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So frustrating isn’t it. Unfortunately guests don’t always read is one of the first things you learn when you become a host.
Don’t worry I am sure you will soon get more reviews and this one will be lost.
Why don’t you reply and say what you said here . Something like. "Glad you highlighted our great, central, location. Our house is less than 5 minutes from downtown but it’s still feels like you’re in the middle of nowhere, which is the beauty of our place! "
@Yogimama - yes it is a great frustration! I’m sure lots of hosts would agree. We are nearly two years into hosting and it still winds me up when we get a three or four on locations. But as @Helsi says, it will soon get lost in your future reviews - don’t let it get you down!
What I occasionally do is to message the guest after their stay and politely ask them to help by giving some feedback on the issues that disappointed them regarding location. Was it the street? The local amenities? The fact the apartment is first floor? Etc.
Sometimes you get some useful feedback.
Andy
Same thing happened to me. Very first review got 3 star for location. they could see the location when they made the booking, why booked it if you are not 100% happy with location.
Luckily I had all 5 stars after that. It took long time to get up to 4.9 now.
I had similar on starting up, second review. “The roads are too narrow”. It will get much, much better and disappear soon. Someone has given you a brilliant response to post by return, without sounding hostile.
Thanks for the great advice, all!
There are many posts on this subject.
https://airhostsforum.com/t/are-you-getting-slammed-on-location-in-reviews-how-to-stop-it-now/13606
Must be on our minds! 
I hate the location rating.
5 star house…and then LOCATION:
Location - 4 STARS
Perfect for us as we didn’t need to be in Historic Downtown. Access to grocery stores (Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Harris Teeter) within 2-3 miles. On the water made it perfect.
REVIEW AND EVERYTHING ELSE - 5 STARS
Public feedback
The perfect weekend getaway for a bunch of moms who needed to relax. The kitchen had everything we needed to cook a meal at home one night. The hot tub was soothing. The showers and tubs made for relaxing bath time! The touch of a few pastries, juice and coffee upon our arrival was much appreciated. Everything we had hoped for and more. A return visit during warmer weather has already been discussed!
Ugh… dislike. …
Seriously…location is absolutely THE ONLY THING that can’t possibly change between looking, booking, and staying. Drives me batty.
Don’t sweat it. Location is a silly rating. It is supposed to mean “Is the location accurately described” as opposed to “Accuracy” which means “is the property accurately described”. Some guests think it means “Was there a view of the Eiffel Tower in country Australia?”, well no because “c’est ne pas Paris”.
My peaceful country location occasionally gets 3 stars for rating. No cafes, bars or nightclubs I suppose, which I definitely mention in the listing and pre-arrival email. I don’t think guests really care that much when looking for a property as long as the location is accurately described.
I think I mentioned that I had been in the pub…
@Yogimama Welcome to our world - I have long complained about the “location” review item since I think it is inappropriate. I recently started renting our chalet in “rural” Quebec. I think I say rural about 10 times in my listing and note that the closest store is 18 km from our chalet. The last two reviews gave me a 3 star and a 4 star for location and everything else 5 star. Actually one guest was attending an event some 30 km away (he gave me the 3 star) and I couldn’t understand why he booked our chalet. It is very frustrating since I have been very clear about location - oh well the guest is always right!!
I’m very concerned about this. Although my place is only 20 minutes from town, it is quite remote with many turns to get there. Additionally, when one enters the address in Google Maps, it doesn’t pull up the house number, but does take one directly to the spot with the street name.
I have worked up some very detailed directions and instructions, including information about the Maps issue and have created maps to show the exact location. I’m hoping it will be enough!
Is this in Big Bear?
No, this one is Colorado.
I recently got a 4 star for location because I’m not close to DTLA although the guest did mention favorably that I was near the beach. I had to lol him in my feedback. LA is so enormous that it is impossible to be near both DTLA and the beach at the same time. You have to chose one or the other! (the choice is yours).
I think we can all agree that the location rating sucks! It should be explained as “was the location as described”? and that should be it! If you are 5 miles from the beach but you said in your listing that it was a short walk, then you should get a lower rating, but if you say it’s 5 miles and about a 10-15 minute drive, then you should get 5 stars!! So ridiculous!
As a guest I even had trouble with it (before I was a host). I remember thinking the location of somewhere we stayed in Palm Springs was perfect for us because it was a little outside downtown and very quiet and peaceful. It was a pretty long walk into town; if we were in a hurry we took public transport or Uber. When I was reviewing I gave the location 5 stars, but I thought it was dumb because someone wanting to walk out the door and be right downtown wouldn’t like it. Or in our own air unit, if you wanted to walk out the door and be right downtown, but also have a view and free parking, you’d be paying a heck of a lot more, so if you were too cheap to book the location you really wanted, don’t ding mine!!!
I have the same frustrations with location! So annoying, sending you good review juju !
