Why do reviews tend to be so over-the-top great?

The average US household has around $15,000 in credit card debt. That’s just credit cards and doesn’t count car loans or leases, mortgages or personal loans from banks. Then there’s the small matter of student loans, which can be in the six figures.

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We know he’s your boyfriend!

:innocent:

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I don’t know his listing … We should try to find it!

hahahahhahahahahahah

Hi @SandyToes,

Just do a search for “Tino Airbnb Hawaii”. His profile is the top hit. And yes, he has fairly good reviews. Then again, most people seem to, in practice. Which brings us back to the topic of this thread…

One wonders what kind of review Norman Bates would have gotten, if he had chosen to put his motel up for rent on Airbnb. Maybe someone should create a mock listing as an experiment.

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Reminds me of this topic:

Do share Tino’s listing! He’s out in the hinterlands of Ocean View so I would imagine people are prepared for what they are getting themselves into.

???

Toiletbrushes are there for a very good reason. Every guest should use them if needed!!
Do you leave poop stains, for your family members to see???

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I agree. But the brush itself shouldn’t be scary! :smiley:

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Hi @konacoconutz,

Who, me? I’m tempted to add a “Let Me Google That For You” link, but fine, https://www.airbnb.co.in/users/show/12062395

Though I don’t understand why you don’t share it. You bought him up, after all…

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I kept his profile because it was entertaining but lost his link. :smiley: Just what kind of guests seek out the Tino’s of the world? Do you think they are in search of enlightenment? Do you think ole Tito has some greenery growing in the lava fields??

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i guess you have your prices lower and you attract budget travelers.when you have prices very high they will write down negatives don’t worry :wink:

One thing that has not been mentioned on this thread. Does Airbnb itself put pressure on guests to write positive reviews? I’ve not stayed in a Airbnb listing as a guest myself, so I wouldn’t know. As a host, I have felt no direct pressure from Airbnb. Other than nearly all reviews of guests that I have read run the gamut from positive to insanely positive.

Oh, and another reason that guests may write positive reviews is so that the hosts write positive reviews of them. This is ‘quid pro quo’, or ‘I scratch your back if you scratch mine’.

Well Faheem, looking at Tino’s profile had me surfing around listings and getting depressed.

That’s why I used to swear off doing that!! Arrrghhhhhhhh!

You see people offering so much less than you do for the same money, or getting piles and piles of positive reviews for places I would consider to be sketchy rooms or locations at best. You see all five stars for really crappy looking rooms. You also see scores of calendars blocked off… Are they getting the guests who would have chosen me?!! :confounded:

Vowed to rework my listing yet again in the morning. Time to change a few things. Sigh.

Hi @konacoconutz,

I don’t think obsessing about your listing is a particularly good way to spend the time. Though I do that sort of thing too. I do have the excuse that I’ve been at this a much, much shorter time than you have. Doesn’t a happening lady like yourself have a lot else going on? Still, it’s good to know I’ve not the only one who suffers from these weird afflictions. Let’s call it “listing envy”. :slight_smile:

BTW, your place looks great. I wouldn’t mind visiting Paradise for a week or two myself…

On the topic of Paradise, did you ever check out that David Lodge novel - “Paradise News”? Good stuff.

One thing from that novel that has stuck with me is that it’s mentioned (more than once) that the work ‘Aloha’ means hello, goodbye, and “I love you”. “An all purpose word”, as one of the characters remarks. It also describes Hawaii as an incredibly crowded place full of tourists. I’ve never been there, so I don’t know if that is true.

LOL! Yes a rip roaring Saturday night where I’m on a Listing Envy rampage. Hahaha. True it’s not productive and I should follow my own advice and stop obsessing. I did come from a party where I had three pina coladas and too much food, so at least I got out. :smiley:

I need to cut out the nearby-listing surfing. (Found one on the end of my street that I didn’t know was there. It’s a foreclosed house so it’s totally rundown. )

Have not read Paradise News but should. Thanks for the tip!

ALoha does mean all of those things. We use it for all of those things.

HA translates to “breath” so when you greet someone you are literally exchanging breath, or life. Aloha is a greeting upon coming or going as well as one of deep affection. It’s also a lifestyle if that makes sense. live and let live. The breath is a crucial concept to Hawaiians.

HAole in Hawaiian refers to the white outsiders. They were thought to be without (ole) breath (ha) because of the color of their skin.

As for Hawaii itself…it’s incredible. We are the most remotely located archipelago in the world. There are five main islands in the chain. Oahu is the chief population center and has the most residents and the most tourists. It’s beautiful and has many sights worth seeing, but is crowded. Maui has fantastic beaches everywhere but it’s small and overdeveloped. Kauai is spectacular but it’s very small, and in many ways still recovering from a direct hit from Iniki in 1992. Lanai and Molokai are part of Maui County and have resorts but are difficult to plan travel to.

The Big Island is a more adventurous place. We have a live volcano with two eruption sites, one you can currently drive to, and we have the tallest mountain on earth when measured from the ocean floor. Mauna Loa is the second most massive landform in the solar system. We have observatories at the summit of Mauna Kea because it’s considered the best place in the world for astronomy. It’s so big here it can fit all the main islands into its breadth. We have wild, undeveloped country, so many climactic zones, and jungles and waterfalls on the windward side. Amazing intact historic sites, including haunting ancient temples. The best snorkeling in the state, shimmering white sand beaches on the Gold Coast. I could go on and on, but you can learn more if you want to read my descriptions online in the well-known guidebook that starts with F. Or better yet, buy the print version so they keep hiring me every year to update! :smile:

I think I threw maybe too many pics of the whole island in my listing. That’s what I was thinking of changing!

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Faheem, you might want to look up one of my favorite “popular” poets, Don Blanding. He was Hawaii’s poet laureate and he wrote beautiful rhyming poetry about Hawaii that still resonates. I have some of his verses framed in my room.

Hi @konacoconutz

What I “know” about Hawaii, I learned from “Paradise News”. I did also meet a nice young Hawaiian lady in Chapel Hill some years ago; it was during an event organized by Internationalist Books. I was quite interested, since I don’t think I’d ever met anyone from Hawaii before. She was a student at Duke and quite scathing about Duke University and American privilege. Also about what the US had done to native Hawaiian culture. I think she was part native - she was quite dark.

I’m surprised that someone who has been hosting as long as you have isn’t totally blase about the whole rental thing. I think I would have backgrounded it by now.

Yes, do read Paradise News. It’s a fun read.

One thing that Paradise News get considerable mileage out of, is that everything in Hawaii is named Paradise something-or-the-other. Is that true? Its title is a reference to that.

I think your pics are actually pretty good, though 100 is a lot, certainly. But maybe just put the “important” ones first? Though I doubt you need to sell anyone on Hawaii - the media does that adequately, I imagine.

I’m not sure what this bit means.

The shower was a scream :flushed:

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Well that is the subject of 1000 books too. The Hawaiian Islands met every definition of a sovereign monarchy when it was overthrown in 1898 in a bloodless coup. The queen was imprisoned in her palace, where she wrote the famous and heart wrenching “Aloha oe.” The rebels were a small bunch of hooligans but the US backed them. They annexed a sovereign monarchy! That would be like if we suddenly just added England. The treaty of annexation was never ratified in the US Congress because so many disagreed with the premise. There are some scholars who rightly believe it’s still a foreign nation and that the whole thing was never legal. They truly had their nation stolen right out from under them. It’s a sad history.

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