4-star review advice

[Johnny Duray]

I’ve run into this problem twice now in 3 weeks so I’m starting to think “It’s not you, it’s me” and looking for some advice.

Someone leaves me a 4-star review. Zero issues during their stay. I reach out and the convo goes like this...

“Hi. I saw you left a 4-star review, anything we could have done better for you?”

“Nope. Loved the place. Had a great time. We’ll be back next year.”

“Ok great! Unfortunately, a 4-star review lowers our rankings in searches, puts us at risk of losing Superhost status, etc.”

“Oh really?!! I had no idea. I just don’t give 5 star reviews for anything normally. I’d love to change it to a 5-star if I could.”

Then I start the process of trying to get it changed...which is somewhere above brain surgery but below putting someone on Mars in terms of difficulty level. I was successful once with VRBO after weeks of back and forth. Just had the same thing happen on AirBNB and don’t even want to think about what this might be like.

I know a 4-star review isn’t the end of everything, but I want to reserve those reviews for when I actually have issues that deserve one. I don’t want to “waste” my 4 stars on misunderstandings like this. I’ve tried editing my wording in my automated messages to indicate how I’m trying to provide a 5-star experience, but I’ve stopped short of saying “If you’re going to give us anything less than 5-stars please reach out before doing so.”

Should I go that route?