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Rating system unfair?

 Does anyone else feel that the rating system is unfair?

Guests are asked to rate out of 4 options, "Good" being 3 and "Excellent" being 4... Then this is translated into a figure out of 10.. so 3 out of 4 (Good) becomes 7.5 out of 10. Had the guest been asked to mark out of 10 would they have chosen 7.5 for "Good"?.. I'm not sure they would.. this then pulls down your score.. I think it's unfair to translate in this way and not sure why the scoring and rating numbers don't match?...

Secondly "Value for Money" is very tricky, if you receive 4 (10) consistently for this then surely your prices are too low?..  

Any thoughts?


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Thuild - Your … 5 years ago

Alex,

I'm not sure how it works now because I haven't asked a guest to show me the e-mail they receive from BDC.

Last time I've checked there were smileys from which they could choose from, and each smiley represented a score, as in what you say above, with 4 possible outcomes.

I think it's stupid and not good for us.

I received quite many reviews where the guest really didn't mean to give such a low score, regardless of those damn smileys.

Best regards,

Zsolt - www.thuild.com

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Asad C 5 years ago

I really didn't know how the review system worked until I saw this thread. I always assumed guests give scores out of 10. But if it is just 4 options, or a bunch of smileys, then that might help to explain some of the scores I have received.

Either way, improvements can certainly be made to the whole scoring system.

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Thuild - Your … 5 years ago

Just a little info.

This is the type of feedback we as partners need to give for certain BDC e-mail campaigns.

You can figure from here how the review system might work:

Cheers,

Zsolt - www.thuild.com

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Leandri Klopper 5 years ago

Hi all,

I must agree, a deeper rating system could be better. I wonder if Booking.com has a smiley option rating system because clients don't want to take the time to fill out a questionaire? I enjoy making the joke when I asked certain security questions, like Okay now give me your Complete Medical History, you can hear the guest's heart falling down into their shoes. It's only a joke question but the reaction is unmistakable, guests want a Quick method to say YEY or NEY.

Maybe they can look into how accurate it translates into the total rating though.

Keep well.

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Adelmaartens 5 years ago

Hi All,

Recently I had a guest who has left a bad review because the brought 9 guests and the house only catered for 8. There were no extra blankets so the 9th guest had a problem to sleep on the sofa with out any blankets. I contacted Booking.com and even though the guest did not respect the policy/rules and came with an extra guest they were adamant that they would not remove the bad review...

I was not even allowed to mark the guest as a BAD GUEST as they (booking.com) saw no wrong in the situation.

Bad reviews on us also effects them at the end. No bookings for us = no comm. for them!.

Keep well!

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fluff 5 years ago

It is a little screwey, if a guest gives you 'Good" across the board that will drag your overall score down (assuming more than 7.6 before latest review) They're intention to be very positive about you actually does you harm!

Use the report guest feature and also give a calm response to their review pointing out their abuse of your policies/capacity.

Did you charge them extra for ninth guest? If no they got a freebie, if yes then extra bedding etc. would be a must.

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Adelmaartens 5 years ago

No I didn't charge them extra for the extra guest as our property is charged per night.

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Leandri Klopper 5 years ago

Hi Adel,

I actually agree with Fluff, if they got a freebie out of it then you should state that in your reply to their review. We charge per Interval instead of per night, so sometimes we give free nights so as to accommodate the interval. We make a big whoop about it to the guest so they are super grateful and leave a nicer review.

Best of luck to you though, hopefully it doesn't happen again.

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Sergiu 5 years ago

It's a bit comforting for me to see that I'm not the only one having this frustration. I am hoping that after many posts, Booking will one day take a look and maybe make some changes in their absurd rating system.

The situation as you guys mentioned is simple. As host, We are rated from 1 to 10, however, the guest has only 4 main options of rating (not even by numbers), leaving only 4 possible outcomes. 2.5 / 5 / 7.5 / 10. How is this logical, I don't know.

I am currently struggling with a 9.8 rating score from around 60 reviews. I am working very hard on reaching a 9.9 score and maybe one day 10. I'm positive like that.

However, I can't but notice that after having 8 straight 10s from guests, the 6 scores that create my final score haven't even blinked. NOT ONE?!

It's about time somebody did something about this situation. And while they're at it, also enable the option for reviewing the guest. That would be a cause of celebration.

Best,

Sergiu

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Ken 5 years ago

I yes and they get to rate breakfasts. What a joke. If someone doesn't like the way the eggs are done or the coffee is too strong they get to rate that. Give me a break. What else yet. They are asking the accommodators to take reservations without credit card information and phone numbers to make it easier to make a reservation and yet they are asking the guest after they leave to read "war and peace" and fill out questionnaires about what they ate. enough is enough. Where can I rate booking.com? I guess I just did.

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Ms. Robin 5 years ago

I am absolutely disgusted with the ratings system at Bookng.com and am glad to find this thread showing I'm not alone. Many people won't give top-rating to anything less than absolute perfection, so that immediately drops some categories down to the second-best number - which SHOULD be a 4 out of 5 in a 6-point system (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5), but instead its a 7.5 out if 10 with no option of 8 or 9, setting us all up for lower averages than guests probably intend and an unfair system that they don't see. Guests seeing an average score of 8 blindly assume that's on an 11-point system (0-10) when its not, and assume a level of service is less than it is because some guests giving the ratings found a space "almost" perfect, but couldn't give a 9. We need to do something about this than write on this thread and should all write to Booking.com immediately asking to either correct the current guest-rating system to 0-10 or adjust to the actual 0-5 system in place.

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Alex 5 years ago

Hello again,

I am glad I am not alone in this.. I continue to be annoyed by this, I can only see our rating going downwards as we get more reviews - now over 300 for our property..

I agree we should contact them, how about also writing on booking.com Facebook page and try and explain to the public/guests/future guests that the rating system out of 10 is flawed.. booking.com may pay attention if it is aired in a public forum....

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Ken 5 years ago

Does booking.com actually look at these comments? They keep sending us more ways for booking.com to make more money by lowering our rates. I think they created this forum to make us feel better. All it does is allow us to vent with no reaction from booking.com.

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Sergiu 5 years ago

Adding to the frustration, a recent guest just gave my home one of the lowest ratings I've ever gotten. When I contacted her to give some more feedback on why the lower ratings on some points, she said that she was very happy with the apartment but she left her young daughter press all the buttons... #frustration

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Ms. Robin 5 years ago

Hi All!

I sent this message to Booking.com through each of our property accounts today and hope you can each send something similar (although mine is pissed-off, and you might feel this is a bit strong). Feel free to copy this and alter it to fit, so maybe they will see that we are in communication with each other and take this seriously. Maybe Booking.com will pay attention :-D

"Subject: Opportunities being MISSED because Booking.com's rating system is inaccurate!
I am writing this on each of our properties and pray that someone takes this seriously!
I have a serious complaint as a motel, cabins & campgrounds multiple-properties owner and member of booking.com. Your guest rating system sucks and I'm going to write directly here, giving Booking.com a chance to address it, before going to the public with the facts of how your "smiley" points translate into lower ratings for the owners than the guests might intend. I have been participating-in and reading the chats - which obviously Booking.com doesn't - and I'm not alone. When a guest rates a place as highest its a "10", but if a guest steps down just to the next emoticon its a "7.5"!?!? There is no possibility of a 9 or 8, so how can it be a 10-point system? We (many, many "owners") are really pissed-off as a community and demand something be done to completely overhaul your system and make it either a true 10-point system or make it a 5-point system to match the actual options available to the guests! Read your own owner chats and you will see, we are extremely upset and want a change! Potential new guests don't see that previous guests really loved a place but felt some of the items being rated weren't "perfect", so instead of giving the highest score they gave the only option available to them, but they may have rated a 9 on a 10-point scale! Other people I have met just have issues giving a top-rating and have a "rule" against giving top-ratings ever, so they consistently give the next possible option, which should be a "9" on your scale, but its a "7.5"! This needs to change immediately! I'm really sick & tired of getting 7.5 when where guests feel we deserved a 9!"

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Sergiu 5 years ago

Hey @Contact

Your message is spot on and speaks to all of our heartake, indeed. What is the email address you sent this message to? Or is it from your own admin panel?

I was looking to do something but directly to the CEO, ms. Gillian Tans.

Best regards,
Sergiu

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Ms. Robin 5 years ago

I wrote through my admin pages but I like your idea better :) Best regards, Robin Seljevold, Telemark Camping & Inn, Fyresdal, Norway

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Leandri Klopper 5 years ago

Hey Sergiu ,

You wrote " she said that she was very happy with the apartment but she left her young daughter press all the buttons... "

Oh boy, how much yoga and meditation did it take to not completely rip that guest to pieces over that nonchaulant comment?

I suddenly realise that clients/guests might not be fully aware of how potent their ratings and reviews are. Perhaps Booking.com can ensure that the guests know how important these reviews are to properties.. eg businesses. Reviews influence our visibility and bookability. Perhaps there is a gap for Booking.com... if they let guests know how much power the Rating and Reviews they leave holds then the guests might think twice before delivering their opinions.

Anyway, keep well!

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Ms. Robin 5 years ago

I got a reply on one of my admin-channel messages and they just didn't get it. I'm sorry if anyone on here feels this is too long, but I wanted to share their whole message and also my reply (there might be such a simple solution, they can keep their smiley and show a "satisfaction rating" out of 5, also showing smileys - so like a "satisfaction rating of 4.5" would show 4 smileys filled and the 5th half-full).

Booking.com's reply:

"Dear Robin,
Thanks for getting in touch with us.
We are sorry to hear that you are not happy with the review form we give to the guests. We are constantly experimenting with the form, We have tried words, Colours, faces and a combination of some or all of them. We try and make it as easy as possible for the guests to give you a score and write comments. We do not like to make the form too long as they will give up half way and give you no score at all. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do to change the form or how it is calculated.
We can see that you have several properties with us. All the reviews seem very positive and all of your properties have very high review scores. They are as follows:
Telemark Inn - Hytte 1399296 - 8.4/10
Telemark Inn- Hytte at Brokke 3667836 - 0 reviews yet
Telemark Inn- Vacation Home 3654440 - 0 reviews yet
Telemark Motel and Apartment 1459067 - 8.8/10
Telemark Camping 1199770 - 8.2/10
The form does not seem to be having a negative impact on your property review score or bookings."

My reply:

"This answer is unacceptable and obviously my complaint isn't understood. There are 5 choices available to guests, so it's not a rating of 10 options, yet the score is given as if "out if 10"? The form is FINE, its the POINTS that are screwed-up. The points need to match the options available to guests. A guest can't give me a "9", the closest they can get to "almost perfect" is a "7.5", it's like a student who doesn't get quite an A+ will get a C, no chance the teacher will give a B, so the student's average doesn't reflect their true ability. If Booking.com doesn't change the rating shown to match the choices given to the guests - and let the guests know how much their opinion influences our standings - we will take this as high in the company as necessary then go public with how Booking.com system doesn't allow accurate ratings. If a guest doesn't feel like giving a top-rating for whatever reason, the next-best option they have is equal to a 7.5, not a 9, and this is unfair and costs us bookings and ranking! Change the points to stars, like other sites (Google, Facebook, etc) or even keep the smileys and show them filled-in with like 4.5 out of 5 satisfaction - THAT WORKS!"

This one email is not going to make an impact, this rep who doesn't care, so if we can really get anyone with influence (like if we can really get Gillian Tans) and let them know this is serious and there are many (probably thousands if the other owners knew how this works and what is happening) that are unhappy with the current system, there might be a change :-) If we can get the email of a contact I will message that person as representative of each of my accounts and post the information on the other threads on here that are unhappy with this system so they can also directly complain. If we came up with a standard form to use, it would be easier for the others to send the email and also show we are united in the effort - its the same message, we just need to show the number of complainants - maybe a sign-on sheet could be generated with one message and everyone sign allowing 1 signature per property account (not just one per person). What do you all think?

All my best (and all my support), Robin

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Alex 5 years ago

Good idea, I will also send via extranet messaging... lets get CEO's email address too and send there....

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Alex 5 years ago

Linkedin is also another forum we could you, I see she is also on there...

We have to do something, I just don't understand why they would do it this way, it doesn't hurt them..

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Info 5 years ago

I wonder if ratings are real or fake because I've heard that guests are told to put high ratings in order to get better price and because of that, the owners that do so get more reservations and also who can really believe that a 9,9 or a 10 rating is true or how can such ratings be real when: 1) no daily cleaning of the room 2) no 24/7 reception available 3) no maid service like bedding and changing of of towels and sheets if not every day at least every 2 days? Any reaction from booking.com when they see this do they even bother to ask or do they really care about it or is the point just to get commission?How do customers feel about it when all the above services are not available to them?I just wonder!

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Sergiu 5 years ago

@info - I’m pretty sure that’s not the case. I’m also a host as well as a guest using Booking’s services and have never been incentivised in any way to leave lower or higher ratings. It’s also not in Booking’s favor to have a website full of high grades.

Regarding your 3 points mentioned, it’s like comparing a motorcycle by car standards. It’s (more or less) obvious to any guest that they are booking a personal home/apt rather than a hotel room. Standards are different and there’s no expectation for 24/7 concierge or every day maid. This may be an added bonus if you offered it, however you won’t / should never be penalized for not having this, rather than just be judged for the services you offer.

Cheers!

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Fabrice 4 years ago

Be careful what you wish for. Difficult to see the impact of the new rating system yet. I was satisfied with the old one. It seemed that the rating was clearer that some competitors most notably AirBnb where stars gave a confusing assessment and pretty much everybody is superhost. 

Now the argument that the old rating system favored some properties seems ludicrous. Rules being the same for everybody, it is hard to see how some properties would be treated unfairly.

 

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Tjcblargs 4 years ago

I am still completely confused s to how my rating is worked out. The old system was far easier and fairer.

 

Whichever way I try to work out my rating my score should be higher. Is anyone able to explain it all to me as booking.com don't seem able to do so.

Trevor

The Riversvale