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It’s amazing to me that there are hosts who don’t realise that.
It’s such a waste of time for a busy host when, as you say @muddy, the guests aren’t going to read it. I don’t think I’ve ever read what a host has written about me when I’ve been a guest.
I know that we say this all the time here but reviews are for future guests, not to massage a previous guest’s ego. The thank you message should ideally be sent on the evening before checkout along with details regarding checkout time etc.
I always had the impression that hosts did the “thank you” response to guest reviews so they would appear to future guests as gracious hosts. But once you have a bunch of good reviews that already say that, it’s pretty redundant.
I’ve noticed that many hosts left the “thank you” responses when they first started out, but then stopped after they had lots of good reviews and realized it was an unnecessary waste of time.
When I am an AirBnB guest looking for a situation, I look at the host’s reviews. Along with those reviews, is the host’s comment. Please to explain why the host’s comment is unhelpful?
How is it “helpful” to prospective guests for a host to thank a past guest? It doesn’t provide any information unless the response corrects misinformation in the review.
It certainly informs me what the host is about. How one handles criticism is revealing. 
But you didn’t say your responses were addressing criticism, you said you thanked them for their stay and that you hoped they returned soon. And why would you want a guest who wrote a less than positive review to return?
And the reviews themselves usually make it clear “what the host is about”. Mine sure do.
I am a five-star host. I write a response to every review. Works for me.
I’d prefer to reverse the question because I can’t figure out how it can be?
So I’m looking at a place I’m thinking of booking … and I’m reading the reviews. After every review the host has said “thank you for staying with us and we hope you return soon”.
What possible good is that to me as a potential guest?
When I see a business respond with a personalized message, I think that they are taking feedback seriously.
But if it is a canned message with a generic thank you and we will take your feedback under consideration for it improvement, it doesn’t make me feel that they are taking the feedback seriously.
I’ve seen many review pages for listings run by property management companies that say exactly that. Tons of reviews complaining about the same things, and the generic response about noting it for improvement, yet obviously they do no such thing.