Unfortunately, I only have 60 some reviews… I started hosting last year.
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60?! In just one year? That’s GREAT!
You must be doing a LOT very well.
Good for you.
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This is true, 60 in one year is great. Sorry they got a refund but hopefully you’ll get a replacement booking.
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OMG - We only have 33 and have been advertising on AirBnB since 2016.
But we really are a property better aligned with Vrbo customers - most of our guests are older adults with their “children” and their spouses, grandma and grandpa and kids/grandkids, or groups of older friends travelling together (we have over 110 reviews there).
60 in one year is great!
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At least three times, (and maybe more I may be forgetting some), I’ve had guests book and then right before their arrival (within a week or less), they contacted me wanting to cancel and asking for a refund. Since my refund policy is strict, I refused to refund. In each case, when I refused to refund, the Guest ended up coming and staying. And in each case, the guests were fine, they loved the place, and they left me a five star review.
Each time I was worried that they would do some thing to retaliate—maybe tear the place up or leave me a bad review. But my worries were unfounded and everything was fine in each case.
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Did any of them tell you why they wanted to cancel in the first place? It seems so strange to ask to cancel and then come anyway. Maybe they just figured they had a better use for the money if they could get a refund?
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Thank you! I am trying my best. 
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I invite my guests to review on my check-out greetings. Surprisingly, all most all of them did review. I am very grateful for their kindness.
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You are very lucky! I wish I was wrong about this guest. I wish she is indeed a nice person. But I just couldn’t bear the stress…
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I bet you’re pretty strong and could bear a lot.
You simply chose not to have this negativity in your life, a strong choice.
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Thank you, Glenn, your words are very kind and encouraging.
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At some point now or later, I think many of us (I would) would be interested to learn what you might be doing to generate such engagement from your guests.
Many people have come onto this forum to complain of guests who just don’t leave reviews; we’ve had the same experience. I wonder if you have any idea what you’re doing to generate virtually all 5-star reviews (this isn’t that rare) AND so many so quickly (this seems rare to me, and outstanding). What a combination!
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[quote=“muddy, post:47, topic:57553, full:true”]
Did any of them tell you why they wanted to cancel in the first place? It seems so strange to ask to cancel and then come anyway. Maybe they just figured they had a better use for the money if they could get a refund?
[/quote]
I remember 2 of them. One wanted to cancel because they thought they had found something they would like better, the other wanted to cancel because they found something closer to the church they would be attending. One of them was a weekend booking (the church goer). The other was a 2 month booking; they were coming to get out of NYC in the early days of the pandemic.
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Before the pandemic I was averaging about 100 a year on about 10-11 months of bookable calendar. The “secret” was having an outstanding rental and short stays, usually one nighters. Early on, 80% of my guests would review me but that dropped after I quit hosting in my part of the house.
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This is off OP’s topic of course. I find the variability among hosts curious when it comes to what percentage of guest submit a review. We only started in January of 2022. We now have 115 reviews. Only maybe 5 guests we’ve hosted have not left a review. We even have a guest book on the coffee table that about 80% of our guests choose to sign. Granted, in our check-out message we explicitly ask guests to consider signing it, and then we also ask them to please review their stay online when prompted by Airbnb. All amazing book entries and all 5 stars and glowing words so far. Half the time I feel we’re lucky and half the time I feel proud that we’re doing things right.
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Maybe the genius of ‘and’ vs. the tyranny or ‘or’.
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I don’t know how much interaction you have with guests (I’ve looked at your listing and know you offer self-check-in, aren’t onsite and that it’s an entire place), but I think that hosts who interact personally with guests, even if it’s just in online communication, may get a higher percentage of reviews.
If a host uses IB, sends impersonal scheduled messages, and communicates the bare minimum, guests may not feel much connection to the host, it’s just a place to rent, like a hotel, and may be less inclined to leave a review. If you’ve exchanged a few friendly messages with guests, they would feel more of a connection.
It’s like the difference between going to a chain store that hires know-nothing employees at minimum wage or going to a small independent store with knowledgable staff who give you personal attention and can answer any questions you have about the products. You naturally feel more appreciative and satisfied of the service.
It would indeed be interesting to see a study on any pattern between the hosts and listings whose guests usually leave reviews and those where a larger percentage don’t leave reviews.
I think that only about 5 of my guests, since I started hosting in late 2016, for my private room listing haven’t left reviews. But I can’t say I could identify any correlating factors as to why those particular guests wouldn’t have left reviews.
There might also be a correlation between which category of guests leave reviews, apart from how the host runs their business. Maybe guests who travel a lot like to have a lot of reviews from hosts, so they get accepted easily, so they review the host, hoping they’ll get a review as well. Maybe guests from certain demographics- age range, nationality, etc., leave reviews more often than others. For instance, older guests who really aren’t much into online stuff may not leave reviews, while younger ones who have grown up in the online review culture might review more. Just guessing here.
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That’s the funny part. I’ve only met maybe 3 guests. Once to troubleshoot the stereo (someone had switched off the speakers), once to replace a propane canister for the fire pit (my fault), and once to trouble shoot the propane fire pit. (They had left the metal cover on. Mm Hm. When I removed it, lit the thing and turned to them, they were amazed!) We do IB. We have very personal-worded scheduled messages. But we’re very responsive to questions and such. Still have like 96% review rate, even on top of an 80% guest book fill-out rate. (Some have said their guest book pulled the online review rate down.)
I was just thinking about how many hosts I’ve heard say “I only review guests after the platform tells me they’ve given me a review.” I’ve also read posts, “I only review hosts after I see they’ve reviewed me.” When they both cross the same listing, I guess nobody gets reviewed. 
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Review rate may also have something to do with the nature of the listing. I think private room hosts get a high review rate, and your place seems to be off the beaten track and looks really homey, not some cookie cutter Airbnb investment property.
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