Before I stayed in Airbnbs, I looked at a 5 star rating like one might rate a hotel. 5 stars meant the concierge scored Broadway tickets, or a limited restaurant reservation. Room service was spot on and the receptionist knew my name. I would expect the place I stay at whilst on the road to be maybe 3 or 4 stars.
You quickly learn that 4 stars indicates livable problems, and anything less is just a degree of failure.
The same seems to be applicable here. BUT, not everyone operates to the same rules. I believe some owners will take away a star for a couple dust motes because their standard is a scale that is their own. Not better, not worse, just different.
I can see nothing that lets owners or sitters understand clearly just what a missing star or two does to the way someone is evaluated. Maybe in the getting acquainted section, or even better in the communication with a new member that the standards could be explained.
FWIW: I think that a better star system would be a system where stars are not inflated. The current system is where normal good work is graded as perfect so there is no discrimination but passing or poor.
If you rate an Airbnb 4* it is likely they’ll end up going out of business. Personally I don’t stay in any Airbnb that’s rated below 4.8* average as it indicates serious problems.
This image gets shared about star ratings pretty regularly. It’s for Airbnb but it could just as easily apply here:
The problem is, even if you provide a guide, people aren’t going to apply it the same way. There’s really no good solution when using stars. Better to do away with stars and just have a “would you have them sit again? yes/no” selection and then a comment section.
I LOVE the idea of this star rating above. I think this is perfect for Trusted Housesitters. They definitely need to implement something similar.
I am seeing more and more pet parents giving lower stars for a few different areas and then giving a comment on how happy they were with the sitter caring for their cat or dog and that they would have them sit for them again.
This seems very confusing to me.
I started this thread 1.5 years ago.
Sitters do quite the same, some of them. They face issues that are hard during the sit, and when they write the review they forgive everything because the pet was cute.
No matter the system, it will be different how it is interpreted. People are different, from different cultures. Some write the review to inform other sitters/ hosts, other write reviews to advertise themselves. Some are eager to please or shy away from everything that can be regarded «a conflict» others think the fifth star is limited to the unicorn of excellence that never really happen while others write raving reviews of a sit/sitter that’s really just normal behavior. I think this will be true no matter the system on THS.
I try to write reviews that are honest and factual, and if there is something I didn’t know pre-sit I would have liked to know before confirming I write that. And I’m grateful when others do the same.
It is indeed contradictory but I don’t think the example of “interpretation” of Airbnb stars would help. That is something some owners do to put pressure on the customer to give a good rating, it’s not an Airbnb code.
It would help if THS had a more detailed explanation of the system and forced a description when stars are deducted but still, as @Garfield pointed out, people are different and will apply their own interpretation.
I think that is the result of the new blind review system. I think we are in the process of changing towards more honest reviews.
If an equivalent of the Airbnb chart was posted up and center I can easily live with this. It is the fact that the standard is poorly communicated that is my point,
This is the French attitude as it has been inculcated since the first year of school that a score of 20/20 is impossible even if you have made no mistakes.
I prefer the booking.com system of 1-10 ratings that shows facial expressions.