A postcard arrived today from Taiwan thanking me for looking after them (guests) so well. Hmmm probably should not gone out of my way for them… Also got a nice email from some others “nicest person we met” Just going to have to rein in all this effort, seems to be getting out of control…
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My wording has served me well with 58 5-star reviews and SuperHost status:
"I’d love to know of any areas of the house or your stay that could have been improved.
As you probably know, we Airbnb hosts live and die by 5-star reviews. I hope you will consider a positive review for your stay. You are most welcome to return anytime and send your friends!"
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I would be tempted to cross out the 205 and write in 206 but leave the 199. 
How is that cheesy? I’ve said before that I’d be happy with a TA type review system where I get mostly 4 stars and 5 stars go to actual 5 star hotels (or even some of the better AirBnB places) provided everyone else did as well. But in its absence it seems reasonable to point out to newbies that 5 stars with Air means “very good”, not “perfection itself”.
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I don’t know, that’s a bit groveling in my book.
Sometimes when I have asked for a five star review with those I thought were super happy and loved me to pieces I got four stars,
I’m careful about asking now.
I am sad to admit that lately I have been begging for 5 stars after the first timer, petty princess, hotel inspector left me 3 stars because the house was soooo oooold and needed in her words a ‘complete refurbishment ‘ not understanding the difficulties in having the responsibility of a heritage listed building and what you can and can’t do! ( Still want to bitch slap the rotten cow! )
It has worked and many of my guests were appalled by her review when I explain why I need to be 5 stars.
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Oh yes you can these days. Go to /progress/ratings and you will see the individual ratings for each area for each guest. I presume everyone sees this and that it is not still in A/B testing. I try to avoid looking at it for a month or so so I have forgotten the guest and don’t get upset if I don’t get all 5s.
You directed me to your listing I think. It’s awesome! I can’t believe someone thought it needed refurbishing. Then again some people only buy new houses because they (a) they like that “new house smell” (like “new car smell” but with fresh paint smell in the mix) and (b) don’t like the thought that someone else might have lived (and died!) in their house before them. Those sort of people who live in brick McMansions.
It was built in 1889 and the reason that it is so original is the spinster sisters who were born there and lived in their entire lives had no money to make improvements so they just lived in it. The furniture is from the 1880’s and earlier and it the real deal. Some people just don’t get it!
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No wonder your guest didn’t like it. They didn’t have IKEA then.
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There a a $20k Georgian cedar side board in there!
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I’m with you on this one
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I’m brand new to this forum, first post. Hope I’m not crossing any lines here but I’m jumping right in… this place looks active and I hope to benefit from the collective wisdom.
My place has been listed since mid November 2017, so I’m fairly new to the STR business myself. Our first 4 star came at stay and review #3 (from a first time Airbnb guest), so it devastated my rating out of the gates… and I quickly became highly motivated to obtain as many 5 star reviews as quickly as possible.
My solution: I painted the swinging kitchen door in chalkboard paint and carefully scripted a message to our guests; It basically says welcome to our home, our goal is to work hard to earn a 5 star rating, if anything is not up to your expectation please let us know so we can correct it. It’s basically an AirBnB 101 primer, in diplomatic tones. It has worked well. We also use it to log the door codes and various personalized messages to our guests, so it comes off very informal and, well… fun! This has been my opening strategy. I always polish it up when we have a first time guest with no reviews.
Since then: 32 stays, 30 reviews - all five stars.
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Many thanks, I thought in past discussion people on this forum said it used to be available but it is not now. I will check out your suggestion, Regards, Graeme
Can you please give an example? As dumb as it may sound, I think I am confused how the rating system actually works, if there is more to it than meets the eye then?
@hostinglady This is what we say about the rating system in our Welcome letter that we have in each room;
Airbnb’s star rating system- Some people are confused about this subject. It’s understandable because in hospitality a 5 Star rating is only given to the finest hotels and resorts. Airbnb’s system is different from that. In order for us as hosts to get and maintain our Superhost status, we need to average 4.8 stars; virtually 5 star reviews every time.
Basically, 5 stars means everything was good. If we fall short in some way, that’s when you would deduct a star. Some folks who have stayed with us were very pleased with everything yet only gave us 4 stars. They reserve 5 stars for only the ultimate experience. That review actually hurts our business and is not how Airbnb’s rating system works. It is our goal to earn a 5 star review every time. If we fall short in any way, please let us know while you are still here so we can try to rectify it. We always welcome constructive advice on how we can improve.
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I guess I see what you are saying but I still think it’s prompting them to find something wrong or find some way that you fell short. Bringing it their attention.
That really hasn’t been our experience. Since using this Welcome letter for about 2 years now, we’ve only had two guests leave less than 5 stars out of 203 reviews. They were both very difficult guests. So it’s been very effective for us.
Thank you! I am putting together a message, which I keep revising since last night, to either leave guests on arrival in letter form in their apartment, or send as a message before departure. Not sure which yet. Which way do you do it?
You can bend over backwards for one guest, smile ear to ear, “red carpet”, leave a bottle of wine, flowers etc and get a 4 star for “didn’t like the driveway” … And from a guest with whom you didn’t have much contact or who seemed a grouch, a 5 star review. It seems to me it is pretty much down to the weather on the day of arrival (really, sunshine helps), the person’s mood, traffic, their personality (yes some people actually seem to look for something to complain about because they are whiney types or consider themselves inspector types. I’m still a superhost but this thing is stressing me out, sitting on the edge of my seat with every guest departure, my business at their mercy even though I have 4.9 and 95% from 43 reviews. There was ONE guest who brought it down by leaving me 1 start throughout because she turned up at noon, when checkout was clearly written after 3.00pm and I was still cleaning, so I asked her to come back at 3.00pm in a nice way. Didn’t help.
P.S. I just saw you leave an actual letter.
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