How Airbnb Can Fix Its Rating System
BY MIKEL HUBBARD
FORMER HGTV PRODUCER | CO-FOUNDER, THE HOST CO |
OWNER, TIMES EIGHT PROPERTY & DESIGN
As a host, you know that the Airbnb ratings system isn’t… the best it could be. It works on a basic level, and for the most part helps guests and hosts judge properties fairly, but inherently ratings system will always be flawed. Why?
Because when everyone gets the job of giving a rating without set standards, it will always be a crapshoot.
So how could Airbnb improve the ratings system? We have a few ideas.
Uh, there was a dead fly on the table. Two stars.GIVE GUIDELINES
Rating a home’s cleanliness from 1-5 is pretty subjective. What constitutes a 5? What constitutes a 1? If the guest is grossed out because they find a hair on their pillow even though the rest of the house is clean, is it fair to leave a 1 rating because to the guest that’s the grossest thing ever?
Airbnb should give guidelines, like “mainly excellent”, “great, but flawed”, “not great but not terrible”, “On the dirty side”, “The house was unacceptable and all around filthy” OR encourage guests to submit complaints directly to Airbnb with the suggested rating and let Airbnb decide.
For some people, giving the property 3 stars when they had an alright time makes sense. Sure, they only paid $79/night, but to them, the Peninsula Hotel is a 5 star experience, not your guest house.
Guests should be reminded that for what they booked, did it live up to the expectations of the photos and what was provided, not the guest’s personal feelings of their time spent in the home.
The Penthouse at the Ritz-Carlton isn’t a value. Does it deserve 1 star?GET RID OF VALUE
The “VALUE” category for rating properties doesn’t work because not every home is meant to be a value. If you’re renting a room at the Four Seasons Hotel, of course it’s not a value. That’s not why you chose to stay there. Or if you’re booking over a holiday weekend, of course it’s going to be more expensive than it should.
Don’t punish hosts for following market conditions or providing a luxurious experience and then charging guests the appropriate amount for that.
I know I booked an oceanfront property, but the waves were so loud!GET RID OF “LOCATION”
It’s also unfair to judge hosts on the location. It implies that if a guest books in a neighborhood far from where THEY want to be that the house is in a bad location, even if the yard is gorgeous, there’s great views and the neighborhood is quiet… which is what other people consider a good location.
People choose different locations for different reasons, so it’s much more fair to judge the accuracy of the location and how it’s sold than just what the guest thinks of the neighborhood - something the host has no control over and is far too subjective to put a rating on.
You’re not special. The grungy campsite got 5 stars too.EVERYONE GETS A “5” SO WHO REALLY CARES?
When you scroll through properties, you’ll notice that almost everyone gets somewhere between 4-5 and so now you’re judging on whether they get a 4.75 or 4.95? That’s because the properties are being judged on the guests' expectations of what they booked and most properties live up to that, so it doesn’t matter if your five bedroom mansion is more beautiful than the camper van that’s only $35/night. If guests who wanted that got what they wanted, everyone gets 5 stars.
At this point, it’s almost unimportant to show them up front until after someone clicks on the listing. It would be more helpful for guests to see the highest and lowest ratings to know what people loved about your home and the people who were unhappy, why they were unhappy.
That’s how we judge products, so let people judge Airbnbs that way too.
Sure, there was a mouse problem… FIVE YEARS AGO.PHASE OUT BAD REVIEWS
I think every host is ashamed to get a bad review but it’s understandable if it’s honest and true and hosts are welcome to comment back underneath. However, once a host has corrected a problem, bad reviews shouldn’t stalk them for life. It seems that after 1-2 years, the bad ratings can stick but the reviews should fade away.
A guest may have been upset about a house left dirty by a bad cleaner. But after the host had a chance to hire a new cleaning person and hasn’t had that same complaint in a year or two, there’s no reason for the property to be judged on those concerns any longer.
Got a beef with the Airbnb rating system or a suggestion on how to improve it? Vent baby, vent. Right here in the comments.