Review Guidelines for Hosts

Guest reviews are essential for building trust and helping future guests choose the right property. This guide explains how reviews work on Holidu and what you need to know as a host.

Reviews vs. Replies: Understanding the Difference

It's important to distinguish between two key concepts:

• Reviewing a guest: You write feedback about the guest (available on Airbnb and Vrbo)
• Replying to a guest review: You respond publicly to what a guest wrote about your property (available on Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and Holidu)

How the Holidu Rating System Works

Understanding your rating system helps you track performance and identify areas for improvement.

Rating Scale and Calculation

• Guests rate their stay on a scale from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest)
• Your overall property rating is calculated as the average of all scores received
• Guests can provide detailed subscores in specific categories including location, cleanliness, description accuracy, and value for money

Who Can Submit a Review?

• Holidu guests: Guests who booked directly through Holidu can leave a review after their stay is completed
• Partner channel guests: Guests who booked via Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, or other distribution channels can also leave reviews under each channel's specific rules

Related articles: How does Booking.com calculate the review score? | Why didn't my guest leave a comment?

Manual Bookings and Reviews

Manual bookings are entries made directly by you or your property manager, rather than through Holidu or a connected channel. Guests cannot leave reviews for manual bookings on Holidu.

What Reviews Are Displayed on Your Property

Holidu displays reviews from multiple sources to give potential guests a comprehensive view of your property.

Sources of Reviews

• Reviews from Holidu guests
• Reviews from connected channels such as Booking.com, Airbnb, and Vrbo

Review Display Format

Reviews may appear as:

• Individual guest reviews with full text
• Aggregated rating scores from multiple reviews
• Additional details such as reviewer country and group type

Sorting and Display Rules

• Reviews are primarily sorted by booking date
• Reviews with written comments are prioritized and displayed first
• Negative reviews only appear if your property has at least two reviews

Where to View Your Reviews

All reviews for your properties are visible in your Holidu Host account.

Accessing Your Reviews

1. Log in to your Holidu Host account
2. Go to Properties
3. Open Configuration, then select Reviews

Important note: It can take up to 14 days for a new guest review to appear in your account.

Reviews on Different Platforms

Keep in mind that review display varies by platform:

• On Holidu, your overall score is displayed
• The full review text is only visible if the booking was made directly through Holidu
• On partner channels, only reviews from bookings made through that specific channel are shown

Review Compliance Standards

We display all legitimate reviews, whether positive or negative, as long as they follow our community standards.

What Is Not Allowed

• References to illegal activities
• Politically or religiously sensitive content
• Promotional material or external links
• Personal details such as names, contact information, or payment details
• Profanity, hate speech, threats, or sexual content
• Spam, fake reviews, or impersonation

Requirements for Valid Reviews

Legitimate reviews must be:

• Truthful and travel-related
• Helpful to other potential guests
• Written by the actual guest who stayed at your property

Responding to Guest Reviews

Depending on the channel, you can respond publicly to guest reviews on Booking.com, Airbnb, Holidu, and other platforms. This is your opportunity to provide context for future guests and demonstrate excellent customer service.

Learn how to write effective review responses with examples and FAQs

Reporting Inappropriate Reviews

If you believe a review violates our guidelines, contact our Customer Service Team. Our local teams are available to assist you in your language and can help evaluate whether the review meets compliance standards.

Learn more about deleting reviews or what to do about negative reviews

Editing or Deleting Reviews

The ability to edit or delete reviews depends entirely on the booking channel. Holidu does not control these policies on external platforms.

Platform-Specific Policies

• Holidu: Reviews cannot be modified by guests. If a guest wants to change their review, our team can delete it and send them a new link to resubmit
• Booking.com: Guests can edit their review anytime from their account until it is automatically deleted after 2 years. Guests must contact Booking.com directly for assistance
• Airbnb: Guests can edit their review only before it is published. Once published, they must contact Airbnb
• Vrbo: Guests must contact Vrbo directly to request edits or deletions

Can I delete a guest review?

Improving Your Property Rating

Looking to increase your review scores? Learn proven strategies to earn more positive reviews from your guests.

Related resources:

• How to get good reviews: A complete guide for Holidu hosts
• Why are reviews important for your hosting business?

Translation Note

Some reviews may be automatically translated using DeepL technology. Please note that Holidu and DeepL do not guarantee the accuracy of automated translations. If you notice a translation error, please contact our support team.

Important Disclaimers

• Guest reviews reflect the opinions and experiences of individual guests, not Holidu
• Holidu acts as a distributor of reviews, not a publisher, and accepts no liability for review content
• Hosts and property managers must not post reviews on behalf of guests or offer incentives in exchange for reviews