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“Red Oak Barn was amazing. The lovely touches were amazing and the Gwyneth and Peter’s support and hospitality was just wonderful. My wife and I chose this for a peaceful weekend away and it was ideal. Everything that you need is there, the wood burner was excellent and the smart TV just finished it all off. It is really well positioned for shops as well as some excellent New Forest pubs. I cannot recommend this any higher.”
They then give 5 stars overall and for each category, bar value (4).
This isn’t the first time this has happened and I appreciate some people just can’t bring themselves to give 5 stars for value, but then the effect on our listing is the value stars start to fade, despite glowing reviews. The possible outcome is that potential guests already have it in mind the place is good, but maybe overpriced. This doesn’t seem fair. I don’t have a solution, but just wanted to rant a bit and maybe get other hosts views.
How frustrating. Sometimes, particularly in a case like this, if I had a good relationship with the guest, I would message the guest a friendly message and thank them for their incredible review and ask given their review, what they felt you could have done as a host to provide them with a stay, which merited five rather than four star for value?
I did this once when I got knocked down for location.
The guest replied that I had said it was about a 15 minute bus ride into the city centre, and because the buses weren’t running to time and traffic was bad, they had marked me down to three stars for location as it had sometimes taken twenty minutes or half an hour by the time they had waited for the bus. I was spitting
I’ve got marked down for not providing robes and slippers! I explained to the guest that to provide robes for two means buying six robes not to mention the laundry overhead, and suggested that this was the realms of a hotel proper (with the concomitant hotel prices)
There are a million ways to add value to any listing, that should not mean a million ways to be marked down!
Thanks Helsi,
I’ve tried this in the past, both for value and location. All three guests didn’t respond to my message😖
location is another bone of contention with me. given guests get a map to help them decide if they like the location or not. So location, IMO, shouldn’t be a criterion for guest’s reviews.
Happened many times on value and location on my listing too.
It really is subjective on value.
I had French and Japanese families paid the highest on peak seasons last year, left and couldn’t wait to give 5 stars reviews on my listing.
An avid travelers from Netherlands gave 4 stars on locations, must forget to read the listing.
An American whose dad was a smoker paid less on peak season mark 4 starts on value.
Our house has an 5* rating for location. The AirBnb a few houses down has a 4* rating for location. It does seem random; we are basically the exact same place.
I had a guest attending the Phoenix Open golf tournament with 9 of his buddies. Every place close was either already booked or several times the price, so he chose mine because even though it’s 26 miles away, it has really convenient access to the freeway that runs right by the golf course and the drive is less than 30 minutes in normal traffic.
The guest rated my listing 3 stars for location even though he knew the location within 1/4 mile before he booked and one of the main reasons for choosing it was the the freeway access. Still, the rating is his perception of the location. I can see where value would be even more open to a guest’s unique perception.
After seeing all of the discussions over unfair ratings from guests perceptions/interpretations, I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to put my emotions and ego aside. Until there is evidence to the contrary (such as reduced bookings or at least a statistically-significant trend in ratings), I will assume that varying guest perceptions are not unique to my listing and will not affect my business.
Take your point entirely. I do get frustrated by other peoples standards and you’re right, it is a business, so it only matters if the bookings go down. But there is an “However”
However, hosts get these “unfair downgraded” ratings because AB has an inappropriate review process. I just wonder if enough of us gang together, (say on behalf of this forum, which I’m guessing they know about, or should be monitoring), and lobby them, they may redesign it, even take on board our suggestions such as ‘Help from host whilst staying’.
I’m a host but also have been a guest. Personally, I have given a 4 on value but not because of price but for lack of amenities. The first place I stayed at in Spain had coffee, tea and hot chocolate. Also provided extra towels, paper towels and toilet paper. Two days later we stayed elsewhere for the same price but had no extra towels, just one partial roll of toilet paper and no paper towels in the kitchen, only an old towel. So to me the value wasn’t the price but it was more about the little extra stuff. If I were you, I would ask them why they gave you a 4 on value.
You are right but it is so frustrating, I even clearly say (I’m the only host in my area that does) that I live in an inner city multicultural area, that is rather scruffy around the edges and I still get marked down and guess what reason guests give…because…I live in a slightly scruffy inner city multi-cultural area
Drives me nuts.
I even get them to confirm they have read this when they book.
I’ve been marked down on value because other people were staying at the time, despite explicit detail in my listing that we are a B&B and that other people may be staying at any given time.
My favourite location ping was that “the roads are too narrow”".
This is a big problem - some guests do as you do, by giving stars not based on what is there but based on comparisons with previous places etc. Unless they said ‘we supply paper towels’ and did not provide them, then you can’t ding them for what you assume they should provide.
If the last 5 places you stayed at gave you chocolates and the 6th did not, it was not of lesser value. They did not mess up by not giving you what another host gave you.
I don’t ever recall airbnb asking for a review based not on what your experience was and how you like it, but a review based on what you expect or demand. The poor hosts were baffled by your stars since they do not know that your earlier stay somehow was a standard that THEY were not reaching.
I would ask as well. My most recent review came from a repeat guest who said all 5 stars on her way out. 25 minutes later her review came in with a 4 for check-in, with a glowing write up about it. I thanked her for the review but asked how I could have improved the check-in this time since she gave me 4 unlike the 5 she gave me last time. She said she had given me 5 stars…
Long story short it was an accident and she did everything she could to try to get Airbnb to fix it but in the end they didn’t. Luckily it doesn’t change the number of stars showing as 5 but yes it does ding the average a little.
She asked how she could fix it and I just said to be more careful next time to be sure it takes correctly.
Oh well…have had that happen before too.
Also had someone give me 4 overall but 5 for everything and when I asked she was at her next Airbnb where she said she spoke to the host about it and there learned how damaging anything less than 5 can be…of course she likely gave that host (30 minutes from me) 5… oh well, even my last crazy 3 star Guest didn’t affect the fully 5 stars that show up across the board now that I have 28/29 reviews on that listing.
I think if you believe you offer a great place which is good value then I would ignore this score and just concentrate on your business, you will never please everyone.
But can’t you see how unfair you are being @Ritz3 like the guests we complain about who behave in a similar way?
It doesn’t matter a jot if the first place provided you with amenities the second host didn’t. What matters is - did they provide the amenities and facilities advertised. No more. No less.
What you should have marked the second host for in terms of value - was the listing as described and did it provide value in terms of location, local amenities, facilities at the house etc for the price.
Your second host didn’t need to provide extra towels, toilet paper etc. They may be more central, have a lovely view, be near public transport etc
