Airbnb is a platform that allows hosts to rent out their homes, apartments, and other types of properties to guests for short-term stays and vacations.
Airbnb guests can leave ratings and reviews using a scale of one to five stars, with highly rated listings earning recognition as "Guest Favorites."
By responding to your Airbnb reviews with courtesy, consistency, and professionalism, you can:
This guide covers everything you need to know about responding to Airbnb reviews, from tips on responding to negative feedback to the best strategies for getting more reviews. It also includes Airbnb guest review examples, customizable review response templates, and answers to Airbnb review FAQs.
This section of our guide covers:
Once you're equipped with these three essentials, it will be faster and easier to manage your Airbnb reviews.
Before you reply to a guest review on Airbnb, it's important to familiarize yourself with the platform's rules and community guidelines, which will help you:
According to Airbnb's review policy, "Reviews must be unbiased, contain relevant information reflecting the actual experience of the reviewer during the stay or Experience, and follow our Content Policy."
Airbnb's content policy prohibits spam, sexually explicit content, racist or discriminatory content, fake or fraudulent reviews, reviews that disclose personal or sensitive information, and any type of harassment or threats, as you can see in the screenshot below:
Here are a few more rules that Airbnb enforces:
Airbnb hosts can't remove or delete negative guest reviews. However, if you receive a negative review that violates Airbnb's review policy or contains prohibited content, you can report it by contacting Airbnb's support team.
What happens after you report a guest review? According to Airbnb, "We believe that each party has the right to have their case reviewed by separate agents, but Airbnb will not review the case more than twice. Reviews will be removed if they violate our Reviews Policy, and both guest and Host will be informed of this decision upon removal."
This section discusses how to view guest reviews and publish review responses on Airbnb. For tips on what to say in your response, skip ahead to the next section of this guide.
As of 2024, there are two ways to respond to Airbnb reviews: from your preferred desktop browser, or using a mobile browser.
First, sign into your Airbnb profile and navigate to the "Reviews" section. Next, select the "Reviews about you" option, then choose the "Leave public response" option. Copy or type your response into the text field, then select "Submit" when you're ready to publish.
The steps for responding to Airbnb reviews from a mobile browser are identical to the steps for responding from a desktop browser. The only difference is that you’re tapping a phone screen instead of clicking a computer mouse.
Unfortunately, it's not possible for Airbnb hosts to respond to guest reviews using the Airbnb mobile app — at least, not as of July 2024. As Airbnb explains, regardless of whether you're an Android or iPhone user, "You need to log into your account via a browser (not using the Airbnb app) to respond to a review."
The steps for responding from your mobile or desktop internet browser are listed in the previous sections of this guide.
It’s easy to view Airbnb reviews you’ve received from previous guests. Simply follow these three steps:
You can also see your reviews in the Airbnb app by following the steps above for mobile users. Just remember that you’ll need to open a mobile or desktop browser to respond to guest feedback, since hosts can't respond from the app.
Now that we've covered the steps to responding, let's discuss how to create the actual content.
In this section of our guide, you'll find practical tips for responding to Airbnb reviews, plus easy-to-customize review response templates for positive and negative Airbnb reviews.
Whether you're replying to a positive or negative review, it's important to follow best practices. Following best practices will help ensure that your review responses sound professional, meet community standards, and leave a good impression on potential guests who are checking your Airbnb profile.
Here are six best practices to follow when replying to Airbnb reviews:
Tip #1: Address your guests by name
Using the guest's name in your response, instead of omitting the name or using a generic title, is an easy way to signal that you're paying attention to commenters' feedback. This can be as simple as saying, "Thanks for reviewing your visit, [ Guest Name ]!" or, "Thank you, [ Guest Name ], for leaving a comment!"
Tip #2: Thank your guests for sharing their feedback
It's important to express appreciation to guests who take the time to leave reviews — even the negative ones. Here are some examples of how to thank guests for positive or negative reviews:
You can find more examples with these thank you templates for positive customer reviews.
Tip #3: Personalize your responses with details
Personalization is an important aspect of any review response strategy, whether it involves Airbnb, Yelp, Google, or any other review site. Personalizing your responses shows that you read guests' feedback carefully, which in turn, shows that you're committed to providing positive experiences for your guests.
Personalizing your responses also encourages other guests to share their feedback with you, which helps you get more ratings and reviews.
You can easily personalize your responses by echoing details from the original review. For example, depending on the original comment, you can say something like, "It's great to hear about the warm, friendly service you received from our staff," or, "We're delighted to hear that the private deck was such a big hit with your family, and we're absolutely thrilled that you would recommend the house to others!"
Tip #4: Apologize for any negative aspects of the guest's stay
It's important to apologize briefly but sincerely to guests who leave bad or mixed reviews. Ideally, your apology should also show how you're taking steps to address the concerns raised.
Here are a few examples:
Tip #5: Encourage reviewers to book again or contact you
Whether the guest leaves a positive, mixed, or negative review, warmly welcome them to return back any time. Here are a few examples:
Tip #6: Respond quickly and consistently
Guests only have 14 days to leave a review after an Airbnb visit. After a guest leaves a review or sends you a message, it's crucial to respond within 24 hours — not only because consumers expect fast customer support but also because Airbnb measures hosts' response speed or "response time."
According to Airbnb, "Responses after 24 hours count as a late response, which will decrease your response rate and increase your response time. Your response rate can impact your position in search results." Airbnb defines "response rate" as "the percentage of new inquiries and reservation requests you responded to (by either accepting/pre-approving or declining) within 24 hours in the past 30 days."
Here are five easy-to-customize response templates to respond to positive, mixed, or negative Airbnb reviews.
5-star Airbnb review response template: "Thank you so much for your outstanding review, [ Guest Name!] It was fantastic to read about your wonderful stay at [ Property Name ], especially your kind words about the [ private balcony, charming decor, beautiful garden, impeccable cleanliness of the home, etc. ]. You [ and your family, friends, etc. ] are more than welcome to return any time! Thanks for again for sharing your review and being such a great guest!"
4-star Airbnb review response template: "Thank you for your review, [ Guest Name ]! I'm happy to hear how much you enjoyed [ visiting, seeing, using, etc. ] the [ nearby attractions, gorgeous local beaches, relaxing zen garden, brand-new hot tub, etc. ]. If there's anything I can do to make your next visit 5-star worthy, please don't hesitate to let me and my team know. Thanks again for your review, and it was a pleasure hosting you, [ Guest Name ]!"
3-star Airbnb review response template: "Thanks for sharing your review, [ Guest Name ]. While I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed [ positive detail from the review ], I'm sorry that other aspects of your visit weren't as positive. I sincerely apologize for the issue that you experienced with [ check in, the shower temperature, leaking windows during the severe weather, etc. ], and am currently in the process of making the necessary changes with my team to prevent this from happening again in the future. I hope you'll consider returning so that we can show you our very best service and earn a 5-star rating from you!"
2-star Airbnb review response template: "Hi [ Guest Name ], thank you for leaving a review. I'm truly sorry to hear that your experience at [ Property Name ] wasn't what you were hoping for. I've shared your comments about [ your room cleanliness, the wifi connection, etc. ] with my team, and we're reviewing this matter internally to make sure it doesn't become a repeat experience. I hope that me and my staff will have another opportunity to host you in the future and make sure you receive the fantastic experience we strive to deliver for our guests."
1-star Airbnb review response template: "Thank you for taking the time to share your honest feedback, [ Guest Name ]. I'm sorry to hear about the [ check out, building entry code, air conditioning, noise, etc. ] issue and sincerely apologize for any [ frustration, disappointment, inconvenience, etc. ] you experienced as a result. Me and my team are reviewing this issue internally to ensure that all of our guests enjoy a positive and comfortable future visit. We hope we'll have another opportunity to host you, and we thank you again for providing feedback about your stay."
You might also be interested in exploring our positive hotel review response examples or negative hotel review response templates, which can easily be repurposed for Airbnb review management.
Maintaining your Airbnb property is already demanding enough. Don't spend more time, money, or energy than you have to manually manage your reviews.
Instead, look to ResponseScribe: the AI-powered review response service designed to streamline reputation management.
How do we create content? ResponseScribe combines the latest in generative AI with an expert writing team with more than 10 years of experience responding to millions of reviews for brands like Kia, Chick-fil-A, Storage King, and Wyndham.
Do we use AI to generate responses? ResponseScribe offers the flexibility to choose human-written or AI-powered responses, empowering your business to compare different strategies and adopt the best approach for its review management needs. Human-written responses are ready in under 24 hours, and AI-generated responses are ready within minutes.
How do we ensure high-quality responses? Custom email or text alerts and notifications keep you looped into every response before publishing, enabling you to ensure that every reply meets your standards and aligns with your desired messaging.
How much does it cost? At just $29 per location per month, ResponseScribe is an affordable option for Airbnb hosts searching for budget-friendly review management solutions. We even offer a free trial, so you can find out if ResponseScribe is a good fit for your needs without any financial risk.
Learn more about pricing, or get a closer look at how ResponseScribe works.
A bad review on Airbnb can discourage potential guests while hurting your online reputation. However, by studying and implementing guests' feedback, you can reduce the number of bad reviews you receive in the future.
For example, if multiple guests leave complaints about shower cleanliness or broken air conditioning, you can improve your future ratings by addressing that specific issue.
Here are some of the most common reasons for negative reviews on Airbnb:
These are also common complaints in the hotel industry, which we explored in our guide to creating hotel review responses.
While an isolated customer complaint may not necessarily be cause for alarm, recurring trends or issues raised by guests should be carefully investigated.
Other than implementing guest feedback, here are some other ways for Airbnb hosts to earn better ratings and reviews:
Getting more Airbnb reviews can also help you acquire "Guest Favorite" status. As Airbnb explains, Guest Favorites are "a collection of the 2 million most-loved homes on Airbnb based on ratings, reviews, and reliability data from over half a billion trips."
Not only does a Guest Favorite badge make your listing more attractive, it also makes it more visible since Airbnb users can filter search results to show Guest Favorites only.
So, what's the best way to encourage reviews from your guests?
Data shows that some methods of requesting reviews are more effective than others. Using effective request methods will increase the ratings and reviews you receive, making it easier for future guests to find your listing and book a stay.
According to research by Brightlocal, here are some of the most (and least) effective methods of asking for online reviews. The rankings are based on the percentage of consumers who would be "more likely to write a review" if asked using that method.
Responding to Airbnb reviews is an effective way to build guest loyalty, convert potential guests, and increase your Airbnb search visibility. ResponseScribe makes it effortless by automating every step of the process, from tracking new reviews and analyzing review sentiment to creating and publishing personalized responses in under 24 hours.
Book more guests with less work. Start your free trial of ResponseScribe today, and discover how AI-powered review management can help grow your Airbnb business faster.
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