Okay, seems you’ve been extremely lucky.
But what bearing does only reviewing if the guest leaves a review have on that? If you think the guest has been fine, why not leave a good review for them?
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Well, I guess it’s just that giving an innocuous review (since that’s basically all I could give without knowing more) doesn’t seem to help anyone … them or other hosts. It’s like the reviews I many times receive as a traveling guest when I haven’t personally met the host … “he was a good guest that we’d host again” ??? Very nondescrip; and in my opinion, not all that helpful.
I disagree.
The fact that the guest conducted itself such that there were no problems is very useful and important information.
Regrettably some Hosts don’t give a review if they don’t have something nice to say – meaning that the guest didn’t behave well. So, what are prospective Hosts to think when they see that their prospective guest has few or no reviews? They just don’t know.
But you could tell them.
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Then why do you leave an innocuous review if you see the guest left a review? How is the review more helpful just because the guest left a review? You still haven’t offered any reasoning for that, which is what I asked you.
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There are many situations where a guest shows a long-standing profile yet no reviews, and yes, that tends to make hosts suspicious. But I’ve had guests like that, who were great guests and lovely people, who I’m sure didn’t have past hosts who refrained from leaving a review because they didn’t want to leave a negative review. Their past hosts simply didn’t bother to review, as my guests informed me. Had those hosts troubled themselves to leave a posotive review, no matter how brief, at least other hosts don’t have to be suspicious of why the guest has been a member since 2017 yet has no reviews.
And I have never understood the attitude that if the guest can’t be bothered to leave me a review, why should I? Those hosts seem to forget that the guest put money in their pocket, not the other way around. Yet they can’t spare 5 minutes to leave the guest a review? I just consider it part of my job as a host.
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That’s the reason I give little importance to guest reviews before accepting a reservation request. I don’t do IB, so I base my acceptance more on the guest’s notes in their request than on any reviews they may have. I accept 90% of guest requests, and don’t seem to have any problems. Guests know I have a management company available for any issues and they know I respond immediately as well, so that might be why I’ve been “lucky”.
Obviously, if a guest has disregarded a house rule or left a mess, a review needs to be submitted, but the “good guest; no problems” review just doesn’t seem that helpful to me personally. It’s just 1 factor I might consider in accepting a reservation or not.
Ed Osterman
Cell: 503-887-2328
I agree it’s just one tool in the guest vetting toolbox. But you still haven’t explained why a guest leaving a review makes you decide to leave a review. I feel like I’m talking to a typical CS rep who can’t comprehend a simple question and give an on-point answer. 
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Then why do you leave an innocuous review if you see the guest left a review? How is the review more helpful just because the guest left a review? You still haven’t offered any reasoning for that, which is what I asked you.
The only reason I leave a review when I see that a guest has left 1 for me is so I can see their review and know all was good .
Does that help anybody … I don’t know, but it at least let’s me know immediately (rather than waiting 15 days) to see the guest’s review.
I hope that was an “on point” answer that you can understand.
Well, no, of course it doesn’t help any other hosts if the only reason and time you do it is so you can see the review they left for you.
You might be interested to know that there are guests who are also hosts who know how to cross check reviews, and do, to see how a host they are thinking of booking with reviews their guests. And if they see that the host is a serial non-reviewer, they will pass on booking with them, as a host who doesn’t bother to leave a review doesn’t seem like they care about informing other hosts nor rewarding problem-free guests with a good review.
If you don’t feel like you can leave a review because you really have no idea what a guest was like, then I agree that your review might not be entirely honest, and therefore useless. But if your cleaner and manager reports that all was fine, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t let other hosts know that.
A review doesn’t have to be a Nobel-prize winning piece of writing, other hosts just want to know if these are guests that it’s okay to accept. Just because you don’t find reviews useful doesn’t mean other hosts feel the same way.
And of course many guests who would not otherwise bother to leave a review will be prompted to leave a review for you when they get a notification that the host has left a review. As long as they were good guests who will leave you a good review, that’s beneficial to you.
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There you go … that’s the review I give. As initially stated, my review is “guest communicated well and house rules were followed”.
I don’t go into “they starred the dishwasher, took out the garbage, and left on time; but they didn’t tell me about such and such … blah, blah.
If a concise “general, innocuous” review helps other hosts, I guess my reviews are helping other hosts.
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Review every guest. You want every guest to review your place, right? So do them the favor and review them as well.
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not necessarily. If i’m not sure if they are just nitpickers, i never met them, etc, and I have 100+ great reviews already, I don’t need a bland review. One lady recently gave me 4* because of the weather! I don’t need those reviews.