Your vacation rental business is growing and you’re hosting guest after guest. That’s great, but it also means you’re probably short on time and reviewing your guests often gets put on the backburner.
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The good news? Airbnb host review templates can save you hours in a week and give you space to focus your energy on providing 5-star review-worthy service.
Rather than having to respond to each guest individually, you can simply copy/paste a template or even automate the process, and then carry on with your day. Because the most important thing is focusing on your business instead of getting bogged down by manual tasks.
In this article, you’ll find out how you can boost your bookings with review templates, get closer to Superhost status, and our tip for giving personalized reviews without spending any time on it (seriously). We’re also sharing more than 15 review templates you can use to free up your time.
If you don’t have time to read the full article, use the links below to jump straight to the answers you’re looking for:
- Boost your bookings with Airbnb host review templates
- Airbnb host review templates (without personalization)
- Airbnb host review templates (with personalization)
- How to earn Superhost status with reviews
- How to automate guest reviews
- Save time and delight your guests
Boost your bookings with Airbnb host review templates
Reviews and ratings boost your visibility on Airbnb and are a major factor in the guest’s decision-making process. Reviewing guests helps you:
- Increase your vacation rental revenue. Guests are more likely to leave you a review if they see you’ve given them one first. Remember, the more positive reviews you receive, the easier it’s going to be to boost Airbnb bookings.
- Communicate with other hosts. Future hosts look at Airbnb guest reviews to learn more about the guest before confirming a booking. You’d be doing the whole community a favor if you highlight troublesome guests.
- Tell your side of the story. If you’ve received a bad review, your feedback can help you either address the problem and show a commitment to improvement, or provide some explanation.
“It’s important to reply back to all reviews and not just the positive ones. Explaining ways you will improve will show future guests that you take issues on board and strive to improve.”—Louise Elizabeth Lowe, Co-Founder of Every Bit Helps.
However, the reviewing process sometimes becomes more of an afterthought for busy hosts and property managers. Here’s where Airbnb host review templates save you time by making the process easier and helping you automate your workflow.
Pro tip: consider making your templates gender neutral to avoid pronoun errors that might upset your guests.
Airbnb host review templates (without personalization)
A template without any input variables (i.e. personalization) applies to any guest. It means your reviews are less personal, but it makes manually reviewing guests easier, especially if you’re rushing to make the 14-day review deadline last-minute.
15 Review template examples
- An absolute pleasure to host. You’re welcome back anytime!
- A really nice guest. Respected the house rules, was extremely communicative, and left the property in excellent condition.
- An easy 5-star rating from my side. Extremely independent, clean, and respectful. Would be happy to host again.
- It was a pleasure hosting you. Thanks for making our jobs easier! We’d love to host you again anytime.
- Super-friendly and respectful. No complaints over here!
- Very polite and was a pleasure to host. Any other host would be lucky to have you!
- Such a wonderful hosting experience for us. Nothing negative to say whatsoever. Thanks for staying with us, and you’re welcome back whenever you’re in town.
- An excellent guest. My property was left clean after check-out, and no noise complaints whatsoever. You’d delight any host!
- 5-star review! Clean, quiet, communicative, and respectful. Couldn’t ask for a better guest.
- We had such a great time hosting you. Everything went smoothly and the place was left in tip-top shape. Feel free to visit us again next time you’re back in the area!
- Really enjoyed having you at my property. Thanks for reminding me why I love hosting!
- Really nice guest, and lovely to host. Quiet, respectful, and a great communicator. You’re welcome to stay with us anytime.
- Very respectful and tidy. I 100% recommend you to any host.
- A lovely couple who left our space super clean and made hosting super fun! Would love to host them again.
- A tidy guest is any host’s dream. Today, you made my dreams come true. Please know you’re welcome to stay with us again next time you’re in town.
Airbnb host review templates (with personalization)
Adding input variables to your templates makes your host reviews much more personalized and guest-specific. Just remember that the property management tool you use needs to be compatible with these variables.
- [Guest name] was the perfect guest. Quiet, communicative, and super organized. [Guest name] is welcome back anytime!
- It was a pleasure to have [Guest name] stay with us. They were very considerate and left the property in great condition. If you’re ever back in town, don’t hesitate to reach out!
- [Guest name 1] and [Guest name 2] were definitely 5-star guests! They were independent, tidy, and extremely polite. Any host would be lucky to welcome you.
- I have absolutely nothing negative to say about [Guest name]. They were exemplary guests and I’d love to host them again.
- [Guest name] was so clean that you couldn’t even tell she and her partner stayed in the property at all! They’re welcome back anytime.
- [Guest name 1] and [Guest name 2] were incredibly respectful. They communicated their arrival time ahead of time and left the place as clean as they found it.
- I highly recommend [Guest name] and their partner. Fantastic experience all around!
- One of the best guests I’ve ever hosted. Kind, friendly, and very tidy. I’d love to host you again in the future.
- It was an absolute pleasure to host [Guest name 1] and [Guest name 2]. They’re a lovely couple and were very punctual and friendly. Highly recommended.
- What a great guest! [Guest name] was kind, respectful, and an overall wonderful person. I’d gladly host you again, [Guest name], and recommend you to any future hosts.
- [Guest name 1] and [Guest name 2] are a wonderful couple who took great care of the apartment. They were personable and I’d love to welcome them back next time.
- Any host is in for a treat with [Guest name]. They were an all-around wonderful person, extremely communicative, and very organized. I look forward to hosting them again.
- All of my house rules were respected by [Guest name]. They took great care of the property and were super understanding. Thanks for staying at my property!
- I just knew my apartment would be in good hands with [Guest name 1] and [Guest name 2]. They were both super fun to host, and communicated fabulously. Next time you’re in town, I’d love to host you again!
- [Guest name] was the best guest ever. They were super friendly and everything went incredibly smooth. There were absolutely no complaints by the neighbors and they left the property as clean as they found it. I look forward to seeing them again.
- One of the easiest guests I’ve ever hosted. [Guest name] was very friendly and clean, and left the apartment in great shape. Would love to host you again!
- [Guest name] was the perfect guest. They communicated their arrival time beforehand, respected all the house rules, and checked out on time. I 100% recommend [Guest name] to any host.
- [Guest name 1] and [Guest name 2] were very pleasant guests. Easy to communicate with, respectful, and tidy. They’re welcome back anytime.
8 Review-response templates
Replying to reviews shows future guests how you’ve acted on situations and improved the property. Try these templates:
- Hey there, thanks for your wonderful review! It was a pleasure to host you. You’re welcome back any time.
- Thanks a bunch for your good review. I’m super glad everything was to your liking. Hope to see you again next time you’re back in town.
- Thanks again for choosing to stay with us! We’re glad everything was to your liking and we’d love to host you again.
- Glad you enjoyed your stay and thanks for making my job so easy!
- Thanks for taking the time to review the stay. I’m happy you enjoyed it!
- We’re very happy you enjoyed your stay. It was a double thumbs-up experience to host you!
- Thank you so much for leaving a lovely review. Please know you’re welcome to come stay with us again whenever.
- I’m overjoyed to have been able to offer you a 5-star worthy stay. Don’t hesitate to reach out again next time you’re in the area.
Pro tip: use your positive reviews as a guide to enhance your listing. If your guests rave about your modern kitchen appliances, feature them in your listing photos.
How to earn Superhost status with reviews
As of Summer 2019, maintaining a 50% review rate is no longer an Airbnb Superhost requirement. However, since you still need a 4.8 overall rating, you want as many of your guests as possible to leave you positive reviews.
You can encourage your guests to do that by
- Mentioning the importance of reviews in your house manual.
- Sending reminder messages post-stay.
- Telling the guests you’ve left them a positive review.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these steps and how exactly you can make them happen.
Mention the importance of reviews in your house manual
Your house manual, or welcome book, isn’t just for answering common questions like “what’s the WiFi password,” or “when’s the check-out time?” It also gives you the opportunity to establish, from the very beginning, that reviews are fundamental to your business and the Airbnb community in general.
Yes, you can send guests a follow-up message to ask for a positive review. (Actually, that’s the next tip we’re going to talk about.) But these follow-ups should serve more as a reminder than a genuine request.
“Following up with guests can be tricky. Although it’s helped me receive more reviews, sometimes guests feel pestered by a follow-up message.”—Jonathan Cohen, Co-Owner of Traveling With Abundance.
You can easily create your house manual and share it with your guests through guest apps with tools like Operto Guest. If you’ve mentioned reviews in your house manual from the get-go, it seems more like a natural house rule than a favor you ask from your guests.
Pro tip: when writing your house manuals, make sure to encourage guests to reach out with any problems during their stay. This way, you can fix those issues immediately instead of having to hear about them in a public review.
Send reminder messages post-stay
Airbnb automatically emails guests within 24 hours of the check-out time and asks them to leave a public review of their experience. So, to avoid sounding pushy, frame your reminder as more of a thank-you message.
Write to your guests right away with something like “thank you so much for your stay with us! We hope you have a safe trip back home, and we look forward to reading your honest review.”
“One thing that works for us is interacting with customers as soon as possible after their experience. If we can stay top of mind while they are still excited about the experience we have a higher review response.”—Corey Holtam, Founder of SmallBizBuddha.com.
Pro tip: if you’re using a template for your thank-you messages, don’t forget to include your guest’s name to make the reminder more personalized. It’s the little things.
Tell the guest you’ve left them a positive review
Guests are more likely to leave you a positive review if you tell them you’ve left them a nice review first. Try writing reviews on the same day of their check-out, after you confirm the state of the property. That way, guests will be reminded to do theirs on the journey home, rather than when they’re back to their busy lives.
“When you receive an email saying “read what the host says about your stay”, you can’t help but be curious as to what they wrote. All that is standing in your way is typing a few words and posting the review. An easy trade to scratch the ‘need to know’ itch.”— Tessa Mager, Founder of Explore & More New Zealand
As a host, you can rate your guest based on
- Cleanliness.
- Communication.
- Observance of house rules.
So if your guests left the property in good condition, respected all the house rules, and were great communicators, make sure to give them a 5-star review.
Pro tip: setting clear expectations for your guests regarding cleanliness, makes it easier for you to rate them highly. You have the option to charge a cleaning fee. But if you want your guests to clean the dishes or take out the trash, for example, let them know beforehand so they can do that.
How to automate guest reviews
Copying and pasting review templates saves you time when you’re managing vacation rentals. And those hours saved will be better spent elsewhere, like making each guest’s stay more personalized or improving your Airbnb ranking.
Some property and guest management platforms, like Hospitable and Hostaway, help you automate the reviews process. All you need to do is upload pre-drafted templates to your platform and create a rule based on a specific amount of time.
For example, let’s say you upload a template that says “Great guest! Would 100% host again.” Then, you just need to create a rule to trigger the platform to post this guest review 7 hours after the guest checks out (provided your property was left in good shape, of course).
But you don’t actually need to research to find the perfect software (or get trained on how to use it) to stop worrying about reviews. You could just partner up with Jetstream, tap into our tech stack, and make the most of our guest-facing team.
So, rather than wasting time on rule-setting and uploading templates, you can let Jetstream take care of all guest communications for you. And yes, that includes leaving personalized, human, guest reviews.
Save time and delight your guests
In this article, we gave you 15 templates for personalized, and general, Airbnb replies and reviews so you can simplify your property management workflow and welcome more guests. But there is another way to make your guests feel special with personalized reviews (and spend even less time doing it).
“98% of our guests are great, so having a note that says essentially the same thing like ‘Great guest! Very clean. We would host them again!’ saves time,” says Calvin Hanson, Airbnb Host at Shalom Spaces. It’s true that a few templates can help streamline your property management workflows and save you some time.
But you still need to review and respond to every guest. And recycling the same templates, again and again, will soon feel impersonal. So what’s the alternative?
If automated, recycled reviews are starting to sound too robotic for your business, Jetstream can give your listings that extra human touch by providing 24/7 multilingual guest communications. We’ll deal with every guest inquiry, from pre-booking to the review stage, so you can focus on the things that matter most.
Thanks for inspiration and insight to:
Fred Hoffman, Founder of The True Wilderness
Frequently asked questions about Airbnb host reviews
What should I write in my Airbnb review?
When reviewing your Airbnb guest, make sure to include:
- The guest’s name
- Encouragement to come back (or if they were a bad guest, clarify that you’d prefer not to host them again)
- A specific experience about the guest’s stay, such as communication skills, tidiness, or their observance of house rules.
How do I write a review for a guest on Airbnb?
To review a guest, use the app or log in to Airbnb using your desktop computer. Then
- Click Edit
- Go to Reviews
- Hit the Reviews by You Tab
- Write a review
You can also write a review by clicking the Write a review button on the email reminder you receive within 24 hours of check-out.
Is it mandatory to write a review on Airbnb?
No, it’s not mandatory for hosts to leave a review. However, it’s encouraged to do so because
- It informs future hosts about the behaviors of the guest before accepting a booking.
- It encourages guests to leave a review as well.
- It gives hosts a chance to explain their side of the story, in case of a bad guest.
Can I write an Airbnb review after 14 days?
No, both guests and hosts only have 14 days after the check-out date to leave a review.
What is an example of an Airbnb host review?
An example of an Airbnb host review is: “Bob and Camila were two polite and wonderful guests. They were respectful to the house rules and communicated their arrival time in advance so the check-in process was extremely smooth. We would be happy to host them again!”
