Yes,I know this one has been flogged to death, but could not resist posting this one:
“Great location for the wedding I was going to, not close to any sight seeing”
Got 1 star knockdown also for this in spite of the primary purpose of guest choosing this location. As to sight seeing there is tons with lots of great reviews supporting that, but surely that depends on what kinds of sights guest wishes to see as if it is ocean or big city big city views, then it will be a bad location!
Bottom line to Airbnb is drop the “Location” rating as only the guest can choose what is suitable for them while the host can only best describe it and if guest wants to verify that there is always Google.
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I feel ya. I just had an entire review comment: Great location- right on trolley line…then he gave me a 4 star for location.
At least it was 5 star overall.
ETA: Oh and the private feedback was: Thank you guys!!! Nice place, great location.
sigh
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I get 4 stars for location sometimes. In my description I point out that we live on a bridal path which is a bit of a bumpy ride. I can’t change my location ! I love living in the middle of a wood and it’s annoying that some guests don’t read the description. There are 4 cottages on the bridal path and I give explicit instructions not to knock neighbours doors and give very clear directions how to find us but still they knock the neighbours door to find us. One couple at midnight. Its annoying and embarrassing.
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I don’t understand the complaints on location category rating. It is a fair category to rate. Think about your own city, there are certainly good locations and bad locations. You can’t expect a guest to be an expert on every city they visit.
The point is “location” is subjective. If you are picking a listing for its proximity to a wedding, then it should be given top stars for accessibility and convenience for your purpose.
Generally, travellers should have a sense of what they need out of their vacation. They should shoulder some responsibility in getting their needs met. That involves a little research.
If they would like it to be accessible to tourist sights or hopping urban centers where all the excitement is at, but then complain about location because it’s too full of tourists and too loud, then thats ridiculous.
If they want to be in a quieter zone where it may be cheaper for accomodation but still be able to travel quickly to the tourist zone, and they get just that, then they should give 5 stars. Why did they think they were paying less?
If they go into situations like this totally blind, dont know how to read a map and are clueless about travel, the Airbnb shouldnt suffer because of their shortcomings.
Personally, I think location should be graded differently. It should be about safety, aesthetics, and nearby basic amenities (like grocery stores, gas stations, liquor stores).
You shouldnt be able to compare it to other areas straight across the board.
“You mean that my house by the river and 15 minutes by train isn’t as convenient and accessible to the beach in terms of location as that house is RIGHT ON THE BEACH where you hear the surf come in as you wake? Or isnt as convenient to your skiing vacation as that listing where the shuttle to the ski hill parks right in front? And with mine, you paid about $200 less per night but it took you 30 mins to the hill? Wow! You don’t say!”
That’s the kind of stupidity I can’t stand. And with great stupidity, comes great power.
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All the ratings are subjective.
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To a point. Location is to that individual guests needs but it also exists as a factor that cant be changed. If someone complains about your cleaning, and you have both have very different standards of cleaning, you can evaluate and determine if perhaps maybe you should alter it. Several complaints may warrant hiring a cleaning service, for example.
But location is static. And would ostensibly be valued at a proportionate and fair rate. It’s due to its very subjectivity that there is not a valid or consistent way of scoring it so that it is a fair measurement. People often mistake it for its proximity to other areas when it should be tied to the needs as a traveler for that trip and very basic fulfillment criteria (like safety, beauty and access to critical amenities like transit, groceries).
Perhaps universal criteria should be applied to the other 4 as well.
@brandt. it’s not subjective when the guest can clearly see the location they are booking. he chose the place fully knowing where it is, why blame the host ? if you are a tourist its yiur own responsibility to research your own locatiin needs, hosts are not travel agencies. If the host didn’t do a good job or over promised on the location, he can always be dinged on accuracy, not location. it’s almost like a tourist booking a trip to Cambodia and complaining the place is rural.
My place is not the most central location and my price clearly reflects that. I even list down the travel times to the nearest amenities. most have given me 5 stars for location, but the odd guest (only 1 so far) would give me 3 stars, because he had to walk more than 5 minutes to a restaurant. In my area, airbnb is littered with listings smacked right in the centre of cbd which would have met his needs very well. but he obviously chose my listing based on my price and decor, and my listing is certainly not in the first page. why then did he ding me on location fully knowing I’m not where he wanted to be?
How does the price of accommodation change the location it is in? The different ratings categories are for different aspects of the accommodation. Maybe a place is in a bad location but still a good value.
The location rating is not a rating if the map pin is correct. What is the area like, people would prefer to be next to nice restaurants and coffee shops compared to a crack house and garbage dump.
I think there is a very good solution to this: Airbnb should ask the guests to rate how accurately the host described the location. Hosts should be asked to describe the location in a separate section, and when the guest is asked to rate the accuracy, the guest can be shown the host’s description again.
If I say my listing is right above a noisy bar and underneath an aerobics studio, providing almost 24x7 noise, then I should get five stars if that’s accurate.
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And then, because most guests don’t read, we’d be in even more of a pickle.
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Mrs Richardson always springs to mind with this sort of review: “what do you expect to see from a Torquay window etc?”
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Because not every one lives in a city. If you live in a very small village are they rating you based on your location in the village or location of the village? If it is a cabin alone in a wood are they rating similar lonely houses or the woods they are in based on how far they are from the hustle and bustle of the city rather than how near? Perhaps it should be optional so as you say for places in a big city like London there are going to be some that are better located with respect to main tourist attractions and the Tube than others so it makes sense in that case.
I think about that so often that I wrote about it 
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lol. I had a real good laugh!!!
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very good! I shall read the rest of your blog now.
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I wish Airbnb would provide better context, such as actually asking “Accuracy of host’s description of location.” OR “Completeness of the host’s description of location.”
I can easily see how a guest interprets the rating as being without context, in the mode of advising the next Travelocity traveler. “It’s a bit far from center city and tourist attactions. You might want to pay more to be closer in,” they’re thinking, so objectively (with no context given their particular trip purpose or the price they paid) it’s a 4-star.
I honestly feel removing the location rating altogether would be the fairest treatment for hosts. Airbnb’s refusal to remove the rating is only to benefit the tourists at the host’s expense. The “accuracy” rating is there for a purpose! The subjectivity is made worse by the fact that it takes 7-8 ratings just to correct a 3 star rating, thanks to Airbnb’s algorithm which tends to round down instead of rounding up decimal places. If an irrational guest were to ding your location and give you a single star, i’ll imagine it will take you 10-15 subsequent 5 star reviews to compensate. The whole location rating just craps on every host that is not in the middle of CBD surrounded by every amenity possible.
Fawlty Tower episode was a great simile.One of my favoirite shows as there was nothing funnier than the older Britcoms, whereas the newer one just are not the same. Sorry to digress but back to this location thing. Location is where it is, so either it is or it isn’t. I get it that location can also refer to a bad neighborhood, but if it had been described a a clean well kept neighborhood when in fact the opposite was the case then that should fall under the accuracy category.
Problem: the “Great Location” blurb that Airbnb posts on the front page of the listing makes it look like only 90% of the people who reviewed their stay gave the suite 5 stars.
I have a total of 10 Reviews. I have a 5-star rating in every single category from 100% of those ten reviews, to include LOCATION. I have had a total of 11 Airbnb guests. Ten of those guests left reviews, one guest did not review. Hence, indeed, only 90% of my guests have left reviews. Bear with me here…
The wording “90% OF RECENT GUESTS gave the location a 5-star rating” gives people the impression that not all guests approved of the location.
It should read “this rental has a 5-star location rating”! That would be an accurate description! Why would they average in an unknown opinion? Yes, the statement is true. 90% of recent guests gave the location a 5-star rating (but that is because only 90% of the guests reviewed the rental!). Why are they averaging in a guest that did not leave a review?
Heck, you can characterize each aspect of the rating like that. They could say “90% of recent guests said this place was sparkling clean”, that would be true, but it wouldn’t reflect the fact that 100% of the people that rated the rental said that it is sparkling clean!
Why would Airbnb do this?