Detailed Ratings

[Kaye4]

Ratings are by default subjective.

Despite our efforts to know why guests give a certain set of ratings (other than 5), REQUIRING guests to say WHY a place they rated is as such is a better approach. That way, all hosts can improve and focus on those specific feedback. Host will not be left "guessing" behind the ratings.

A review can be "stellar" and yet the ratings given can be 4, or even 3.

Associating guest private feedback for each rating (accuracy, cleanliness, arrival, communication, etc.) would be better.

[Anastasia5]

Yes, sometimes review great but rating is bad, just because you not get message from guest thru airbnb fast enough... what you can't change anyway, because its how fast site works...

[Barbora2]

Agreed. So far my ratings have been excellent yet I only have 4,5 stars for communication and accuracy. If I communicate well in advance with a guest, requesting their arrival time and they ignore my messages and arrive at the crack of dawn, it's unfair that my rating should be affected. Likewise, if a guest mentions in her review that an extra blanket would have been great due to the cold snap, yet I sent a message to remind her about the extra blankets and electric blanket in the cupboard..... It seems unfair that ones rating is affected by guests who cannot communicate or who have selective hearing.

[Christine218]

I've had people give a lower rating on Accuracy because the place was NICER than they thought!!

[Sandra126]

If you REQUIRE too much from guests they are quite likely just to click their way out of leaving a review at all. If it isn't simple, it is like filling in your tax form.

Simple - fast - fun.

[Roberto50]

Sometime guests interpret "Overall Experience" as the experience they had all together at - in my case - the tourist destination. That includes aspects that are behind the host's power like sightseeing, transportation, dining out... It should be written "Overall Experience with the host" or even better it should be calculated automatically from the ratings of  other aspects of the review. 

[Andrea218]

HAHAHA - Christine - same just happened to us!  We just had two women rate our accuracy low, and their personal comment was that our place was so much better in every way than expected!  ha!

[Frank-and-Lisa0]

We would agree with all the above comments and we too are fine with the current star system - one area that could be improved would be for airbnb to ask why a lower rating was given.

We get five star reviews 92% of the time (what's causing 8% to give us four?) a great example of 'mood' being a factor is our most recent four star rating: the guest gave us five stars in all six categories.

5 Stars for: Cleanliness, Accuracy, Value, Communication, Arrival, and even Location. He gave us 4 stars for over all experience!!

It would be appropriate for airbnb to ask prior to feedback completions:

"We see you have five stars for every category (or even five of six categories) can you tell us why it was a four star experience?" This might help people re-evaluate why they are 'dinging' a host who's usually worked hard to make sure their stay is comfortable.