Airbnb reviews are vital to your success as a vacation home owner. However, they can also be quite the mystery. Understanding how Airbnb reviews work—plus knowing how to increase, respond to, and learn from these reviews—is key to consistently filling your calendar and beating your competition.
Essentially, online reviews are a battleground for guests. The vacation rental that wins their trust, wins their booking. And since travelers trust other travelers, your reviews will prove if your vacation rental is worth the money.
You can’t command guests to leave a glowing review. But there are things you can control. Here’s what to know about Airbnb reviews and how to get the most out of them.
What’s included in an Airbnb review?
Reviews on Airbnb consist of a star rating and a written review (up to 1,000 words)—both are optional for guests and hosts to leave. After checking out, guests are asked to rate their stay (up to 5 stars) for:
- Overall experience
- Cleanliness
- Accuracy of description
- Value
- Communication
- Arrival
- Location
Hosts need star ratings from at least 3 guests before their overall, aggregated score appears publicly.
How will my Airbnb reviews affect my property’s search rankings?
Airbnb uses a proprietary algorithm to rank properties in search results, but only the platform truly knows how it works. The Airbnb rating system factors in about 100 different criteria for
rankings, including reviews, star ratings, and the number of stays the homeowner has hosted.
While positive reviews help a vacation rental perform well in a search, a small number of negative ratings (or guests skipping reviews) won’t have a major impact on rankings, according to Airbnb.
Good Airbnb reviews and rankings can also help you:
- Achieve Superhost status, which requires a host to be in good standing and maintain a 4.8 overall rating.
Become eligible for Airbnb Plus, a new designation for the highest-quality homes on the platform.
How do I get more Airbnb reviews?
While Airbnb automatically asks departing guests to review their stay, you can take matters into your own hands. But don’t wait until guests have already checked out. You should be encouraging guests to leave a glowing review even before they book.
Here are expert tips for getting good reviews on Airbnb, based on the categories guests will use to rate your home:
- Write your Airbnb listing accurately and truthfully. This ensures that you’re primarily attracting guests who love the bustling energy of your beachfront location, instead of travelers seeking peace and quiet.
- Make sure your home is pristine before every check-in. This means hiring professional housekeepers and consistently following a vacation rental cleaning checklist.
- Over-deliver desirable amenities. Want to cater to more families? Provide extras like playpens, easy-to-install baby gates, and non-breakable dinnerware. Cover the essentials first, then focus on going above and beyond.
- Learn from your competition. This means booking and staying at similar vacation rentals in your area. Read their reviews and see what they’re doing right and wrong.
- Plant the idea early in your communications. Check in with your guests and ask, “I want you to have a 5-star experience. How else can I provide that to you?”
- Be direct and ask for a 5-star review. Guests are busy and may not remember to leave a review or understand what it means to you. Go ahead and ask for it.
How do I remove a review from my Airbnb listing?
Airbnb touts trust and transparency throughout the entire process. This means they won’t delete negative reviews because you’re simply unhappy with them. However, if a review is factually incorrect, vacation home owners can appeal to Airbnb and ask for the review to be taken down.
Airbnb will also delete reviews if a guest violates their content policy—such as including illegal or obscene content.
Whether you’re a first-time Airbnb host or guest, it’s important to know how to find your rating. Your rating is a valuable tool that can help you make the most of your Airbnb experience. In this article, we’ll explain everything you need to know and provide tips for both hosts and guests on how to locate your rating.
(And if you’re a host, this is especially important for monitoring the expectations you’ve set in your marketing strategy.)
Why Your Airbnb Rating is Important
Your Airbnb rating is important because it gives you an idea of how well you’re doing as a host or guest. It also allows other users to see how you interact with the community and whether or not you’re a good fit for their needs.
Having a high rating means you’re more likely to convert guests into bookings, and it can also help you get discounts on your next stay. If you’re a guest, a high rating will make it easier to find a place to stay since hosts are more likely to accept guests with good ratings.
On the other hand, a low rating can be detrimental to your Airbnb experience. If you’re a host, a low rating can make it difficult to get bookings. And as a guest, a low rating may mean you have trouble finding a place to stay.
If you’re a new Airbnb user, your rating may not be as high as someone who’s been using the platform for a while. However, there are still ways to improve your rating and get the most out of your experience.
As a host, your rating is visible to potential guests when they’re considering booking a stay with you. A high rating means that you’re providing a good experience and that guests are happy with their stay. If you have a low rating, it may be because you’re not meeting guests’ expectations or that you’re not providing the level of service they’re looking for. In either case, it’s important to take steps to improve your rating so that more guests will want to stay with you in the future.
As a guest, your rating is also visible to potential hosts when you’re searching for a place to stay. A high rating means that you’re a considerate and respectful guest who leaves the Airbnb in good condition. If you have a low rating, it may be because you’ve caused damage to the property or because you were disruptive during your stay.
How To Find Your Airbnb Rating as a Host
As a host, you can see your rating in two places: on your listing page and on your profile. It’s important to note that your profile will not show a specific star rating. Instead, it will show the number of reviews you’ve received from all of your listings.
Your listing page is where individual star ratings will be received, and it’s the first place potential guests will see when they’re considering staying with you. To find your rating on your listing page, simply scroll down to the “Ratings” section. Here, you’ll see your overall rating, as well as the number of reviews your listing has received.
Your profile is another great place to check your rating. To find your rating on your profile, simply click on the “Reviews” tab. Here, you’ll see your overall rating, as well as the number of reviews you’ve received.
How To Find Your Airbnb Rating as a Guest
As a guest, your reviews can be found on your profile page. To find your rating, simply click on your profile picture, then select the “Account” tab and click on “Go To Profile,” then scroll down to the “Reviews” section. Here, you’ll see all of your reviews.
You might be wondering where you can find your star rating and average review score. Unfortunately, there’s no way to see your specific star rating or average review score as a guest. However, you can see how many reviews you’ve received and what people are saying about you in your reviews.
How Airbnb Hosts See Ratings For Guests
If you’re a host, you might want to see more details about your guest before considering them booking a stay with you. Usually, when we receive a reservation we will see something that looks like this:
Clicking on the reviews will take us to their public profile, where we can see all of their public reviews. However, we can also see more details and their star rating by going to the Reservations Tab and clicking on details of their reservation:
Here, we are able to see their average review score, as well as how many reviews they’ve received. We can also see the specific rating for each category, such as “cleanliness” or “communication.”
How Airbnb Guests See Ratings For Hosts
When it comes to hosting, your listing is the only place where you will have a publicly available star rating and average review score, separated by categories such as cleanliness, communication, and value.
When a guest views your listing, they will be able to scroll down and see this:
In order for guests to see your other reviews, they will need to click on your profile picture near the bottom of your listing, which will take them to your public profile. This is where all of your reviews can be found from across all of your listings, as well as your comments on other people’s reviews.
FAQs About Airbnb Ratings
Does Airbnb have a rating system?
Airbnb has a rating system for both hosts and guests. Hosts are rated on a scale of one to five stars, and guests are rated on a scale of one to five stars. Each rating will consist of multiple categories, such as cleanliness, communication, and value.
Can hosts rate guests on Airbnb?
Hosts are able to rate guests on Airbnb, and they are given fourteen days after a guest checks out of their property to do so. The rating is based on how well the guest followed house rules, checked in and out at the designated times, and took care of the host’s property. Having good ratings from hosts can help you be less likely to be denied a reservation in the future.
Are Airbnb reviews public?
Airbnb reviews are not only public, but they are also permanent. This means that it is very important to make sure you’re always providing a good experience for your guests. A bad review can damage your reputation and make it difficult to get bookings in the future.
How to hide my reviews on Airbnb?
Unfortunately there is no way to hide your reviews on Airbnb. If you have a bad review, the best thing you can do is take steps to improve your rating so that future hosts or guests will be more likely to book with you.
However, there are some occasions where you may be able to get a review removed. If the review is inaccurate or contains false or defamatory information, you can flag it for Airbnb’s moderators to take a look at. Guests are not able to leave reviews if they have not set foot into the property.
If you are being threatened with a bad review, you can also reach out to Airbnb’s customer support for help.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, finding your Airbnb rating is somewhat nebulous and doesn’t give you a ton of specific feedback. However, it is still useful to know how Airbnb’s rating system works and what potential guests or hosts can see about you.
If you’re concerned about your rating, the best thing you can do is to make sure that you’re always providing a great experience for your guests or hosts. Good communication. By following the steps above, you’ll be able to find your star rating and average review score in no time. Keep in mind that ratings are important for both hosts and guests, so it’s always a good idea to try and maintain a high rating.
Can Airbnb guests see their star ratings?
Your detailed ratings for past stays, as well as your overall category and averaged ratings across stays, are only visible to Hosts when you request or book a stay with them in the future.
What happens if you get a bad review on Airbnb as a guest?
If you've received a bad review that is in clear violation of Airbnb's Content Policy, which governs reviews as well, you're in luck! In this case, you can simply contact Airbnb to have it removed. However, in order to do this, you'll need to successfully prove your case.
How do I edit my review on Airbnb?
You can edit your recent review if you go to Profile and then Reviews. Choose Reviews by you and go to the review you'd like to edit. But once both a host and a guest submit their reviews, or the 14-day review period has ended—whichever comes first—both reviews are automatically published simultaneously.
How do I check my Airbnb stats?
Check your listing's views.
Tap Profile and then tap Switch to hosting..
Go to Insights..
Tap Stats to get the number of views your listing had in the past 30 days..