Waiting, waiting, waiting for people to review

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Ballpark, what percentage of your guests would you say leave reviews? Most? Not many?

I’m new to AirBnB, have had 8 guests so far, and still only one review. I have reviewed the guests all within 24 hours of them checking out (most same day.) After a week or so, I send them a friendly reminder that AirBnB only allows 14 days to leave a review and ask them for any feedback they have (good or bad) about their stay. Not only is no one reviewing me, no one is even bothering to give me feedback. I’ve had a couple guests respond to my message and say the house was great, but no review! Come on, people!!

Is this the norm, though? Should I only be expecting to get feedback/reviews from like 10% of guests?

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Airbnb reminds them too… I wouldn’t be contacting/ harassing past guests because in my view they just dig their toes in. My parting message to a guest is
Thank you for being great guest and I hope you enjoyed you stay. All five stars for you.
And I leave it that

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Hi @jkamm,

Unlike some things, this is actually relatively easy to bump up, if you are willing to do some work. But that work mostly needs to be done while your guests are present, not afterwards. I find that it helps if you meet then at arrival (check-in) and departure (checkout). You could also give them a feedback form to fill in. This is a modestly useful indication of whether the guests will be leaving you a review, and if so, what kind of review it will be. People who fill out detailed feedback forms, or even just fill it out in a reasonable way, are likely to leave a review. And if they write nice things on the feedback form, or at least not bad things (the most likely possibility) they will most likely leave a good review. If they refuse to leave anything on the feedback form, that’s a bad sign, and you might want to consider not leaving them a review, and hope they don’t leave one either. I don’t think I’ve ever got a good review from someone who left the feedback form blank.

The reason for meeting and chatting with your guests (assuming you are ok with it and have the time), is that people who have made some connection with you are more likely to leave you a review. Of course, if your place is wonderful and they had an excellent time, they might leave you a review anyway, but an extra push does not hurt.

Most importantly, ask them when you meet them at checkout for a review - assuming you feel comfortable with them leaving a review. You don’t want to ask this if they were trouble, for example. You’ll get some indication of whether they are planning to leave a review from how they react.

I wouldn’t attempt to get feedback from your guests after they’ve left. Unless you’ve really made a strong connection, or your guests feel particularly friendly towards you, it’s too late. For most people, the past is history, and everyone has lots of other things to think about.

However, something you can do for people who you think would leave you a good review if they actually bothered to do so, but who haven’t yet, is to write them a review and then send them a note saying something like - I left you an all 5-star review, I’d appreciate it if you left me a review in return. People will quite often respond to that.

Finally, if you want more personalized advice, I suggest providing a link to your list. Or you could PM forum members as @KKC suggests. But obviously, making your listing public will get more responses.

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I have had only 1 or 2 guests in 2-1/2 years that have NOT reviewed us; call it 99% plus…

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I get about 80%. And this post needs to be 20 characters.

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more than 90% review me, I’d guess

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Almost all ABB guests have left me a review. Absolutely none of my HomeAway guests have done. I can only assume this is due to Air’s nagging reminders.

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Definitely don’t ask people for a review. That could backfire on you.

Don’t worry, your luck will change soon. :grinning:

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About 90% of my guests leave reviews and they tend to be fairly effusive. It’s hard to speculate on why your review rate is low without knowing anything about you or your rental.

My airbnb is a room and bathroom, separate entrance less than a mile from the single major interstate going through town. 70% of my guests are driving through town. They aren’t on a major vacation or if they are they are staying in Airbnbs along the way and want or need reviews themselves. If you get people flying in as a destination maybe they are so busy and/or wiped out when they get home that they don’t get around to it in the 14 days.

Okay, here comes the hard part: maybe there is something wrong with your rental and they figure no review is better than a bad one. I realize you said they are complimentary about it when asked but we all know that people want to avoid those kinds of conversations. Are you meeting guests in person? Are you providing any travel tips or services that stand out? Is your listing so generic that it doesn’t inspire reviews?

I don’t ask for reviews because I don’t need to. I can see why it’s tempting in your situation. Maybe instead of asking for reviews you can just let it drop in conversations. “It would really help me if more guests left reviews,” something like that. Not whining, not begging, just a convo.

If you’d like to PM me or other members your listing we’d be happy to take a look.

Here’s mine: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2835502?

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I have been renting on Airbnb for 3 years and my last guest was the first that did not write a review.

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Thanks for all the feedback. I haven’t been letting people know that I’m leaving them 5-star reviews, but I will definitely start doing that.

I’m not harassing guests. I’m sending them a message a few days after they’ve checked out saying that I hope their stay was comfortable and that we’re new to AirBnB, so we’d love any feedback they have to give (either on review or privately.) I have sent one additional followup message to 2 guests because they specifically said that they would be leaving me feedback (and then didn’t.)

Because of my work schedule, there is no way for me to do that. I try to be in communication before and after their stay, but meeting in person isn’t an option. I do like the idea of a physical feedback form left in the house, though.

That is EXACTLY what I’m worried about, which is why I keep asking guests for feedback, but no one has given any! :frowning: A few guests have messaged me saying the house was perfect for them, or the house was really nice, so I keep expecting to see great reviews. Maybe I’m just being too impatient and people do them at the last minute?

One thing that I’m worried about is that people are judging the neighborhood rather than the house. One street that you have to pass through on the way to the house has some run-down mobile homes and one harmless but strange house with all sorts of flags and quotes painted on it. But on all other sides of the house, it’s all brand new development and nice houses.

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So you don’t meet your guests and you don’t live on site. I think this takes the personal element away. They have no relationship with you so don’t really care what you want or need. I don’t know, I’m just speculating. I get good reviews from guests I don’t meet so maybe not.

This may get you feedback but not reviews. @jaquo tells the story of the guests who left the fabulous review in the room, not on the airbnb site!

If it hasn’t been 14 days yet then wait. After 14 days you aren’t getting a review an then you can start analyzing.

It’s possible. Again it depends on many factors. I live in a very modest neighborhood where many yards aren’t nice and there are junk cars in multiple front yards. Many homes have iron bars on the windows (including mine) and that says “dangerous ghetto” to some folks.

Best of luck, I hope you get it figured out.

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I LOVE PIC #23! I may steal it!

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Please do! Technically I bought it because I bought the poster before using the picture. I doubt the creator of the original would object to it being on display everywhere!

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If you aren’t able to meet them personally, is there someone else who could meet them on your behalf? It’s difficult to get people to care if they don’t know you at all. Regardless, a feedback form, in my opinion, is still a good idea. And I have not observed that it makes a review less likely.

Question: what date did your booking conclude?

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Which one? I’ve had 8 sets of guests over the last 2 weeks.

I guess I don’t really see the need to meet people in person, even if my schedule allowed it. I have it in my listing that the guests won’t see me during their stay. I actually like it better that way, and I would like it better that way as a guest as well.

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The review process for guests has changed - it’s really long and tedious now, apparently. See below. I can imagine many guests just can’t be bothered now.

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I definitely think meeting the guests at some point gives them more reason to care about giving you a review. At least I notice that in my case.

I had noticed the compliments showing up in my reviews yesterday. But I saw they show up on reviews as far back as Nov 2017 as well. And on my app I can now see the stars given, which had only been visible for me in my browser before.

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I agree that meeting guests personally makes a big difference. I host in my own family home and nobody gets in without having a personal tour and explanation of the house quirks and the do’s and don’ts.
I also co-host for an entire property and it is very noticeable that when I personally show them around, have a chat, answer questions etc, they treat the place with more respect and leave better reviews.
It’s not rocket science, after all. We are social animals - it’s basic psychology.

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Just want to add that personal check-in is not foolproof. Checked in a large group today, last-minute one-night booking at the busiest time of year. Had to turn over the place myself as cleaner unavailable. They hadn’t read the details of the listing (there is NO ELEVATOR written in caps in the description), completely clueless, looked at me as if I was a piece of shit on their shoe. I smiled throughout but wished I’d brought a clean shirt and my perfume with me… ! Ah well.