19 Apr How to Write a Killer Airbnb Review for Your Guest

After your guest has come and gone it’s easy to think that your job ends there. This couldn’t possibly be farther from the truth!

Writing a killer Airbnb review for your guests, positive or negative, is an essential part of the process. If a guest is stellar and enjoys their time, writing a review is easy. The complications come in when things don’t go exactly as planned.

But let’s start with the basics.

Host and Guest Reviews

Reviews are meant to be helpful to both hosts and guests, but navigating the system can be daunting. After a guest has checked out from your listing, Airbnb will prompt the host to write their guest a review. This review should focus on the guest, their stay, and how they treated and respected the space, they rented out. At the same time, guests are also given this prompt.

Neither party can see what the other has written until 1.) they both post, or 2.) the window to write a review has passed. This is currently 14 days, with a 48 hour to edit once a review has been written.

An Airbnb review can be up to 500 characters long but should focus on being straightforward, and unique. As a host, copying and pasting your reviews from one to the next can leave a poor impression. Be clear, concise, and have complete honesty with the process.

Other things that are helpful to add on how it was to communicate with the guest before their stay, during, and after. This will give an idea to other hosts about the guest’s reliability with communication.

Why Write An Airbnb Review?

The most important thing on your Airbnb profile are the reviews left behind. Even a negative report needs to be handled with tact, in a direct yet honest way. It’s a very delicate process. Deliver the facts as they are relevant, and try to keep your personal feelings out of the mix. This is true for both positive and negative circumstances.

Airbnb hosts often struggle with writing a negative review for poorly behaved guests. There is quite a significant amount of fear that sits with the loss of reputation, or retaliation. Think of this more as constructive criticism on their behavior on how to be a better guest for future bookings. As long as you keep the tone of the review professional, a negative review is not a problem.

Picking Your Battles, Choosing Your Words

Here are some examples of how to better phrase problems with potential guests. It’s best to state facts rather than emotions into your Airbnb review.

Topic: The Messy Guest

Bad: “The guests were complete slobs and left trash on the floor.”

Good: “Garbage and stains were found on the floor of the living space.”

Topic: The Party Animal

Bad: “They were noisy and wouldn’t turn down their music.”
Good: “The guest played music on a loud volume after midnight.”

Topic: Rulebreaker

Bad: “The guests wouldn’t listen to anything I said or asked in our agreements!”
Good: “The guests did not adhere to the previously agreed upon house rules.”

When writing a negative Airbnb review, I like to create a critique sandwich. Begin with what you liked about the experience, write what you need to about the situation, and then reflect upon how both parties could do better if to continue to work together in the future.

The Easy Job

A guest with little difficulty is a blessing, and your job to write them a review is a whole lot easier. However, it’s still important to add details to the posts.

As human beings, we often like to focus on the negative. Detailing the positive experience that you have with the guest in your Airbnb review can help later hosts know that this person is reliable and makes for a wonderful partnership.

If you’re worried about the actual spelling and grammar of the piece, consider using an outside tool or getting a second pair of eyes to look at the review. I love Grammarly and check a lot of my writing pieces through the tool for any mistakes.

To Review, Or Not To Review?

If anything, I’ve learned that leaving an Airbnb review is an essential part of Airbnb’s atmosphere. You need to learn how to dish and how to serve.

How do you handle your guest reviews? Share with me in the comment box below!