Millionaires Are Made
Airbnb's Broken Review System
Ah, the very interesting and very broken process of reviewing with Airbnb. Reviews are very nearly the lifeblood of being a host, and one of the most necessary things to success. Yet, guests have learned this and abuse it as much as they can. Extortion runs rampant, and airbnb does not care, as they almost always side with the guest. I operate roughly 50 listings across the USA.
We have our own software to manage our listings, and automated messaging and reviews is part of it. 1 hour before checkout, they receive a message telling them we will leave a review and asking them to leave one for us. Sometimes, they decide to lodge complaints at this time, 1 hour before checkout with no possibility of correcting issues. Then they demand some sort of refund. A common one is not enough towels or silverware. We carry extras (some people never wash any dishes or use a new towel after each shower) in a closet in the homes that guests can access. Still, they leave a bad review when we don't give them 50% refund for not enough spoons. It's insane.
Then, you go to airbnb and tell them they extorted you with the review, which is blatantly against airbnb policy. They ignore you. They tell you it isn't their problem. They use the many excuses airbnb has to continue their track record of absolutely horrible customer service. Some hosts just expect it now and consider it "cost of doing business"
Now, if a guest has been an issue from the start, we cancel the automatic message and review. We have been doing this for over a decade and can see when a guest just wants to take advantage of airbnbs ultra guest leaning policies. They ask, and ask, and ask for everything. We have had guests ask us to ask neighbors not to use their driveway after 8pm, airbnb allowed them to cancel their stay. We have had guests that walk in and find a hair on the porch and get a full refund. It gets crazy, but those guests you don't want anyway. Shoot, we have even had guests break in a window before checkin time because "they really needed to set their stuff down". Then they complained to airbnb of broken glass and no A/C. This is exactly why all properties have cameras.
We find that asking guests an hour or two before checkout is best. We have our messages automated. We also follow up the day after checkout, 1 week later, and 13 days later (right before the period ends). We leave our review as soon as we can when the guest checks out in order to hopefully get them to leave one as well.
The most difficult part of reviews is the requirement. We spend so much time trying to get people to review us, it takes away from energy to use being a good host. But, airbnb makes it a requirement. Bad reviews can make us lose our superhost status. It can make your listings get deactivated. So, it forces us to bend over backwards for all guests, and to adhere to some of the most ridiculous requests.
One of the craziest things is that we get penalized for guests simply not reading the listing. Our number 1 issue is with guests that book a private room in a home, arrive and then start screaming they don't have the whole 4 bedroom house. They literally have to choose what type of listing to see, and they clicked private room instead of entire home. Then they arrive and scream and yell because somehow they thought $50 a night was what a whole home would cost in Denver, and didn't want to double check their reservation. These are 90% of our negative reviews, and airbnb refuses to remove them.
There is literally nothing we can do about it. It's a very broken system.
We have our own software to manage our listings, and automated messaging and reviews is part of it. 1 hour before checkout, they receive a message telling them we will leave a review and asking them to leave one for us. Sometimes, they decide to lodge complaints at this time, 1 hour before checkout with no possibility of correcting issues. Then they demand some sort of refund. A common one is not enough towels or silverware. We carry extras (some people never wash any dishes or use a new towel after each shower) in a closet in the homes that guests can access. Still, they leave a bad review when we don't give them 50% refund for not enough spoons. It's insane.
Then, you go to airbnb and tell them they extorted you with the review, which is blatantly against airbnb policy. They ignore you. They tell you it isn't their problem. They use the many excuses airbnb has to continue their track record of absolutely horrible customer service. Some hosts just expect it now and consider it "cost of doing business"
Now, if a guest has been an issue from the start, we cancel the automatic message and review. We have been doing this for over a decade and can see when a guest just wants to take advantage of airbnbs ultra guest leaning policies. They ask, and ask, and ask for everything. We have had guests ask us to ask neighbors not to use their driveway after 8pm, airbnb allowed them to cancel their stay. We have had guests that walk in and find a hair on the porch and get a full refund. It gets crazy, but those guests you don't want anyway. Shoot, we have even had guests break in a window before checkin time because "they really needed to set their stuff down". Then they complained to airbnb of broken glass and no A/C. This is exactly why all properties have cameras.
We find that asking guests an hour or two before checkout is best. We have our messages automated. We also follow up the day after checkout, 1 week later, and 13 days later (right before the period ends). We leave our review as soon as we can when the guest checks out in order to hopefully get them to leave one as well.
The most difficult part of reviews is the requirement. We spend so much time trying to get people to review us, it takes away from energy to use being a good host. But, airbnb makes it a requirement. Bad reviews can make us lose our superhost status. It can make your listings get deactivated. So, it forces us to bend over backwards for all guests, and to adhere to some of the most ridiculous requests.
One of the craziest things is that we get penalized for guests simply not reading the listing. Our number 1 issue is with guests that book a private room in a home, arrive and then start screaming they don't have the whole 4 bedroom house. They literally have to choose what type of listing to see, and they clicked private room instead of entire home. Then they arrive and scream and yell because somehow they thought $50 a night was what a whole home would cost in Denver, and didn't want to double check their reservation. These are 90% of our negative reviews, and airbnb refuses to remove them.
There is literally nothing we can do about it. It's a very broken system.
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