The main purpose of writing reviews for your guests is so that other hosts can make an informed decision on whether or not that guest is the right fit for them. Most vacation rental platforms such as Airbnb, VRBO, and Homeaway will send a notification to hosts and travelers requesting a review. We know that reviews are crucial for hosts, but they are also important for guests. In this blog, we will explore some tips on how to write reviews for your guests.
-
Always write a review
Whether it was a positive or negative experience with your guest, be sure to always leave a review. Reviews are not only important for your guest and other hosts, but for you as well! When you review your guest, it will incentivize them to leave a guest for you out of courtesy. On Airbnb, guests and hosts have 14 days to review one another. Until both parties have review one another, reviews will remain hidden.
2. Would you host the guest again?
The main thing another host wants learn from reading a review about a guest is “Would this guest be hosted again?” Of course all hosts may have varying degrees of standards as to if they would or would not host a guest again, but overall, hosts still look for the same things in guests. Some factors to consider when deciding whether or not you would host this guest again are cleanliness, communication, and adherence to house rules.
3. Check with your Airbnb cleaner
An important factor in leaving a guest review is cleanliness and how the house was left upon check out. For this reason you should check with your Airbnb cleaner about how the property was when they arrived to clean. Based on what your cleaner tells you, you can add this into your review.
4. See what others hosts write in reviews
If you’re having a hard time producing content for your review, look on others’ profiles to see what was written by other hosts. It will give you a good template on what to include in your review. By doing so, your review will be more beneficial to other hosts because they will get know key points they are looking for.
5. Be honest and specific
Beating around the bush or lying doesn’t benefit anyone. Try to be as honest and specific as possible. The more details you provide, the better. Being honest will sometimes means that you will need to leave a negative review for your guest. Most times hosts will be hesitant to leave a negative review out of fear of backlash or because they do not want to make the guest feel bad. If you do happen to be writing a negative review, try starting off your review by focusing on the positives. You also may want to phrase your review in a more pleasant tone. For example, instead of writing “the guests were slobs”, try writing “we found several stains around the house”.
