Sorry, but I don’t understand text talk acronyms. Googling it comes up with a long list- Small web format, Shock wave flash, Sovereign Wealth Fund, Straight White female, Single White female, among others. I assume you are referring to the latter, but if so, why would you assume we were all White, or single? Women do sometimes go out with their gal pals without their significant others.
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Some people are “…” something, we got 4 start because the neighbor have not clean area. We leave in a 10 acre farm and the unit is located in 1 acre fenced area. The neighbor is more that ½ acrea away from the property rented. They click 5 start in all the other points but Airb&b doesn’t care, we spend a lot of money and time to keep our listing height than 4.9 but they put us down for that.
I agree with others “value” is in many ways unquantifiable and very subjective. Most folks just think if of it as - wishing they could have paid less, (because let’s be honest, prices have steadily gone up.) having nothing to do with the quality of your place, so I wouldn’t worry. However, I DO ask guests privately from time to time if they have any suggestions as it’s hard to be objective about your own space. .Lastly, I many guests say “the photos don’t do it justice”. I just have iPhone photos - and I figure I’d rather they be pleasantly surprised than disappointed. So that seems to be working for me!
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Ive asked on occasion why a 4 for cleanliness when it’s generally a 5. I think the star system picks the problem, not the guest .
Like others, I wouldn’t even bother to ask. My 4s are always either value or location.
Gee, if only I could move my suite next to the White House downtown and charge $50 a night, I guess I’d always get 5s.
I think some guests won’t rate a 5 on value unless they feel they got a great bargain.
I tend to be a perfectionist, want to get an A+, and have delighted guests, so I have to work at being zen. That’s why I have post-it notes on my desk: "Some things worth doing are worth doing just well enough.“Not my circus, not my monkeys.” Etc.
??? The guest gives the star ratings, not the system. If you are referring to the comments about why they have that rating, that get stuck on our hosting dashboard as “Needs attention”, that is also an explanation the guest clicks on, although the “Needs attention” is Airbnb’s addition.
Ok ok, i was wrong 
Sometimes guests accidentally fat finger star ratings, especially when using a phone screen. So they might not have intended to give you a 4, and didn’t even notice they did. Also, they don’t realize what a big deal ratings are for hosts and since Airbnb tells them a 4 is “Good”, they can’t imagine why you’d think it wasn’t.
When i give stars to a guest , i often just give one or two as the other points are similar in description. Does that mean they get ‘chipped’ for the stars i don’t give them and wonder if it is the same for stars i get or dont dont get. Ive asked this of one guest after she gave me 4 stars( dust), for cleanliness and she was quite puzzled as she loved my place.
Tying myself in knots here trying to explain my answer!!
Generally i dont get any explanation from the guest when i put my question to them as being in an attempt to improve my place…
As a host, we only star rate guests on 3 categories, whereas guests rate us on many more. I actually wasn’t aware we could skip rating a category, I never tried that.
But I don’t quite understand how a cleanliness rating is similar in description to the communication or house rules rating.
I didn’t skip a category, i didn’t give every point within the category a star. I only did with the relevant ones within that category, as some of the descriptions were similar.
Sorry, I am really confused about what you are saying, Lozette. All I do is click on the 5th star if I’m leaving a 5 star review. I don’t know what you mean about “a point within a category”. Are you referring to “Took out the garbage” and such? I ignore all that. I just rate each category and leave a written review.
I’m passing on this chat as I’m going to dig myself in deeper as i try to explain. It’s not that important in the scheme of things!
As they say’ when you’re on a hole , stop digging’. So I will!
Love your wise advice with other queries, Muddy. Have a good one, as we say here in Oz- in this case Have a good day and a peaceful, happy Christmas if that’s what you celebrate. My family is multi cultural
- buddhist, muslim, jewish, morman and methodist - and we’re getting together for a wonderful family meal plus presents( or pressies as we also say). Xx Lorraine
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Just so you can sleep at night Muddy -Yes i am referring to the ‘Take care of the rubbish’ etc points. Lozette
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Happy Holidays to you, too. Two of my daughters and their families came last year, but no family around this year. Will have some get togethers with friends and I’'ll have a homeshare guest, as well.
Am Jewish by birth, though not religious, so Christmas, as well as Channukah, doesn’t mean much to me unless there’s my kids or grandkids around, in which case I enjoy the whole present giving thing.
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Reviews at Airbnb do not have to be true or reasonable. Airbnb is primarily interested in the interplay between guests and hosts when it comes to reviews.
As a guest, I once had a host accuse me of damaging her washing machine lid. There was a small plastic piece that broke into pieces in the right corner of the lid. To make a long story short, Airbnb found me not liable so I did not have to pay $237.50 for a new washing machine lid. However, the host’s review claiming I damaged the lid was allowed to stand.
To me, that made no sense. But that is Airbnb’s policy.
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Were you not able to reply to the review?
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I’m not understanding this comment. You can have a review removed if it is not true. Where do you have information otherwise?
Airbnb says:
" While we expect all community members to post reviews that represent their genuine experience and contain accurate information, we do not generally mediate disputes concerning the truth of reviews. Instead, we allow individuals to post responses to reviews."
Airbnb takes the position that they can’t know which party is telling the truth, or they each have a different version of what went down, so unless you are fortunate enough to get a reasonable rep who will take the time to try to verify something, it’s hard to get them to remove the review.
If it’s something like the guest claiming you had cameras they weren’t told about, and Airbnb can see the host fully discloses those cameras, review removal might be in the cards, but something like “The guest broke the washing machine lid” is a matter of perspective. Airbnb may have determined the guest wasn’t liable to pay for the damage, but that doesn’t mean the damage didn’t occur during the guest’s stay. A plastic piece that falls apart when the guest opens the lid probably means it was old and cracked and ready to break anyway, or was already broken and poorly put back together prior to the guest’s arrival, therefore they say the guest isn’t liable, but the host’s opinion might be that the guest broke it, whether it was an accident, ready to break at any time, or through rough handling.
With all the million reviews that get left everyday, I can understand why Airbnb doesn’t want to get into trying to determine who is telling the truth, lying, or exaggerating. And in many if not most cases, they really have no way of knowing.
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Look up the movie “Single White Female”.