Originally Posted by
darthbimmer
I share OP's skepticism of reviews on AirBnB given how predominant 5 star raves are. I can think of many plausible hypotheses for why this happens. Regardless of the reason(s) they got that way, the fact is that inflated reviews are close to worthless.
When browsing a property on AirBnB I look very closely at the owner's pictures, street maps, and Google Street View. Usually I also email the own to confirm details about the property, such as whether there's private access from the outside and whether all the "bedrooms" are fully enclosed by solid walls with proper doors! Probably about one-third of the time the owner never answers. Another one-third of the time the owner becomes hostile after even one such question. Ah, well. At least I'm weeding out the problem landlords in advance!
I think you need to be sceptical of all online reviews, not just AirBnB. They are written by non-experts who are not trained to distinguish between real and imaginary problems or major and minor issues.
As an owner of a property on VRBO (it's also listed on AirBnB), I am still irritated by the one four star review we have received - the reviewer docked a star because of the difficulty of driving the access road, something which is disclosed prominently both in the listing and in the response email. And yet, on the few occasions when there have been problems (most recently the previous guests broke the dishwasher and we didn't have time to get it fixed before the next guests' arrival) people have been very understanding. Just a little example of why you shouldn't be too influenced by the star rating system.