How Superhosts Handle Airbnb Guest Reviews- Good & Bad!

For a successful STR business, your Airbnb guest reviews have to be 5 star across the board. Getting mostly 5 star reviews is a hard thing to sustain. You have to be on point with each booking – communication, cleanliness, hospitality. Great feedback means that your listing (especially on Airbnb) will hit the top of the search results. This also means you will get or maintain Airbnb Superhost status. Reviews that are critical need to taken seriously. 

Here are a few ways to use guest reviews and feedback to your best advantage. 

Starting out

When you set up, you want to be perfect. You put your heart and soul into the set up, the listing copy and preparation for launch. The first few bookings are great. You nervously welcome your first guests and you fall over yourself to make them happy. That sort of energy translates into some really great feedback, great start up reviews and really good learning experiences. You use that feedback to tweak and hone your listing. 

Then as the weeks and months roll by, the shine and freshness fades and it is hard to keep up that same enthusiasm. This is a critical point in the hosting journey. This is where you really need to keep your target guest in your mind and make sure you are taking care of them. But you also have to let a few things go… You also have to be careful of hosting burnout.

“You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”

-John Lydgate

But how can we use the feedback from our guests to make sure we remain in our Hospitality Sweet Spot*? (*see below)

The public facing reviews

These are the ones that are published on your listing and they are really a blunt instrument. If you are getting bad reviews here then you are needing to triage your listing, your hospitality standards and your business – STAT. 

If a guest has had a genuine bad time they will ding you in public. This is on your public record and you need to take action as this will affect your future bookings, superhost status and whether you have a sustainable business. You need to stuff your ego into your pocket and figure out the reason for the disconnect.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Was this guest my ideal guest?
  • if not:
    • why did I accept the booking?
  • If yes:
    • was this a communication issue?
    • Was this a hospitality issue? 
• Were the problems they had related to my house?
  • If yes:
    • Is this a maintenance issue?
    • Is this a cleaning issue?
    • Do I need to update the house book?
  • If no:
    • Is the listing information up to date?
    • Do I need to refresh the decor or furniture? 
• Were the problems related to the area/location
  • If yes:
    • Do I need to update the listing information/house book
• Was this due to a weather event or Act of God?
  • If yes:
    • You need to update your response and communications to support guests
  • If no
    • Perhaps the guest was having a personal issue that was out of your control.

Communication Language

Whatever the situation, communication is always the way forward. A bad review needs to be acknowledged, acted on and a non-defensive follow up message in public. The language should be something along the lines of:

Thank you so much for your feedback. We pride ourselves on our reputation and the quality of our house. Based on your feedback we have fixed {the issue}…. 

Or

Thank you for your feedback. This took us a little by surprise as we felt that this was covered in our listing text. We will review our text to make sure that this is clear in the future.

How you reply speaks volumes to future guests about how you are as a host. A snarky defensive response will do you more harm than good. Again, stuff your ego in your pocket and remain professional. If needed ask a level headed friend to check over a public facing response.

I’ll be honest, some guests are muppets and you can’t do anything about them – even with the best screening etc. But you need to rise above this and make sure that the majority of your reviews are glowing and 5 stars. Outlying bad reviews can’t be avoided if you are in business for any length of time. Smart people can read through and look at the totality of your reviews and responses.

But the goal really is to make sure any negative issues are sorted out BEFORE the public facing review.

Communication & Workflow

Here are some options for you to ensure great reviews:

Personally meet and greet. You can establish a rapport with guests and they can see your shining personality and high standards from when they meet you. First impressions are really important. You can answer questions right then and there and any issues will not escalate. Handling issues quickly ensures they do not fester with guests. A guest who is off on the wrong foot, will often see things that a relaxed guest will not.

If you offer self check in, write to guests right after check in and show them you are aware they have arrived and are eager to have an open dialog. I have some wording already in my Communications templates that will set the right tone and show guests that you are a professional and have their comfort as your top priority. Let guests know that any maintenance issues can be solved while they are there or before they check out. 

Follow up before check out. Tell guests that you take pride in your reputation and reviews and you would like to hear about their feedback and you take it seriously. 

Follow up after check out encouraging great guest reviews. Use subliminal language to encourage a great review.

Follow up (are you sensing a theme already?)

When you have had a great public review, reach out to the guest and thank them again. Make sure the guest has felt seen and appreciated for taking the time to give you some public love. Collect email addresses and send seasonal emails or snail mail to encourage repeat bookings and referrals.

Your ideal guest should be letting you know any suggestions for improvements or notes on any maintenance issues by private message. Acknowledge this constructive feedback and again follow up with your guest to let them know it has been actioned.

Ninja Level Feedback system

Lately I have been active on Instagram. And one of the hosts that I follow posted about an idea which I hadn’t seen before. But one I am totally going to steal.

The Insta account is mcjoppa.the.hut and hosts Chrissie and Rich have a drool worthy lake cabin in Minnesota, USA. They are crushing their branding and hospitality standards in general.

They include a suggestion book for guests to give direct constructive feedback on maintenance issues and other general suggestions. For each suggestion, the hosts have replied with a fix or a comment. This is a public facing comment book so that all guests can see that these committed hosts are listening and acting on all feedback – good and bad.

This is so simple and yet so effective.

Guests can see the hosts always are striving to be improving and have real humility in their hosting. When guests sense this attitude, they are more likely to be forgiving of minor quibbles. 

This is separate from the guestbook which is usually full of praise and warmth. It really makes your hosting heart sing. 

Guest Books

These are a wonderful tool. Over the years our wonderful guests have filled many notebooks with drawings, messages in many languages, photos, dates and the memories. We leave out coloured pens, pencils, tape and other scrapbooking tools if guests are wanting to be creative.

We encourage guests to leave suggestions of their fave restaurants or local discoveries as a message to future guests too. Guests love to see who has come before them and this adds to the richness of their stay. This is one of the simple human joys of connection that we get from the sharing economy.

Whenever you are feeling blah or fatigued, pull out your guest book and read through the wonderful reviews from past guests. They will remind you of all the happy memories that have been made in a space that you have created.

Plus there is something about seeing a person’s handwriting that connects you with them. Flick back over the books and see the dates, names, messages and sometimes drawings. I love it when little kids have written their own names and ages. It really brings them to life and reminds you of why you are in this business. 

Dismiss negative feedback at your peril

When you get a constructive comment or even an outright complaint, it is easy to minimize or dismiss the information if it is inconvenient or triggering. Put your ego in your pocket and be grateful that a guest has given you some suggestions and an opportunity to grow and improve. Decide whether to act on this or whether this was from a non-ideal guest or in you hosting sweet spot*.

Your business needs to grow and evolve to stay relevent and sustainable as markets inevitably change over time. There is nothing to be learned from only getting praise or only listening to the good reviews.

When it comes to guest reviews – Information is power – don’t ignore it.

_{disclaimer: We may receive a small introduction fee from vendors. This will not affect any prices that you are charged. But I will only recommend vendors that I know and love and ones that I have used for myself as a customer.}