I’m suddenly seeing a rash of 4 star reviews - with great written reviews. My properties have historically all received 5 star reviews. Anyone else seeing this trend?
Nope.
20202020202020
JF
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Nope. But I have had to shooo away more people lately. It’s a strange crowd that is traveling right now. I shooed-away someone last week that wrote particularly agressive and weird reviews because I didn’t want to deal with her. I guess also didn’t have to deal with her review.
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I have not thought to read reviews that guests have written others. Definitely a good tip that I will do from now on. Recently had a guest give me a 4 star review because the kitchen was not organized the way she wanted it. I thought that was beyond odd. I think JohnF might be right! It is all just this weird 2020 mentality.
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Sometimes the crazy comes to you no matter what you try. There’s only so much you can do.
Most of the time they are not that meaningful. For instance, I don’t mind if someone seems picky because I do fine with those folks, but sometimes the reviews they write will have a pattern that warns you of them for one reason or another. I don’t care to have aggressive, violent folks, as an example.
If you see a guest gives other hosts 4 stars or picky reviews it can also head off problems. Like if someone says “it was fine except for the dust on the ceiling fan,” you know to dust the ceiling fan. “Not enough towels” and you leave extra towels.
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Have they changed the review metrics?
I know they have inserted a COVID question.
Last time I saw the review options 4 
= good.
Wow! That did not even occur to me. I will check and see. thanks!
…
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In addition to what others have already posted, there have been many similar topics that debate providing some type of description of the rating system.
https://airhostsforum.com/t/5-stars-in-feedback-4-stars-overall-ratings/43401/17?u=hh_az
I don’t do this, but I do research the guests as best I can. I would think with those who are relatively new to AirBNB (I’m seeing a lot of those) it may be beneficial.
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Be vary careful. On Dec 26, 2020. I had what I thought was a lovely Guest. She told me she had 10 friends, all Covid tested, just wanted a night away No party etc. She said her friend would send another request because the friend had the credit card. The friend only mentioned 6 Guest so of course I questioned this. That asked if they could come in about 4 hours early. I knew we could have the house ready. I said no problem. I always ask them to text me once they are in the house, to let me know how everything is. She said the place was beautiful, they were very happy. They texted about one in the morning to ask where the heat was located. I never heard the text, so waited til 10;30 and called. She said they were just leaving they had a wonderful time, ,the heat came on during the night. So they were checking out early. Great, I could go to the house and spend a few days, since I choose not to rent the house for a few days. I drove to the house, and windows were wide open. I went to go into the driveway and cars were everywhere, trash on the ground. I turned around and parked in a area I could see the house, I called and called and texted and no one aswered. Now it 11;30. I am thinking who is in the house, what is going on. I drove in the driveway and could see the mud room door open and the kitchen door, and men in the kitchen. I walked in to a counter covered in 4 by 3 feet of Alcohol and some guy cleaning a 3 ft talk Hooka pipe. I asked who they were and they said family. I asked what was going on, they said nothing. I asked for the person who booked the place. First, she was in the bathroom, then she was in an upstairs bathroom, then she was in the down stair bedroom. She had barricaded herself in. i went to the door and asked what was going on. Mind you the house is trash. Cigerette butt everywhere inside and out side the house, furnture broke, piano broke. marble on the hearth of fireplace cracked. I could go on and on, but its too much. I told her to get her friend and get the hell out of my space. I have been in business for 16 years and this was a first. Now dealing with Air b and b trying to resolve the damage. The Guest have left bad reviews and I can not do a thing. They even went to my Google site, which I did not even know I had and told everyone I broke in and threw them out. LOL Air b and b has been very good, offered money right away for cleaning. These people even lied about where they were from. be careful…Stay safe, Yvette
Sorry this happened to you Yvette. Sounds awful. I have found last minute renters to be problematic about 50% of the time so I’m always cautious.
What a terrible experience for you!
Will you continue to rent to groups of 6 (or 10)? I’m a home share host, so my husband and I would never do that. But even with a separate property to host, I wouldn’t do that now, regardless of how big the property was.
Large groups will always spell trouble to me.
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I’m sorry it happened but lets point out some warning signs:
- the day after Christmas
- same day booking (or so it implied)
- someone else’s credit card
- one night stay
- advising you “no party” is a guilty conscience of someone planning a party
- 10 people! (for me, 10 people is a party)
- 10 people (if not immediate family) during covid is a mistake on your part, no matter if they said they were tested.
I’d advise you to stop renting for single nights, vet your guests better, and install some exterior cameras to assess what is going on; all things others on this forum have advised for years.
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@Yvettemau Sorry you had such a scene. For me, the first warning would have been saying it wasn’t a party- ten people is a party atmosphere, even if they don’t cause a disaster.
Second red flag was the tag team booking- the original inquirer didn’t have a credit card. So now her friend is going to make the booking. I suspect they had this all worked out beforehand- the one who contacted you first said “I’ll do the talking” because she was better at convincingly scamming.
And 10 people would travel whatever distance to your place for 1 night? Why?This is the kind of booking, you know now, to decline.
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Thank you. I have been very good at vetting people, I think this year has really taken its toll on me. But, you are all right about everthing you have said. Lessoned learned. Thank, Happy booking. Yvette
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With lots of people. Please come back and let us know if Airbnb helps you out on the damages. It seems like they might be getting a little better on that.
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How do you check reviews that potential guests have left for others?
You can download Air Review extension, which will show you the host’s review, the guest’s review and any responses they left, or the more tedious way is to just click on the host’s profile who left that guest review, then scroll down until you find the review that guest left for that host.
Then back to the guest’s review page, click on the next host who reviewed them, and so on.
Google “airreview extension for chrome”
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