I scour reviews when I am researching a property and a potential exchange. I value reviews. I would like to see HE put more value and emphasis on reviews of completed exchangesâŚ
We have stayed at 2 home exchange properties where I have left reviews and the host has not reciprocated and left us a review. This is very frustrating. In both instances, that person had conversations by text and email and were aware of any issues. I think a review holds an owner and/or exchanger accountable. Feedback is valuable and thatâs what makes the community better.
So how does HE motivate people to leave a review after the HE is complete?
Suggestions:
Lock people out of future activity until they have completed the exchange with a review? (not great for non-simultaneous exchanges)
Have a little icon next to a profile showing âreview is pendingâ or âmust leave a reviewâ
Several warning emails to the host or guest to leave a review or they may lose points
I donât really like the idea of a penalty for not reviewing, but I am not thrilled about people not leaving reviews either. If there had to be a consequence, I would rather see something similar to the responspercentage: 100% reviewer, where that percentage lowers when people leave no review.
Hello! Oh how interesting!
I know that some people choose not to leave reviews for one reason or the other so Iâm not quite sure how this suggestion goes down with them but I agree that reviews are very important for helping to build trust and give a better sense of what to expect
I do like the idea of it impacting the response rate %. Thanks for sharing this idea. Itâs not only the review that is missing but a profile looks incomplete. Thanks for helping to show that reviews matter!
Hey Zann,
In my own experience the person did not leave a review because a) their place was filthy, or b)they stopped communicating after they got their part of the non-simultaneous exchange and did not reciprocate. In both instances, HE does not really have a mechanism to address this other than a review â mine donât pop-up b/c that person knows if they donât post their review, other HomeExchangers wonât know what the exchange was really like. We are a community, and reviews that are balanced but fair is what makes this whole thing work.
No I didnât mean it to affect the respons percentage, I meant to suggest another line in the profile that reflects the percentage of reviews that someone wrote. So, for example, underneath the name and response rate, a percentage that says how many reviews (in precentages) the member has written.
I think a very good way to encourage people to leave a review would be to get some extra GPs by doing so - It doesnt have to be a high amount, even 25 GP could work!
Sometimes people do not get to a review in time or I know some people do not review guests who were not bad but not good. So if you canât say something nice donât say anything at all.
I am not in favor of penalizing people for not leaving a review. Itâs also hard when you start using HE to know what to say. For some exchanging is an occasional thing, do you want to ding those people for this or that minor infraction like not leaving a review.
It would Make a Big difference between members who do a lot of exchanges ( retirees, digital workers etc) and people who do only an exchange a year. Not very fair. Myself I do often more than 10 exchanges per year , I would win 10*25 = 250 gp just for doing reviews ? While a family just exchanging in summer would have 25. Not very fair for them.
Ahhh you have a point, I didnât think about that.
Personally, its hard for me to leave a review if its not a good one - Only happened once but I didnt write that review, cause I didnât really know how to aproach it and I didnt want to harm the other profile but I didnt want to lie either. Now, I think I would have done it differently. Anyways, I believe reviews are extremelly important in this site since trust is everything in order to leave your home to others. I wouldnt exchange with someone with experience if that experience is not backed up with reviews from other exchagers!
There are some valid points made here and I particularly like the idea of having a % rating on your review responses. I find when researching properties without reviews are usually an indicatior that something isnât quite right. People generally dont like confrontation or dont like to give bad (or honest) reviews. Sometimes Iâm astonished to read âit was spotlessly cleanâ? I wonder what sort of place they have or what the definition of clean is. I would encourage more honesty in a polite way. Also dont say anything in a review that you have already discussed with the host/guest?
How do we get that honesty? I agree: my definition of clean is very different from what I have experienced in some recent exchanges. I see the demographic shifting. I have noticed recently (only on. my phone app) that there is a section when you click on your hosting side of the exchange for âhouse rulesâ. This is where you can lay out expectations â BUT it is hidden unless you know where to look for it!! Why isnât this automatic?
