Getting glaring five star reviews on Airbnb is crucial if you want to do well on the platform. Having other guests vouch for you is the best way to build credibility and lock in more bookings. In order to get the much-wanted Superhost status, a whopping 80% of your reviews need to be five shining stars.
In short, the best way to get five star reviews is to make your guests really, really happy. In other words, you need to go the extra mile, and as we all know, there are no traffic jams along the extra mile. But there's more too it and there are some tricks that you should be aware of that will help you.
How to get five star reviews on Airbnb
Let's get down to the nitty gritty. Here are my best tips on how to receive five star reviews on Airbnb.
Under-promise over-deliver
The magical piece of advise on how to get those five star reviews rolling in: Under promise, over deliver.
Guests will base their reviews on what they expect from you and your space. Expectations are based on your listing. This means that if you provide your guests with more and better things then your listing show cases, you'll most likely get an amazing review.
So, don't oversell your place and surprise your guests with a few little extras. Example: why not prepare a little “welcome box” for your guests? Put in a small box of chocolates, a local simcard or phone, a map of your city and a small welcome message. Little cost, little effort, huge appreciation. Or maybe have a bottle of cool Prosecco waiting for your guests. You get the idea.
To get really good reviews, there should definitely be no unexpected negatives. This means you have to be really honest about your listing! Ask yourself, is there anything that your guests might not like about your listing? If so, include this in your listing!
Example: my street can be a little noisy in the mornings, not ideal for light-sleepers who wants to sleep in. I mention this in my listing. As a consequence, people who are bothered by this won't book my place. I may lose out on a few bookings this way, but those who would have booked my place without knowing about the noise would most likely not give me a five star rating
Communicate well and often
Staying at an Airbnb can be slightly out of the comfort zone for people, specially the first time. Guests are completely dependent on the host for their experience. If the host screws up, guests could find themselves in an unfamiliar city in front of a closed door and a host who doesn't pick up the phone. That's a nightmare scenario, but as human beings we tend to fear the worst.
To prevent these worries, communicate often with your guest from the moment you receive an inquiry. Respond quickly, politely and in an elaborate fashion. After the booking is received, send your guests a welcome guidebook with information about your house, directions, the neighborhood, who the guests should contact on arrival and local recommendations.
Expert tip: Use Hostfully to create a beautiful online guidebook
Ask your guests if they need any assistance with their travel plans, make yourself available and let them know that you are there for them. This will go a long way in getting a glaring review.
The day after your guests have checked-in, ask them if everything is as expected. If there are any shortcomings, you want to know about it as soon as possible so you can do something about it! Even if you can't solve the problem, being aware and making an effort to sort things out will be appreciated greatly.
Make things personal
Aim to build a relationship with your guests. If the guests like you as a person and they feel that they know you, often times you'll be forgiven for minor issues. The best way to do this is to spend some time with your guests after they've checked-in.
If you're a “remote host,” there are a few things you can do to make things personal. Have your Airbnb manager put a written welcome note in the house for example. Provide your guests with plenty of local recommendations, your favorite coffee shops, bars and restaurants. You could even record a quick video message to welcome your guests.
A little-known trick
Finally, here's a little know trick that you can use to find out a bit more about your guests needs. This only works if they have stayed at Airbnbs before. Go to your guest's profile on Airbnb and see if they have any reviews. If so, you can see the host who left the review.
Chances are your guest also reviewed the host and it could be helpful to see what he or she had to say. Click on the host's listing and scroll through the reviews to find the one that your guest has left. Look for clues as to what your guest values most and if there were any complaints. If your guest mentions something wasn't clean, make sure to pay extra attention to the cleanliness of your house. You get the idea!
Join the conversation! How are you doing with your reviews? Do you have any tips? Comment below so that we can all learn from each other!
But the problem is that some people doesn’t read the description carefully then they will complaine about what already mentioned in the description and they have the right to leave the review that they want
Hi Hazem, you’re right that happens sometime. We have no control over that and can only hope potential guests will recognize it when reading the reviews.
The star ratings on AirBnB —i question the accuracy of them….when people leave 5 star reviews, it may be just out of the kindness of their hearts. I am an Airbnb host, and many of my reviews state “how clean the house is”, “good location”, and everything else, most of my ratings have been 4 stars, and I got a couple of 3’s in value and location…despite guests saying how good the price is and the location “puts them where they need to be”. My prices are lower than hotels and other hosts in my area…the house has been updated with new furniture last year, the guest room has a flat-screen TV with cable/netflix, strong wi-fi, breakfast foods are provided, and bathroom essentials provided. I made it clear on my listing how my neighborhood is and what is nearby…
guests do not state what it was that prevents the 5 stars…i know for location I cannot control that, so I dont even know why there is a location rating for AirBnB
Hi Karin, you’re right, a lot of guests are hesitant to mention negative feedback in the written review. One thing you can do is to specifically ask guests after they have left if they have any feedback.
That is the whole idea of that “private feedback” option, but they should use that rather than having me contact the guest to see what the issue is. That is true the star ratings do not fully support the guests written feedback, so I wonder if the guest does not put them in the private feedback, does AirBnB remove negative comments in the public feedback? The guest should know that I detect an issue when I see the star ratings.
I don’t think Airbnb edits the written reviews. It’s just that guests assume that hosts can’t see the amount of stars given. I have the same with my listing, pretty much all my reviews are super positive but I don’t get 5 stars every time. It also has to do with the price, I charge quite a lot to maximize my revenue. A higher price also raises expectations though, so my ratings have gone down a bit as a result, specially the “value” rating. That’s fine, in the end of the day it’s the revenue that counts.
My value ratings also had a couple of recent 3’s, but I have mostly 5’s and a few 4’s. I think the 3’s may have been from critical guests who expect the Ritz Carlton at Motel 6 prices. But guests have their own space upstairs with a private room and bathroom, flatscreen HDTV with Netflix, strong wi-fi, and bathroom essentials. I also provide breakfast foods. The guest beds were added last year when I did major renovation/updates on the house. New furniture was added, too. I also have a cleaning service (I’ve had mostly 5’s in cleanliness ratings recently). My prices are lower than hotels and other hosts in my area, but some people still do not feel they get their money’s worth, but then they may be just critical and hard to please, but I don’t know what else they were expecting. I’ve also had recent 3’s in location, which is just silly, nobody can change their location, and I made it clear on my listing on how I described my town and my neighborhood (with photos added) plus the listing shows a map with the general area where the property is located. Guests should take that in consideration before booking.
Thanks for the tip regarding finding out what a potential guest likes/dislikes based on how the reviewed prior hosts.
I agree! It is the little things that matter. We run three tiny homes on our property. I have made sure that each place is far enough away from each other to make them private. Yes, I could’ve built many more tiny homes that were closer together and made a lot more money but our guests really seem to appreciate the privacy. I always check in the night before to see what time they plan to arrive and if they stay two days or more, I always send them a check in text to see if they need anything. We also provide snacks, homemade soap and the use of snowshoes etc. I let the guests know I am always on call day or night. My description is extremely detailed and therefore quite long but I believe it is best to cover yourself so that people know what they’re getting into. I also have a ton of photographs of both the inside and outside of the tiny homes along with the hiking trails and the animals that people might get a chance to see. I have noticed a lot of hosts do not post many pictures which I think is a detriment. It is also good to comment on each picture so that people know what they are seeing. A lot of people do not read the full description and I often get many redundant questions but I always answer them politely. I also ask guests if there is anything that I can do to make their stay better. Many times they have excellent ideas. I have found that guests want to be cared for and to know that you are available for them. I also think it’s a good idea to ask guests about themselves and what they do for a living. I don’t want the conversation to be just about our place. Basically I think you really need to like and care about people in order to be successful.