Renting space on Airbnb can be thrilling, fun, and financially lucrative. It can also be downright stressful when it comes to reviews. This isn't just because a guest who leaves a bad review can reduce your rental income, but also because the whole thing can feel personal; especially if the criticism is directed at you as a host, and not your home or location.
As a longtime Airbnb host who has rented homes both big and almost comically small (and spent years speaking to countless others in the game), I find that even the best hosts with the best spots are likely to deal with a bad review now and then. Thankfully, there are a few things hosts can do to reduce the impact of bad reviews, while still playing by the rules.
Seth Porges
Wait It Out
While bad reviews can come out of nowhere, I find that it's usually pretty easy to predict who is going to leave them. That super-happy guest who wrote you a note about how lovely your house is and how happy they are to be there? Probably not going to leave a bad review. The nit-picky traveler who seemed surprised by quirks that were clearly outlined in your listing? Well, you can guess where that one is going.
Thankfully, Airbnb doesn't automatically publish reviews immediately, but rather waits for both the guest and host to submit theirs before publishing both simultaneously. The site gives you two weeks to write your side of the story, at which point things go live whether you submit a review or not.
The reason for this double-blind system is to keep reviews impartial, and to prevent either party from writing a retaliatory review because they themselves were dinged. But a side effect of it is that it gives you as a host (or guest) the ability to pause a potentially negative review for up to two weeks. This is actually a pretty big deal, as Airbnb reviews are published in the order in which the stays occurred, and not in the order the reviews go live. If you can accumulate a few positive reviews in those few weeks, the negative one will be below them from the moment it goes live, and could already seem like old news.
Reply All? More Like Reply Some
Airbnb gives hosts the ability to publicly respond to reviews by posting a short note that can be used to explain their side of the story. This is a useful tool under some circumstances, but I find it can also draw extra attention to a review you'd just as soon disappear, and sometimes even show the worst of hosts who overreact to routine criticism.
I find that the best use of public review responses is to respond to reviews that cite shortcomings that have since been fixed. Maybe your air-conditioning had issues during their stay, or the coffee machine broke. This is a great place to say that future guests need not fear these issues, as you're on top of things and have already taken care of them.