Even if you’re new to being an Airbnb host, you’ve probably noticed just how important good reviews are to finding success! When potential guests are deciding which listing to book, Airbnb reviews hold a lot of power. In fact, 94% of consumers report that negative reviews have led them to avoid purchasing from specific businesses. And perhaps even more importantly, 80% of consumers only trust ratings of four to five stars.
Thus, it’s essential to build up a collection of great reviews for your Airbnb property in order to continue bringing in business! Read on to find all of the answers to your questions about the review process and Airbnb Review Policy.
How does the Airbnb review process work?
As an Airbnb host, it’s important to know the ins and outs of reviews for Airbnb! Let’s start off by explaining exactly how the review process works. First, an email is sent out to guests about 24 hours after their stay has ended inviting them to review their stay. In addition, hosts are invited to leave a review of their guests.
Airbnb Reviews for Hosts
So what does the Airbnb review for hosts consist of? There are two parts: a five-star rating system for various categories and a written review of up to 1000 words. In the written Airbnb review, guests can discuss any pertinent information unless it violates the Airbnb Review Policy. (For more information on the Airbnb Review policies, see the next section of the article.) Regarding the five-star rating system, guests are asked to rate your property based on:
- Overall experience
- Cleanliness of the property
- Accuracy of the listing’s photos and description
- Value of the property
- Communication with the host
- Ease of arrival and check-in process
- Location of property
- Amenities
As a new Airbnb host, you won’t see an overall aggregated score until you’ve received at least three reviews.
Airbnb Reviews for Guests
While receiving positive reviews for Airbnb is extremely important, don’t forget to leave feedback for your guests! For one, it will help other hosts in the future. Airbnb Reviews work as a gauge to see whether or not a person would be a good guest. Leaving Airbnb reviews for your guests also shows what a gracious and involved host you are! If you’re looking to reach Airbnb Superhost status, it’s imperative to review each and every one of your guests. Be sure to check out our article on Airbnb Superhosts here.
To make things quicker and easier, you can create templates for positive guest reviews. As an Airbnb review example, after a positive guest experience you could say, “[Guest’s name] was very tidy and respectful of my property. I would host them again and highly recommend them!”
For a negative experience, you’ll want to give a more detailed explanation of why you do not recommend hosting this particular guest. Avoid giving one-line negative reviews such as, “I would not recommend this guest.” Perhaps they broke house rules, threw a party, or trashed the property. Be sure to include that information. Generally, it’s best not to be vague when leaving a negative Airbnb review for guests.
How long do you have to write a review?
Airbnb hosts and guests have 14 days after the stay has ended to compose a review. However, you won’t see your guest’s feedback for you until you’ve left feedback for them as well, or until the 14-day period has ended. The same is true for your Airbnb reviews for your guests. They won’t see any feedback you’ve left for them until they leave a review for you, or until the 14-day review period is over. This setup attempts to prevent spiteful or biased reviews based on the feedback they received from the other party.
What information should be included in an Airbnb review?
As far as the information that’s appropriate to include in a review, the Airbnb Review Policy has three rules.
- Reviews cannot violate Airbnb’s Content Policy. Not only does this policy apply to reviews, but it’s the standard across the entire Airbnb website. The content policy prohibits anyone from posting purely commercial or promotional material, spam, and explicit or graphic material. Discriminatory content, impersonation, illegal content, and confidential information are also not allowed.
- Reviews should be unbiased. It’s always best to leave your emotions out of it! As Airbnb explains, “Reviews are most helpful when they provide unbiased information.” Guests and hosts alike prefer to read reviews that are straightforward and honest, rather than emotionally charged or clearly biased. A big part of keeping reviews on Airbnb unbiased is prohibiting the incentivization of positive reviews, or offering to pay someone to leave you good feedback.
- Reviews should be relevant. This means leaving out any issues that had nothing to do with the host or property. Airbnb recommends avoiding all of the following topics.
- Politics and religion
- Insults, name calling, and profanity
- Content about services that aren’t related to Airbnb
- Commentary on unrelated past Airbnb experiences
When Airbnb reviews including this type of information is reported, Airbnb may decide to delete the review and take it off of the website completely. In the case of repeated violations, the offending account could be suspended or even permanently deactivated.
Can hosts delete negative Airbnb reviews?
If you’re in search of a loophole or want to request that Airbnb delete negative reviews on your listing, it’s simply not possible. In order to maintain the platform’s integrity, Airbnb does not delete reviews unless they violate the Airbnb Review Policy or Airbnb Content Policy. However, you are able to leave a public response to the negative Airbnb review.
One possible course of action if you feel that the review violated Airbnb’s policies is to report the review. Then, Airbnb will step in for dispute moderation. Ultimately, there’s still only a very small chance that the negative Airbnb review will be removed. In most cases, it’s very difficult to get a review taken down.
How should Hosts respond to bad Airbnb reviews?
After the review has been posted, you have 30 days to post your response. Perhaps you want to add information, address the guest’s feedback, or provide your perspective of the situation. Usually, the best way to respond to negative feedback is to acknowledge it and explain your steps to improve the guest’s experience moving forward. Here’s a quick guide to forming a great response to an Airbnb bad review.
- Thank the guest for their feedback.
- Acknowledge their complaints while staying positive and professional.
- Explain how things will improve in the future thanks to this helpful feedback.
- Mention the positive aspects of the guest’s stay.
- Leave a long message to show that you truly care about your guests and are an involved host.
- Invite the guest to stay again and let them know they’re welcome to come back to your property.
How should Hosts assess potential Guests profiles?
For the most part, it’s easy to tell if a guest will be good or bad based on the reviews left on the Airbnb platform. Bad guests typically break house rules in one way or another and hosts will record that in their reviews for Airbnb. Good Airbnb guests, on the other hand, will generally have reviews praising them for being respectful and neat. Multiple bad reviews are definitely a red flag, and you’ll really want to consider whether or not it’s worth it to host that particular guest.
How can I encourage guests to leave reviews for Airbnb?
Even though Airbnb sends out emails reminding guests to leave reviews, that doesn’t guarantee that they will do so. Instead, take a more personalized approach. Shortly before checkout time, it’s a great idea to get in touch with your guests and ask them to leave you some feedback, whether positive or negative.
Be sure to tell your guests how helpful a single review can be to your business, and how much you would appreciate their feedback. They’ll likely be open to writing you a review, especially if they’ve had a good experience. But remember, you are not allowed to offer any type of incentive for a review.
What types of reviews inspire guests to book a listing?
Much of the time, guests are already pretty set on a property by the time they read the reviews. This means that reviews on Airbnb often make or break reservations! A guest will typically find a great property and then take a look at the reviews to make sure there are no red flags.
Although all Airbnb hosts would love to receive only five-star Airbnb reviews, it’s actually not necessary to have a 100% perfect set of reviews for Airbnb. This is where your well-composed, professional responses to negative Airbnb reviews can really make a difference. If potential guests can see that you’re dedicated to providing a wonderful customer experience and aren’t afraid to apologize for your mistakes, they likely won’t be scared away by one or two negative comments. This is especially true if the rest of your feedback from guests is overwhelmingly positive.
Important Facts about the Airbnb Review Policy
- Hosts and guests have 14 days to leave reviews for each other after a stay has ended.
- Guests rate properties using a five-star system and can also leave a written review of up to 1000 words.
- Leaving reviews for guests is a great way to establish yourself as a good host!
- Reviews need to follow Airbnb’s Content Policy. They must also be relevant and unbiased.
- Reviews violating the Airbnb Review Policy may be removed. But first, you must report them and go through the dispute process.
- Negative Airbnb reviews cannot be deleted, but you can use them as an opportunity to respond to guests in a professional and constructive way.
- Always check potential guests’ reviews for red flags before allowing them to book your property.
- Remind guests to leave you feedback before they check out.
