Calling neighborhood, sadly, implies that the guest could be critical of so many things you have no control over - loud neighbors, bad traffic patterns, and the inevitable guest who sees your description of ‘charming and quaint’ when describing your town as ‘old and run down’…
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Yep. I had a four star location rating because even though my listing clearly says that the beach is 1.5 miles away, and the guests had a car, there were delays due to road construction during their stay!
As if I can call the city and say ‘oi, I’ve got guests!’ 
I have the same problem, and I also think that airbnb should remove this ‘‘location’’ rating. I get most 5 stars though but some guests give me 4 and there’s nothing I can do about it. Where should I email airbnb? Like general feedback or what ?
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Your last example should come under Accuracy, not Location I think. My place overlooks the sea but the nearest shop is 10 minutes drive away. I make it clear they have to bring their own food. Someone gave me a 4 for Location (it really is stunning) because “we were surprised when we turned up there was nowhere to eat”. Even after I had driven 15km and bought them some take away for dinner and shared a bottle of wine with them on the balcony watching the sunset.
So I mention it 3 times now instead of previously only under Things You Need To Know, including The Rules and in the email I send them for their arrival. I still get the occasional 4, perhaps because it is a bit isolated. A selling point as I say if it is night clubs or bars you are looking for then this is not the place for you.
My guess is some people don’t read the whole listing, perhaps they are travellers looking at it on a phone so they look at the price, general location and some photos, maybe a review or two. Maybe they would have liked a cafe or bar to hang out in and think every seaside village should have a shop or cafe. Not this one.
I think they should at least explain all the things being rated on the website and some examples of what different ratings would mean.
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I sometimes don’t understand my guests. If I talk to them everything is excellent and if I read their reviews it sounds amazing. But I got several 4 star ratings for location and even some 3 stars for accuracy.
I mentioned it here as well:
I think they don’t read the description and are disappointed then. I can’t do anything but relax and open a bottle of wine
Does anybody know how the average star thing works? i.e. at location. I have 42x5* and 8x4*. I see a warning sign at the backend. But at my listing it is still 5* average. How does it work?
Your location rate is excellent, it shouldn’t show a warning! Why don’t you contact them and ask if there is a glitch?
Yes, it seems to be excellent but it isn’t (84%). The question is: “what rate do i need to get 4 stars?”
They should provide ratings guidelines… IOW, suggest to the guest that they rate with considerations to the actual context of the place. Don’t compare me to a beachside bungalow at the Mauna Lani. Not fair of you to give me four stars because I am not that. Not fair of you to give me a bad rating on location when I clearly state all over my listing that I am 45 minutes from town!
That’s true. Same at my place. You can’t change your location - just describing it honestly. But it seems not to matter.
BTW if guests don’t read descriptions they will not read rating guidelines as well.
Of all the rating categories “Accuracy” is the one I feel okay to ask guests about afterwards if it is less than a 5. Ostensibly so I can make any changes to the listing for future guests. But also because I am curious. Usually they haven’t read the listing properly but one lady said she was rating me in the car on her phone and had accidently pressed 4 instead of 5. “No worries, thanks” I replied but she insisted on contacting AirBnB and getting it changed. It did occur to me that when rating on the phone app they should show the ratings at the end and ask people if that is what they intended. Of course it may occasionally work in my favour 
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I think that Air should at least stop putting up yellow flags for less than 5 star ratings.
But really this is not about the host, its about giving potential guests insight into what kind of location they are getting.
Accurately describing a less that perfect location does not make the location better.
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As a Pillow Homes guest, I haven’t encountered this issue personally on my listings but the reality is that your location is your location. If it’s in the suburbs it will be shown as such. If it’s city center, then it will be shown as such. It’s just a matter of accurately portraying the true location of your property.
If it’s need the center of the city, the beach, tens ay so in the listing. Id if it’s some way from the center but there’s good transport then say so. It’s also about managing expectations – you don’t want people thinking your property is in the center only to found that need to get public transport for 15 minutes to get there. That’ what will give you lower ratings.
Um, I don’t think you’ve read this conversation?
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Since ABB favors guests over hosts I highly doubt they would even consider removing it. Guests like it. And yes, they are rating exactly where your property is and how they liked that location despite how up front you were about it. It is where I get my lowest marks, too. It’s annoying, but I have no hope whatsoever of it changing, because Airbnb.
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Exactly! They are judging your location.
I have the word “Secluded” in my listing title. Yet I’ve been dinged and received comments that the location is too far away from town & the Interstate. I even list to the exact mile how far it is from everything.
BTW it’s only 3 miles & about 15 minutes to town. So it’s not exactly in the middle of nowhere. It just feels like it is because we’re on top of a mountain, surrounded by forest, on a dead-end road with no other houses within sight.
Thankfully most people love the secluded location, that’s exactly why they choose my place.
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I got my very first ding on location last weekend…from…wait for it…a local. Yup that’s right folks. Someone who knows this area and lives here and STILL gave me a 4* rating. In her private feedback she gushed about how much she loved the location (wtf??).
In Airbnb’s world anything less than 5* may as well be a 1*. This is where the system fails. I read somewhere on this forum that it’s crazy that we’re all stressed out about 4’s when that’s still a very good score. I called ABB to gripe about it but all they offered me was a place to provide feedback. Sigh.
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That sounds like my kind place!
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NO Soliciting please! Please take your pitches to the vendor lounge!
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How’d it go with the cards next to the beds? What did you say? Did it have an effect?
Very interested