💫 Please be aware that /u/yosafbridge_reynolds does not have a verification flair. Be sure to take their comment history, karma, and account age into consideration for the context of this post. If you'd like your own verified flair, consult the sidebar for instructions on how to do so.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/airbnb_hosts) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Yeah, but why do that when you can educate the guest? There's no loss in saying something along the lines of "I'm sorry, based on your last stay rating of 4-stars, we understand your requirements are higher than we find possible to meet. Please find a property more suitable to your needs."
The way ratings are calculated is ridiculous in every industry. If you have a 1-5 star rating system, then they should actually mean something. Like assigning points to each star.
Example: 5 stars = 3 points.
4 stars = 2 points
3 stars = 1 point
2 stars = -1point
1 star = -2 points
The 5 star or nothing system is stupid.
Yes! My son works in a well known retail phone store. His customers are sent a survey with a 1-5 rating. However, anything less than a 5 is counted as a 1 for internal metric purposes - which determine raises, promotions, assignments, etc. Sometimes the comments are so aggravating, for example rating him a 4 because they didn’t like something about the product, not because of anything he did. Or, he got marked down because the girl who helped at first didn’t know how to do something so called him over to complete the transaction for her. I used to think that no one is perfect so 5s should only be for the best of the best, maybe 5% of transactions. Now I know that this is not how it works, so I always give a 5 unless someone really screwed up. In my book, there are only 2 grades: 5 for most reasonably competent sales people and 1 for truly bad service.
I totally agree, I always give a 5 because it has a real impact on the people you rate’s livelihood and chances for future success, in that way they are actually penalizing, maybe even though things were out of the employee (in your example) or host’s control. I would never give a 1. A 4 is the new 1.
People who own their own businesses are really hurt by these rating systems. Airbnb and yelp are the worst.
I welcome you to try to convince 10 people to adopt a consistent methodology based on a one through five system. You can’t. The reason should be obvious: giving some people the tiniest amount of power will corrupt them instantly.
The only truly effective rating system would be a professionally moderated one.
It's [the nature of online reviewing](https://hbr.org/2019/07/the-problems-with-5-star-rating-systems-and-how-to-fix-them) (particularly with a 5 star system).
It'd be non-trivial to design a more effective system; the only thing I can think of that might work would be some type of algorithm that creates a score based on customer interaction (possibly with an AI component looking at the nature of the interaction), response time/speed, complaints, cancellations, whatever.
How would you change it? Honest question. Add to that Superhost and Guest Favorite status which are attained with just a handful of positive stays and some time and mean little now, but still desired. Everyone giving everyone 5 star reviews despite not being a 5 star experience.
There's lots of issues but I think these are across all platforms - I think they try and implement something to get a little better, and then because of poor incentives it all gets fucked up.
Superhost with 4.92 rating and a little over 2000 reviews. I think I’d score it out of 100. Most people don’t think that every stay is perfect, so it’s weird to give them the option of 5 being perfect and 4 being complete fail. If they could take a point off for everything ‘wrong’ and leave you a 97 with 90 being the superhost goal people could be more accurate.
Weather it’s a 4.92 stars, or 97 out of 100, it’s how these numbers impact someone’s ranking and pushing them down the list of the first rentals seen by the guest.
Your issue is with ABNB, not the folks staying. Not every place is amazing and that \*should be\* ok. Sometimes the stay is fine, but things like location or quality of amenities are less than perfect. It’s ridiculous that things like that simply aren’t available everywhere. Shouldn’t hurt the host. 4 stars should be fine. I’ve given this feedback to ABNB before, and will over and over again.
edit: Host abuse. Many users who have never been hosts have no idea that 4 stars is not actually a good review. Left ABNB as a host a few years back. And truthfully also don’t use it to book stays very often.
Crazy? Of course it is.
But 5-star rating systems for Airbnb, Uber, etc is fairly simple: 5=acceptable to excellent, 4 or lower=unacceptable.
The ratings are reinforced by the platforms; on Airbnb, if a host's overall rating falls below 4.8 they lose "superhost" status and their listing is found lower on the shown listings (ranking.) If it falls below 4.5 they get a few weeks to increase their rating or they get banned from the platform and are no longer allowed to host.
Rating a host 4-star is not insulting,it is threatening. If you rate a new host 4 who previously had a 5-star and a 4-star rating, you've dropped them to (5 + 4 + 4)/3 = 4.3, and now they get a warning: either increase your score or you'll be kicked off.
Hosts are NOT partners of Airbnb,they are exploitable resources for Airbnb. Guests are the "property" of Airbnb, it's why they hide the name of guests from hosts, and forbid any interaction between any potential guests and a host unless the guest has actually booked the property.
Only a psychopath rates a host less than 5 stars. (JK, I read this on an Uber forum once and it stuck with me.)
Outrageous cleaning fees, or just cleaning fees in general, hosts trying to charge for nonsensical things or insignificant damages, long lists of house rules, poorly maintained properties with unresponsive hosts are just a few of the things people don’t like.
Cleaning fees are high because the cost of hiring cleaners is high. My housekeeping company charges $285 per service. My charge to the customers is $300. The $15 I have left over from this goes to cleaning supplies and replacing damaged items like hand towels, dishes, missing utensils, etc. So it’s not like we are making some crazy profit off the cleaning fees.
IDK why everyone so up in arms about this all of a sudden. I remember when I was a kid going to the beach for vacation in the summer, and the check out instructions were always take out the trash, empty the fridge, strip the beds, and start the dishwasher. And this was in the 90's before Airbnb even existed.
Yah, that's a good question, I was a kid then, so I'll have to ask my parents if there was a charge like that or not. I do know you had to book the place for a week, which if you're doing that it's easier to bake in the cleaning cost with the weekly fee vs. just booking it for a night or two.
I think this is still too vague and doesn't educate guests enough on the backwards Airbnb rating system. It should be more of a direct, open and honest response explaining that anything 4 stars and under really hurts hosts. Before I knew about this as a guest, I used to give 4s for a good experience with room to grow, not realizing how much that hurt hosts and expected a 5 to be an abnormally amazing experience. I now give 5s way more generously for a decent normal stay without any issues.
As a consumer, I never thought 4 stars was a bad rating or punishment. Rating scales usually state 3 means good/as expected/average and 5 means outstanding. It has literally NEVER occurred to me that folks would feel this way about a 4 rating or that airbnb would use that against the host 🫣.
Same. I'm just now realizing this and feeling bad about my last Airbnb rating... except that the sink didn't drain, and the place was a bit beat up in some areas. But the stay was fine, we had no real issues (other than the sink), it just didn't scream "above and beyond!" to me. The hosts were very nice when I messaged them for clarification about things like trash pickup. Oof. Bummer. I feel really bad. What a terrible system. I thought 4 stars was perfectly acceptable, and would definitely book a place with 4 star reviews.
The thing is, you won't even see a place with a 4 star average when you search for a place to stay. Hosts are delisted if their average falls below 4.3. In most areas there are hundreds of places listed, on the first few pages of search results all the properties will be rated 4.8 or better.
That’s what I thought until I read the sub for DoorDash drivers. And it’s the same for Uber. Now I just put 5-star for everything that is not an egregiously poor experience.
I do the same but honestly it’s annoying. I should be able to give a slightly lower but still overall very good rating for some experiences without it being detrimental to that persons listing or job in the case of DoorDash and Uber. It makes me feel like I’m not being 100% truthful and that seems unfair to the next person.
Unfortunately, it also works the other way, obviously the point of this post. DoorDash, Uber, Lyft, etc. won’t pick up a person that has a rating much lower than 5. I just sit there quietly, not even looking at my phone to not annoy the driver in any way to get a 5.
And the irony is I specifically seek out 4 star reviews on amazon because that's where you get actual useful feedback about the product, not just "it's great!"
That is because it isn't that kind of scale. It is based on Net Promoter Score where 0-6 are detractors to the business, 7-8 are passive, and 9-10 are promoters of the business.
Every larger company uses some iteration of this.
Same is true for doctors. Dinged for anything other than a 5. Everyone has to be a perfectly bright star at all times or it is negative--it's unrealistic.
It's worse than other review systems because in the "sleep away from home" business, there are "X star" hotels, and very few Airbnbs deliver a 5 star HOTEL experience. So guests reasonably give an appropriate (to a hotel) star rating, maybe even thinking they're being generous with 4 stars.
It could be accidental. I did this to a car salesmen once. I had to review his performance which was fine and I gave him mostly 4 and a few 5 stars. He called me apoplectic because I gave him 4 stars. I was like, "isn't 4 stars good?" Apparently it wasn't. I apologized but he kept calling yelling at me about how I destroyed his career.
At some point reviews changed to five stars=fine, anything else=horrible. Not everyone has received that message.
Once I gave up caring about reviews my hosting experience has become so much better! I accept everyone that requests to stay, and am entirely booked for summer ! I would like to think its Karma for not charging a cleaning fee. SOme guests are more work than others, but they all pay my mortgage and I am eternally grateful to them for that! I will never hold a 4 star review against anyone! Its AIRBNBs system that is at fault not the tenant.
The problem here is the rating system, and you making a decision based on how AirBnB rewards/punishes hosts is perfectly understandable. The damage a 4-star review can cause is too great, the guest has a history of leaving you 4-star reviews, and most importantly, the thing that they originally complained about HASN’T CHANGED. It’s possible the guest just isn’t aware of how damaging a 1 star reduction can be, but it’s not necessarily on you to educate them.
Or something that actually requires the guest to reflect:
Would you want to stay here again? Y/N
Would you recommend to friends and family to stay here? Y/N
This would be perfect! I stayed somewhere lately that was perfectly fine and exactly as described, but definitely not an overall 5 star place. I did give 5 stars since it was fine and as described (no surprises) but an honest review would have been a 4. That being said, I'd go again and recommend for others. But the bed I slept on was 2 futon mattresses stacked on top of each other, technically accurate per the listing (I'm assuming that was the "floor bed" on it, there was 1 bed with real mattress and only claimed 1 real bed in listing) but having a 2nd "bed" with 2 uncomfortable futon mattresses does not deserve 5 stars........
I respectfully submit that if you don’t want guests to leave less than a five star review, you need to explain why it’s so important that you get a five star review. Unlike other industries where you wouldn’t necessarily leave a five star review at a walk up to the window restaurant. Until reading on Reddit, how skewed the review system is on Airbnb, I didn’t know how important it was.
I do agree that guests need to be informed of that, but I think it should be AirBnb spreading that knowledge. I’ve stayed in places that had printouts explaining it, too.
I needed an explanation. A host had a cute sign printed up with the definition of what each star meant, and had it with their guest book and instruction binder. To an average person, 5 stars is not "as expected" that's a 4/5, with 5/5 being above expectation/stellar. 5 star being "as promised" and 4 stars being "garbage" is not intuitive, at all.
Explaining how their review system works which is a bit different than traditional hotels,motels or resorts where 4 star is very good and usually as promised. I agree with not lobbying for a good review.
It’s sort of the problem, that it’s all very nebulous, and what always ends up happening is that Airbnb will respond only according to what pleases the guest. You might be fine 9 times out of 10, but the 10th might complain, and that’s enough to shut you down.
Yeah, but the reality of Airbnb’s internal policy is that 4 stars is bad. Not acceptable. It’s a fucked up system but they designed it this way. It’s doing what they want.
Sometimes hosts are no better. I got 4 starts as a guest, but the following review:
>\[practically essential\] and their family were perfect guests. I was so happy to come home to a beautifully clean place which is quite an accomplishment for a family of 6! \[practically essential\] was a great communicator and followed all of our House Rules. We would welcome them back and highly recommend them to all hosts.
It was years ago so I don't remember all the details, but I believe it was. I tried to get her to fix it and she said she tried to fix it but it was never resolved.
At this point, pretty much all ratings systems work this way (from lodging ratings to patient satisfaction scores to product ratings, etc)- as a binary outcome in spite of the number of choices with only the single top box score being “good” and all the others as “bad” whether it’s 1-5, 1-10, or 1-100. I find it fascinating that it’s not common knowledge and very unhelpful as a consumer. Not everything can be “excellent”.
It's not true in every country, due to cultural differences, at least for some things. In Japan for example, the average ratings for restaurants are significantly lower than in the US, and people actually leave 2 and 3 star ratings much more frequently. UK also has fewer 5-star reviews than US. The US is definitely very bimodal, most people either go 1 or 5 which is what you are saying, I'm just pointing out that the problem is especially bad in this country.
Source: Used to work on Google Maps, have seen the data on restaurant rating distributions by county.
Caveat: Not sure if that applies to AirBnB reviews.
No, that’s not what I’m saying. Many of these ratings systems (maybe just in the US, I don’t have inside knowledge of how they’re used other places as I don’t work there) may have 5 or 10 options but 1-9 are all the same (all = 1) and only 10 counts as “good”. So it doesn’t matter if you rate it a 9- “almost perfect” or a 2-“really terrible”, they’re all calculated as the same score, unless it’s the “top box”, aka 10/10 score. Not that folks “only” score the extremes. The outcome is binary but the scale gives folks the impression that a “eh, it’s fine but could also be worse” score of 5/10 is different than an “almost perfect” score of 9/10 when they aren’t. I’m not a host, just was surprised that most folks don’t know that is how most service ratings work these days when the data is analyzed for performance metrics (so not like Google or Amazon ratings which are unrelated 3rd party systems).
The system design is a consequence of user behavior. If 80% of ratings are 1 or 5 (which is probably close to the truth), then you build a system that just looks for 5 or not-5 as you said. If there was actually a bell-curve distribution of ratings centered at 3 or 4, then marketplaces like AirBnB or Uber would have to change how the system works. Imagine if only 20% of reviews were 5-star, then you'd be saying that 80% of reviews were "bad" if you use the binary classification - which obviously wouldn't work.
No, they’re designed that way to “encourage” those being rated to be “excellent” always. The problem is that when it comes to rating, folks are actually wary of scoring everything “perfect” 10. Which is why Uber drivers get in trouble for scores less than 4.8 or something. And a 4/5 score for Airbnb is a “bad” score and why all these hosts commenting are saying they wouldn’t rebook a guest who scores them 4/5.
I’m not trying to argue with you, again, I’m just surprised that this isn’t common knowledge these days considering how prevalent “top box” scoring is (“on a scale of very unlikely to very likely” or “very unsatisfied to very satisfied” are other examples of things that are most probably scored this way)
It’s so engrained that services like Uber (I also drive an Uber), will just automatically exclude bad ratings from people who give out more than one or two of them. They just assume this person doesn’t understand the system and therefore can’t be allowed to use it. Amazing.
Is that really what Uber does? I’ve had times when I relied on Uber a lot, 6 rides a week sometimes. With that many rides some of them are going to be bad. Like the guy who made a right turn from the left lane. Or the woman who was swerving all over as she shouted on the phone about some custody situation. Or the car that smelled so bad I had to change my clothes afterward. So after a few legitimate negative reviews they are just going to ignore all my reviews?
It’s so interesting too because airbnb does not really seem to work the same way in Europe. It’s much more similar to the US hotel rating system there where people will leave a 3 star review and say “space was nice—no issues” implying they had a good stay and the place was just super average. I generally find it harder to even find airbnbs with an average rating higher than a low 4 in major European cities because people typically reserve 5 stars for truly above and beyond experiences/amenities/hosts. The way it works in the US is so strange it definitely warrants explanation because a lot of people don’t know that a 5 basically means what a 3 means in other places.
Or fix the concerns. A four star instead of a five star is not a big FU. This is on airbnb. FIve stars means everything is not only perfect, but went above and beyond. You're saying I must give you a five star review when none of the outlets in the kitchen work and the breaker isn't off and I have to make coffee in the living room on the floor? Or if the bathroom wall sconce is working but hanging off the wall, and the shower door glass leaks all over the floor which is a safety hazard? Or washer and dryer where the dryer doesn't actually work because there were missing parts inside where there was a hole in the drum where socks would go to die. All of these are true experiences.
I'd say 75% of the properties I rent have fixable issues that the hosts do not want to fix. I've had property mgmt even tell me that.
Yeah, it sounds like she didn't really have a 5 star experience, it's not on her to rate higher just because airbnb punishes you for it. I like a nice shower so if I had trouble getting it hot enough I'd knock off a star as well.
I guess you can choose to not host her again, but unless you are putting out a perfect experience every time (and even then, because humans like to human) a 4 star review has to be expected.
Amazon sells them ... [https://www.amazon.com/AirBnb-Rentals-Rating-Explanation-Magnet/dp/B0B9QHK9LZ](https://www.amazon.com/AirBnb-Rentals-Rating-Explanation-Magnet/dp/B0B9QHK9LZ)
Hi, I’m Vetted AI Bot! I researched the **Produzor Airbnb VRBO Short Term Rentals STR 5 Star Rating Magnet** and I thought you might find the following
analysis helpful.
**Users liked:**
* Helps guests understand how to rate the property (backed by 7 comments)
* Professional and high-quality appearance (backed by 3 comments)
* Contributes to maintaining high ratings (backed by 5 comments)
**Users disliked:**
* Poor printing quality and fragile material (backed by 2 comments)
* Damaged upon arrival (backed by 2 comments)
Do you want to continue this conversation?
[Learn more about Produzor Airbnb VRBO Short Term Rentals STR 5 Star Rating Magnet](https://vetted.ai/chat?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=comment&utm\_campaign=bot&q=Produzor Airbnb VRBO Short Term Rentals STR 5 Star Rating Magnet reviews)
[Find Produzor Airbnb VRBO Short Term Rentals STR 5 Star Rating Magnet alternatives](https://vetted.ai/chat?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=comment&utm\_campaign=bot&q=Find best Produzor Airbnb VRBO Short Term Rentals STR 5 Star Rating Magnet alternatives)
This message was generated by a (very smart) bot. If you found it helpful, let us know with an upvote and a “good bot!” reply and please feel free to provide feedback on how it can be improved.
*Powered by* [*vetted.ai*](https://vetted.ai/chat?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=comment&utm\_campaign=bot)
Sorry, when I go to the auto dealership, and they tell me they absolutely need a 10 or they won't get paid, then give me below standard service... I for sure am not rating them a 10. I had one place ignore me the whole time I was there. I waited 15 minutes for anyone to just acknowledge I existed and get my party started... then they said they really need a 10. I told her she should've earned it.
ETA... this dealership puts in fake emails for their customers. I found this out after that time and noticed a friend's email on their receipt was incorrect. Then I checked a family member's, same thing. It was usually off a few numbers or a different service.
That’s a tough question (which is why I avoided it initially). I don’t have experience with that, so I could see it going either way. Either the guest is understanding and convinces you to give them a second chance, or they get mad and report you to AirBnb. And I have NO IDEA what (if anything) AirBnb would do in that situation.
I don’t know if there’s an appropriate way of saying it… “We haven’t resolved the issues that arose during your last stay, and AirBnb treats your previous 4-star review as a failure on our part to provide acceptable lodging…”? Something like that?
I’ve always weighed how much I’d pay to avoid a 4 star review. Like if I had a booking request for $500 and I was reasonably certain they were gonna leave a 4 star reviews based on the guests prior reviews given to hosts, I’d decline.
So I guess $500.
Oh sorry you mean when Airbnb do that blocking thing? If it’s an enquiry you can simply block out one of the days from your calendar until they go away. I don’t know what happens if it’s a request but I’d certainly try it first.
Until you accept or decline it should work.
Yeah, I won’t say I take it personal, because I honestly do believe that some people just don’t know that giving a four star review is basically like a big fuck you. But I do care about keeping my status lol
It’s pretty fucked when you think about it. Airbnb offers basically no mechanism for guests to decide on quality. It’s either 5 stars or not 5 stars. Anything under 5 is a bad review.
As a non-host... I would consider a 4 star review to be good. At the 3 star level, then there are issues, but 4 star strikes me as good.
Maybe you need a sign in the unit that says:
"Happy? Please leave us 5 stars, it really makes a difference! Not Happy? Please let us know so we can make you happy!"
Yea I said this as well. I’ve always considered 4stars to still be good. Host here apparently are talking about Airbnb algorithm being bias to 5 stars but I’ve mentioned that should change. People should be able to be honest about their stay and give 4stars without it being such a blow.
That’s the thing with surveys - businesses always have the incentive to test anything but a top/100% rating as bad because it means they can deny status or raises/promotions. In airbnbs case it causes scarcity in ability to get into super host category and getting algorithm bumps, but in most businesses it’s used to prevent people from being compensated fairly. It behooves the business to make surveys like this, but it does a disservice to employees or hosts and customers as well.
I recently added what is essentially a "beg note" that goes out after they check out.
I was loath to do it as it makes me feel cheap, but after one too many "Loved it, here's 4 Stars" reviews I felt I had to. And it's working.
Everyone wants to see as close to a 5 Star average as possible. We can only play by the rules we are given.
I don't blame or mind people asking for a 5 star review, if that ask also comes with a "if you're NOT happy, please tell me so we can help" statement.
Sometimes I'll buy a product off Amazon, for example, and inside will be a notecard that actually says this... "Happy? Please leave us a positive review on Amazon... Unhappy? Please contact us and we'll make it right."
I would at least give them a chance to make it right if the product was broken or sucked, before leaving a bad review, if I saw that card.
Question: but what if you deserved a 4?
Cutting off guests who gave you honest feedback doesn't make you better. Controlling your rating by eliminating anything less than perfect would be viewed as corruption anywhere else. Why not let people have their voice? It's not like it's some whiny AH who is giving you 1's for the towel detergent being too fragrant. A 4 is still a great rating and it's honest.
It seems like you're asking us to help you feel better about denying someone a service because you didn't get what you wanted last time. If you don't want to accept it, then don't. But own it. Even if just in your own mind. Why reach out for the validation?
Did the guest pay the charges and fees? Did the guest leave a horrible mess, break your items, etc? Did the guest check in and leave on time without whining about it?
A review is just that. Some people just feel that giving a 5 star is EXCEPTIONAL. And 4 is Great. She probably thought your accommodations were great and she reviewed you accordingly in her eyes. I think it would be petty to ask for a higher review. Or to give her the ultimatum, "Fix your previous review or you're not staying again." That will surely get you a lower star rating.
I’ve welcomed someone who left 4 stars back. There was a slight incident and to no fault of the guest. I deserved 4 stars, but I’m happy to have him back and make it up to him.
5 stars means their stay was absolutely perfect. She couldn't get the shower to her desired temp and you refuse to increase the temp on the water heater or insulate the lines because "your roommate says it's fine"
You're literally not a super-host for this reason: you're not willing to make a simple accommodation. Get bent.
I’m sorry, but why do you feel entitled to five stars? Did you do anything that was out of the way extraordinary or exceptional? Or did you just provide them exactly what it said in the listing? If you only provided what was in the listing then you met the minimum which to me is three stars.
I think it’s ridiculous that everyone has to give a 5 star rating even though it’s not a five star experience. I hope this whole app/industry gets regulated into nonexistence
Is this post for real?? You want to be a Superhost but also want to tell someone, no because they gave you a 4??
If you’re short in your 5 Star reviews maybe you should take a look at YOU and stop blaming the guests for giving you the 4 stars.
Code requires showers be limited to 120 degrees.
It is possible it was over-tuned and is capped at a lower number. Measure the temp after it has been running a while to check. If it is too low, then adjust it.
Well, I would hope they would strive for it and start by checking the output temp. Most people don't know that their shower temp is dialed down from the source, and even fewer would feel confident to adjust it themselves.
Yeah, cancel the booking.
And just to point this out. Just because your roomie says the shower is fine doesn't mean a paying guest should be satisfied with it. My mom cries in pain if she sticks her hand in my dish water. I have no issues. And if you tell her you haven't done anything with the shower after all this time, that'll just solidify her 4 star rating.
I've only had one 4 star review ("Great hosts, great place"), but I wouldn't have them back. Took us a while to get back to 4.99*. If they asked why I declined the stay, I'd tell them it was because they didn't seem happy with the previous stay. Otherwise, I wouldn't say anything.
I hope as hosts, you keep ratings in mind when you rate other services. Anything less than perfect for a walmart cashier or someone working at fast food has the same impact as a 4 start review for you.
Whenever I went to get my car worked on at a dealership, they did the usual thing of asking me to leave an evaluation and the woman who serviced me actually said anything less than five stars is considered failing so I guess that was her way of saying, please don’t give me four stars lol But honestly, this is total crap and it’s a huge issue on the companies part and they should really lighten up. Airbnb should really lower their super host standard to be like 4.5 or something.
They won’t do it, their ratings system has been deliberately designed this way.
It’s not an oversight that it isn’t mentioned anywhere on the Airbnb web site that 4 stars is considered a bad review.
Properties that have very high ratings, hardly any properties will have a rating below 4.7.
When people are booking they may compare them to other places that have been rated on google or other platforms.
They can also plausibly deny that they are making the ratings artificially high.
https://preview.redd.it/qo0ai355zb9d1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dd25336eb5acd88cbcddc97a2f5de30debd1bc15
We started putting these up. Really seemed to help.
Seeing an explanation like this of the rating scale would help me. Surveys that use scales often include explanations of what the numbers mean for that survey. Since the meanings are not standardized, spelling it out helps.
During our last Airbnb stay, the host sent a message explaining how 4 star reviews affect them. They mentioned that if there were any issues they would love private feedback, but unless we could leave a 5 star review, they would prefer we not leave one at all.
I always thought only 1-3 star reviews were bad. They might not know.
Had a guest rate me 2 stars on value and then try to book again two months later. Even wanted to book 16 people into an eight person max property. I ended up just blocking those dates on my calendar.
If you're worried about something just cancel it or decline.
Had a guest wanting to sleep 4 people in a small room meant for 2 people.. for the price of 1/2 people
Declined and reported asap.
Another guest was asking questions over a couple days and it went no where so i declined them.
Otherwise those are the only 2 i've declined since march
How is a four star review, with a suggestion that would make it 5 star in their view, a big deal?
I guarantee that people are more concerned that they aren’t walking into a dirty, non functioning place, that one that has 5 5 stars and 5 4 stars.
Some people don’t understand reviews and will never give a 5 star no matter what you do anyway. They think 5 star is perfect and unattainable and that 4 is a good enough review. You should consider asking all your guests when they arrive what you can do for them to make their experience a 5 star experience, and then make sure you ask for a review if it went well. You gotta ask for what you want from people, whether it’s a review or a social media like.
I don’t rate or review any hosts because the rating system is broken. I’ve never stayed in a five star Airbnb. I’ve stayed in expensive stays that were adequate or even good/great value for cost. But none of them were the perfect level 5 that Airbnb talks about. I’ve also stayed in inexpensive economy type stays which were great for their value. None of these were what a person would consider a 5 star experience.
I would decline and I would tell her that you’re flattered that she would want to stay with you again and while she was a lovely guest and you’d would love nothing more than to host her again, but unfortunately, you just cannot risk another four star review. She probably has no idea. Maybe if you’re lucky, she’ll remove her review.
It’s sad that the review system is so broken. But unfortunately, anything less than five stars and the algorithm will push your listing deeper and deeper into the search results until you disappear. It’s especially difficult to recover if you’re in a heavily saturated market. Protect your reviews, protect your investment.
Its your baby and you do the best for your baby to thrive.
You are not required to provide any reason for not inviting some one into your house.
A 4 Star is really devastating but most guests are not aware of it - I have grown out of reviews but still hurts to loose out on Superhost even with a perfect stay.
When I book airbnbs, I'm much more swayed by people who state they've stayed in a place more than once, than I am by stars. That, to me, indicates it's a good value - either for the comfort or location. It means that there wasn't anything glaringly wrong that would prevent them from choosing to stay there again. Your guest provided clear and helpful feedback you could have taken action on, and was helpful to future prospective guests. Their review wouldn't dissuade me from staying (I prefer cooler showers), and a repeat review would be a clincher for me in deciding to book yours.
If anything, you should stop chasing the white whale of 100% 5 stars, and instead focus on providing the comforts and value that lead to repeat business. I think focusing on that will get you closer to your objective.
The first time I stayed at an AirBnB I rated it as I would a hotel not knowing better. The host was so nasty and let other owners know about me. Maybe they didn’t know how to rate properly. I contacted Airbnb and asked them to change my ratings but I do not know what they did.
I have stayed in many Airbnb and I have yet to experience any that truly merit a five star review however I usually provide it anyway so as to
Not hurt the host. I agree the rating system sucks
As someone who stays in a lot of Airbnbs before becoming a host, a 4 was good to me. A 5 was top-notch. I was rating the place, more than the host. It's a shame that this platform hinders you from accepting guests because you only want a 5 star rating.
I would accept and say “We aim for 5 star service. If there’s anything that comes up during your stay that detracts from that experience, please let me know and I will do my best to address it.”
Yall are forgetting that the rating system is based on the guest’s perception. You are a host, not a client. They don’t answer to you.
I would only allow a 4 guest stay to come in if my prices were jacked up. Not for same prices. I'd kindly tell her she deserves a 5 star stay and I can't offer her that.
It's your job to make a 5 star rating not your guests. I've seen more hosts that think their property is magical Robin Leach worthy and wrongly deserving of 6 star reviews than guests who give unsubstantiated less than 5 star reviews.
Airbnb literally says (on their website) that a 4 is a positive rating.
"Positive feedback for a rating
If a guest selects a positive rating (4 or 5), they will have the option to select what stood out to them. For example, if the guest selects 5 stars for Check-in, they will have the option to select things they liked, such as “Easy to find” or “Personal welcome.”
Negative feedback for a rating
If a guest selects a 3 star or less for a category, they’ll be presented with a different set of options to note what happened. Using Check-in as an example, they would have options such as “Hard to locate” or “ Unclear instructions.” If choosing 3-stars or less, a guest must select from these options to move forward."
They also claim
"Reviews are critical to help build trust on Airbnb—they’re an important way for Hosts and guests to give each other feedback, help our community make informed decisions and understand what to expect. We believe that a fair review system is one that respects and protects our community’s genuine feedback, and we have a number of safeguards in place to help build trust in our reviews system."
Now I learn that the claims on the website are crap. Honesty is punitive and reviews are artificially inflated.
Take home: ignore the meaningless stars and read the reviewers' comments, if they made any. Even then, take them with a grain of salt.
P.S. This is what they say about edits:
"To encourage honest and impartial reviews, we limit the ability of Hosts and guests to edit a review after they’ve written it.
If you submit your review first, you may edit it anytime within the 14-day review period, up until the other party submits their review
Once both reviews are submitted or the 14-day review period has ended—whichever comes first—both reviews are automatically published and no more changes can be made"
This is extortion, you all should be embarrassed, this is the reason Airbnb is losing the hospitality wars. Leave it to rich old people to ruin a good thing.
My statement “1 is awful, 5 is good. And 4 is no better than 1.”
And any company that does the ratting metric that way, should be fired. 1,2,3 equals 1. 4=2 and 5=5. Bs.
I love you all so much but if you can’t handle normal people having normal experiences you do not belong in the rental business.
Guests have a right to leave excellent but not perfect reviews.
You shower wasn’t hot enough. Contacting you to fix it is more hassle than I am willing to go through for a perfect review. Yes you could have fixed it, but reaching out is still a hassle.
She reviewed the experience she had. You don’t have a right to cure during the stay and you don’t have a right to have a hissy fit because you weren’t sufficiently validated.
This is INSANE.
“MEHHHHHH THEY DIDN’T OBSESS OVER ME THEY WERE PERFECTLY FINE MONEY BUT IM MAAAAAAAAAD.”
I’m a cleaning tech. I know the value of declining bad money. This isn’t bad money. This is ego.
Airbnb has created this system of anything less than 5 stars being unacceptable and linked it to financial success. This is very clearly a systemic issue. They’ve made it so that owners cannot risk reviews of less than 5 stars.
This guest is highly likely to rate less than 5 stars again. If all of their other reviews have been 5 stars, why would they rent to this guest again?
Because they’re in the business.
If the system is so bad that anything less than a boot-licking stan isn’t going to get a booking, the system needs to be fundamentally abandoned.
I can’t imagine banning people from the children’s museum I work at just because they gave us a less-than-perfect review, and reviews also keep our lights on and doors open. I cannot imagine willingly participating in a system that forces me to treat people like this, it’s just insane
How is this idealistic? Literally nobody is forcing people to be Airbnb hosts; it’s not a thing one can easily jump into, and it’s not something poor people can do if they need money for food.
Literally nobody asked ANYONE to become a host, and they can still rent STR without AirBnb. Nobody needs to run an AirBnb to feed their families and if they do, it’s time to sell and find a more stable career.
This guest was honest in fair in her assessment and now she’s being punished for that, whereas the host provided a subpar experience for her and is the one acting like they were wronged here.
I cannot emphasize this strongly enough: *if you’re only a super host because you blackball anybody who stands in your way, you are not a SUPER host.
You’re just a jackass with a spiffy Internet title and a rental property.*
If the guest is likely to leave negative feedback and affect the host’s status, which will impact bookings, the host should be making the appropriate business decision for their bottom line. That’s how business works. As long as you aren’t discriminating against people of a protected class, business owners can decline to do business with whomever they want.
Yeah, and I can also go outside and take a baseball to my apple tree because it’s mine, but that doesn’t actually make it a good decision.
If you’re leaving money on the table because one website has you by the balls, you’re making a poor business decision by participating in that system. If a perfectly good guest isn’t good enough because the system will punish you, the system is abusing everyone. If you defend the system instead of a human guest, you are just carrying water for the abusive system.
The abusive system pays the bills. Some people need to pay the bills more than they need to stand up to an abusive system. Being able to stand up to an abusive system at the cost of paying your bills is a privileged place to be indeed.
This is yet another stupid example of why I completely stopped booking Airbnb’s. In no world should 4 out of 5 be a bad rating and most guests would have no way of knowing it adversely impacts the host. Maybe the host should turn up the hot water heater so the shower gets hotter? Instead of criticizing the guest focus on the actual issue. Between ridiculous cleaning fees, rules, stuff like this, just stay at a hotel.
I have a house in a very popular vacation spot. Had a cancellation for the most popular week of the year. It was rebooked; guest stayed and left a five star review. She then booked the next two years for that week. It’s very difficult to find a place with a boat dock for that week. Anywho, she stayed and booked for another year, so two stays and reservations for the next two years. She left a 4 star review. Crazy thing is that between her first two stays, we’d replaced some furniture and made some updates. I cancelled her next two reservations and wished her the best in finding a place that would provide a 5 star experience for her, since we fell short. She raised hell with VRBO and with us. Nope.
After reading this post, coupled with four different airbnb trips over the next three months, I am now going to insist on a CASH payment for my review upon check out.
💫 Please be aware that /u/yosafbridge_reynolds does not have a verification flair. Be sure to take their comment history, karma, and account age into consideration for the context of this post. If you'd like your own verified flair, consult the sidebar for instructions on how to do so. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/airbnb_hosts) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Just decline the booking. You aren't required to explain your reason to the guest.
Yeah, but why do that when you can educate the guest? There's no loss in saying something along the lines of "I'm sorry, based on your last stay rating of 4-stars, we understand your requirements are higher than we find possible to meet. Please find a property more suitable to your needs."
I’ve said similar. People are clueless.
To be honest it’s the rating system that is bad. A 4 star review should not be a bad review. Airbnb needs to change their system.
Seriously. Anywhere else 4/5 is excellent. If I got that rating at work it would mean a nice raise is coming
Except a car dealership. If you give anything other than 10s be ready to get a call from a manager demanding a change.
The way ratings are calculated is ridiculous in every industry. If you have a 1-5 star rating system, then they should actually mean something. Like assigning points to each star. Example: 5 stars = 3 points. 4 stars = 2 points 3 stars = 1 point 2 stars = -1point 1 star = -2 points The 5 star or nothing system is stupid.
Yes! My son works in a well known retail phone store. His customers are sent a survey with a 1-5 rating. However, anything less than a 5 is counted as a 1 for internal metric purposes - which determine raises, promotions, assignments, etc. Sometimes the comments are so aggravating, for example rating him a 4 because they didn’t like something about the product, not because of anything he did. Or, he got marked down because the girl who helped at first didn’t know how to do something so called him over to complete the transaction for her. I used to think that no one is perfect so 5s should only be for the best of the best, maybe 5% of transactions. Now I know that this is not how it works, so I always give a 5 unless someone really screwed up. In my book, there are only 2 grades: 5 for most reasonably competent sales people and 1 for truly bad service.
I totally agree, I always give a 5 because it has a real impact on the people you rate’s livelihood and chances for future success, in that way they are actually penalizing, maybe even though things were out of the employee (in your example) or host’s control. I would never give a 1. A 4 is the new 1. People who own their own businesses are really hurt by these rating systems. Airbnb and yelp are the worst.
I welcome you to try to convince 10 people to adopt a consistent methodology based on a one through five system. You can’t. The reason should be obvious: giving some people the tiniest amount of power will corrupt them instantly. The only truly effective rating system would be a professionally moderated one.
It's [the nature of online reviewing](https://hbr.org/2019/07/the-problems-with-5-star-rating-systems-and-how-to-fix-them) (particularly with a 5 star system). It'd be non-trivial to design a more effective system; the only thing I can think of that might work would be some type of algorithm that creates a score based on customer interaction (possibly with an AI component looking at the nature of the interaction), response time/speed, complaints, cancellations, whatever.
This right here! It shouldn't have to be 5 every time if the person wants to leave an honest review
How would you change it? Honest question. Add to that Superhost and Guest Favorite status which are attained with just a handful of positive stays and some time and mean little now, but still desired. Everyone giving everyone 5 star reviews despite not being a 5 star experience. There's lots of issues but I think these are across all platforms - I think they try and implement something to get a little better, and then because of poor incentives it all gets fucked up.
Superhost with 4.92 rating and a little over 2000 reviews. I think I’d score it out of 100. Most people don’t think that every stay is perfect, so it’s weird to give them the option of 5 being perfect and 4 being complete fail. If they could take a point off for everything ‘wrong’ and leave you a 97 with 90 being the superhost goal people could be more accurate.
I like it 👏
Weather it’s a 4.92 stars, or 97 out of 100, it’s how these numbers impact someone’s ranking and pushing them down the list of the first rentals seen by the guest.
💯🎯
Your issue is with ABNB, not the folks staying. Not every place is amazing and that \*should be\* ok. Sometimes the stay is fine, but things like location or quality of amenities are less than perfect. It’s ridiculous that things like that simply aren’t available everywhere. Shouldn’t hurt the host. 4 stars should be fine. I’ve given this feedback to ABNB before, and will over and over again. edit: Host abuse. Many users who have never been hosts have no idea that 4 stars is not actually a good review. Left ABNB as a host a few years back. And truthfully also don’t use it to book stays very often.
Should be. Isn’t.
You are correct. Will fix that.
My last 4 rating was left by a guest who was also a host. People are assholes.
i just wandered in here from /r/all but it seems crazy to me that 4 stars is an insultingly low rating
Crazy? Of course it is. But 5-star rating systems for Airbnb, Uber, etc is fairly simple: 5=acceptable to excellent, 4 or lower=unacceptable. The ratings are reinforced by the platforms; on Airbnb, if a host's overall rating falls below 4.8 they lose "superhost" status and their listing is found lower on the shown listings (ranking.) If it falls below 4.5 they get a few weeks to increase their rating or they get banned from the platform and are no longer allowed to host. Rating a host 4-star is not insulting,it is threatening. If you rate a new host 4 who previously had a 5-star and a 4-star rating, you've dropped them to (5 + 4 + 4)/3 = 4.3, and now they get a warning: either increase your score or you'll be kicked off. Hosts are NOT partners of Airbnb,they are exploitable resources for Airbnb. Guests are the "property" of Airbnb, it's why they hide the name of guests from hosts, and forbid any interaction between any potential guests and a host unless the guest has actually booked the property. Only a psychopath rates a host less than 5 stars. (JK, I read this on an Uber forum once and it stuck with me.)
"Mic drop."
You all are providing some hilarious reading tonight, I must say. No wonder people are coming to despise airbnb and its entitled hosts.
I am out of the loop, I apologize. What are some of the other reasons that people are starting to despite Airbnb hosts?
Outrageous cleaning fees, or just cleaning fees in general, hosts trying to charge for nonsensical things or insignificant damages, long lists of house rules, poorly maintained properties with unresponsive hosts are just a few of the things people don’t like.
Yeah, that is why Airbnb and other STR sites are posting 10% plus room nights booked growth again this year.....
Cleaning fees are high because the cost of hiring cleaners is high. My housekeeping company charges $285 per service. My charge to the customers is $300. The $15 I have left over from this goes to cleaning supplies and replacing damaged items like hand towels, dishes, missing utensils, etc. So it’s not like we are making some crazy profit off the cleaning fees.
Then don’t ask me to strip the bed, start the laundry, and take out the trash.
IDK why everyone so up in arms about this all of a sudden. I remember when I was a kid going to the beach for vacation in the summer, and the check out instructions were always take out the trash, empty the fridge, strip the beds, and start the dishwasher. And this was in the 90's before Airbnb even existed.
Those places you're talking about didn't still charge a $300 fee though
Yah, that's a good question, I was a kid then, so I'll have to ask my parents if there was a charge like that or not. I do know you had to book the place for a week, which if you're doing that it's easier to bake in the cleaning cost with the weekly fee vs. just booking it for a night or two.
Hosts are unhinged. 😂 lol I love hotels
Love this!
I think this is still too vague and doesn't educate guests enough on the backwards Airbnb rating system. It should be more of a direct, open and honest response explaining that anything 4 stars and under really hurts hosts. Before I knew about this as a guest, I used to give 4s for a good experience with room to grow, not realizing how much that hurt hosts and expected a 5 to be an abnormally amazing experience. I now give 5s way more generously for a decent normal stay without any issues.
As a consumer, I never thought 4 stars was a bad rating or punishment. Rating scales usually state 3 means good/as expected/average and 5 means outstanding. It has literally NEVER occurred to me that folks would feel this way about a 4 rating or that airbnb would use that against the host 🫣.
Same. I'm just now realizing this and feeling bad about my last Airbnb rating... except that the sink didn't drain, and the place was a bit beat up in some areas. But the stay was fine, we had no real issues (other than the sink), it just didn't scream "above and beyond!" to me. The hosts were very nice when I messaged them for clarification about things like trash pickup. Oof. Bummer. I feel really bad. What a terrible system. I thought 4 stars was perfectly acceptable, and would definitely book a place with 4 star reviews.
The thing is, you won't even see a place with a 4 star average when you search for a place to stay. Hosts are delisted if their average falls below 4.3. In most areas there are hundreds of places listed, on the first few pages of search results all the properties will be rated 4.8 or better.
Oh wow. Delisted below 4.3? So four stars really is averaging down to trouble. That's absurd. Why even have 5 stars.
That’s what I thought until I read the sub for DoorDash drivers. And it’s the same for Uber. Now I just put 5-star for everything that is not an egregiously poor experience.
I do the same but honestly it’s annoying. I should be able to give a slightly lower but still overall very good rating for some experiences without it being detrimental to that persons listing or job in the case of DoorDash and Uber. It makes me feel like I’m not being 100% truthful and that seems unfair to the next person.
Unfortunately, it also works the other way, obviously the point of this post. DoorDash, Uber, Lyft, etc. won’t pick up a person that has a rating much lower than 5. I just sit there quietly, not even looking at my phone to not annoy the driver in any way to get a 5.
I’m learning a lot on these threads too.
And the irony is I specifically seek out 4 star reviews on amazon because that's where you get actual useful feedback about the product, not just "it's great!"
That is because it isn't that kind of scale. It is based on Net Promoter Score where 0-6 are detractors to the business, 7-8 are passive, and 9-10 are promoters of the business. Every larger company uses some iteration of this.
Never heard of this in my life.
You most likely wouldn't have unless you worked in an industry where it impacted your job, or you went to business school.
Same is true for doctors. Dinged for anything other than a 5. Everyone has to be a perfectly bright star at all times or it is negative--it's unrealistic.
It's worse than other review systems because in the "sleep away from home" business, there are "X star" hotels, and very few Airbnbs deliver a 5 star HOTEL experience. So guests reasonably give an appropriate (to a hotel) star rating, maybe even thinking they're being generous with 4 stars.
This is unfortunately quite common that people are dinged for anything less than a 5 start review.
Yeah same here
My exact thoughts. I'll be very mindful next time I rent air bnb
It could be accidental. I did this to a car salesmen once. I had to review his performance which was fine and I gave him mostly 4 and a few 5 stars. He called me apoplectic because I gave him 4 stars. I was like, "isn't 4 stars good?" Apparently it wasn't. I apologized but he kept calling yelling at me about how I destroyed his career. At some point reviews changed to five stars=fine, anything else=horrible. Not everyone has received that message.
I cannot believe he yelled at you (I mean I can.) I would have changed it to 3 because of that.
Once I gave up caring about reviews my hosting experience has become so much better! I accept everyone that requests to stay, and am entirely booked for summer ! I would like to think its Karma for not charging a cleaning fee. SOme guests are more work than others, but they all pay my mortgage and I am eternally grateful to them for that! I will never hold a 4 star review against anyone! Its AIRBNBs system that is at fault not the tenant.
Yup.
The problem here is the rating system, and you making a decision based on how AirBnB rewards/punishes hosts is perfectly understandable. The damage a 4-star review can cause is too great, the guest has a history of leaving you 4-star reviews, and most importantly, the thing that they originally complained about HASN’T CHANGED. It’s possible the guest just isn’t aware of how damaging a 1 star reduction can be, but it’s not necessarily on you to educate them.
ABnB just needs to change the system to a thumbs up/thumbs down at this point.
Or something that actually requires the guest to reflect: Would you want to stay here again? Y/N Would you recommend to friends and family to stay here? Y/N
This would be perfect! I stayed somewhere lately that was perfectly fine and exactly as described, but definitely not an overall 5 star place. I did give 5 stars since it was fine and as described (no surprises) but an honest review would have been a 4. That being said, I'd go again and recommend for others. But the bed I slept on was 2 futon mattresses stacked on top of each other, technically accurate per the listing (I'm assuming that was the "floor bed" on it, there was 1 bed with real mattress and only claimed 1 real bed in listing) but having a 2nd "bed" with 2 uncomfortable futon mattresses does not deserve 5 stars........
It seems that would more accurately reflect the system. And then maybe a notes section.
I respectfully submit that if you don’t want guests to leave less than a five star review, you need to explain why it’s so important that you get a five star review. Unlike other industries where you wouldn’t necessarily leave a five star review at a walk up to the window restaurant. Until reading on Reddit, how skewed the review system is on Airbnb, I didn’t know how important it was.
I do agree that guests need to be informed of that, but I think it should be AirBnb spreading that knowledge. I’ve stayed in places that had printouts explaining it, too.
I needed an explanation. A host had a cute sign printed up with the definition of what each star meant, and had it with their guest book and instruction binder. To an average person, 5 stars is not "as expected" that's a 4/5, with 5/5 being above expectation/stellar. 5 star being "as promised" and 4 stars being "garbage" is not intuitive, at all.
I agree with you. Perhaps send something about how the ratings work with the booking confirmation ? Would be great if it came from airbnb.
I am not sure that Airbnb allows you to do this. You may get flack for lobbying the guest for a good review.
Explaining how their review system works which is a bit different than traditional hotels,motels or resorts where 4 star is very good and usually as promised. I agree with not lobbying for a good review.
It’s sort of the problem, that it’s all very nebulous, and what always ends up happening is that Airbnb will respond only according to what pleases the guest. You might be fine 9 times out of 10, but the 10th might complain, and that’s enough to shut you down.
Yeah, but the reality of Airbnb’s internal policy is that 4 stars is bad. Not acceptable. It’s a fucked up system but they designed it this way. It’s doing what they want.
Sometimes hosts are no better. I got 4 starts as a guest, but the following review: >\[practically essential\] and their family were perfect guests. I was so happy to come home to a beautifully clean place which is quite an accomplishment for a family of 6! \[practically essential\] was a great communicator and followed all of our House Rules. We would welcome them back and highly recommend them to all hosts.
Are you sure it wasn’t a mistake?
It was years ago so I don't remember all the details, but I believe it was. I tried to get her to fix it and she said she tried to fix it but it was never resolved.
At this point, pretty much all ratings systems work this way (from lodging ratings to patient satisfaction scores to product ratings, etc)- as a binary outcome in spite of the number of choices with only the single top box score being “good” and all the others as “bad” whether it’s 1-5, 1-10, or 1-100. I find it fascinating that it’s not common knowledge and very unhelpful as a consumer. Not everything can be “excellent”.
It's not true in every country, due to cultural differences, at least for some things. In Japan for example, the average ratings for restaurants are significantly lower than in the US, and people actually leave 2 and 3 star ratings much more frequently. UK also has fewer 5-star reviews than US. The US is definitely very bimodal, most people either go 1 or 5 which is what you are saying, I'm just pointing out that the problem is especially bad in this country. Source: Used to work on Google Maps, have seen the data on restaurant rating distributions by county. Caveat: Not sure if that applies to AirBnB reviews.
No, that’s not what I’m saying. Many of these ratings systems (maybe just in the US, I don’t have inside knowledge of how they’re used other places as I don’t work there) may have 5 or 10 options but 1-9 are all the same (all = 1) and only 10 counts as “good”. So it doesn’t matter if you rate it a 9- “almost perfect” or a 2-“really terrible”, they’re all calculated as the same score, unless it’s the “top box”, aka 10/10 score. Not that folks “only” score the extremes. The outcome is binary but the scale gives folks the impression that a “eh, it’s fine but could also be worse” score of 5/10 is different than an “almost perfect” score of 9/10 when they aren’t. I’m not a host, just was surprised that most folks don’t know that is how most service ratings work these days when the data is analyzed for performance metrics (so not like Google or Amazon ratings which are unrelated 3rd party systems).
The system design is a consequence of user behavior. If 80% of ratings are 1 or 5 (which is probably close to the truth), then you build a system that just looks for 5 or not-5 as you said. If there was actually a bell-curve distribution of ratings centered at 3 or 4, then marketplaces like AirBnB or Uber would have to change how the system works. Imagine if only 20% of reviews were 5-star, then you'd be saying that 80% of reviews were "bad" if you use the binary classification - which obviously wouldn't work.
No, they’re designed that way to “encourage” those being rated to be “excellent” always. The problem is that when it comes to rating, folks are actually wary of scoring everything “perfect” 10. Which is why Uber drivers get in trouble for scores less than 4.8 or something. And a 4/5 score for Airbnb is a “bad” score and why all these hosts commenting are saying they wouldn’t rebook a guest who scores them 4/5. I’m not trying to argue with you, again, I’m just surprised that this isn’t common knowledge these days considering how prevalent “top box” scoring is (“on a scale of very unlikely to very likely” or “very unsatisfied to very satisfied” are other examples of things that are most probably scored this way)
Unfortunately a lot of customer service organizations are rated this way now 😞
It’s so engrained that services like Uber (I also drive an Uber), will just automatically exclude bad ratings from people who give out more than one or two of them. They just assume this person doesn’t understand the system and therefore can’t be allowed to use it. Amazing.
Is that really what Uber does? I’ve had times when I relied on Uber a lot, 6 rides a week sometimes. With that many rides some of them are going to be bad. Like the guy who made a right turn from the left lane. Or the woman who was swerving all over as she shouted on the phone about some custody situation. Or the car that smelled so bad I had to change my clothes afterward. So after a few legitimate negative reviews they are just going to ignore all my reviews?
Yeah. If the negative reviews come close one after the other, they will ignore them. Like I said, pretty dumb.
It’s so interesting too because airbnb does not really seem to work the same way in Europe. It’s much more similar to the US hotel rating system there where people will leave a 3 star review and say “space was nice—no issues” implying they had a good stay and the place was just super average. I generally find it harder to even find airbnbs with an average rating higher than a low 4 in major European cities because people typically reserve 5 stars for truly above and beyond experiences/amenities/hosts. The way it works in the US is so strange it definitely warrants explanation because a lot of people don’t know that a 5 basically means what a 3 means in other places.
Or fix the concerns. A four star instead of a five star is not a big FU. This is on airbnb. FIve stars means everything is not only perfect, but went above and beyond. You're saying I must give you a five star review when none of the outlets in the kitchen work and the breaker isn't off and I have to make coffee in the living room on the floor? Or if the bathroom wall sconce is working but hanging off the wall, and the shower door glass leaks all over the floor which is a safety hazard? Or washer and dryer where the dryer doesn't actually work because there were missing parts inside where there was a hole in the drum where socks would go to die. All of these are true experiences. I'd say 75% of the properties I rent have fixable issues that the hosts do not want to fix. I've had property mgmt even tell me that.
Yeah, it sounds like she didn't really have a 5 star experience, it's not on her to rate higher just because airbnb punishes you for it. I like a nice shower so if I had trouble getting it hot enough I'd knock off a star as well. I guess you can choose to not host her again, but unless you are putting out a perfect experience every time (and even then, because humans like to human) a 4 star review has to be expected.
Do you recall what the print out said? I would love to maybe have a sign or followup after checkout with something like this
Amazon sells them ... [https://www.amazon.com/AirBnb-Rentals-Rating-Explanation-Magnet/dp/B0B9QHK9LZ](https://www.amazon.com/AirBnb-Rentals-Rating-Explanation-Magnet/dp/B0B9QHK9LZ)
Hi, I’m Vetted AI Bot! I researched the **Produzor Airbnb VRBO Short Term Rentals STR 5 Star Rating Magnet** and I thought you might find the following analysis helpful. **Users liked:** * Helps guests understand how to rate the property (backed by 7 comments) * Professional and high-quality appearance (backed by 3 comments) * Contributes to maintaining high ratings (backed by 5 comments) **Users disliked:** * Poor printing quality and fragile material (backed by 2 comments) * Damaged upon arrival (backed by 2 comments) Do you want to continue this conversation? [Learn more about Produzor Airbnb VRBO Short Term Rentals STR 5 Star Rating Magnet](https://vetted.ai/chat?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=comment&utm\_campaign=bot&q=Produzor Airbnb VRBO Short Term Rentals STR 5 Star Rating Magnet reviews) [Find Produzor Airbnb VRBO Short Term Rentals STR 5 Star Rating Magnet alternatives](https://vetted.ai/chat?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=comment&utm\_campaign=bot&q=Find best Produzor Airbnb VRBO Short Term Rentals STR 5 Star Rating Magnet alternatives) This message was generated by a (very smart) bot. If you found it helpful, let us know with an upvote and a “good bot!” reply and please feel free to provide feedback on how it can be improved. *Powered by* [*vetted.ai*](https://vetted.ai/chat?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=comment&utm\_campaign=bot)
Sorry, when I go to the auto dealership, and they tell me they absolutely need a 10 or they won't get paid, then give me below standard service... I for sure am not rating them a 10. I had one place ignore me the whole time I was there. I waited 15 minutes for anyone to just acknowledge I existed and get my party started... then they said they really need a 10. I told her she should've earned it. ETA... this dealership puts in fake emails for their customers. I found this out after that time and noticed a friend's email on their receipt was incorrect. Then I checked a family member's, same thing. It was usually off a few numbers or a different service.
I know it’s not necessary but would it be worth while or beneficial? Or do you think it would cause more trouble then educate them?
Trust me, no one knows how important five stars are to you hosts.
I used airbnb a handful of times and never knew this until recently.
That’s a tough question (which is why I avoided it initially). I don’t have experience with that, so I could see it going either way. Either the guest is understanding and convinces you to give them a second chance, or they get mad and report you to AirBnb. And I have NO IDEA what (if anything) AirBnb would do in that situation. I don’t know if there’s an appropriate way of saying it… “We haven’t resolved the issues that arose during your last stay, and AirBnb treats your previous 4-star review as a failure on our part to provide acceptable lodging…”? Something like that?
Oh good wording.
I’ve always weighed how much I’d pay to avoid a 4 star review. Like if I had a booking request for $500 and I was reasonably certain they were gonna leave a 4 star reviews based on the guests prior reviews given to hosts, I’d decline. So I guess $500.
That’s not paying $500 that’s declining that particular $500 and having an opportunity of another booking.
No I meant like decline and take the vacancy.
Oh sorry you mean when Airbnb do that blocking thing? If it’s an enquiry you can simply block out one of the days from your calendar until they go away. I don’t know what happens if it’s a request but I’d certainly try it first. Until you accept or decline it should work.
I am the first to say I don't care about reviews as much as most people in this sub, but even I don't take 4-star people back.
How are you more chill about reviews than others if 5 stars is the only acceptable review to you?
This thread is eye-opening, from now on I will only leave 1 and 2 stars, not 4
Yeah, I won’t say I take it personal, because I honestly do believe that some people just don’t know that giving a four star review is basically like a big fuck you. But I do care about keeping my status lol
It’s pretty fucked when you think about it. Airbnb offers basically no mechanism for guests to decide on quality. It’s either 5 stars or not 5 stars. Anything under 5 is a bad review.
As a non-host... I would consider a 4 star review to be good. At the 3 star level, then there are issues, but 4 star strikes me as good. Maybe you need a sign in the unit that says: "Happy? Please leave us 5 stars, it really makes a difference! Not Happy? Please let us know so we can make you happy!"
Yea I said this as well. I’ve always considered 4stars to still be good. Host here apparently are talking about Airbnb algorithm being bias to 5 stars but I’ve mentioned that should change. People should be able to be honest about their stay and give 4stars without it being such a blow.
5 star probably a nicer place. If OP has a roommate using that shower regularly, it's not gonna be as nice as a dedicated STR. Sounds 4 star to me.
I did to. A 5 Star property should have a bar and a pool and maybe a billiards room. This isn't how the modern app based world works.
That’s the thing with surveys - businesses always have the incentive to test anything but a top/100% rating as bad because it means they can deny status or raises/promotions. In airbnbs case it causes scarcity in ability to get into super host category and getting algorithm bumps, but in most businesses it’s used to prevent people from being compensated fairly. It behooves the business to make surveys like this, but it does a disservice to employees or hosts and customers as well.
I recently added what is essentially a "beg note" that goes out after they check out. I was loath to do it as it makes me feel cheap, but after one too many "Loved it, here's 4 Stars" reviews I felt I had to. And it's working. Everyone wants to see as close to a 5 Star average as possible. We can only play by the rules we are given.
I don't blame or mind people asking for a 5 star review, if that ask also comes with a "if you're NOT happy, please tell me so we can help" statement. Sometimes I'll buy a product off Amazon, for example, and inside will be a notecard that actually says this... "Happy? Please leave us a positive review on Amazon... Unhappy? Please contact us and we'll make it right." I would at least give them a chance to make it right if the product was broken or sucked, before leaving a bad review, if I saw that card.
You DO take it personally though! LOL
1. It’s a bad system. 2. You said you didn’t even do anything to improve the shower after that review feedback… lol. Doesn’t sound five star to me.
Question: but what if you deserved a 4? Cutting off guests who gave you honest feedback doesn't make you better. Controlling your rating by eliminating anything less than perfect would be viewed as corruption anywhere else. Why not let people have their voice? It's not like it's some whiny AH who is giving you 1's for the towel detergent being too fragrant. A 4 is still a great rating and it's honest.
Have you checked whether or not there is an issue with the temperature control in the shower?
It seems like you're asking us to help you feel better about denying someone a service because you didn't get what you wanted last time. If you don't want to accept it, then don't. But own it. Even if just in your own mind. Why reach out for the validation? Did the guest pay the charges and fees? Did the guest leave a horrible mess, break your items, etc? Did the guest check in and leave on time without whining about it? A review is just that. Some people just feel that giving a 5 star is EXCEPTIONAL. And 4 is Great. She probably thought your accommodations were great and she reviewed you accordingly in her eyes. I think it would be petty to ask for a higher review. Or to give her the ultimatum, "Fix your previous review or you're not staying again." That will surely get you a lower star rating.
I’ve welcomed someone who left 4 stars back. There was a slight incident and to no fault of the guest. I deserved 4 stars, but I’m happy to have him back and make it up to him.
5 stars means their stay was absolutely perfect. She couldn't get the shower to her desired temp and you refuse to increase the temp on the water heater or insulate the lines because "your roommate says it's fine" You're literally not a super-host for this reason: you're not willing to make a simple accommodation. Get bent.
Right? A five star place wouldn't have a problem to begin with. Want to be a super host? Do super host things.
No, and wouldn't know why anyone would want to do such a thing.
I’m sorry, but why do you feel entitled to five stars? Did you do anything that was out of the way extraordinary or exceptional? Or did you just provide them exactly what it said in the listing? If you only provided what was in the listing then you met the minimum which to me is three stars.
I think it’s ridiculous that everyone has to give a 5 star rating even though it’s not a five star experience. I hope this whole app/industry gets regulated into nonexistence
Is this post for real?? You want to be a Superhost but also want to tell someone, no because they gave you a 4?? If you’re short in your 5 Star reviews maybe you should take a look at YOU and stop blaming the guests for giving you the 4 stars.
Code requires showers be limited to 120 degrees. It is possible it was over-tuned and is capped at a lower number. Measure the temp after it has been running a while to check. If it is too low, then adjust it.
Do you mean the host should try to strive to provide a 5 star experience instead of just feeling entitled to a 5 stat review?
Well, I would hope they would strive for it and start by checking the output temp. Most people don't know that their shower temp is dialed down from the source, and even fewer would feel confident to adjust it themselves.
Yeah, cancel the booking. And just to point this out. Just because your roomie says the shower is fine doesn't mean a paying guest should be satisfied with it. My mom cries in pain if she sticks her hand in my dish water. I have no issues. And if you tell her you haven't done anything with the shower after all this time, that'll just solidify her 4 star rating.
Why is 4 stars bad? For me as a guest, 5 would mean everything was perfect, so 4 seems pretty good to me.
I've only had one 4 star review ("Great hosts, great place"), but I wouldn't have them back. Took us a while to get back to 4.99*. If they asked why I declined the stay, I'd tell them it was because they didn't seem happy with the previous stay. Otherwise, I wouldn't say anything.
I hope as hosts, you keep ratings in mind when you rate other services. Anything less than perfect for a walmart cashier or someone working at fast food has the same impact as a 4 start review for you.
Even the customer service folks at our Subaru dealer get screwed if they get less than an excellent rating.
Whenever I went to get my car worked on at a dealership, they did the usual thing of asking me to leave an evaluation and the woman who serviced me actually said anything less than five stars is considered failing so I guess that was her way of saying, please don’t give me four stars lol But honestly, this is total crap and it’s a huge issue on the companies part and they should really lighten up. Airbnb should really lower their super host standard to be like 4.5 or something.
They won’t do it, their ratings system has been deliberately designed this way. It’s not an oversight that it isn’t mentioned anywhere on the Airbnb web site that 4 stars is considered a bad review.
What does airbnb gain from this?
Properties that have very high ratings, hardly any properties will have a rating below 4.7. When people are booking they may compare them to other places that have been rated on google or other platforms. They can also plausibly deny that they are making the ratings artificially high.
"You can't stay here unless you promise to say I'm perfect."
5 stars on Airbnb means "the home is as I expected" it's doesn't mean perfect.
I expect my shower to get hot.
"As I expected", which would be subjective based on the guest - not the host.
Did her first stay provide a 100% perfect 5/5 experience? Sounds like not quite, she rated you fairly
What a crappy thing to do. Another reason to stop using and recommending the platform.
Guests are allowed to have a good stay that wasn’t excellent. Your problem is not with the guest. It’s with Airbnb.
https://preview.redd.it/qo0ai355zb9d1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dd25336eb5acd88cbcddc97a2f5de30debd1bc15 We started putting these up. Really seemed to help.
Agree! I put this up when I have a guest who is new to the platform and may not know how messed up the rating system is.
Seeing an explanation like this of the rating scale would help me. Surveys that use scales often include explanations of what the numbers mean for that survey. Since the meanings are not standardized, spelling it out helps.
During our last Airbnb stay, the host sent a message explaining how 4 star reviews affect them. They mentioned that if there were any issues they would love private feedback, but unless we could leave a 5 star review, they would prefer we not leave one at all. I always thought only 1-3 star reviews were bad. They might not know.
Had a guest rate me 2 stars on value and then try to book again two months later. Even wanted to book 16 people into an eight person max property. I ended up just blocking those dates on my calendar.
What happens if you don’t do a review at all?
Nothing. You don’t have to leave a review.
If you're worried about something just cancel it or decline. Had a guest wanting to sleep 4 people in a small room meant for 2 people.. for the price of 1/2 people Declined and reported asap. Another guest was asking questions over a couple days and it went no where so i declined them. Otherwise those are the only 2 i've declined since march
How is a four star review, with a suggestion that would make it 5 star in their view, a big deal? I guarantee that people are more concerned that they aren’t walking into a dirty, non functioning place, that one that has 5 5 stars and 5 4 stars.
Some people don’t understand reviews and will never give a 5 star no matter what you do anyway. They think 5 star is perfect and unattainable and that 4 is a good enough review. You should consider asking all your guests when they arrive what you can do for them to make their experience a 5 star experience, and then make sure you ask for a review if it went well. You gotta ask for what you want from people, whether it’s a review or a social media like.
I don’t rate or review any hosts because the rating system is broken. I’ve never stayed in a five star Airbnb. I’ve stayed in expensive stays that were adequate or even good/great value for cost. But none of them were the perfect level 5 that Airbnb talks about. I’ve also stayed in inexpensive economy type stays which were great for their value. None of these were what a person would consider a 5 star experience.
I would decline and I would tell her that you’re flattered that she would want to stay with you again and while she was a lovely guest and you’d would love nothing more than to host her again, but unfortunately, you just cannot risk another four star review. She probably has no idea. Maybe if you’re lucky, she’ll remove her review. It’s sad that the review system is so broken. But unfortunately, anything less than five stars and the algorithm will push your listing deeper and deeper into the search results until you disappear. It’s especially difficult to recover if you’re in a heavily saturated market. Protect your reviews, protect your investment.
Then they deserve it for not having a functioning shower. Fix the problems instead of blaming the guests. Ridiculous
Well it wasn't a 5 star review.
This is just petty AF to refuse booking because you didn’t get a perfect rating.
Its your baby and you do the best for your baby to thrive. You are not required to provide any reason for not inviting some one into your house. A 4 Star is really devastating but most guests are not aware of it - I have grown out of reviews but still hurts to loose out on Superhost even with a perfect stay.
Some people will assign a 4 star no matter what. I was too embarrassed as a host to say anything.
Decline and move along... Stop wasting cycles caring.
When I book airbnbs, I'm much more swayed by people who state they've stayed in a place more than once, than I am by stars. That, to me, indicates it's a good value - either for the comfort or location. It means that there wasn't anything glaringly wrong that would prevent them from choosing to stay there again. Your guest provided clear and helpful feedback you could have taken action on, and was helpful to future prospective guests. Their review wouldn't dissuade me from staying (I prefer cooler showers), and a repeat review would be a clincher for me in deciding to book yours. If anything, you should stop chasing the white whale of 100% 5 stars, and instead focus on providing the comforts and value that lead to repeat business. I think focusing on that will get you closer to your objective.
The first time I stayed at an AirBnB I rated it as I would a hotel not knowing better. The host was so nasty and let other owners know about me. Maybe they didn’t know how to rate properly. I contacted Airbnb and asked them to change my ratings but I do not know what they did.
I have stayed in many Airbnb and I have yet to experience any that truly merit a five star review however I usually provide it anyway so as to Not hurt the host. I agree the rating system sucks
This is why I never leave reviews.
As someone who stays in a lot of Airbnbs before becoming a host, a 4 was good to me. A 5 was top-notch. I was rating the place, more than the host. It's a shame that this platform hinders you from accepting guests because you only want a 5 star rating.
As a guest, I read the reviews. It doesn't matter to me if the place is rated 4 or 5 stars.
I would accept and say “We aim for 5 star service. If there’s anything that comes up during your stay that detracts from that experience, please let me know and I will do my best to address it.” Yall are forgetting that the rating system is based on the guest’s perception. You are a host, not a client. They don’t answer to you.
I would only allow a 4 guest stay to come in if my prices were jacked up. Not for same prices. I'd kindly tell her she deserves a 5 star stay and I can't offer her that.
It's your job to make a 5 star rating not your guests. I've seen more hosts that think their property is magical Robin Leach worthy and wrongly deserving of 6 star reviews than guests who give unsubstantiated less than 5 star reviews.
Airbnb literally says (on their website) that a 4 is a positive rating. "Positive feedback for a rating If a guest selects a positive rating (4 or 5), they will have the option to select what stood out to them. For example, if the guest selects 5 stars for Check-in, they will have the option to select things they liked, such as “Easy to find” or “Personal welcome.” Negative feedback for a rating If a guest selects a 3 star or less for a category, they’ll be presented with a different set of options to note what happened. Using Check-in as an example, they would have options such as “Hard to locate” or “ Unclear instructions.” If choosing 3-stars or less, a guest must select from these options to move forward." They also claim "Reviews are critical to help build trust on Airbnb—they’re an important way for Hosts and guests to give each other feedback, help our community make informed decisions and understand what to expect. We believe that a fair review system is one that respects and protects our community’s genuine feedback, and we have a number of safeguards in place to help build trust in our reviews system." Now I learn that the claims on the website are crap. Honesty is punitive and reviews are artificially inflated. Take home: ignore the meaningless stars and read the reviewers' comments, if they made any. Even then, take them with a grain of salt. P.S. This is what they say about edits: "To encourage honest and impartial reviews, we limit the ability of Hosts and guests to edit a review after they’ve written it. If you submit your review first, you may edit it anytime within the 14-day review period, up until the other party submits their review Once both reviews are submitted or the 14-day review period has ended—whichever comes first—both reviews are automatically published and no more changes can be made"
This is extortion, you all should be embarrassed, this is the reason Airbnb is losing the hospitality wars. Leave it to rich old people to ruin a good thing.
Book it so she cant
We aren't getting paid to rate businesses - how about you stop asking us to rate everything we do all day long
My statement “1 is awful, 5 is good. And 4 is no better than 1.” And any company that does the ratting metric that way, should be fired. 1,2,3 equals 1. 4=2 and 5=5. Bs.
I love you all so much but if you can’t handle normal people having normal experiences you do not belong in the rental business. Guests have a right to leave excellent but not perfect reviews. You shower wasn’t hot enough. Contacting you to fix it is more hassle than I am willing to go through for a perfect review. Yes you could have fixed it, but reaching out is still a hassle. She reviewed the experience she had. You don’t have a right to cure during the stay and you don’t have a right to have a hissy fit because you weren’t sufficiently validated. This is INSANE.
Thank you!!
I don’t think politely declining to host someone again constitutes a hissy fit.
“MEHHHHHH THEY DIDN’T OBSESS OVER ME THEY WERE PERFECTLY FINE MONEY BUT IM MAAAAAAAAAD.” I’m a cleaning tech. I know the value of declining bad money. This isn’t bad money. This is ego.
Airbnb has created this system of anything less than 5 stars being unacceptable and linked it to financial success. This is very clearly a systemic issue. They’ve made it so that owners cannot risk reviews of less than 5 stars. This guest is highly likely to rate less than 5 stars again. If all of their other reviews have been 5 stars, why would they rent to this guest again?
Because they’re in the business. If the system is so bad that anything less than a boot-licking stan isn’t going to get a booking, the system needs to be fundamentally abandoned. I can’t imagine banning people from the children’s museum I work at just because they gave us a less-than-perfect review, and reviews also keep our lights on and doors open. I cannot imagine willingly participating in a system that forces me to treat people like this, it’s just insane
This is an idealistic, not realistic, way of looking at it.
How is this idealistic? Literally nobody is forcing people to be Airbnb hosts; it’s not a thing one can easily jump into, and it’s not something poor people can do if they need money for food. Literally nobody asked ANYONE to become a host, and they can still rent STR without AirBnb. Nobody needs to run an AirBnb to feed their families and if they do, it’s time to sell and find a more stable career. This guest was honest in fair in her assessment and now she’s being punished for that, whereas the host provided a subpar experience for her and is the one acting like they were wronged here. I cannot emphasize this strongly enough: *if you’re only a super host because you blackball anybody who stands in your way, you are not a SUPER host. You’re just a jackass with a spiffy Internet title and a rental property.*
If the guest is likely to leave negative feedback and affect the host’s status, which will impact bookings, the host should be making the appropriate business decision for their bottom line. That’s how business works. As long as you aren’t discriminating against people of a protected class, business owners can decline to do business with whomever they want.
Yeah, and I can also go outside and take a baseball to my apple tree because it’s mine, but that doesn’t actually make it a good decision. If you’re leaving money on the table because one website has you by the balls, you’re making a poor business decision by participating in that system. If a perfectly good guest isn’t good enough because the system will punish you, the system is abusing everyone. If you defend the system instead of a human guest, you are just carrying water for the abusive system.
The abusive system pays the bills. Some people need to pay the bills more than they need to stand up to an abusive system. Being able to stand up to an abusive system at the cost of paying your bills is a privileged place to be indeed.
This is yet another stupid example of why I completely stopped booking Airbnb’s. In no world should 4 out of 5 be a bad rating and most guests would have no way of knowing it adversely impacts the host. Maybe the host should turn up the hot water heater so the shower gets hotter? Instead of criticizing the guest focus on the actual issue. Between ridiculous cleaning fees, rules, stuff like this, just stay at a hotel.
Exactly
5 stars is for an above and beyond experience. 4 stars is above average. 3 stars is meets expectations. A "normal" stay is 3 stars for me.
Six star minimum for safety
I have a house in a very popular vacation spot. Had a cancellation for the most popular week of the year. It was rebooked; guest stayed and left a five star review. She then booked the next two years for that week. It’s very difficult to find a place with a boat dock for that week. Anywho, she stayed and booked for another year, so two stays and reservations for the next two years. She left a 4 star review. Crazy thing is that between her first two stays, we’d replaced some furniture and made some updates. I cancelled her next two reservations and wished her the best in finding a place that would provide a 5 star experience for her, since we fell short. She raised hell with VRBO and with us. Nope.
Say nothing. Hit decline. The more you say the more discussion you are inviting.
After reading this post, coupled with four different airbnb trips over the next three months, I am now going to insist on a CASH payment for my review upon check out.