4.99 Rating for 1K+ Reviews: Guest Experience Tips You Can Use At Your STR!

[Garrett Kroll]

Our property management business recently reached 1,000 total reviews across our 18-property portfolio, and we’ve been fortunate enough to maintain a 4.99 average rating across all OTAs.

I wanted to share some strategies we focused on that helped us reach this milestone. These apply to investors, co-hosts, or property managers who aim to create an exceptional guest experience in this competitive industry. All of these required trade-offs though. Our hypothesis was that by having the highest-reviewed properties, everything in the business would become easier.

1. Paid Cleaners Well: Cleanliness was the biggest factor impacting reviews, so we decided not to take any chances. We invested time in finding the best team and paid them better than anyone else in our market. High pay enabled us to hold our team to higher standards, while also giving us the flexibility to make quick changes if needed (we have several cleaners eager to work with us). While it was tempting to make a margin on cleaning fees, we believed it was shortsighted; it was far easier to charge more per night with great reviews than to pocket that money and deal with cleaner turnover and unhappy guests.
2. No Checkout Instructions: We believed people were on vacation, and since we already paid our cleaning team well (see point 1), we didn’t feel it was necessary to ask guests to do anything. We highlighted this on all our listings with something like, “No checkout chores! You’re on vacation :)” This change was made about six months ago, and it became one of the most frequently mentioned positives in our reviews.
3. Well-Stocked Kitchens: In my opinion, this is hands-down the most underrated amenity in our industry. After analyzing our reviews with Chat GPT (something we should all be doing), we found this was the most commonly mentioned item in our 5-star reviews. We ensured every home had a wide collection of quality cookware, spices, coffee, etc. This was so important to our business that we covered the cost of these consumable kitchen supplies for all our owners. In our listings, we often say something like, “A well-stocked kitchen with everything you’d expect to find at home, and perhaps a little more.”
4. Check-in Follow-Up Message: We found that one specific message set us up best for a 5-star review: the follow-up message. Within an hour of check-in, we send a message like, “Hey Jane, I just wanted to make sure you arrived ok and everything is perfect! Please let me know if you need anything during your stay, or if a detail has been missed.” This showed that we cared about their experience and maintained high standards. This approach requires more messaging though—and the impact of this at a larger scale could be a lot of extra work—but in our view, it was absolutely worth it. This is hospitality, after all.
5. Personal OTA Profiles: We recognized that guests often wanted to know exactly who they were communicating with, both before and after booking. I believe a host profile with a face and a name also helped us avoid negative reviews, as guests are less likely to criticize an individual than a company. As our portfolio grew, we were intentional about keeping our profile personal rather than corporate. We hypothesized that more people booked from a host with a face and name rather than a company logo, which likely helped with revenue too.
6. Well-Timed Refunds: When mistakes inevitably happened, we limited exposure to bad reviews by issuing generous refunds right before guests checked out. We chose this timing because 1) there was less chance of additional issues making the refund seem inadequate, and 2) it created a positive impression right before guests were likely to leave a review. In most cases, these guests either didn’t leave a review —which was a lot better than risking a 4-star review or worse.
7. Updated Digital Guidebooks: Every time a guest shared private feedback, we looked for ways to improve the information in our guidebook. This could involve adding new information (e.g., embedding a link to a ski shuttle schedule) or setting expectations (e.g., noting that there’s no A/C, which is an rare amenity in our climate anyway). Our guidebook is a page embedded within our website, and having the flexibility to make updates quickly has been clutch.

Lastly, and most importantly, these tips won’t make a lot of impact if you don’t have a good product to offer. Loud neighbors, a poor location, and poor floor plan could mean a constant uphill battle to keep guests happy, and likely a lower ceiling for guest review scores.