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I don’t need to see the guest review first. My review is what it is for the reasons I have. I’m not going to gently review the guest only if they gently review me.
If a guest review of me is inaccurate , I can leave an appropriate public response or choose to let it fade/scroll away
I’m not super fond of reviews either, but in the end I believe they benefit me. For whatever reason, I get quite a few first time “Airbnb’ers” and I’ve been told on numerous occasions that they chose my place because of my reviews.
We started using Airbnb a bit before then, and to be honest I can’t remember much about the review system back then. We also used Wimdu, now gone despite serious capital investment at the start.
Maybe my memory is playing tricks, but I seem to remember the cleaning fee being optional. You paid it and just left, or you didn’t and cleaned behind you. Anyone else remember that?
Agreed with @RiverRock. The AirReview chrome extension has helped me dodge so many bullets of guests with great Host review, but the extension shows also what the guest wrote - and I’ve caught several petty guests that too the slamming in a review. I decline all those quests when I catch them.
Same for us, @Chloe. Many guests have read through reviews and then tell us that this or that feature is why they booked with us. In our case, many cite our offering of homemade oatmeal, our indoor pool, or our greyhounds as what attracted them.
In honesty, it’s likely that more guests thoroughly read reviews than they do all our listing info!
I wouldn’t want to eliminate reviews unless there could be some better, more consistently honest and fair method. I don’t know what that would be.
Isn’t the cleaning fee still optional? I don’t have one.
I know nothing about their demise but it does point to the difficulties any new startup will face. Airbnb was much less dominant then and still couldn’t be competed with.
I love the review system because I have consistently great reviews (over 500 5 star at this point 4.97 overall rating). However I do wonder how much manpower and money is used policing the system. Imagine the number of calls and emails each day dealing with complaints about a review. Then one party or the other demands an investigation into the complaint. Airbnb needed reviews at first but now could probably manage without them.
I think he means optional for the guest. I.e. the guest can choose to pay the cleaning fee and leave the place dirty or not pay the cleaning fee and clean the place themselves. Hard to imagine how that could go wrong for hosts.
This is exactly why I don’t let myself get too down about reviews for too long anymore…I think since my listings are budget listings I get it even worse. Not only are they not paying a whole lot they think they can get away with taking a whole lot more…as it happens now I know they have not read the previous reviews complaining about the same things that are clearly spelled out in the listing and the House Rules. My self esteem is not tied to these people that think they can take advantage of my kindness and wanting to provide inexpensive quality (without expensive matcha matchy decorating style).
I think the double blind manner in which we do it nowadays is the fairest most equitable way to Do it. My daughter is a host. But since she works full-time and I am retired I am often at the rental more than she is. We really haven’t had any One or two star Guests. We’ve have had several three stars. I review people honestly. I tend to see the good in people. So perhaps my reviews are a bit skewed toward the higher end. However, I do want other hosts to know about the folks who figured a metric ton of Lysol was going to hide the fact that they smoked in our rental. So actually, I take it back. We have given out a two star rating.
As a guest I want to be rated. My reviews are all good because they treat people’s homes the way I would treat my own. I also communicate well. Give we have given out a two star rating.
As a guest I want to be rated. The reviews I Have received thus far are all good. I treat people’s homes the way I would treat my own. I also communicate well. And I believe communication is huge as far as this matter goes.
But hey, seriously, you want to read my review as your guest and then you get to decide if you want to review me? On what planet is that fair?
And I think Airbnb’s policy of allowing a follow-up response to a review pretty much allows you to you have your cake and eat it too.
As a host, I would certainly accept a return visit from someone who has visited us before But did not leave a review. I would have knowledge of how they comported themselves the first time, so why wouldn’t I rent again?
Another idea: We use an old fashioned guest book in the suite. All the guests write something (only about 4 out of 250+ haven’t…). We know what their experience was before I write our review. Only downside has been that sometimes folks write amazing notes, but seem to have run out of gas a bit by the time they do their online review. Plus the review process is way too complicated for guests, in my opinion. The host side is easier
Hello, I don’t think it’s fair to ask to see guest’s reviews first. And I also agree that you should commit to writing honest reviews for 100% of your guests. I’ve gotten good help on this forum on writing news with negative feedback - it helped me get perspective and set my emotions aside. Sounds like you have a successful couple of properties and have nothing to lose in being honest and fair.
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@mtecca, I agree about honest reviews 100% of the time.
One of our frequent guests recently had to stay at another Airbnb because we were booked. She reported to me about the terrible damp conditions, the unpublished lack of air conditioning, and the general dirtiness of the place. Two people are named as hosts there (a man and a woman), and our guest had previously stayed at the woman’s own separate property, which was lovely. The woman host pleaded with our guest not to give the damp place a bad review, because she is helping the man, a new host, get up and running. She said that a bad review would really hurt him.
The woman host also promised our guest a free stay at the lovely property—as an incentive to leave the damp Airbnb a good review.
I explained to our guest why other guests need to know what the conditions are. If our guest doesn’t give an honest review, she’s doing what hosts do when they don’t honestly review substandard guests.