You check your listing and the numbers don't add up: plenty of completed stays, far fewer reviews. Or the reviews arrive, but they keep landing at four stars instead of five. If you're wondering how to get more Airbnb reviews, both problems have fixable causes, and neither requires begging, bribing or a string of follow-up texts.
Start with one action today: open your last ten checkouts and mark which ones produced a review and which rating category was lowest on each. That short list tells you whether you have a volume problem, a quality problem or both.
How do Airbnb reviews work, and when are they published?
Guests and hosts each have 14 days after checkout to submit a review, and a review is only posted once both sides submit or the 14-day period ends, whichever comes first.
That comes straight from Airbnb's reviews for homes help article. It also notes that if a reservation is canceled before the day of check-in, neither side can review it. Once the window closes, that stay's review opportunity is gone, so every timing decision works backward from day 14.
Two more rules from the same article matter for volume. A listing's rating only appears in search results and on the listing page after it has at least three reviews, and the listing rating is the average of guests' overall scores. For a new listing, those first three reviews are the gate to showing any rating at all.
How to get more Airbnb reviews: when should you ask?
Our recommendation: send one friendly request within a day or two of checkout, when the stay is fresh and the guest is home, then at most one short reminder later in the 14-day window.
Asking while the guest is still packing tends to get skipped. Waiting until the second week leaves little time before the window shuts. This is a judgment call, not a platform rule, so test it on your own stays.
A simple sequence for each stay:
- Checkout day: a short "safe travels" message with no ask.
- One to two days after checkout: the review request.
- Around day 10, only if no review has arrived: one gentle reminder.
- After that: stop. Repeated nudges can feel like pressure, and pressure is exactly what the Reviews Policy forbids.
Keep these messages in Airbnb's own messaging. Airbnb's off-platform policy restricts asking guests for contact details or steering them off Airbnb, and a review request gives you no reason to.
A request that stays within the rules might read:
Hi [guest name], I hope the trip home went smoothly. Thanks for staying at [listing name]. If you have a minute, an honest review helps future guests know what to expect, and it helps a small host like me improve. Safe travels.
Notice what it leaves out: any mention of discounts, refunds or the review you left for them.
What does the Airbnb reviews policy say you can't offer?
You can't offer anything of value for a review, including a discount, a refund or a reciprocal positive review, and you can't pressure or coordinate with a guest to influence what they write.
Airbnb's Reviews Policy says reviews may not be "provided or withheld in exchange for something of value—like a discount, refund, or a reciprocal positive review." Violating reviews can be removed along with their ratings, and depending on the violation Airbnb may restrict, suspend or remove the listing or account.
That rules out a common tactic: telling guests you've "already left them a great review" to prompt one back. The double-blind window means they can't see your review yet anyway, and implying a trade edges toward what the policy prohibits. Our recommendation: ask plainly and let the stay speak for itself.
Airbnb's Superhost requirements add a related warning: Airbnb may suspend or withhold Superhost status for hosts with high review removal rates.
How to get good reviews on Airbnb: which categories decide a 4 versus a 5?
Guests rate an overall score plus six categories, cleanliness, accuracy, check-in, communication, location and value, and the overall score is its own rating rather than an average of the other six.
That structure comes from Airbnb's ratings for homes article. It also says that when a guest gives a category a positive or negative rating, they can pick what stood out, such as "Unclear instructions" for check-in. Those tags are free diagnosis. Check your category averages under Insights, then work on the lowest one first.
Use this table to match a weak category to a first fix:
| Lowest category | What Airbnb asks the guest | First thing to check |
|---|---|---|
| Cleanliness | Did the home meet cleaning standards, free of dust, dirty dishes and pests? | Your turnover checklist and who inspects after cleaning |
| Accuracy | Was it represented with up-to-date photos and info, and in working order? | Photos older than your last renovation, broken items, missing quirks in the description |
| Check-in | Was it easy? | Directions, entry steps and what happens if a code or key fails |
| Communication | Did the host respond promptly? | Response times on evenings and weekends |
| Location | Was the guest told about safety, transport, noise and similar? | Whether noise, parking and stairs are stated up front |
| Value | Was it worth the price? | Your price against what the listing actually delivers |
Accuracy and location are the cheapest to improve, because both are largely about setting expectations. This suggests a practical rule: if something about the place might disappoint a guest, say it in the listing before they book. For check-in, our self check-in guide covers instructions and backup plans, and a clear welcome message helps the communication score before any problem arises.
Why does review count and rating matter beyond the badge?
Airbnb says ratings and reviews are among the listing-quality signals its search algorithm considers, and that higher-quality listings with better ratings and reviews tend to rank higher in search.
That's from Airbnb's How search results work article, which also names popularity, price and location as heavy influences. Reviews are one input among several, so more reviews alone won't guarantee better placement.
Superhost is the clearer scoreboard. Per Airbnb's requirements, as a listing owner you need at least 10 reservations (or 3 totaling at least 100 nights), a 90% response rate within 24 hours, a cancellation rate under 1% and a 4.8 or higher overall rating. Airbnb evaluates the past 12 months every three months, with assessments starting January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1. Our Superhost requirements guide covers each criterion in detail.
Here's a worked example of why volume protects the 4.8 line. Consider a hypothetical host with 9 reviews averaging 5.0 who then gets one 3-star review: the average becomes (9 × 5 + 3) ÷ 10 = 4.8, right on the edge. With 29 five-star reviews, the same 3-star stay gives (29 × 5 + 3) ÷ 30 ≈ 4.93. A larger base of honest reviews absorbs a bad night. If a low review does land, respond calmly; our review response templates can help.
When this advice does not apply
- Co-hosts: Airbnb says reviews on listings you co-host don't count toward your own host rating or Superhost status.
- Canceled-before-arrival bookings: they can't be reviewed, so don't count them as missed reviews.
- Booking.com: per its guest reviews guide, guests there have 90 days and a 1–10 score, so this timing doesn't transfer.
What to do next
- Mark your last ten checkouts as reviewed or not and note each stay's weakest category.
- Write one review request and one reminder, with no incentives and no mention of your own review.
- Schedule the request for one to two days after checkout and the reminder around day 10.
- Fix the single lowest-rated category first, using the table above.
- Recheck your category averages after the next dozen stays.
FAQ
Can I remind a guest more than once?
Nothing in Airbnb's help articles sets a number, but the Reviews Policy forbids pressuring anyone to influence a review. Our recommendation is one request and one reminder at most.
What to do if you get a bad Airbnb review?
Respond publicly and calmly, and fix the cause the guest named. Airbnb says only the author can request removal, within 30 days of publication, and offering anything to change a review would breach the Reviews Policy. If you believe a review breaks policy, use Airbnb's removal request.
Does my guest see my review of them first?
No. Neither review is posted until both are submitted or the 14-day period ends.
About BookBed: BookBed Pro includes automated guest messaging at pre-arrival, mid-stay and post-stay stages, so a post-stay thank-you goes out on schedule instead of relying on memory. For Airbnb reservations, keep review requests inside Airbnb's own messaging. See BookBed pricing
Sources
- Airbnb Help Center, "Reviews for homes" — Verified 2026-09-30
- Airbnb Help Center, "Authentic and trustworthy reviews" (Reviews Policy) — Verified 2026-09-30
- Airbnb Help Center, "Ratings for homes" — Verified 2026-09-30
- Airbnb Help Center, "What's required to be a Superhost" — Verified 2026-09-30
- Airbnb Help Center, "How search results work" — Verified 2026-09-30