I agree… Take OP for example, it clearly shows that there are super hosts who don’t understand that how cleaning works.
And I would put it to you that the things that the host sent me by email, before I had completed a review, offering incentives to give a good review and telling me ahead of time how she reviewed me are ALL things that she would not have dared convey in the Airbnb messaging platform. It is clear to me that, while there are benign and appropriate uses of direct email to the client, obtaining it for one purpose and using it for another (hiding the incentives and 5 star ask) is entirely different. IMHO. 
Well that is just a foolish thing to say. I’ve been a host for 8 years and I don’t understand cleaning// Puhleez…
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It’s a form of extortion because it is intended to influence the rating and review that the guest leaves.
And while the OP has said here that he considers the $150 cleaning fee to be excessive, his actual complaint is that the guests shouldn’t be expected to sort and wash laundry when the host charges a cleaning fee.
I charge no cleaning fee,and while I don’t expect my guests to do anything but be respectful of the space and not leave a dirty mess behind them, I have found many guests strip the bed, sweep up, and often leave the space looking like no one has stayed there, aside from the dirty towels and linen. In other words, guests who pay a cleaning fee are often offended by being asked to do more than tidy up their personal mess, which I don’t think is an unreasonable attitude.
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That’s exactly what I said.
You pretended to ask this question but what you are looking for is a confirmation of your point of view.
It seems like you do not like it when others have pointed out the problems with your behavior.
@Rolf even wrote a post about it.
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Telling a guest that not leaving a 5* review for them may lose them Superhost status isn’t “educating” guests about reviews. It’s a straight up shill for a 5* review by trying to make a guest feel guilty for leaving her anything less than 5*s.
I have educated guests about the review system, but it consists of letting them know that while Airbnb tells guests that a 4* review means "Good’ and that there is nothing wrong with “Good” in the real world, Airbnb doesn’t consider it good for hosts- that they will send hosts warnings about pulling their socks up if they fall below 4.7 average and that 4.8 is the minimum for Superhost. At no time do I ask a guest to leave me a 5* review, and in fact, I tell guests that if they feel that a listing or the hosting deserves less than 5*, of course they should rate as they see fit, that they should just be aware that 5*s doesn’t indicate the place was some 100% perfect luxury experience, but that there weren’t any issues the host ignored, and that the place was as advertised, clean, and that the amenities offered were in fact provided.
My intention in educating guests about the review system is not to get them to leave me a 5* review, but because I hate that Airbnb leads guests to think that a 4* review is just fine, when they actually don’t consider it fine. It’s the hypocrisy that disturbs me.
And I have only had this review discussion with a few guests, when it developed organically out of a conversation we had been having- like them talking about other Airbnb stays they have had, or saying that they have considered hosting themselves. I might mention it to a guest who was brand new to Airbnb as well, but the majority of my guests haven’t been newbies, I can see that they gave nice reviews to their past hosts, and have all 5* reviews themselves, so I don’t feel any need to educate them about reviews.
I would never send a guest a message asking for a 5* review, nor tell them I had left them one. I had one guest say, when she was checking out, “I hope I was a 5* guest.” And I assured her she was, because that was the truth.
Do you use a Ouija Board or Tarot Cards to read my mind and determine my need for validation? Really?? I was interested in an answer about the issue of an apparent pattern of behavior that contravenes the TOS. Your comment that some hosts don’t understand cleaning is simplistic and based on essentially nothing. I came looking for feedback and got some good feedback germane to the issue. Looking for feedback and arguing the merits of comments provided is hardly looking for validation. Retake Psychology 101.
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it’s based on what you wrote…
There is a lot more to cleaning a place than washing towels…
But anyway you can choose to believe what you want. You tried to take this up with Airbnb and they didn’t do anything… that should tell you a lot about your understanding of how Airbnb works.
Just because you have been hosting for 8 years doesn’t mean you understand hosting on Airbnb
@KKC has given you a fairly detailed explanation that explains your misunderstanding of Superhost and Airbnb TOS. She is a mod here and she is spot on.
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Exactly how did she “bribe” you? Saying a five-star review would be very helpful isn’t a bribe. Giving you discounts on a return trip (presumably booked directly with her) isn’t a bribe. And telling you she’s already left you a five-star review isn’t a bribe. Did I miss something that’s actually a bribe?
While I understand you might not appreciate her persistence, I think you are being far too sensitive about this.
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I don’t know that I’d call it a bribe, but I would certainly consider her message to be a blatant attempt to influence the guest’s review. Which is uncalled for, tacky, and if I received a message like that, it would rub me the wrong way, too. I would also assume that her offer of a discount on a future stay was contingent on me leaving a 5* review.
And this is a host with 21 listings who leaves generic “Perfect guest” reviews for all her guests. It seems she is too busy raking in the bucks, not leaving enough time between guests to get the housework done without asking guests to participate, and trying to get guests to leave 5* reviews to even notice that her guest was a long time host himself and obviously doesn’t need to be told that she could lose her Superhost status for less than a 5* review. Which is lazy and tacky, IMO. And isn’t the way to earn 5* reviews.
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What are the “punishments” for violation of TOS? It’s not loss of SH, but I don’t think they remove hosts from the platform completely for such minor infractions.
The point you didn’t address is that you want Airbnb to do for you what you didn’t do for yourself which is “punish” the host. You could have left a clear complaint in the review and you didn’t.
It is standard advice here, which you have no doubt read many times given your long term membership here: Don’t rely on Airbnb for anything except bookings and payment. You’re addressing a guest issue which we generally don’t look on especially kindly. Of course egregious host behavior hurts all of us but this host’s behavior isn’t that bad. As a guest you main weapon is the review and you only used half of it.
You really didn’t want to know that. Be a like a lawyer, don’t ask questions if you don’t have a good idea what the answer will be.
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Definition of “bribe”: persuade (someone) to act in one’s favor, typically illegally or dishonestly, by a gift of money or other inducement.
dishonestly broke the clearly stated TOS about trying to influence a review. Offer of future financial benefit (discounts). Presumably not available if a bad review given. It’s in English.
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Actually, I did leave a very clear complaint in the review. "
this host’s behavior isn’t that bad". What is bad behavior? She has been systematically undermining the integrity of reviews. But hey, …
As far as not expecting anything from Airbnb, we’ll see. the response so far:
"Airbnb Support
3:31 PM
Hi,
I was able to check the link you provided and was able to read the conversation between you and the Host. Don’t worry in this kind of situation I’m on your side so, let me to my best to report the behavior of the Host to further investigate, and please help me by reporting the Host as well."
We’ll see.
I have to say, as a host and guest, the “no big deal” attitude of some of the respondents here is disconcerting.
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We have had many threads on asking for a good review vs not asking for one. I’m on the side of not asking for one. The way I put it previously is that, as a retired teacher, it reminds me of students asking for a higher grade than what they did the work for. “Anything less than a 5 hurts me,” is akin to “If I don’t get an A, my dad will take away the car.” After 9 years, almost 600 reviews and a thousand stays, on and off Airbnb, I feel confident that if I get a less than 5 star review, chances are that I earned it. And also, that one 4 star or 3 star won’t really matter.
However, after reading hundreds of thousands of posts here over 8 years, I also feel confident in saying that this is a very minor offense and I’d be shocked if Airbnb does anything. Your attachment to the issue is as disconcerting as anything the host did.
Not that you really want me, or anyone here, to give you their honest opinion. You want to be validated. Not my job.
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As you are aware, I agree that her behavior isn’t okay. But personally, I wouldn’t be so upset about it that I would contact Airbnb and try to get her punished in some way, which seems like revenge out of proportion to the offense- I would have just private messaged her to say that I found her approach to be distasteful, that incentivizing reviews is in fact against Airbnb TOS, that shilling for a 5* review is very likely to backfire, and that due to that and her expecting guests to sort and wash laundry, when she charges a $150 cleaning fee, means you would never take her up on her offer of a future discounted stay. I would have also pointed out that her not bothering to notice that I was a long-time host myself, so certainly didn’t need to be educated about Superhost requirements, was quite lazy of her- that if she can’t be bothered to tailor her communications with guests depending on the situation, she had best not send messages like that.
That, along with the less than 5* review seems like enough punishment for her to sit up and take notice. And if it doesn’t, and she continues in the same vein with future guests, either other guests won’t mind, or will have a similar response to yours. I would never “turn in” another host for something that I merely found rude or annoying, regardless of whether it was against the TOS or not. If they did something serious for which I felt they should be delisted, like be sexually inappropriate, made racist, homophobic or misogynistic comments, enter the guest space without notice in a non-emergency situation, did bait and switch, or had a filthy place full of broken stuff, then sure, I would report them.
But I don’t need Airbnb to admonish a host for something I found off-putting that I could easily communicate to the host myself.
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No problem… I can do that.
I agree
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I guess I’m less cynical than you are. Many hosts that book direct will tell guests after their stay that they can get a lower price by booking directly with them for a repeat stay.
But I don’t have the exact wording and you do. If you have time and energy to pursue this, I wish you luck.
Here’s the latest from Airbnb Support so I feel I have done what I was ethically obligated to do. Airbnb will do something or nothing:
"Hi Kent, thank you for bringing to our attention about what your Host is trying to do communicating offsite for a favorable review. We do not tolerate this kind of violation in our Terms of Service and rest assured we will have this noted in our communication.
May I please ask the reservation code in concern, so we can make sure that the reported Host will be added violation on their account accordingly? Hope to hear from you soon!
Also, Congratulations on being a Superhost with Airbnb. Thank you for your dedication to providing exceptional hospitality."
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