My way of rating guests

[Chris]

@p_v

@sylvainbg

I think I am too nice with guests rating.

I have the same feeling, also with the reviews I write.

As other hosts don’t see rating, what do you think of seting something similar with the tone of reviews as a way of encoding rating? For example:

Enthusiastic and grateful = 5 stars
Descriptive and neutral = 4 stars
Neutral and short = 3, 2 stars

Yes, that would be good. Whatever you are happy with.
I don’t say that everyone should downgrade their guests, I just want to encourage hosts to be a bit more critical when reviewing a guest.

They sure are critical when reviewing the host!

[Chris]

@p_v

I wish I could set this, but it seems we don’t have this option in my country, Spain! I just can set IB for people that match Airbnb requirements or people that, besides this, are recommended by other hosts -the same than UK. Which country is yours?

I am in Austria.

But I do not know if it is location based, or that they use other criteria like volume etc

[Chris]

@faheem

That’s a pretty good rating system, but to be useful it would need to be public. Have you published this, or are you planning to publish it, on your listing? I’m tempted to borrow it for my listing - can I?

I just did a review for my just departed guests, and they certainly would have got much lower reviews if I had been using your system. One thing that did bother me a bit is that they parked dishes containing uneaten food by the kitchen sink. I don’t necessarily expect people to wash up and put stuff away, but it’s highly desirable (particularly in India, and a hot place like Bombay) to throw away uneaten food in the rubbish bin, and rinse out the dishes. That way it doesn’t attract vermin, at least. I would have expected Indians to know that already, but apparently not.

So, by your rating, they’d have got a 3 for cleanliness, probably. Though I don’t know if I would have the stones to actually give a guest 3 stars.

You can use these ratings, I do not have any copyrights on them.

I had my experiences with Indian food half eaten and smelling away in the sink.
We had some very nice and clean Indians, but we also have multiple Indian guests populating our top 10 of dirtiest AirBnB guests ever.

[faheem]

@Chris

We had some very nice and clean Indians, but we also have multiple Indian guests populating our top 10 of dirtiest AirBnB guests ever.

Indians, by and large, don’t have a lot of social sense. It’s something that is under constant attack in India. Most people don’t think outside the confines of their own lives to anything larger. And that can scale down to something as small as properly disposing of garbage.

I remember reading an article in the Economist once (not my favorite magazine, but anyway) that began with someone from some fancy house in India bringing dirty dishes outside and throwing the contents out on the street. While I’m not suggesting that’s common practice in real life India, it’s fairly symbolic of a big aspect of modern India.

[konacoconutz]

@Chris

Guest start out with a 4 star, and only guests who give the little extra get 5 stars.

The problem is, the STARS are a worthless metric on Guests. They are not visible anywhere and go into a black hole. So you’re wasting your time with this guest star rating system.

[faheem]

@konacoconutz

They are not visible anywhere and go into a black hole.

If nobody sees them, what’s the point?

[jaquo]

@faheem

If nobody sees them, what’s the point?

I’ve never been able to see that there is a point! Whether Airbnb use them is unknown but as hosts we can’t see them. Which seems a bit unfair when guests can see ours.

[konacoconutz]

@faheem

If nobody sees them, what’s the point?

exactly my point!..

[faheem]

@jaquo

Which seems a bit unfair when guests can see ours.

It does indeed! Let’s send a petition to Airbnb! All we need is a pithy slogan, like “No Taxation without Representation”.

[cabinhost]

I was hoping to find some leftover goodies from my Memorial Day weekend guests. I notice a direct correlation of when I leave a partial bottle of ketchup, soy sauce, salad dressing, etc…(things other guests left behind) - and whether or not the next guest will leave some of their items behind. I think many appreciate the pay it forward versus just dumping in the trash can.

Well the entire fridge was empty for them, just because it’s been slow and guest just have gone through any leftover bottled condiments. (I also have ketchup packets, etc. in the cabinet). So the only thing I left the guests before they arrived was an unopened bag of ice from previous guests, and two leftover popsicles that come in a huge net bag for kids in those plastic tubes.

I went over earlier today to do a walk through, and they left me an opened box of Bisquick and a brand new bag of those same damn popsicles in the net bag…prob, 20 of them…ha! - but I can’t eat that crap.

Yep, I’m a scrounge…I admit it

[jaquo]

I’m a scrounge too

Recently I had a guest who was a chef. I saw the guests going out on their first day and they came back with lots and lots of grocery bags and it was only a three night stay. I was looking forward to the bounty!

You can imagine my disappointment when I saw them loading up the car when they were leaving - all the groceries went with them

[KKC]

@konacoconutz

The problem is, the STARS are a worthless metric on Guests. They are not visible anywhere and go into a black hole.

Maybe my memory is failing me but… we give a thumbs up or down and then rate by stars in 3 categories. Now ABB is testing an IB setting where only a guest with at least 4.5 stars overall rating can use IB. So wouldn’t this be a beginning of “the point” in rating guests with stars?

[konacoconutz]

Right… If that is the case then it would make the stars more valuable. You do have to use stars but I could never see the point because other hosts don’t see them. Another way Air is protecting the guest?

[KKC]

I don’t think ABB has any reason to protect the guest over the host. They need both to have a money making business. What they want to do is successfully match as many hosts and guests as possible. So maybe they have been collecting these star ratings with an eye to rolling out a use for them. Maybe guests with low ratings get different search results than those with high star ratings.

[p_v]

I was also mulling over this… Knowing that larely airbnb is experimenting with matching guests and hosts to provide an optimum experience, maybe they could be testing the result of matching 2* and 3* guests with hosts that are more likekely to put up with difficult guests, like those close to gaining SH status or those close to lose it next season. Optimum doesnt mean better for all parties… Am I being evil-minded?

[Eberhard_Blocher]

Same here. I don’t actually want people to take out the trash. I prefer them to leave some plastic bottles in their room, so I can claim back the deposit (we have a 25 cents deposit on large plastic bottles, in Germany).

Also, I don’t want guests to strip the bed, or do the dishes. I would adore it if guests cleaned the bathroom, too, but unfortunately, I don’t see that happening just yet.

[Joseph]

@Eberhard_Blocher

(we have a 25 cents deposit on large plastic bottles, in Germany

This is awesome. I wish there was something similar here

[Joseph]

We haven’t used Air as guests yet. Do the guests see how many stars the hosts have given to them? I sure wish they did.

[Kirsty_Jane]

I noticed it was same in Sweden - I saw a few homeless looking people picking the bottles out of bins around tourist areas.

[Eberhard_Blocher]

@Kirsty_Jane

I saw a few homeless looking people picking the bottles out of bins around tourist areas

This is getting a bit off-topic, but yes, there is a downside to deposit on plastic bottles, or cans. Children will spend a lot of time collecting used cans, and then using the money earned to buy sweets or other unhealthy stuff, without their parents’ permission or knowledge.