You see your review stars, and you wonder who gave you what. Well now, for better or for worse, you can have an idea of your review’s breakdown. Airbnb has lifted the hood on your reviews, giving you a peek at what’s underneath. Not as clear as I would like, but it’s more than we have received in the past.

I don’t know if this new tool has rolled out to everyone, but everyone should have access to it soon. To get you ready to use it, let’s break down this new Airbnb feature using the reviews of my Private Apartment Listing as of July 8th, 2015.

OVERALL EXPERIENCE:
By telling me that the last 4 reviews gave me 5 stars, this means that the fifth reviewer didn’t give me a 5 star rating. Did review number 6 give me 4 or 5 stars? I won’t ever know. But if I keep a screen grab before my next review, I will then know the next review’s star breakdown and can start tracking from this point forward how I am being rated by different guests.

To track future reviews rating will require the help of Excel, or as I like to call it, “Excel to the rescue.” You can get the Excel spreadsheet here to help get you started. I noticed the number of reviews is different for each category. For example, 144 people reviewed me in “Overall Experience,” while I have 149 reviews in Cleanliness and 147 reviews in Arrival. What gives?

CLEANLINESS:
Airbnb’s prompt question for the guest: “Was the space as clean as you expect a listing to be?”

I’m so happy my last 8 reviews gave me 5 stars on cleaning, and I have an idea of who gave me a 1 star. She called Airbnb to close my account, after all. What I cannot fathom is who in the world gave me 2 or 3 stars? I will never know who or why, but I’m definitely stepping up my cleaning.

ACCURACY:
Airbnb’s prompt question for the guest: “How accurately did the photos and description represent the actual space?”

I thought I was super accurate on my description, captions, and photos. C’mon, I even include a floorplan for this listing. I need to go through all of my information with a fine-toothed comb so that I can be even more accurate.

VALUE:
Airbnb’s prompt question for the guest: “How would you rate the value of the listing?”

Value is such an subjective opinion, which is my one of my biggest pet peeves.  Does this mean I have to lower my price, especially since my last 3rd review didn’t think they were getting a great value? This was from a good review. Do I want to email them and ask them why they didn’t think my home was of enough value that it deserved 5 stars?

COMMUNICATION:
Airbnb’s prompt question for the guest: “How responsive and accessible was the host before and during your stay?”

Basically, all of my guests, or 141 who bother to review me, believe I’m a great communicator. They better. I sometimes communicate way too much. But 1 person gave me 3 stars and another gave me 2. Really?

ARRIVAL:
Airbnb’s prompt question for the guest: “Did the host do everything within their control to provide a smooth arrival process?”

I clearly communicate with my guests (see above).ithin that communication is the arrival information. Why review number 28 didn’t think I deserved 5 stars, I will never understand.

LOCATION:
Airbnb’s prompt question for the guest: “How appealing is the neighborhood? Consider safety, convenience and desirability.”

I was surprised to see so many 4 stars about this. Do you remember Chip Conley’s tip “3 good things and 2 not-so-great things of your space” on our webinar? I’m adding my location as one of the 2 things guests might not love. Now mind you, I LOVE my neighborhood. I’m in one of the most amazing neighborhoods in New York. True, I’m not in Manhattan, but I don’t hide that fact. I’ve been here for over 20 years. I need to reconsider how to present a neighborhood that I find amazing but  guests may not.

AMENITIES:
Airbnb’s prompt question for the guest: “Did your host provide everything they promised in their listing description?”

It’s interesting Airbnb doesn’t give you the star breakdown for Amenities, which is an item guests review you on.

After all of this, I might need to change my headline from “5 star Apartment and Experience” to something else. My co-writer and I are not convinced this is such a great tool. I can see myself taking screen grabs after each review, and then wondering what I’m doing wrong, what else I can do, etc.? Argh, sometimes less information is better than more.

Do you have this new feature on the dashboard? Are you happy about this new tool from Airbnb? Will you be emailing your guests asking them why they didn’t give you 5 stars? Will you be obsessing further? Or will you zen out and let it go?  Let me know in the comments.

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Until next time,

Happy Obsessing 😉