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I wouldn’t block automatically for fewer than 5 stars, unless you and the guest had negative history. If the guest seemed perfectly happy during the stay and in the written review, I’d message through the platform to ask about the star rating—in the sense of “what could we do better”?
We had one guest give us a glowing review, 5 stars over all, and 4 stars for location. I asked her about it. She said she meant to click 5. I believe her.
No. I kind of see your point, but I wouldn’t block them. If a guest gave me that rating, I’d ask them what they think I could do to improve the value. Hopefully, they say something other than “reduce the nightly rate”
I did say I would not host this person again. There also used to be a block option if you clicked on “report this profile” and you would click some more options and it would show up. However, more recently others have said that option no longer is available.
Absolutely not! I have gotten very few 4’s for value. Almost all dings are on location. Regardless I would never block based on a category ding. One guy this summer gave a 3 for location but I didn’t block him.
I blocked the woman above due to the 4 overall, nitpicky reviews she leaves other hosts (using Chrome extension AirReview to see these) and her requesting extras. After she booked the first time and I saw her reviews I was anxious. When she left no review at all I assumed she wasn’t satisfied but couldn’t find anything to complain about. Imagine my surprise when she booked her return trip. But I wasn’t uncomfortable enough to use one of my cancellations. She is a travel nurse and lives in a city 5 hours from me so I figured there was a chance of her booking me yet again and that’s why I blocked.
I blocked another guy who showed up 2 hours before check in and then gave me a 4 overall and attitude about me calling him out on the early appearance. The other person I blocked stayed with me 3 times with her dog. She was another oddball who always caused me anxiety when she booked. On the 4th booking she questioned my pet fee. I canceled and blocked her.
Do you realize that the star ratings can have little to do with whether the host is good or not? Many of the lowest star ratings are given by guests who were called out on ignoring house rules, asked to pay for extra guests, etc. Their revenge is to tank a host’s ratings and create written reviews full of made-up complaints and outright lies.
I put little value on the star ratings and think they should be abolished, as they are far too often subject to a guest’s bad attitude. Written reviews are fine- even if a nasty guest writes a review which portrays the place and/or the host in a bad and false light, it’s usually evident that that review is an outlier and can be dismissed if the host has lots of other good reviews.
There’s been many a long-time Superhost who has lost that status due to a 1* review from an obnoxious guest.
Except that in some non vacation home cases the people are there for not great reasons or are stressed or whatever and it effects the host’s rating based on The guest’s mindset.
what?
I could see that happening. I had one guy who was a problem. His mom was in the hospital and he was here trying to look after her. He booked, then questioned my pet fee. I told him feel free to cancel. He then showed anyway and then canceled claiming the place was too small. WTF? So he ended up out about $60 and I didn’t refund because he was a PITA and actually went into the room, left some stuff, and then cancelled and came back. I’d like to think he didn’t normally treat people that way.
I said something to the effect (on the platform in the message thread), “sorry your mom is ill but that’s no excuse to be rude to me.” BUT, he didn’t leave a review.
I’ve been trying to figure out for years why I don’t have the issues some hosts seem to have. As soon as I do I’m going to bottle it and sell it.
@Suntory- Also, are you aware that Airbnb tells guests that 4*s is a Good rating? There are tons of guests who were totally pleased with their stay and the host who naturally think that when they leave a host a 4 star rating, they are leaving a good review. They have no idea how ratings are calculated or affect hosts.
None of the arguments about the occasional low or retaliatory review changes the fact that if a host is consistently getting enough sub 5 star reviews to be averaging below 4.70, something is wrong. If anything the review system is probably skewed higher than it should be.
I understand what you’re saying but sometimes guests might give a 4 star for value or location. That’s why when I’m booking as a guest, I don’t really look at the number but focus more on reading the reviews. I think sometimes it’s like grading a student’s paper. They might have great content but lose points for spelling or typos. Same with hosts. Host might be great but lose points for location and value because another place was a few bucks cheaper and maybe a few blocks closer to an attraction.
I fixed the autocorrect error…vacation not faction…
No, I would not block them. But I had guests give us four stars on value, and then wanted to book again the next year (both stays over Thanksgiving). They asked me to reduce my minimum stay requirements for them because they were repeats (and hosts themselves). That was an easy request to say “no” to!
In theory, yes. But it very much depends on the volume of business a host does as to what their ratings will average out to. A host who gets hundreds of bookings a year will be able to absorb the occasional less than 5* review without it having much effect on their rating. But a host who gets only 15-20 guests a year will see their rating tank if they get a 1* rating from some disgruntled guest.
No one is disputing that.
I saw a listing recently where a host doesn’t have many reviews (I think it was 10) and their average was 4.58 or something like that. So I realize that one “retaliation” review would sink that host. But I looked in the categories and not one was 5 star overall. 4.6 to 4.9s. On another host with sub 4.6 I saw a review that said something like "I sympathize with the host’s struggles. " I almost spit out my coffee. It must be some host whining about how hard it is to get a 5 star review.
I’m not that widely traveled on Airbnb with only 13 Airbnb stays. But I’ve had no problem finding places to stay that are 4.70 or higher. If someone wants to be competitive they need to fix their listing management. It’s just not that hard to maintain good scores.
As you know, I’m the same and I’ve started to wonder if it’s because I don’t give a you-know-what about star ratings 
@KKC that makes sense. Thanks for the explanation. Also, we housed them during a literal tornado in our shelter. Guess that wasn’t good enough for 5 stars. LOL
Oh my god, I just discovered Airreview on the Chrome browser. This gadget is amazing. Wow.
Has anyone ever rejected a guest based on what they discovered through Airreview? I would love to hear how hosts handle this. Highly recommend this browser add on for all hosts but this extra level of scrutiny is also freaking me out now.
Yes. I knew one of the other local hosts, and called him. It turned out that he had other issues that led me to refuse his query because when wanted to stay more than my 7 day maximum during high season.
Impressive detective work. What was the issue if I may ask?
Huh?
Many of us have been using it a long time. “Discovering” things like this is one of the many advantages to being a regular reader here. Others include knowing how the Superhost award vouchers work, what to do when your payment is delayed, that emotional support and service animals don’t have to be disclosed in advance, and how extenuating circumstances cancellations work.
Welcome to the forum.
I have instant book so the number of guests I reject is tiny. However, I’ve never rejected anyone. I use it to be warned in advance if a guest (like the traveling nurse described above) is going to be particular. And as I said above, I did factor in her review of me and her reviews of others in my decision to never host her again.
I have rejected a guest based on host’s reviews of her, but I can’t imagine rejecting a guest based on their reviews of hosts. I guess I’d see them as a challenge.
Yes, I guess I was slow to “discover” Airreview. I am a regular reader on the forum but this is really quite new to me. And yes, I have yet to learn how SH award vouchers work as well …