The One Thing You Should Do Immediately After Leaving Your Airbnb

Checking out of your Airbnb usually comes with a handful of responsibilities. You have to take out the trash, clean the kitchen, tidy everything up, and ensure you follow the check-out guidelines to a tee. If you don't, the consequences may include a less-than-positive review, which nobody wants on their profile. However, while you run around trying to impress your host before they write a review, don't forget that you have to write one, too. This is a crucial step in your Airbnb stay that you don't want to neglect. 

When you write a review of your Airbnb, you provide other community members with an idea of what their stay would be like if they chose to stay at that rental. Anyone who has booked an Airbnb knows how challenging it is to consider booking an Airbnb with no reviews. As a result, a lack of reviews also makes it difficult for the host to book guests. While you can always ask your host questions before booking your stay, getting feedback from an actual customer is reassuring. By leaving a review you can help fellow travelers ensure they make the right choice and help hosts improve their business.

As soon as you have completed your Airbnb checkout, you'll receive a notification, (or a few depending on your settings), asking you to complete your review. If the notification is in your email or messages, there will be a link that will take you directly to the reviews page. If you're unable to find the link, you can access the review feature under the "trips" page of the app or from your inbox. You'll be given 14 days post-checkout to submit your review, but we recommend submitting it immediately. Procrastination always poses a risk of forgetting important details or forgetting to submit the review altogether.

Once you're ready to leave a review, you'll be asked to provide star ratings for the following categories: overall experience, cleanliness, accuracy, check-in, communication, location, value, and amenities. This is the easy part, but you'll want to be a little more thoughtful when it comes to the next requirement — the written review.

Once you've moved past the rating portion, you're going to be asked to write a personalized review that will be made public on the listing. This is the part where you have free range to write about anything you think is pertinent for future guests to know. What do you wish you knew before you booked this Airbnb? You'll want to include information on the host's customer service, the quality of the amenities, and any other practical tips a guest should be aware of.

To make your review more reliable, try to stay objective and professional in your comments. For instance, instead of calling the host "lazy," say you were faced with inconveniences where the host could have been of better assistance. If you have any personal notes for the host, you also have the option to message them privately. While we trust you'll be respectful in your review, keep in mind that Airbnb does have a content policy. If you break these guidelines, your review could be removed. 

While there is no real penalty for not writing a review, it's the responsible thing to do. Be a good Airbnb user, help out the community, and don't forget to write that review.