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Reviews - a continuing disparity
Each and every partner listed with Booking.com is affected by our property score which is review based in a number of ways. I have noted a number of issues with this system in relation to how they are moderated and how ratings are scored. I wondered how other property owners/managers felt about the reviews system:
- The length of time it takes Booking.com to enable a property's review reply to be published - I have been waiting since towards the end of July/beginning of this month for my replies, which do not breach T&Cs/Policies, to be published - by not publishing replies it provides a negative overview for the guest who took the time to leave a review..
- I receive nine positive reviews in a row, with each booking having rated a 10 in every category and my property score does not change at all. I receive just one review that scores me a 7.5, even though they were happy with their stay overall, and immediately I drop down a point in my property score.. What gives?
Anyone else experience either of the above? I have read resources on how scores are calculated, but even they don't explain the disparity in the latter issue.
Hoping you're all having a super Season
~ Jay
The reviews system is changing - there will be scores out of 10 - don't know when it'll happen though.
I doubt the changes will fix the unfairness of the system. They seem to be adding extra bits like bed ratings, which apparently don't affect the review scores, but do affect whether your property is shown to people looking to book a holiday.
Thanks for your reply, Isle of Wight Vacations, that seems a bizarre inclusion if they do indeed feature that as part of the rating system. The overall system is fine for chains/corporate businesses who will thrive regardless due to their dominance in the hospitality industry, but this system currently works to the detriment of small business owners such as myself.
Arithmetic mean = 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 7,5 = 47,50 / 5 = 9,5. Also Hosts need to accept that 7,5 = VERY GOOD score. If you're getting low scores for the bed, it's probably time to change the bed/mattress? Those bits are there so that you can improve and give better service. I know that I improved my services because of those bits and overall reviews.
7.5 doesn't look very good ..... fortunately, the overall score after multiple guests gives something like 9.7, which looks much better .... although would probably be higher if guests had been able to score at 9/10 instead of 7.5/10 ....
hopefully the new scoring system will be a bit fairer ....
as for things like beds, we can all get "the bed was too hard", "the bed was too soft" and "that's the best night's sleep i've had for years", all for the same bed .... it's not about the bed, it's about people .... and we can't really choose the people ....
and more importantly, these ratings seem to be creeping in for various things .... it's not just beds .... the latest one i've seen is "Room view" .... the last guest who reviewed us gave us 5/10 for that, even though there is a very clear photo of the view in our listing .... it's just a grass area surrounded by single storey buildings .... real life view and photo are the same .... very unfair for a guest to score that when they can see it before they book .... and very unfair for hosts to be penalised in this way ...
We are all using the same system, so it's "fair".
No basicly it's not. If you are receiving low scores for the bed, then it's the bed. If you receive mostly good scores for the bed and sometimes lower score, it's about the people. We all don't have the same perspective. For that reason there is a saying "the guest is always right". And it's part of this business unfortunately. We can't please them all. As you said you received few 10's and one 7,5. That's because we see differently, but majority is still more positive then those that gives lower scores. And the majority matters.