Airbnb Rating System Deceives Guests and Hosts

We’ve been hosting on Airbnb for six years. However, we easily went from being Superhosts to “your account might be suspended.” Why, you ask? A couple of malicious reviews and Airbnb’s rating system, which is not averaged. Because we had so many guests, we were unable to keep track of individual reviews and when we got five-star ratings for six out of seven of the features we assumed that we still scored a 4.8-4.9. That is not the case; we got proof recently when we received a review for a new listing. Our guest rated us four out of five stars for the Overall Rating, however he also rated us five stars for everything else (locality, cleanliness, communication, etc). Our listing showed a four-star rating when he was finished. Since we didn’t have any other reviews we were able to finally see why our overall rating on our listings dropped below 4.4 stars while all along we were receiving at least four- or five-star ratings out of the six. We called Airbnb and our guest. Airbnb quickly changed the rating from four to five stars. However, our guest said he never leaves a five-star overall rating, as that would be the equivalent of a room at the Hilton. We seriously don’t blame him. The star rating system for food and accommodations has been around forever, so much so that is almost a subliminal message. He genuinely thought that if six out of seven ratings were five stars, the overall 4.8 would be more than adequate for a $50/night room. That was not the case as apparently Airbnb is using the Yelp system without advising their users about it. This is not even a fair Yelp rating system. At the end of the day, they’ll give you a four-star overall rating even though we scored six out of seven five-star reviews and only a four star…

Problems with Airbnb’s website – Glitches and lying rep

Has anyone experienced glitches on the Airbnb website? First of all, I have had at least 2 guests tell me they gave me all 5 star ratings. However, Airbnb’s system did not register the rating as all 5 stars. One ABB rep told me he was going to contact the guests to see what they intended to give me, and he would change it. However, then he told me yes the guest intended to give you 5 stars, but he did not so we can’t change it, which I knew was a lie because they have changed ratings that were wrong because of glitches in the past. I myself have had trouble getting the the curser to hit the right star and even went to the library to make sure the person got what they deserved which was all 5s. I do not know if everyone else will go to that trouble or notice that it is not falling on the correct star…. After he changed what he had told me to no we cannot change it I said can you at least tell me what the guest said and he said no, because of privacy reasons. So, I contacted the guest and it turns out the ABB rep never contacted him, and now I presume the other guests as well. After the ABB rep told me he would contact the guy and change the rating to what he intended, I told the guy that this ABB rep would contact him and change it to what you intended to give me and he was happy about that. Now, he is really annoyed with ABB because he knows how hard I worked to make everything great for them. Also, after this guy left me a review, at first the ABB system said he gave me all 4’s and one 5. Then the next day, it said he gave me all 5s and one 4. So, I asked ABB about this and to date, no response. The only response is that their is not a known glitch with their system. I also asked them if they could just tell me how many total reviews I got since 10/1/14 till now, and how many were 5 stars, and they will not give me this info so I can do a simple mathematical problem and see what my SH percentage in the review section will be. I think they do not know. In the past the reps would give me these numbers. Now, it is top secret so I figure they do not want to admit that there is a problem with their system. Since they are so full of transparency and honesty, I do not know why they either cannot give me the numbers so I can do my own division or tell me there is a problem with the system right now. Either of those answers would be fine with me, but the way they have been acting is just wrong, and weird. The way I found out the guest even gave me all 5s was because of the system telling me different things from one day to the next. I kept in touch with the guest of record’s friend and I finally asked him what was wrong and he said nothing. I suspected something was wrong with the system because another guest gave me all 5 stars and it did not register that way, and a rep with a brain contacted him and changed it. That is why it is hilarious that this other guy is lying to me and telling me it cannot be remedied. One hand does not know what the other hand is doing over there. Before that I gave the guy a list of other guests who had told me they would give all 5 stars and did not. Up until I started communicating with the guests post stay, I thought the other guests had lied to me so I would give them all 5 stars, because I could not think of any other reason why that would happen or why someone would volunteer that they were giving me all 5 stars when they did not intend to do so. Another reason I would like to do my own math is that everytime someone gives me an all 5 star review it goes up by 1%, and when it is not a 5 star review is goes down by 2%. My knowledge of math leads me to believe that this is not correct and if I had the numbers, I could do my own math. It all seems really fishy. Since that time, I have gotten 2 all 5 star reviews. I also have screen shots of these and it is still stuck at 78% and it has been a least 10 days since the 2nd 5 star review is posted. I am starting to wonder if they are doing this because I told them about everything I think is wrong with their system including allowing criminals to rent your space, and not having your back when they tell you that they do. BTW, I asked roomorama if the same exact scenario would occur and I had written and audio prove if they would review everything and they said yes. I took screen shoots of the conversation just in case. I do not know if I can trust them either. So, if anyone knows anything, pls let me know. Oh and another rep lied to me as well. Several guests have become so irate at the ID verification system taking so long that they almost did not book. One told me she lost money on the exchange rate because of ABB’s incompetence and they will not take responsibility for her loss. Anyway, one lady was irate with them because she really wanted to book my place and while she was submitting to the long ID verification system she kept getting messages telling her to look for a different place. The ABB rep told me that was for people who did not want to verify their IDs, but this lady proved to me that she was getting those messages while trying to get ID verified for my place. Then she proved to me that after she was verified she got a message saying she could now rent my place or another place. What? Thanks Airbnb! Anyway, she became so irate she found my listing on another site and paid more money to rent through them, and in my opinion this lady is not the type to easily part with her money. So, that tells you how mad she was with ABB. BTW, this other site lets you communicate freely with the guests without blocking out parts of your conversation. For example, if you say google earth, they will not block it out. Anyhow, I cut and pasted the translations of the messages this lady told me she was getting from ABB to look for another place even after she booked, and some other complaints refuting what the guy had said and he told me he would not communicate with me anymore and now if I email ABB my messages are blocked. LOL! The other issue is that I have my calendar synced with VRBO and other sites and one day I was bombarded with booking requests for days that are blocked with VRBO people. So, I had to spend about an hour declining and apologizing to people. I feel I have to be nice to them even though it is ABBs screw up because they may want to book again someday. Plus they all seemed desperate for a place, and I felt badly for them. So, anyway, I sent screen shots of all of this to the guy that lied about contacting my guests before I knew he had lied to me, and no response. I sent them because he told me there were no known glitches with their site. Oh really, then why do they have a page asking white hackers not to discloses the glitches without contacting them first. Oh alrighty then! I have also asked maybe times to different people why the suggested prices ABB gives are so much lower than other predictive pricing website. No answer…. Someone at price labs told me it was so the investors will see your place booked every night. Since, they will not respond to the question, I guess I have to option but to believe price labs. Another predictive pricing website shows how you can charge more, be booked less nights, and make more money. I do not understand ABB’s logic.