@SuiteRetreat Thanks, I will add that in for now and take it from there.
I have a new Accuracy story. Lovely German family … finally wrote their review which is about as happy as a review can be. Imagine my surprise that he gave me a THREE for accuracy, noting that the photos were not accurate. Really?
We got on so well, I wrote him to ask what was wrong with the photos and why did I deserve a THREE!!! His response begins:
Hi S, sorry, what a misunderstanding. I just wanted to express, that
the guestrooms are much nicer, than the fotos . . .
Wow. Wow. Wow.
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Wow is right. I think it’s definitely worthwhile to find a classy way to let guests know that 5 stars is the expected rating when they are happy.
That whinning … (just saying)
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What ever you do, you can’t win: we live on a really central location. One business man gave us four stars for the location that he praised in the review. He walked 990 feet= 300 meters to his meeting. I don’t know what went wrong in his ‘long journey’ to the meeting to give us less than five stars for the location. But I’ve learnt not to focus on the stars anymore… A young student gave 2 stars when all of the rest have given 5* and been happy to have saved money on the transport… never mind. We’re getting on a vacation, because this “strangers in your house”-business is getting on our family’s nerves.
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So, to quote me from a different thread:
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You are whining. Or at least your long, long drawn out explanations seem like whining when we read them. If guests don’t read the excessive verbage you already have, how can you expect them to read a map?
If i read the first sentence of your proposed explanation about stars and location, I would just click away and reserve with anyone else within five miles.
If I got that note from Air, I would have called them up, asked them why I got the note, and if it’s such a big deal that guests can’t read English or a map, then how much is Air going to pay me to move closer to the bloody beach!
@KenH, that’s a bit harsh. Star ratings are a legitimate concern.
On the one hand, Airbnb treats these metrics as Meaningful. On the other hand, it does bugger all to explain to guests (who, admittedly, might not care) how to interpret these metrics for the purposes of evaluation. And hosts are caught in the middle.
If I might channel my inner child for a second
ITS NOT FAIR (imagine torrents of tears here)
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Or move the house every time a guest books according to their preferences. I have gotten dinged on location once for being too far from the beach and once for not being in the hills.
I think that the problem with the “Location” category is Airbnb sending warnings to hosts when they get 4-star ratings.
This category is useful for guests, when you don’t know a city, the location displayed on a map means nothing, there are filthy neighborhoods and pretty ones. But Airbnb should not blame hosts for that.
I left a 4-star for location in the past but had I been honest, it would have been 2-star ! Regarding my own listing, almost all guests rate the location 5-star but I would rate it 4-star myself.
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Noooooooo! OMG I am continually amazed. Shame on you for having better than expected accommodations. 3 stars for you! What are you going to do? Leave it? Show his comment to ABB?
At first I thought, ah, it doesn’t matter. But it might. Averages are tough sometimes. Hard to get up. Easy to push downward. So I am actually in a DM on twitter with @airbnbhelp right now. They claim that they can fix this. When, how, through what means, I do not know. They wanted the confirmation code so a Case Manager can “get on this”
And now this “A member of our team will be in touch with you and your guest shortly. Thank you for your patience. Please let us know if you need anything else.”
However, I actually understand this interpretation of what accuracy can mean. And AirBNB gives no guidance to our guests on what the criteria is. (in fact, all the assumptions in this rating system are that we all make our places sound better than they are.) English is not his first language and isn’t that comfortable for him. In fact, he wrote the review in German since that is what he can do quickly.
Yes, I suppose in a sense he was right. He just took the meaning very literally. I hope you’re able to work something out - keep us posted! This forum needs a good news story.
He is German. They can not help it.
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I have one. There was an electronic music festival event in my town this past weekend. A couple booked the room about 3 weeks in advance and then cancelled a week before the event. Ok, whatever. I decided to add another few dollars to the price and hope for the best. On Friday I got a booking for Saturday and on Saturday I got a booking for Sunday. Two different young couples (I’m guessing between 21-25 years old). Perfectly good guests, no evidence of drug or alcohol consumption, no sleeping in past check out time, no complaints. One couple left a very nice review already. I made a few extra dollars since I raised my price for the weekend.
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That is good news!! Karma was on your side 
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Follow up. AirBNB called. It was clear from our correspondence that my guest was answering the question truthfully, but not the way it was intended. They claim they are sending him an email and with his approval, they will change that 3 to a 5. This person was a bit more together than some I have dealt with. She promised me that he would not be asked to do anything but say yes. I requested that this be easy for him.
Update in the AM.
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Here is the follow up email, with the guest’s name redacted:
This is Ashley with Airbnb-- thank you so much for taking my call today!
Regarding this situation, I have contacted your guest to see if he is alright with me changing his star rating to reflect a more accurate representation of his experience at your listing. Now, all to do is just await his response!
I did want to thank you so much for being such an amazing host and having such a fantastic listing that your guest thinks the photos don’t do it justice; that honestly has to be the sweetest misunderstanding I’ve seen on Airbnb thus far. Thank you so much for that.
Regarding our rating system, I definitely cannot disagree with you-- it can be a little difficult for some people to understand. I have gotten many calls that the “location” aspect of our review system needs to be either removed or expanded on, so rest assured that I will be submitting those suggestions to our developers.
In any case, once I do get a response from your guest XXXXXXX, I will certainly send you an email so we can get this resolved as quickly as we can.
If you have any more questions, concerns, comments, or anything else, please do not hesitate to let me know! I hope you have a lovely night.
Kindest Regards,
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i live in a remote area (impossible to drive here) and besides describing it on my listing, after a booking confirmation I re-explain in details how to get to my place and where it is located so if they booked my “mistake” they can cancel