A guide to Airbnb reviews

So you’ve just had your first guest stay at your Airbnb? Here's everything you need to know about the Airbnb review! The review is a crucial part of the Airbnb process and can lead to many more bookings, and allow you to ban those nightmare guests (hopefully you won’t have any of these). So let’s review how to leave a review, shall we?

What is an Airbnb review?

Following a visit, both the Airbnb guest and the Airbnb host will have 14 days to leave a star rating review. The guest review covers the following categories the location, value, the accuracy of description, communication, tidiness, and checking in/out. Whereas the host leaves a review based on the categories tidiness, adhering to house rules, and communication.

What to do first

Before writing your Airbnb review, it’s important to firstly scout out your Airbnb property. Use this opportunity and be a detective and check that there are no stains on the bed, crumbs on the couch, or scratches on the wall. Based on this walk-around and your communication with the guest before this event, you should get an idea of how to write this review. 

How to write your review?

Once you’re ready to write your review, you will notice a box with ‘describe your experience’ here you have to opportunity to write about your experience with the guest and your property. For future reviews, it could be a good idea to keep a template and just stitch out certain words. For example: 

We loved having Jessica to stay. She left the house clean and tidy and was a great communicator before and during her stay. She is welcome to come back and stay anytime!

After this, you will also have the opportunity to give guests private guest feedback. This is where you can explain what they did well and what they could have done better. For example, I enjoyed having you stay, and you communicated well, but we would have preferred if you had done the dishes during your stay.

Remember to be courteous but also honest during these sections because the guests will be seeing them following the publication of their review (not before)!

Following this kind but honest review, you will be able to rate the guests on their tidiness, adhering to house rules, and communication.

To finish this process off, you can rate these guests with a thumbs up or thumbs down. If your guest was a nightmare (fingers crossed this won’t be the case) then don’t be afraid to give your guest a thumbs down, because they won’t be able to see this. This thumbs down will mean the guest will be blacklisted from booking with you (goodbye nightmare guest!)

Timeline to leave a review

From the day your guest checks out, you will have 14 days to leave your review. Airbnb will also remind you via reminder when your 14 days are drawing to a close.

Following these 14 days, you will not be able to leave a review, so make sure to leave one! 

Can you change an Airbnb review?

Yes, you can! You have up to 48hours following your initial post of the review to change it. However, once your guest posts their review (even if this is less than 48hours after yours) you won’t be able to change it.

How to respond to reviews

When someone has left a review for you go to ‘reviews’ and then ‘reviews about you.’ Here you will find your reviews, and you can respond to the one you want. Check out this article on how to respond to those positive, neutral, and negative (hopefully not) reviews. 

Can you remove/delete Airbnb reviews?

Unfortunately, you are not able to able to delete these guest reviews unless they are offensive/abusive. If these reviews are offensive/abusive, report them by going to 'account' clicking the 'view profile' and then click the flag icon beside the Airbnb host review. You should also email/call Airbnb in these cases (take screenshots) and let them know because no one wants a bully using their site! 

Do you have to leave a review?

Short answer, no. But the long answer is that it’s a good idea to do this because Airbnb has an algorithm, and this comes into all aspects of the Airbnb process. For example, if you don’t leave reviews or continue to get bad reviews, then your search ranking could drop, and this means you’ll be less likely to get future bookings. The guest also won’t be able to see your review until after they post theirs, so there’s no danger in posting a bad reviewing (providing you’re not abusive). And even if you don’t post a review, the guest will still be able to post their review, even if it is a bad review. So don’t shoot yourself in the foot, write a review!

Conclusion

In conclusion, the important thing is to be honest with the good, the bad, and the ugly. An honest evaluation will mean that if you, unfortunately, happen to have a nightmare guest, then you will never have to see them again, and other hosts can avoid the misery of having this guest to stay. And if you get many good reviews, (and have a 4.8-star average rating) you’ll be on your way to being an Airbnb Superhost. For more information about becoming a superhost, read this previous article. So now your first review is over, on to the next guest and hopefully many more guests and many more reviews!

Written by Lauren Middleton