained there were no curtains and they didn’t feel they had privacy. I pointed out that there were cordless cellular shades in every window and I wish they would have asked instead of feeling uncomfortable.
Responses are not for the guest that stayed but rather potential guests that are reading the reviews.
I’ve responded to one review out of close to 700 for exactly that reason. But given how little guests read, I probably wouldn’t bother to do it again. And I absolutely wouldn’t respond to every review.
Sometimes you see that a host responded to every review when they first started out, often to thank the guest for the nice review, but over time they stopped.
If a host gets a lot of turnover, and the misleading review is just going to end up halfway down the review page within a week or so, with complaint-free reviews above it, it might not be worthwhile responding to, but if a host only has a few reviews under their belt or not high turnover, it might.
I have no idea what a cordless cellular shade is, so if you don’t have any explanation for using them in your house manual, I would probably have thought there weren’t window coverings either. (Altho I’m pretty mechanically inclined and might have figured it out on my own)
I reply to reviews from time to time- it might be thanking them for the great review etc It feels like good manners to do so.
When the guest is unhappy with something i could have fixed during the stay as i live in another part of the house, I’ll comment on that politely. It lets potential guests know this too , if they’ve bothered to read the review. ‘Its my party and I’ll cry if i want to, cry if I want to’
PS
(Yeah, ive puzzled you there I reckon!
If you know this song- answer with the next line !!!)
Disagree about responding to reviews. I respond to all of them, in a personal manner, thanking them for their stay and (sincerely) hoping they return, soon.
You realize that your responses appear on your review page, not the guest’s? So the guest may likely never read the response, as they would have little reason to look at a host’s review page after their stay is over (unless they wrote a bad review and check to make sure it got posted) . Responses are really for the benefit of future guests.
I already personally thank guests for booking with me, tell them they can contact me directly if they ever want to come back, when they check out.
‘Its my party and I’ll cry if i want to, cry if I want to’ 