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REVIEW POLICY - NEWS FROM AIRBNB! WHAT YOU THINK?

Dear friends

I am just sending what I get from Airbnb ,yesterday!

''Many of you have asked us how AIRBNB can protect hosts from one-time bad reviews. When this question is set in the recently held "conversation with the hosts", we told you that we are working to make the process of making the review more righteous from the perspective of the host. In fact, we gave you two promises:
1.We have committed to introducing a software solution to identify reviews that bounce away from others or, more specifically, one-off bad reviews. A common example is the one where the overall rating does not match the grades for each category (for example, when a guest evaluate with a 5-star host for cleanliness, precision, and other categories, and gives him a total rating of 2 stars).
2.Based on your comments, we have also committed to exploring how to ensure that guests understand that the location rating should be objective. The location rating does not affect your overall rating (or the status of Superhost), but we are aware that it is important to you and we would like the entire review system to be as fair as possible.
Today we can be pleased to announce two positive changes in the process of drafting reviews that aim to address these problems directly. Since these changes were introduced, we have noticed a noticeably larger number of more precise and fairer reviews from the host's perspective and we hope that we have resolved some of the questions that have troubled you. This is news:

Alerts on reviews that bounce from others
In the compilation process, we added a new step to our guests, which is triggered when the overall rating assigned to the host is not aligned with the other ratings. For example, a guest can assign 4 or more stars to each of the categories (purity, precision, etc.), and then select 3 stars or less as the overall score.
At this point, a pop-up window will pop up asking, "Is this true?" Below will be a text that will explain that the overall rating allocated to the accommodation is less than the rating for each category. The guest will have the option to change the rating or ignore the warning.

Thanks to the new warning system, the overall ratings of the host are now higher. Since this solution was introduced, the number of 3-star reviews has dropped by 2.8%, and the number of reviews from 2 stars to 3.9%. Although these figures may seem small, they have initiated positive changes in terms of the precision of our review system, and the hosts are already feeling improvements.

Location, location, location
You have revealed to us that a location rating can be a great source of frustration because some of you have happened to have the guests unexpectedly assigned a very low grade for that category although they seemed to be extremely satisfied with the stay. That category is tricky. It gives valuable information to future travelers, and we don't want to lose that. At the same time, it is clear to us that you are concerned that you are getting a rating for something that you have no influence over, which is a personal opinion of the guest about your location. This opinion is inherently subjective because what one person will be "a rustic oasis" to another person will be "too far from public transport". Therefore, in the process of drawing up the reviews, we have clarified to evaluate the accuracy of your location description rather than the location itself.

If the guest now grants less than 3 stars in the accommodation location category, the question will appear on the screen: "Isn't the location of the accommodation accurately described in the ad?" Since the introduction of this change, the average rating for the site has risen by 0.8%.

By working on this, we also introduced similar improvements in the category of accommodation value. If you have less than 3 stars assigned to this category, you'll see the following message: "What could have contributed to the higher value of the accommodation?" The average rating for the value of accommodation has since risen by 0.25%.

The aim of these changes was to solve what has troubled you in terms of unfair reviews and make sure that guests understand what reviews mean. We have more work to do in terms of improvement of the review system, and we will keep you updated throughout the year. Thank you for hosting the Airbnb!'


I ALREADY SEND A MESSAGE TO BOOKING IN 'THE LOUNGE'  TEAM FEW TIMES ABOUT THIS, BUT AS I SEE AIRBNB RECOGNIZE THE REAL PROBLEM AND SOLVING IT FASTER THEN YOU. YOU ARE NOT WORKING ON REVIEW POLICY AS MUCH AS YOU NEED!

YOU DON'T NEED TO DISCOVER HOT WATER AGAIN JUST COPY THIS ON THE END!

 


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Ian at Numurka… 4 years ago

I agree.

Guest Reviews can be a big problem and cause trouble.