so, familiar story. Happy guest leaves happy review with 4 star for location and 4 for value. I get the standard chiding email from Brannan St saying you got a 4 star, you are a bad host, you need to check your levels of cleanliness, how well you communicate etc. I send a screenshot to the guest and let her know, for future reviews, that a 4 for location generally should mean that I was misleading about the location. She profusely apologized and went as far as calling customer service to get her review taken down. And customer service said⌠no need! âFour stars is a great review!â So it stays up. And I get s**t from AirBnb.
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Yep, the review system is the stick that Airbnb uses to beat a host into submission
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This, along with CS reps who have no idea what they are talking about, are my two biggest hates about Airbnb. The hypocrisy of chiding a host for a 4* and turning around and telling a guest that a 4* is great is unforgivable. Their entire attitude of sending hosts condescending messages, telling hosts, after some lying, refund-scamming guest falsely reports hidden cameras or a privacy issue, after lifting the unwarranted suspension, âJust make sure you never do that againâ, as if we are recalcitrant and misbehaving children, is appalling.
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Amen sister âŚ
202020
This is very upsetting that we have to resort to sending messages to previous guests just to educate THEM how (Airbnb thinks) a review has to be submitted. SMH.
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This is my welcome message when guests check in. Iâd say one in 4 guests actually reply to my message but not only do I get to explain the review process I ask for the opportunity to make it a 5 star stay. Since I added this, I very rarely get 4 stars anymore.
Welcome to XX Slayton Roadâs Airbnb Guest Suite:
We just wanted to check in and make sure that everything was as you expected when you arrived today.
*** Please let us know. ***
Please note that Airbnbâs review system is a bit different. Anything less than a 5 is considered unsatisfactory and can cause our listing to be given a warning. If you feel that we met your expectations, we would greatly appreciate a 5 star review. If something is not quite right when you check in, please let us know so that we can make it a 5 star stay. Thank you.
If you have any concerns, please message us via AirBnB message system so that we can address any issues that might arise during your stay.
Pleasant dreams and enjoy your stay.
Warm regards,
xxx
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I guess Iâm fortunate l, In the 20 years of hosting my Guesthouse Iâve had only five star ratings except for one which someone gave me a 1đł they were very upset with me because the smoke alarm went off, the bathroom toilet got plugged up, which had never happened before And the beds were too hard and too little. So since then Iâve had a rating of 4.9 for some reason and that happened years ago. It didnât affect my Bookings because of the previous reviews.
This is great. I will adopt it for my checkout message.
Do I understand correctly that you send this message (or an automated message) via the Airbnb chat?
Are there no issues that guests might feel pressured into giving a 5 star review just because you expressly pointed out that they are ânot allowedâ to leave a 4 star (or less) review as long as there is ânothing wrongâ with the accommodation?
Donât get me wrong, Iâm totally on your side. It just reminds me of a situation with a guest we had who was not happy about the location of the smoke detector in the bedroom, since the device blinks :drumroll: every 30 seconds to indicate proper operation.
While this has never bothered any other guest or been mentioned, it did lead to a 4 star review.
Or, guests who leave a 4 star review due to âlocationâ. I have a feeling the this review category is being misinterpreted by many guests as the location of our studio on our property is mentioned in the listing as well as photos indicating where it is. Therefore, âlocationâ for some guests apparently means that they were not happy where our property is located, which at the same time is indicated on the map when they make a booking. The approx. location on the map differs by 30 feet from where we actually are. How can they âcomplainâ afterwards that the location was not satisfactory?
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I think âlocationâ can also mean if they feel safe and comfortable in the neighborhood. They usually do not know the area when they book, like, are your neighbors the type to have a lot of stuff on their lawn? Are there minibikes driving fast down your street in the middle of the night?
Your property might be just fine, but if your neighbor doesnât take care of thieirs, then itâs a location issue.
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The âLocationâ rating isnât worth trying to wrap oneâs head around, as it makes little sense and is so open to interpretation by guests. Yes, they chose it, and could see the location on the map. And hopefully the host has described the location accurately, and if they havenât, for instance claiming it is a quiet area, when it turns out not to be, that should fall under the accuracy rating.
The only time the location rating would make sense to me is if, for instance, the listing didnât give any real info about the location, and no photos that showed that, and the guest arrived to find it was some converted warehouse in a sketchy industrial area. In other words, the host wasnât inaccurate, they just didnât disclose anything about the location.
Believe it or not, hosts have asked guests why they left a low location rating, and the guests have said things like âwe would have liked to be closer to the beachâ, when the host was quite clear in the listing that it was a 20 minute walk, as if the host could pick their house up and move it closer to the beach.
I read a post from a host who had a stunning modern home, very private, with an infinity pool, on a hill overlooking a gorgeous pristine beach in the Phillipines. He said he regularly got less than 5*location ratings because it was a10 minute drive to the nearest store. People are nuts.
We arenât that person, but our home with an incredible view of the Caribbean and the Piton mountains got a 4* for location once âbecause Soufriere [the nearest town] isnât closer to the part of the island with all the restaurants and shoppingâ. Then that guest contacted me and said he wanted to buy the house if we were selling.
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The message goes out to them about 10 minutes after they check in. (I have cameras).
This is to give the guests a chance to allow us to fix anything that may be a problem. For example, the flashing light had you know, you could have put a piece of dark tape while the guests were there to block out the list.
I edited the message I posted but it also has info about the heat, blankets, etc.
Often a guest who responded that everything is great, I will make the effort to write a review because I feel that Iâm going to get 5 stars. In general I donât write reviews anymore unless I get a sense from the guests that all is good.
The 4 stars for location I donât think affects the actual ranking. Itâs frustration because they guest new the location when they books. I think though that If I checked into a place and the house next door had trash or loud neighbors I might mark down the location.
Duh, how did I miss that? 
Yeah, youâre right, this makes sense.
He was just trying to lower the sale price when he would refer to the âlowerâ location rating given on Airbnb 
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" In the U.S. alone, guests wrote more than 19 million reviews on Airbnb in 2023. 88% of those reviews were 5 stars"
Guest give full house 9 out of 10 times. That is why Airbnb looks at 4 star as not that great.
The guest may have marked me down for location because as she said in her review, she could âhear a Mexican church serviceâ in what is marketed as a quiet spot.
This is very smart and I completely agree. We often have an opportunity to have a chat with our guests and then get this feeling whether they are genuinely satisfied or if there might be something off but they donât bother to tell us. We strongly encourage them to let us know if there is anything we can do to make their stay as pleasant as possible but rarely we get taken up on that offer.
On the one hand we donât want to overwhelm the guests right at check-in or appear overbearing. On the other hand I noticed that with the guests that we spent the most time talking to end up being the happiest.
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That is unfair to hosts in the future who are. looking for reviews of a guest to determine suitability for their potential stay.
ALWAYS
WRITE
AN
HONEST
REVIEW
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Agree with Rolf. This seems to go against the spirit of supporting the host community.
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