Should Airbnb Hosts Ask Guests to Leave a Review?

The saying “you’re only as good as your last review” is very true for anyone using Airbnb.  Reviews play an important part in how Airbnb’s platform works, and have a crucial role in future booking opportunities for both hosts and guests.  The average review rate according to Airbnb is 78%, however, community forums talk about a large variance between 33% and 85% for any individual property. Airbnb only provides 14 days for both parties to provide a review, so time is of the essence when it comes to receiving a review from your guests.

To Ask or Not to Ask for Airbnb Reviews?

The answer is YES! You should always ask your guests for a review.

Airbnb requests that hosts adhere to their content policy when it comes to asking for reviews.  The Airbnb content policy specifically states that a host can ask a guest to leave an honest positive review or rating reflecting a positive experience.

Many hosts never ask for reviews and still manage to obtain a good review rate.  If you are providing a quality stay and communicating well, there is no reason why you should not get at least the 50% superhost requirement.  

However, many guests are not familiar with how important the reviews are, or simply get busy and forget. A nice reminder for a review will bring back happy memories of their stay in your listing and you can even let them know how much their review means to you.

Sample of How to Ask Your Guest for a Review

Hi guest, thank you visiting our city!  Hope you had a great time in our Airbnb listing.
If you have a few minutes, it would mean the world to me if you could leave a review about your stay!

Hope you visit again in the future!

Thanks,
James

Airbnb Content Policy

Airbnb has established the following content violations in regards to obtaining reviews:

Excerpt about what is not allowed for reviews from the Airbnb Content Policy:

Reviews

• Reviews that do not represent the author’s personal experience or that of their travel companions
• Reviews incentivized by a promise for payment, additional services, or a discounted rate
• Reviews motivated by a threat of extortion
  

Airbnb has set out in more detail what guest and hosts are and are not allowed to do in their Extortion Policy:

Hosts are NOT allowed to do the following:

• Hosts requiring a guest to leave a positive review or rating, or to revise a review in exchange for a partial or full refund, or reciprocal review. Hosts also can’t offer a free or discounted stay in exchange for a guest revising an existing review.
• Hosts asking a guest to take specific actions related to a review in exchange for a resolution to a dispute between the parties.

Hosts ARE allowed to do the following:

• A host from asking a guest to leave an honest positive review or rating reflecting a positive experience.

Why Reviews are Important for Airbnb Listings

1. Trust

Reviews are crucial to the trust factor when using Airbnb. Hosts rely on legitimate guest reviews to avoid bad guests, and vice-versa for hosts. Without reviews, guests and hosts are just rolling the dice on any given stay.

2. Ranking

Both the number and the quality of the reviews you receive are two of the most well-known factors for determining ranking on Airbnb.

3. Superhost Status

To earn or retain Superhost status a host needs to have an overall rating of 4.8, based on the past 365 days of reviews they have received.

About Keycafe

Keycafe is a technology company modernizing business key management with a cloud-connected SmartBox and accompanying key management software.

In addition to a global Public Network of over 1000 locations for Airbnb users, Keycafe’s Enterprise Solution enables businesses in any industry to manage key access for staff and customers.