Review Guidelines for Hosts

Guest reviews are essential to your success as a host on Holidu. They help future guests make informed decisions about your property and significantly impact your booking rates. This guide explains how reviews work, what standards we maintain, and how to make the most of your feedback.

Understanding Reviews vs. Replies

To avoid confusion about review management, it's important to understand the difference between these two actions:

• Writing a review about a guest — You provide feedback about the guest's behavior during their stay. This option is available on select platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo.
• Replying to a guest review — You respond publicly to feedback a guest has left about your property. This is available on Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and Holidu.

How the Holidu Rating System Works

Understanding how ratings are calculated helps you track your performance and identify improvement areas.

• Guests rate their stay on a scale from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest)
• Your overall property rating is the average of all scores received
• Guests can also provide detailed subscores in categories such as:
  • Location
  • Cleanliness
  • Description accuracy
  • Value for money
• Guests may include written comments with additional details about their experience

Who Can Submit Reviews

Holidu guests — Guests who book directly through Holidu can leave a review once their stay is completed.

Partner channel guests — Guests who book via Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, or other distribution channels can also leave reviews. These reviews are managed according to each channel's specific rules.

Related: How does Booking.com calculate the review score?

Related: Why didn't my guest leave a comment?

Manual Bookings and Reviews

Manual bookings are reservations entered directly by you or your property manager, rather than bookings that come through Holidu or a connected booking channel.

Important: Guests cannot leave reviews for manual bookings. If you need to track manual booking feedback, consider recording this information separately.

What Reviews Are Displayed

Reviews shown on your Holidu property listing may include:

• Reviews from guests who booked directly on Holidu
• Reviews from connected channels such as Booking.com, Airbnb, and Vrbo
• Individual guest reviews or aggregated rating scores
• Reviewer details such as country of origin and group type

How reviews are sorted:

• Reviews are primarily sorted by booking date
• Reviews that include written comments are displayed first
• Negative reviews only appear if your property has at least two total reviews

Where to View Your Reviews

All reviews are visible in your Holidu Host account. To access your reviews:

1. Log in to your Holidu Host account
2. Navigate to Properties
3. Open Configuration → Reviews

Processing time: Reviews can take up to 14 days to appear on your listing.

You can also view reviews on distribution channels, but keep these points in mind:

• On Holidu, only the overall score is displayed initially
• Full review text is visible only for bookings made directly on Holidu
• Partner channels show only reviews from bookings made through their platform

Review Compliance Standards

We display all legitimate reviews—both positive and negative—as long as they meet our community standards. This transparency builds trust with potential guests.

Content we do not allow:

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

Valid reviews must be:

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

Responding to Guest Reviews

Depending on your booking channels, you may respond publicly to guest reviews on Booking.com, Airbnb, Holidu, and Vrbo. A thoughtful response is your opportunity to:

• Provide context or clarification for future guests
• Show genuine appreciation for positive feedback
• Address any concerns professionally
• Demonstrate your commitment to guest satisfaction

Related: How to write a review response (with examples and FAQs)

Reporting Inappropriate Reviews

If you believe a review violates our community guidelines, please report it to our Customer Service Team. Our local teams are available to assist you in your language and can help address serious violations.

Related: Can I delete a review left by a guest? My guest left a bad review — what can I do?

Review Editing and Deletion Policies by Channel

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

• Holidu: Reviews cannot be modified after submission. If a guest requests a change, our team can delete the review and send a new review link.
• Booking.com: Guests can edit their review anytime through their account until it is automatically deleted after 2 years. Guests must contact Booking.com directly for support.
• Airbnb: Guests can edit their review only before it is published. After publication, they must contact Airbnb to request changes.
• Vrbo: Guests must contact Vrbo directly to request edits or deletion of their review.

Related: Can I delete a guest review?

Improving Your Property Reviews

Looking to increase your rating and attract more bookings? Consider these resources:

Related: How to get good reviews — a guide for Holidu hosts

Related: Why are reviews important?

Automatic Translation Notice

Some reviews on your listing may be automatically translated using DeepL technology. While this technology is generally accurate, Holidu and DeepL do not guarantee perfect translation accuracy. If you notice translation errors that affect how a review is presented, please contact our support team.

Important Legal Notes

• Guest reviews reflect the opinions and experiences of individual guests, not Holidu or its representatives
• Holidu functions as a review distributor, not a publisher, and accepts no liability for review content
• Hosts and property partners may not post reviews on behalf of guests or offer incentives to guests for leaving positive reviews

By understanding these guidelines, you can manage your reviews effectively and continue building a strong reputation on Holidu.