Yes! There’s a guy in my town whose listing is titled “In the heart of Long Beach”. He offers a couple of rooms in his very nice house that’s just a couple of blocks away from hookers walking down Pacific Coast Highway. Then beyond that, to get to the “beach” you have to travel through a fairly ratty area. But his price is amazingly low so he’s got a solid 5 for location. At least I think it’s because of the price.
Guests don’t have to give star ratings in all categories.
Hi All… The location question is surely subjective?.. If you have a place next to a sewerage works and your guest works at, the sewerage works then your place is in an ideal location so 5 stars!.. If your idea of a fantastic location is in the heart of the city, surrounded by city noises, smells and the hustle and bustle of city life, then a place there would be ideal for you… If you prefer to be in the middle of nowhere with just peace and quiet and away from any shops, bars etc, you would not be happy in the city… so… location is possibly not a good category as it is largely dependent on individual taste… Our listing is (Christchurch, UK. ) not in a particularly pretty street but it is very centrally located for the New Forest, beautiful beaches, countryside, historic sites and also very close to great rail links to London etc.so would be an ideal location for visitors wanting to explore the area but not for those who want to have an undisturbed view of the sea… just my humble opinion though… 
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Ah yes, so true…the quirky neighbours part!
It’s not hosts conflating location and accuracy it’s Airbnb.
Airbnb ask hosts to describe the area accurately. Airbnb then asks guests to rate how desirable the area is. And no, no matter how accurately I describe my location, no materhow much I warn it’s quiet, people still come expecting my place to be off oxford street.
Hosts understandably get frustrated not realising Airbnb is not asking the guests:’ was the area what you expected’ and instead asks them to ‘rate the desirability’ of the area.
It’s called moving the goal posts and only Airbnb can take responsibility for asking hosts and guests to say different things.
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Hi Zandra,
I think you have hit the nail on the head…the question on location should definitelly be,
as you say, ‘Was the location what you expected?’…that would tie in totally with the hosts being
asked to describe the location accurately…I mean ‘desirability of location’ is vague and gets
one thinking along a different line of assessment. I wonder are Airbnb open to valid suggestions
from hosts on these issues? Once again, thanks for the conversation.
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Ellen is right on! I love the idea of bedframes used as fences…use eccentric decorations.
I would in the beginning of my description, capitalize LOCATION and say, we are a rural retreat…bit in the boonies, x miles or x minutes drive from town…rural means not in town to anyone with a brain
The brain requirement could prove tricky. I just had to explain to someone that 24th-28th means a 4-day stay, not a 5-day stay. He contended he has never heard such a thing, in any of the hotels he has stayed in. Perhaps he meant in the caves he has stayed in, they may use a different nomenclature.
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