Whats in a 4 star, anyway

If I have a really bad guest, I do write a review and wait until the 14th day to post it. . It’s the guests that were perfectly fine but couldn’t bother to write a review. I’m sorry if you feel that is not fair but I have over 600 reviews and anything less than 5 starts brings my count down. It takes 100s of reviews to bring up my rating.

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I do. I often see comments with 4 star reviews and occassional 3 star reviews which sound along the lines “stay was great” or “everything went well”. That would indicate that there was no major issue which still means that the guests had a pleasant stay.

No, not for hosts- Airbnb sends hosts threatening messages for 4 star reviews. Are you a host?

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It’s been a while since we got the last 4 star review but I cannot recall any messages from Airbnb nor any ‘listing issues’ where I’d assume any problems with the listing would be shown.

No clue if this depends on the particular reason for the 4 star review why we didn’t get chastised.

Yeah, all the people around the world would have the same thoughts that 4-star is still good. But in the Airbnb algorithm, if your score is lower than 4.3, there is a good chance your listing cannot be found on the map.

Apparently if a guest checks one of the reasons for a low category rating, Airbnb sends a “pull up your socks” message. And I know that hosts have gotten warnings of their listing being suspended if their average falls below somewhere in the mid 4s.

LOL, I’m getting way too emotional with these things. If ABB is really not able to make good use of a rating scale from 1 to 5 and loose their sh!t if someone’s average is about to drop below 4 (!) point something they should just go ahead and use a thumbs up and thumbs down system. Ridiculous.

Yes, it’s ridiculous. In the real world, 4* should be fine, so a lot of guests naturally assume there is nothing wrong with leaving a 4* review for a place they liked and would stay at again.

And I’ve even heard guests say the review system seems bogus because there are too many places with 5*ratings.

FYI, companies like Uber do this, too. I’ve heard 4*s is considered a fail for Uber drivers.

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For example. I got a 4 on location and received this from Air.

It is very clear that a 4 is a ‘must do better’ from Air’s perspective. I felt properly told-off.

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Agree if you give a 4 star for Uber you are asked to explain why via pre-coded answers (driver smoking, careless driving etc) & all of those precodes are negative.

As if 100% of all guests are always objectively rating their hosts…

Just because a host is doing everything right doesn’t mean that their place is “not good enough” just because my smoke detector is blinking the wrong way according to one of our guests. Give me a break.

@icenisf Sometimes, knowing that Airbnb employees tend to be millenials or younger (no offense if you are), I’ve felt the “tone” of their messages is something like the attitude portrayed in the snotty, dismissive phrase, “Okay, boomer”.

So, you got marked down on “location” and are supposed to “review our ground rules”- c’mon girl, were you not aware that moving your house to a location more amenable to the guest is a “ground rule”? :crazy_face:

I also find it offensive when you contact Airbnb about an issue and they send you links to Help pages that have nothing to do with your issue. I recently asked them if they had changed the process whereby an Inquiry expires in 24 hours (they definitely used to, but my most recent one didn’t). Instead of answering my question, they started out with the usual “Thank you for being a Superhost, we know how hard you work…” useless platitudes, then followed with “explaining” to me all about how Inquiries and Requests work, as if I am not aware of that, even though they can see I have been hosting since 2016.

Honestly, their messaging is so bipolar. On the one hand they keep praising us for being Superhosts, then turn around and send us admonishments and information as if we are clueless newbies.

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I find the option to review location unnecessary. Guests are aware of the location they’re booking, and beyond that, it’s out of our control.