Prominence on listings

Introduction
1

Hi, I started off in June with a long series of excellent five star reviews then . . . whoops! . . . one guest gave me the lowest possible score (although thankfully the wording in her review was mild). This reduced my ranking to 4.94. It’s now back to 4.97 after MANY five star rankings.

I have just gone back over the period in question and have established that my gut feeling that bookings were very much down was correct. They clearly weren’t down because of her written review, because it didn’t say anything negative. So they must have been down because my score fell? Or because the algorithm demoted me from prominent positioning on the site?

By the way, I host online experiences not stays, and although the star system is different (I think three stars is the lowest), my question is still relevant. . . does the system demote you from prominence when your star rating falls, and only push you back up when it recovers? Or was the fall in bookings simply that guests were put off when they saw I was no longer five star.

Thanks to anyone who’s been interested in this and has any ideas.

Ghislaine

2

I have a whole house rental with 5 stars and I have noticed that the listing moves up and down daily. Some of the homes that appear on top have a lower rating than my listing so I don’t think ratings really help keep a listing on top. I think it might be a number of factors; price, availability, etc.

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https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/39/what-factors-determine-how-my-listing-appears-in-search-results

Or because of Covid…

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Thank you Helsi, that’s very helpful.

5

I watch other listings in the area as well as my own. What I’ve noticed is that when someone gets a rating that is not a perfect 5.0 that their listing drops for a bit. It goes back up later with price drops and other things that effect search ranking long before their overall score changes.

My estimation is that you get a temporary drop for a single less than perfect rating but that it doesn’t stay dropped beyond that immediate effect. Likewise, getting a new 5.0 review will pop you up in the search ranking temporarily. I sometimes hold off on giving a review so that I can get a new review at the most useful time. E.g. a couple weeks beyond where I am already booked.

So, yes, your search ranking probably dropped because of the poor review rating but it won’t have to stay dropped until your overall score changes.

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6

It’s a PANDEMIC. Travel is down. Many of us are closed.

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7

While the algorithm may similar, I suspect there are several factors that make it like like trying to compare apples and oranges, in respect of how the star ratings with stays affects your position.

JF

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