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What does a five-star rating mean for your stay at a vacation rental? It means that the property was as described on the website. Five-star AirBnB ratings are important for owners. Consider when you are looking for a property to rent. Do you select only five stars or do you select three stars? Exactly.

Why do guests give lower ratings? Lots of reasons include the wrong belief that a property has to offer caviar and champaign to get a five-star rating. Ratings are very important to owners, their ability to maintain their properties is based upon how often people stay. If you decide that the property was ok and give a three or four-star, you are not doing well by the hosts.

Yes, some properties advertise a swimming pool and when you arrive it's empty. Give that host a lower score. The beds were not made, linens were dirty, giving them a lower score. The host does not reply to you in a reasonable period, yes, reduce the rating.

Five Stars means the property was in good condition as advertised

I have to admit, I have in the past graded surveys as less than excellent only because in theory nothing is excellent. Those surveys probably did not hurt anyone's ability to pay their bills. You have to be more diligent with your AirBnB or other ratings. If for example, the property advertised three queen beds and two full-size beds which were there. The website also said that there was a coffee service which was there. They advertised a few minute's walks to the true beach. In this case, you should give a five-star rating.

Don't look for things to reduce the rating. If you were comfortable and your guests enjoyed themselves, give the owners the benefit. One of the rating areas on Airbnb is the location. Some guests give high ratings for everything but the location. Perhaps they wanted to be closer to something or further away from something. The website can not anticipate everything you would want if this was a perfect world. Even if you were not pleased by the location of the owners of the property who took good care of you, give them a five-star anyway. Why penalize the property hosts because of the location unless the location was not what was described.

Guests cause damage

Time to talk about the guests. The reason why properties deteriorate and future guests make complaints is because past guests damaged the property. I can tell you from experience that I have replaced carpets because a guest spilled something and it stained. The same is true of furniture. We recently replaced a sofa sleeper with one that cost well over $1,000 because guests' children were drawing on the cushions. 

Guests that wear out properties well before their time are not often charged for the damage. The owners try to repair the damage but in some cases they have a new guest coming in behind the last ones. Rather than cancel and ruin their new guest's vacation, they accept them. The guest then companions about the damage and wonders why it was not fixed. Perhaps you can understand these situations. More reasons why owners need some kindness from their guests in the form of a five-star rating.

Owners can rate guests

Owners can rate guests on the Airbnb platform. I have spoken to many owners who resist the desire to tell everyone what the guests did to their property. Often the bad guests give a high rating hoping they will not be charged for damage. The owners are reluctant to then give a lower rating to that guest. This is one reason why the rating system is far from perfect. There are perhaps many properties with averages in the 4 point range that are better than rated.