Airbnb reviews are at the heart of what makes the site work. It is the way bad guests and hosts can be outed on the platform. For hosts, guest reviews affect your listing ranking, booking rate, and super host status. It is important for guests and hosts to rack up as many good reviews as possible. At the same time, don't get bent out of shape over a single bad review because even the best hosts get them. Given all this, it is important to understand how the review system works. Let's start with a quick list that will clear up some of the most common misconceptions:
- Hosts CANNOT read a guest review before writing a review.
- Guests CANNOT read a host review before writing a review.
- Reviews CANNOT be edited after they have been posted.
- Guest reviews will be posted after 14 days even if a host doesn't write a review.
- You can only have a review deleted under special circumstances.
- You can respond to reviews and should do so for all negative reviews.
Airbnb's reviews are broken into two parts, a written portion and a star rating portion. Both Host and Guest have 14 days after checkout to write a review. Reviews post when both parties have completed their reviews. If one side does not complete a review then the other's review is posted after 14 days. You cannot prevent a bad review from posting by not writing a review for the guest.
The Written Review:
For the written portion, you are limited to 1000 words. You can edit your review for up to 48 hours after you write it unless the other side has submitted their review.
The Star Reviews:
Guests are asked to give up to a 5-star rating across six different categories: Overall Experience, Cleanliness, Accuracy, Value, Communication, Arrival, & Location. All those ratings are averaged into one total score. At the bottom of your listing page, the average of all the total scores is shown. This is the score used to calculate Super Host status. The unwritten rule is, unless you have a particular issue, you should give 5 stars. However, not all guests will follow that unwritten rule.
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That is the basics of Airbnb's reviews system. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind. When writing a review for a bad guest, be honest, factual, and withhold emotion. Your goal is not to punish the previous guest but to warn the next host. And, if you get too emotional, your review will be written off as a hysterical host. Just write the facts!
Also, never give in to extortion. If a guest threatens to leave you a bad review if you don't do something, be very careful. If it is something you would normally do for another guest, then do it. If it not, then don't do it. If you give in, there is no guarantee the guest won't still leave you a bad review. And, if the guest said this to you on the Airbnb platform, just save a screenshot of the message and use it later to have the guest review removed using Airbnb's extortion rules. Never give into guests over the threat of a bad review because:
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