Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / The Guest Opinion Circus That's Killing Airbnb Hosts

Transcript

The Guest Opinion Circus That's Killing Airbnb Hosts · Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights

• 0:00
  This review washing has destroyed the system because
• 0:03
  it's turned that authentic feedback into manufactured
• 0:07
  outcomes. When you get hosts actively
• 0:11
  coaching their scores, ratings stop measuring property quality
• 0:17
  and they start measuring coaching effectiveness.
• 0:21
  Why is the short term rental review system broken?
• 0:25
  What are the real world consequences of dropping from a
• 0:28
  4.8 rating to 4.6 on Airbnb? And what is review coaching?
• 0:35
  Humphrey Bowles from True V is the special guest on the Host
• 0:39
  Planet podcast, and he'll be answering all these questions
• 0:41
  and more on today's show. Humphrey, thank you for joining
• 0:50
  us on the Host Planet podcast. Why do you think the short term
• 0:53
  rental review system is broken? Well, James, I think this is
• 0:58
  something that really hasn't had enough airtime.
• 1:01
  So I'm so grateful for you to you for for having me on.
• 1:05
  I mean, look, when you step back and look at it, objectivity of
• 1:11
  objectively, that's not even the word objectively.
• 1:14
  Like the short term rental review system has become almost
• 1:18
  comically dysfunctional. I mean, it's a bit like my
• 1:22
  language or my speaking, isn't it?
• 1:24
  Like we've got a system where 94% of properties supposedly
• 1:28
  deserve 4 1/2 stars or higher. That's just statistically
• 1:33
  impossible. Like a world's been created
• 1:36
  where everyone marks, everything is perfect.
• 1:39
  I mean, that's, that's totally nuts, isn't it?
• 1:42
  It is pretty nuts. I mean, yeah.
• 1:43
  I mean, how have we ended up in a situation and all of us who
• 1:47
  are hosts were all guilty of this?
• 1:49
  A four-star review feels like the end of the world.
• 1:54
  I mean, it really does like when you get a four-star review as a
• 1:59
  host. I mean, it's not a OK, that was
• 2:03
  bad, let's try again. It's like, Oh my goodness, my
• 2:06
  business might be about to implode.
• 2:08
  I need to do something about it. And, you know, in, in any
• 2:14
  rational rating system, four stars should mean very good.
• 2:18
  You know, something to celebrate.
• 2:21
  But we've created this bizarre reality where four stars is a
• 2:25
  business death, death sentence. Like, you know, the platforms
• 2:30
  have designed their algorithms to make anything below 4.8 stars
• 2:36
  virtually invisible. And if you drop to 4.7 stars
• 2:40
  because of a four-star review, your bookings can actually like
• 2:43
  plummet 60 to 80% overnight. So please don't get me wrong,
• 2:47
  I'm in no ways criticizing the reaction of property managers
• 2:52
  when they get the four-star review.
• 2:53
  Like I remember, not like it is, it is tragic, but it's insane
• 2:58
  that it like this has become a factor about whether or not your
• 3:03
  business survives or thrives or dies.
• 3:07
  And it's that serious. So it's totally right to panic
• 3:11
  about anything less than perfect.
• 3:13
  But it's when a four-star review doesn't mean good experience, it
• 3:17
  means you just move me closer to financial ruin that we start to
• 3:22
  need to have this conversation about whether that's healthy for
• 3:25
  the industry or not, because this is not the only way
• 3:29
  platforms could have designed this differently.
• 3:31
  And you know, you can reward consistency or genuine
• 3:35
  satisfaction, but really they've designed or chosen to design or
• 3:40
  build a system which really demands only perfection because
• 3:46
  perfection then makes these marketplaces look like they're
• 3:49
  flawless. And that's, that's the, that's
• 3:51
  the issue, I think. And then the knock on
• 3:55
  consequence from that is then when you look at it from 10,000
• 4:00
  feet, you see that we've trained hospitality entrepreneurs to
• 4:04
  actually fear honest feedback because the four stars isn't a
• 4:09
  disaster because of your property quality, it's a
• 4:13
  disaster because of algorithmic visibility.
• 4:16
  OK, real talk now for all you hosts out there, you know that
• 4:19
  moment when you guest messages you again with hey, what's the
• 4:23
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• 4:26
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• 4:59
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• 5:35
  There are many things to unpack there, and there's one thing
• 5:38
  that sprang to mind as you were talking.
• 5:41
  I met a chap at an event a couple of years ago, actually
• 5:44
  just after Host Planet started, and he had a, and he was very
• 5:47
  proud of it, an Airbnb rating as a host 4.99.
• 5:52
  And one of the ways he achieved this was no matter what the
• 5:57
  guest did, how bad they were, if they trashed the place,
• 6:01
  whatever, he always gave them five stars.
• 6:06
  And there's method in that madness, right?
• 6:10
  Yeah, maybe. I mean, look, you don't know
• 6:13
  what you've been given by your host or guest until they've left
• 6:18
  you a review as well. So the system is is blind.
• 6:23
  And genuinely, what I think we see in this space is what I
• 6:31
  would describe as review washing.
• 6:34
  So it's ultimately when host coach guests on how to rate and
• 6:39
  most guests follow the instructions they're given
• 6:42
  because they don't want to leave anyone feeling a bit grumpy
• 6:46
  about the experience. And then the platforms collect
• 6:49
  this review, wash data and market it as proof of
• 6:52
  excellence. I mean, it's great for them,
• 6:54
  isn't it? Like everyone goes onto the
• 6:55
  platform and they see thousands of properties with five star
• 6:58
  reviews or 4.9. Like that must be the sign of a
• 7:02
  healthy platform, mustn't it? But the, but you know, the
• 7:06
  crucially, the those guests, they can't tell the difference
• 7:09
  between genuine great properties and genuinely crap properties
• 7:13
  with this good coaching. So, so I don't think like that,
• 7:19
  that I, I would, I would hate to, to, to suggest that anyone
• 7:25
  would be review coaching if they, if they weren't.
• 7:28
  And they generally did produce amazing guest experiences
• 7:31
  because I, I totally believe that can happen.
• 7:34
  But for that consistency, I would I would suggest that
• 7:38
  actually there was some coaching going on, which is why
• 7:43
  regardless of the state of the property, regardless of who the
• 7:46
  guests were, those consistent ratings and reviews were coming
• 7:51
  up. It's interesting, isn't it,
• 7:53
  Because we see on forums and people commenting on social
• 7:56
  media hosts, they're afraid of getting a guest who's perhaps
• 8:01
  using Airbnb for the first time and doesn't realize that pretty
• 8:06
  much everybody scores everything 5 out of five.
• 8:10
  And they come along, give the four out of five rating thinking
• 8:13
  that it's a decent review. And of course the host is the
• 8:17
  host is really upset about it. Is it because 5 is just too low
• 8:22
  a number? Is that part of the problem?
• 8:26
  I, I, I genuinely think that it's not the number that's the
• 8:33
  problem for me. And I really hope because
• 8:39
  there's so many more guests than hosts, that this doesn't go down
• 8:41
  wrong. But for me, it's the whole guest
• 8:44
  opinion circus that needs to change.
• 8:48
  You know, you've got a system and by system I mean algorithm
• 8:54
  that is driven by a complete chaotic guest driven mess where
• 9:02
  every review is coming from a completely different person with
• 9:07
  completely different expectations and rating
• 9:10
  behaviors. So, so one of the first things
• 9:15
  that I'd like to do is to try and help, you know, create a
• 9:17
  system where there is no more random guests with random
• 9:20
  standards determining what a host business fetus like that.
• 9:25
  That just seems to me to be like the logical first step in how
• 9:29
  you in how you go about combating this.
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• 10:51
  We'll get on to exactly what needs to be done a little bit
• 10:53
  later, but I think we should probably unpack exactly what
• 10:57
  happens. And Airbnb is the obvious
• 10:59
  example here when you drop from maybe 4.8 to 4.6, and I know
• 11:05
  you've touched on it a little bit with the algorithm and that
• 11:08
  kind of thing. Another thing that came to my
• 11:10
  mind is that I think when you drop below 4.8 on Airbnb as an
• 11:14
  individual host, you can no longer be part of the Co hosting
• 11:18
  community on Airbnb as well. So what happens to property
• 11:23
  businesses when they do make that little drop down to say,
• 11:27
  4.64.5? Sure.
• 11:31
  And let's let's just discount any participation trophies
• 11:36
  because partition participation trophies are not how you build a
• 11:40
  real sustainable business. So the fact that you lose super
• 11:43
  host status, who gets does not matter.
• 11:46
  So the brutal answer is you essentially get digitally
• 11:53
  exiled. So you drop down to 4.64 point,
• 11:59
  5 stars and you don't just lose customers.
• 12:03
  The algorithm is basically set up so that you get banished from
• 12:08
  the platform. So one day you can be thriving
• 12:11
  and the next day you are totally invisible.
• 12:14
  You know, Chuck back down to page 130 on the on on the
• 12:19
  rankings. And this could come from one
• 12:23
  guest who thought four stars meant pretty good, which by the
• 12:26
  way, it does it means pretty good.
• 12:28
  So when let's not give the guest too much, you know, Jip and
• 12:32
  instead of, you know, banish this person from the platform
• 12:36
  and the digital, you know, deportation because someone
• 12:39
  misunderstood the survey or how the game works is exactly why
• 12:45
  these hosts have been compelled into review washing and coaching
• 12:52
  because, you know, every host has to obsess over it.
• 12:56
  It's not a minor influence. It's a massive influence.
• 13:00
  You know, will this guest review send me into exile?
• 13:05
  Like holy crap, Like this is like hospitality by survival
• 13:09
  mode. This isn't just that's OK, the
• 13:13
  next one will be great. This is literally like life
• 13:17
  changing, altering things, which is out of a host control.
• 13:22
  So once you're banished, OK, it's really difficult to get
• 13:25
  back. It's not impossible, but it
• 13:29
  nearly is because the platform keeps you listed.
• 13:33
  What's making you invisible? It's like being exiled, isn't
• 13:36
  it? To a desert island while your
• 13:38
  name stays in the phone book. You know you're there, but
• 13:41
  you're not really there. And you as a host, you didn't
• 13:44
  break any rules. You just lost the rigged lottery
• 13:48
  where the platform controls who gets to exist and who doesn't.
• 13:53
  So there's the impact of going from 4.8 to 4.6, but what about
• 13:58
  the impact if you get a horrendous review?
• 14:01
  A1 Star Review. I mean, it happens, OK?
• 14:04
  It really does happen. And really the only realistic
• 14:08
  thing that you can do is to look to challenge that review for all
• 14:12
  it's worth. But good luck to you because the
• 14:17
  platforms are set up in order to essentially help the guests.
• 14:26
  And unless they've broken rules and there are rules that guests
• 14:29
  need to follow, which you might be able to use against them,
• 14:32
  you're going to be in trouble. So it's, it's the ridiculous
• 14:37
  thing, you know, James, where I'm really anti review washing
• 14:44
  because I think it devalues the system.
• 14:46
  I'm also really anti being dependent on one platform for
• 14:50
  all of your reviews. And therefore you have to enter
• 14:55
  into the spirit of review washing because if your
• 15:00
  competitors are doing it and you're not, they are going to
• 15:03
  gain a competitive advantage over your business.
• 15:07
  And therefore you have to go down to the lowest common
• 15:11
  denominator, which is also then coaching your guests.
• 15:14
  So I completely get it. But I think that the person who
• 15:19
  it harms the most is the guest. And we're coming up to
• 15:24
  Christmas. Maybe it's time that we call a
• 15:27
  Christmas time packed on review washing to just let the ratings
• 15:32
  go to where they should be across the industry.
• 15:36
  And if everyone did it at the same time, which by the way they
• 15:39
  won't, then potentially that would actually lead to a much
• 15:43
  more transparent and valuable rating system within short term
• 15:46
  rentals. I spoke to Duran Mayassad from
• 15:51
  Plum Guide a while ago on the podcast and on Plum Guide, they
• 15:56
  try to have brutal honesty in the listings and say, look,
• 16:01
  these are the little niggles that are wrong with this
• 16:03
  property. And then once the guest has
• 16:06
  been, they'll go back to the guest and say, look, tell us
• 16:10
  anything, anything that was wrong with this property.
• 16:14
  Do we need to be closer to that with the review system than than
• 16:18
  what we have? I mean, I love that.
• 16:21
  And if that's what the dumb guys are doing, then you like, like,
• 16:25
  kudos to them because they're trying to make something real
• 16:28
  and transparent. And they're not just trying to
• 16:31
  do something in order to make everything appear perfect.
• 16:35
  Because what you've just explained is almost like the
• 16:41
  opposite of review washing. So look, when you're, when
• 16:45
  you're coaching, like, you know, what is review washing?
• 16:47
  What is review coaching? What is the whole thing?
• 16:49
  You know, when you're, when you're teaching guests how to
• 16:52
  rate you really. And in so many cases, before
• 16:57
  they've even experienced your property, you're you're just
• 17:02
  going to create a system where everything is perfect.
• 17:07
  And if everything is perfect, nothing is.
• 17:10
  So when hosts leave messages like we hope you had a five star
• 17:15
  stay or if anything might prevent five stars and let us
• 17:20
  know immediately. Like, you know, this has got to
• 17:23
  such a sophisticated level, James, where people like build
• 17:27
  it into their entire guest journey.
• 17:30
  You know, you have welcome books explaining the rating system.
• 17:34
  You get put up on walls. If you don't leave me 5 stars,
• 17:38
  I'm going to lose my job. You know, check out instructions
• 17:42
  about helping small businesses. And then, you know, you've got
• 17:45
  the follow up messages all fishing for the perfect scores.
• 17:49
  And I don't think it's too far to say that this review washing
• 17:54
  has destroyed the system because it's turned that authentic
• 17:58
  feedback into manufactured outcomes.
• 18:01
  And when you get hosts actively coaching their scores, ratings
• 18:07
  stop measuring property quality and they start measuring
• 18:12
  coaching effectiveness. And that's, that's the warped
• 18:17
  reality of where we've got to, we're measuring a host's ability
• 18:22
  to coach their guests, nothing to do with their stay.
• 18:26
  And you know, if, if I can take a three star property and
• 18:29
  review, wash it so a consistent 4.99 ratings, the system's not
• 18:35
  measuring the property anymore. It is measuring my manipulation
• 18:40
  skills. And that leads to this massive
• 18:43
  artificial inflation. I think as well as as hosts and
• 18:47
  property managers, when we travel and stay at a short term
• 18:50
  rental, we're probably guilty of being on the other side of it
• 18:54
  because we know how important the five star review is.
• 18:58
  And even when we've had a stay, which has been OK, and it's
• 19:00
  probably worth a three or a four in the real world, we give it 5
• 19:04
  because we think, you know, we, we sympathize with, with the
• 19:07
  host. Clean slate.
• 19:10
  Then let's imagine you're creating the new review system
• 19:14
  tomorrow. What does it look like?
• 19:18
  So I think this is one of the hardest questions that remains
• 19:25
  to be answered in short term rentals.
• 19:27
  And I, I'm obviously going to give you, I'm going to give you
• 19:33
  my opinion, OK? And what I would do, there are
• 19:36
  going to be so many other people's opinions.
• 19:38
  And do you know what? I'd just love to hear them.
• 19:41
  OK, so I really want people to engage with this and to give
• 19:46
  their opinions because I don't think I'm 100% right.
• 19:49
  I'll take 10%, right? But if other people out there
• 19:53
  can add the other 90%, maybe between us all we can actually
• 19:57
  build something that is valuable.
• 20:00
  So I alluded to it earlier, OK, the first thing I do would be to
• 20:05
  scrap the whole guest opinion circus and I would move to, and
• 20:13
  I'm going to shock you here, a platform determined quarterly
• 20:18
  ratings based on actual performance data.
• 20:23
  So number one, OK, get rid of that chaotic guest driven mess
• 20:27
  where every review comes from a completely different person with
• 20:31
  completely different expectations and rating
• 20:34
  behaviors. No more random guests with
• 20:37
  random flipping standards determining anyone's business
• 20:41
  fate. I then introduce a platform
• 20:45
  determined quarterly ratings based on performance within
• 20:51
  actual categories. OK, so I'd introduce actual
• 20:54
  categories so your $75 budget property competes with other
• 21:00
  budget properties for budget travellers, not against a
• 21:04
  $400.00 luxury villa for the same algorithmic visibility.
• 21:09
  Now I think this solves the core insanity.
• 21:13
  Right now you could get destroyed by a luxury traveller
• 21:18
  who expected champagne service at your budget listing, or get
• 21:24
  false praise from someone who's never stayed anywhere decent
• 21:27
  before. Neither tells you anything about
• 21:30
  your actual performance. So with category Pacific
• 21:35
  competition, budget properties optimize for cleanliness and
• 21:41
  value. Those would be my suggestions.
• 21:43
  Luxury focuses on experience and amenities like hot tubs and then
• 21:48
  you've got your mid range perfecting for reliability so
• 21:53
  everyone plays a winnable game within their market instead of
• 21:59
  this ridiculous perfectionist theatre.
• 22:02
  Now I believe the result would create honest differentiation
• 22:07
  instead of review washing towards fake uniformity so your
• 22:11
  guests find what they're actually looking for.
• 22:14
  Hosts build sustainable businesses instead of performing
• 22:18
  for algorithms driven by random flipping strangers opinions like
• 22:24
  like if if you stayed somewhere, if I stayed somewhere, if my mum
• 22:27
  stayed somewhere, everyone would leave a different review.
• 22:31
  And then this creates a hopefully rational business
• 22:37
  assessment instead of letting people with these different
• 22:42
  standards and expectations randomly determine whether or
• 22:45
  not your business survives or not.
• 22:47
  And even if some of that is like, well, that's never going
• 22:52
  to happen, it is so much better than this current chaos where
• 22:55
  every review is essentially incomparable because every
• 23:00
  reviewer is fundamentally different.
• 23:03
  Do we need something closer to the older hotel system?
• 23:08
  And I say older hotel system because when you go on platforms
• 23:12
  like booking.com, it seems like every hotel is a four or five
• 23:15
  star rally. It feels like they've got
• 23:16
  actually a similar problem to what we have in short term
• 23:18
  rentals and in relation to having your property in a
• 23:23
  certain section, whether it's luxury, budget, mid range from
• 23:27
  the outset, should the host of property manager choose where
• 23:30
  they want to go or should it be determined by the guests and
• 23:34
  perhaps the platform with their algorithms deciding where your
• 23:38
  property should sit in these different buckets?
• 23:41
  I mean, I think it's a conversation between the two and
• 23:44
  I think it's a learning between the two.
• 23:46
  And I think ultimately it comes down to profitability.
• 23:51
  So you may find you are more profitable sitting in a budget
• 23:56
  section and providing a brilliant, clean, sustainable
• 24:03
  rental than going in a luxury centre because you don't have a
• 24:06
  hot tub and therefore can't provide the amenities and
• 24:08
  therefore you're always going to get a four-star review.
• 24:11
  So what's better, five star budget or three star luxury?
• 24:16
  The great thing is I didn't have to answer that, James.
• 24:18
  I don't that's that's that's down to the wonderful property
• 24:21
  managers out there. And depending on how they want
• 24:24
  to approach this, the point is it creates a clear playing field
• 24:31
  and a playing field where guests are going to be able to go and
• 24:34
  find the right accommodation for them.
• 24:37
  So take your budget travelers, OK, They search by price.
• 24:41
  That must be by definition what they're looking for.
• 24:45
  So when they go and find something within their budget
• 24:50
  rated at 4.8 stars, they think they found great value, don't
• 24:55
  they? They go, this is this is a win.
• 24:57
  But then they arrive to 3 bent forks, 2 dull knives and 1
• 25:03
  saucepan and a beautiful sign on the wall saying if you don't
• 25:07
  leave me 5 stars, I'm going out of business tomorrow.
• 25:09
  So please can you leave me 5 stars?
• 25:11
  Like the five star rating didn't mention the kitchen is actually
• 25:15
  a mini fridge with a hot plate or the fully equipped means one
• 25:19
  plate per person if you're lucky.
• 25:21
  So this for me is actually where these marketplaces, these
• 25:29
  platforms have abdicated responsibility because what
• 25:34
  should a $75 per night property actually provide?
• 25:40
  And how do you know that you're providing it?
• 25:43
  Is it working appliances? Is it complete play settings?
• 25:46
  The platforms don't really say, they just let hosts review wash
• 25:51
  broken functionality into excellent hospitality.
• 25:55
  So your budget travellers think they're getting excellent value
• 26:00
  but can't even cook pasta? Price tells you the cost, but
• 26:04
  fake ratings don't tell you where the basic human needs are
• 26:08
  actually met within the short term rental or indeed the hotel
• 26:12
  system or indeed other marketplaces which exist within
• 26:16
  the sharing economy or collaborative consumption or
• 26:19
  whatever we're calling it at the moment.
• 26:21
  And for me, the system fails by not distinguishing between great
• 26:27
  for the price and actually has functioning amenities you need
• 26:31
  to survive. It's interesting, isn't it?
• 26:34
  The obviously we have the OTAs and the niche OTAs tend to focus
• 26:41
  on luxury properties, the luxury side of the sector and maybe
• 26:46
  bigger properties as well. It's interesting.
• 26:50
  We don't have a niche budget OTAIII don't know of one anyway.
• 26:55
  And then there are maybe other niches which focus on maybe
• 26:57
  corporate stays or, or or things like that.
• 27:00
  Is this because a lot of luxury property owners and managers
• 27:05
  don't want to be lumped in with the crowd and don't want to have
• 27:08
  the situation that you have and basically being compared to a a
• 27:12
  not very good rental down the road?
• 27:15
  I mean the short answer, the TLDR is no.
• 27:18
  They, they, they. There is way more cash to be
• 27:21
  made from the luxury end of the market than there is from the
• 27:25
  budget. The budget is so much harder to
• 27:29
  execute. It is way more exposed to trends
• 27:34
  and inflation and unlike the luxury side of things.
• 27:38
  So I think that there's a, you know, luxury has always been if
• 27:43
  you can get it right, there's a lot of cash to be made from it.
• 27:47
  I think that if I was a luxury property manager, though, I'd be
• 27:52
  absolutely furious that some of the I can't swear like like like
• 28:01
  goose poo type listings have the same rating as mine.
• 28:06
  And look, I'm on their side. You know, these guys like, and
• 28:09
  there's a few brilliant examples out there.
• 28:12
  They invest hundreds of thousands of dollars into
• 28:16
  genuinely exceptional properties, you know, designer
• 28:20
  everything, concierge services, the best locations and then on
• 28:26
  the next listing you're sitting next to some basic apartment
• 28:30
  with IKEA furniture and you got the both got the same, you know,
• 28:32
  4.9 rating. How does that work?
• 28:35
  It shouldn't be. It's like it's like putting like
• 28:38
  a Michelin starred restaurant next to McDonald's and giving
• 28:43
  them both five stars. From a guest perspective, they
• 28:47
  look identical in quality. They really do.
• 28:50
  But when you turn up and stay with them, it's a completely
• 28:53
  different world apart. So yes, you know, I would expect
• 28:59
  these luxury operators use the luxury OTAs to differentiate
• 29:05
  themselves meaningfully because they can't do it if it's a catch
• 29:09
  all, if it's a catch all platform and their genuine
• 29:14
  excellence for sure will get buried in the same review
• 29:17
  washing system as coached up mediocrity.
• 29:23
  Yeah. Which of their platforms which
• 29:28
  focus on reviews can we learn? Which are the platforms which
• 29:33
  have a lot of reviews can we learn from?
• 29:36
  I'm thinking Amazon reviews here.
• 29:40
  Is this somewhere that's doing it a lot better?
• 29:43
  The point that I would focus on OK, is that take take your
• 29:50
  example of Amazon AK. So their product ratings are
• 29:52
  genuinely spread across the full spectrum.
• 29:56
  So you're going to see products with two stars, 2.5 stars, 2.8
• 30:00
  stars, 4.2 stars, and totally legitimate, you know, 4.8 star
• 30:05
  products for your fluffy Stitch and Christmas hoodie and all
• 30:09
  that kind of thing. And when something has 4.8 stars
• 30:13
  on Amazon, like you genuinely do actually believe it because
• 30:18
  you've seen plenty of honest lower ratings.
• 30:22
  And I agree with you on hotels, but I still think you can Group
• 30:28
  4 star hotels, 4.85 star hotels and you, you can see that the
• 30:34
  quality is a little bit different.
• 30:37
  So for me the key insight, OK, is that these systems allow the
• 30:43
  full range to be used meaningfully.
• 30:46
  So a three star rating doesn't destroy the business.
• 30:50
  It actually describes the experience level.
• 30:55
  And I believe that short term rentals could adopt A cleaner
• 31:00
  model, which would stop this review washing because
• 31:05
  ultimately we want guests to come and stay with us with
• 31:09
  confidence. And that means there's got to be
• 31:12
  confidence in the properties that they're booking.
• 31:16
  And when platforms prioritize honest differentiation over fake
• 31:23
  uniformity, everyone wins. The guests can find what they
• 31:28
  actually want and hosts can compete fairly within their
• 31:32
  category. And that it actually makes
• 31:36
  ratings mean something again, like, that's quite exciting.
• 31:44
  Trust is such an important issue, isn't it?
• 31:46
  I mean, it's funny because I'm the kind of cynical person that
• 31:50
  if I look at something, whether it's a short term rental or
• 31:52
  anything else, and it's all five stars, I don't really trust it.
• 31:56
  If I see a few negative reviews, but the vast majority great
• 32:00
  reviews, I'm going to trust that a lot more than one.
• 32:03
  That's 100% five stars. Maybe.
• 32:05
  Maybe that's just me. I think that's a lot of people
• 32:07
  as well. So your goal then is better than
• 32:12
  beautiful lies. So let's finish with what's the
• 32:15
  one mindset shift or action that you want hosts themselves to
• 32:21
  take right now to reclaim authenticity and differentiate
• 32:26
  their truly exceptional properties?
• 32:30
  I mean, if I'm only allowed one thing, that makes it a very
• 32:33
  difficult, difficult question. So look, I think I need to go
• 32:39
  basic, OK. And I'm also, I'm not going to
• 32:42
  encourage review washing. I'm not going to discourage
• 32:45
  review washing. I'm just going to say we live in
• 32:47
  the climate that we're in and you need to, you need to, you
• 32:52
  need to work and do whatever is best for you and your business.
• 32:56
  So stop optimizing for the platform and start optimizing
• 33:01
  for the guest sitting in front of you.
• 33:03
  Now I know that sounds simple, but it could actually be quite
• 33:08
  revolutionary in this review washing ecosystem.
• 33:12
  So most hosts have become so focused on gaming the algorithm,
• 33:18
  IE Will this get me 5 stars? How do I coach this interaction
• 33:23
  that they've actually forgotten the fundamental question of what
• 33:28
  does this specific guest actually need right now?
• 33:31
  So the practical action that flows from this is you start
• 33:35
  treating every guest interaction as if you're building a direct
• 33:39
  relationship, not just avoiding a bad review.
• 33:42
  So, you know, ask yourself, would this guest book directly
• 33:46
  with me next time? Not will this guest give me 5
• 33:52
  stars? Because when you make that
• 33:55
  mental shift, everything changes.
• 33:58
  Instead of coaching for ratings, you start having genuine
• 34:02
  conversations. Instead of managing expectations
• 34:07
  downwards, you actually kind of give yourself the best chance of
• 34:10
  exceeding them. Naturally, instead of like fear
• 34:13
  based service, you provide value based service.
• 34:17
  So I think that would be the one thing.
• 34:20
  So stop, stop kind of like chasing these perfect scores,
• 34:28
  start building perfect relationships because those are
• 34:33
  better than the beautiful lies that otherwise you're creating
• 34:36
  and then telling yourself. And do you know what it it, it
• 34:39
  will open up windows into how you can genuinely improve your
• 34:44
  hosting as well, which is something which will then
• 34:48
  benefit your business. And that doesn't have to benefit
• 34:53
  the platform if you don't want it to.
• 34:55
  It boils down to exceptional hospitality, so focus on that.
• 34:59
  I love it, Humphrey. It's been a real pleasure.
• 35:02
  Thank you for joining us on the Host Planet podcast.
• 35:05
  Such a pleasure James, thanks for having me.
• 35:07
  Great to chat to Humphrey Bowles there about reviews.
• 35:09
  Let us know what you think is the system broken?
• 35:14
  That's just about it for today's episode.
• 35:16
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• 35:19
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• 35:22
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• 35:56
  managers. That's it for today's episode.
• 35:59
  Until next time, happy hosting.