If you think 5-star vacation rentals are like 5-star hotels—think again.
A 2020 analysis of millions of Airbnb properties found that 95% had star ratings of 4.5 or 5 on the platform’s 1-to-5 scale. The average Airbnb star rating is currently roughly 4.8, according to the AirDNA research firm. At Vrbo, it was 4.5 out of 5 in 2023, based on a study by the Revyoos.com vacation rental review aggregator. (Airbnb and Vrbo hosts rate guests, too.)
“The star ratings are important to me,” says Tami Kamin Meyer, a freelance writer and lawyer in Columbus, Ohio, who has stayed at over 10 Airbnbs and 10 Vrbos. “I’m not going to go somewhere with one or two stars.”
Neal Carpenter, who runs The Air Butler advisory firm, is even choosier when he stays at an Airbnb. “I don’t consider anything below a 4.8 as a place I’m going to stay,” he says.
High star ratings are vitally important to Airbnb and Vrbo hosts because they’re lucrative.
AirDNA found that Airbnb listings with an average rating of 4.9 stars or above in 2023 had a roughly 10% higher occupancy rate and 18% higher revenue than their lower-rated counterparts. “I would imagine that would be similar for VRBO,” says Bram Gallagher, director of economics and forecasting at AirDNA.
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A study by the Intellihost research firm found a gradual decline in listing visibility to potential guests with each minor drop in an Airbnb’s review score and a more dramatic drop for every point below 4.4 stars. Intellihost calls that level the Airbnb Review Cliff.
Why Low Star Ratings Are so Rare
Airbnb and Vrbo may delete hosts with consistently low star ratings. “It can happen and it should happen,” says Kat Bailey, who calls herself The Vrbo Expert.
In fact, Airbnb says, that since April 2023, it has removed over 200,000 listings that failed to meet guests’ expectations to ensure the platform consistently delivers high-quality stays.
“If you have a consistent 3- or 4-star rating, it’s going to be more difficult for you to stay in the game,” says Gallagher.
It’s nearly impossible to find an Airbnb or Vrbo with fewer than 4 stars.
Miles Ann Gale, of Dearborn Heights, Michigan, who has stayed at Airbnbs 68 times, says, “I would probably start to really question things if an Airbnb had below 4 stars.”
Unlike hotels, 5-star ratings are commonplace with Airbnb and Vrbo.
5 Stars May Not Mean What You Think
A big reason: 5 stars on Airbnb and Vrbo don’t mean what they do for hotels.
“When you talk about a 4-star or 5-star hotel, you can expect to pay much, much more than a 2- or 3-star hotel,” says Gallagher, “but you can expect a much higher level of service as well.”
And at Airbnb and VRBO?
“The 5-star rating is more that the host has done everything they can to make their particular listing as good as possible and their listing as honest and reflective of the property as possible,” says Gallagher. “So, you can have 5-star properties on all price levels.”
Not all travelers understand the distinction between star ratings at hotels and home rentals.
“I think some guests get a little bit confused,” says Austin Breslow, host of a 4.98-rated Airbnb in the Joshua Tree, California area. “I think what it’s meant to be is ‘the house is exactly what I expected.’”
Butler also thinks some guests have their own interpretation of star ratings.
Sometimes, he says, they’re essentially telling the host, “I gave you 4 stars; it was really good, close to great. You were missing some potholders, so I knocked a star off.”
But the host might view that 4-star review as unnecessarily harsh, potentially leading potential guests not to book with them.
Star Ratings and Older Travelers
Analysts liken Airbnb and Vrbo star ratings to ones on Uber and Amazon.
“If you get in an Uber or Lyft and give the person 4 stars, they’re going to be cranky about it,” says Carpenter.
He thinks younger Airbnb and Vrbo guests grasp the similarity to Uber ratings more than older ones. “You have an entire generation of people who are steeped in using apps like Uber, Lyft, and delivery services where it’s basically 5 stars or 0 stars,” said Carpenter.
What Goes Into a Star Rating on Airbnb and Vrbo
Airbnb, which declined to comment on this article, says on its site that guests use its star scale to rate their overall experience and to rate their stay in six categories: check-in, cleanliness, accuracy of the listing, communication from the host, location, and value.
Vrbo’s site says its travelers can submit overall scores and sub-scores for specific aspects and features of a property or stay, such as cleanliness, staff, breakfast, or location.
A Vrbo spokesperson tells Fodor’s that “similar to a hotel stay on [Vrbo parent company brands] Expedia or Hotels.com, we encourage guests to leave an honest review after their Vrbo stay.” The review process “is designed to create trust and transparency across the Vrbo platform and provide helpful feedback to hosts and other travelers.”
But the somewhat squishy definition of five stars with Airbnb and Vrbo means that guests can interpret a top score differently.
“A five-star review means anything from ‘They wowed my socks off’ to ‘My experiences were met,’” wrote Ryan Huggins, who runs Ventura County Vacation Rentals in California, in an article about the ratings.
What Airbnb and Vrbo Guests Leave Out of Reviews
Another reason star ratings are often so high on Airbnb and Vrbo: Some guests with less than stellar experiences don’t want to say so in their public reviews but will do it in a private review to their hosts.
“I’ve traveled with my parents on vacation and they’ve been less than eager to leave a negative [Airbnb] review,” says Huggins. “I think in those cases, we left good star ratings but couched the complaints in the writeup and personally notified the owner.”
Gale, who has never given an Airbnb fewer than 4.5 stars, says, “Sometimes I’ll be a little bit more negative in my private review.”
Kamin Meyer felt compelled to leave a rave review after a recent Airbnb stay even though she felt the photos in the listing were “a little deceiving” and didn’t coincide with the text description.
“There was a porch that I thought was our space but it was a shared porch with all the other tenants,” she says.
But Kamin Meyer rated the Airbnb highly because “the owner was so sweet and so responsive; I didn’t want to say anything.”
Plus, Kamin Meyer adds, “I might want to stay there again. And she’s a small business owner. I didn’t want to impact her livelihood.”
The ‘Positivity Bias’ in the Reviews
Uvika Wahi, content lead at Rentalscaleup, has written that economists call this kind of rating apprehension “positivity bias.”
It’s “the tendency of individuals to provide more positive feedback or higher ratings than warranted, often influenced by factors like politeness, social desirability, or a desire to avoid conflict,” Wahi says.
Airbnb customers who experience good service quality are more likely to leave an online review than those who experience poor service, wrote University of Twente professors, in the Netherlands, in a 2021 research paper.
Some hosts unhappy after receiving a 4-star review try to persuade the guest to change or delete it. That happened to me after I gave 4 stars to a Vrbo host because I didn’t like having to lumber down the home’s stairs each day to take a shower. I ultimately got Vrbo to remove my star rating and review.
Superhosts, Premier Hosts, and Guest Favorites
In the past few years, Airbnb and Vrbo have added several lists and badges to distinguish the tippy-top-rated hosts and properties. That’s adding pressure for hosts to attain 5 stars or something close.
Airbnb notes Superhost status and Guest Favorites; Vrbo has Premier Hosts.
Airbnb awards the highly coveted Superhost status for maintaining a 4.8 or higher rating (“almost perfect,” says Gallagher), having a cancellation rate of 1% or lower, and meeting a few other thresholds.
“The advantages of being a Superhost translate to approximately a 30% increase in the booking funnel metrics,” Intellihost’s Jeff Brown wrote.
Kamin Meyer said she has found that because of Airbnb’s preponderance of high star ratings, “practically everybody’s a Superhost.”
To qualify as an even loftier Guest Favorite, an Airbnb host needs an average rating of 4.9 or better, high marks from guests in all rating categories, and a strong record of reliability. Intellihost says hosts with Guest Favorite badges get 52% more daily impressions than ones without them.
“Airbnb continues to come up with ways to keep us on our toes as hosts, which is a good thing,” says Breslow.
A Vrbo Premier Host is one with an average rating of 4.4 or more, a booking acceptance rate of at least 95%, and an owner-initiated cancellation rate of less than 1%.
Airbnb and Vrbo Star Rating Tips for Travelers
Gale’s star-rating advice: After making a deposit and getting the rental property’s address, do a Zillow search to see more photos and information about the home. Then, if you notice something unappealing, cancel the booking and find another location.
“I’m very careful about not booking places where I can’t cancel within a week of the stay,” she says.
Huggins recommended reading an Airbnb or Vrbo listing’s detailed reviews. “Don’t just focus on the 4- and 5-star ratings,” he advises.
If guests had complaints provoking ratings below 5 stars, Huggins adds, see what the issues were and how the hosts’ responded. The problems may have been addressed, making them moot. Or you may decide the guests’ digs about the digs were too minor to keep you from booking a stay there.
