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

To manage your property effectively, it's important to understand these two distinct actions:

• Reviewing a guest — You provide feedback about the guest's behavior during their stay (available on Airbnb and Vrbo)
• Replying to a guest review — You respond publicly to feedback a guest has written about your property (available on Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and Holidu)

How the Holidu Rating System Works

Understanding how ratings are calculated helps you track your property's performance:

• 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 provide individual ratings in key categories including:
  • Location
  • Cleanliness
  • Description accuracy
  • Value for money
• Guests may also leave written comments with additional details about their experience

Who Can Submit a Review?

Reviews come from two main sources:

• Holidu guests — Guests who book directly through Holidu can leave a review once their stay concludes
• Partner channel guests — Guests who book via Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, or other distribution channels can also leave reviews, managed according to each channel's specific rules

Learn more: How does Booking.com calculate the review score?

Learn more: Why didn't my guest leave a comment?

Manual Bookings and Review Eligibility

Manual bookings are reservations you or your property manager enter directly into the system, rather than bookings coming through Holidu or connected channels.

Important: Guests cannot leave reviews for manual bookings.

Which Reviews Are Displayed?

Holidu displays reviews from multiple sources to give potential guests a comprehensive picture:

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

Reviews may appear as individual guest feedback or aggregated rating scores. Display rules include:

• Reviews are primarily sorted by booking date
• Reviews containing written comments are prioritized
• Negative reviews only appear if your property has at least two total reviews

Viewing Your Reviews

All your reviews are accessible in your Holidu Host account:

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

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

You can also view reviews on individual distribution channels, but remember:

• Holidu displays your overall property score
• Full review text is only visible for bookings made directly on Holidu
• Partner channels only show reviews from bookings made through that specific channel

Review Compliance Standards

Holidu displays all legitimate reviews—both positive and negative—as long as they meet our community standards.

Content Not Allowed

Reviews must not contain:

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

Required Review Standards

All reviews must be:

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

Responding to Guest Reviews

Depending on the booking channel, you may have the opportunity to respond publicly to guest reviews on platforms like Booking.com, Airbnb, and Holidu.

Use your response to:

• Provide context that may help future guests understand your property better
• Express gratitude for positive feedback
• Address concerns professionally and constructively

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

Reporting Inappropriate Reviews

If you believe a review violates Holidu's guidelines, please contact our Customer Service Team. Our local teams are available to assist you in your language.

Learn more: Can I delete a review left by a guest?

Editing and Deleting Reviews

Important: Review editing policies depend entirely on the booking channel. Holidu does not control how external platforms manage review modifications.

Holidu: Reviews cannot be modified after submission. If a guest requests changes, our team can delete the review and send them a new review link.

Booking.com: Guests can edit their review anytime from their account until it's automatically deleted after 2 years. Guests must contact Booking.com directly.

Airbnb: Guests can edit their review only before it is published. Contact Airbnb for post-publication modifications.

Vrbo: Guests must contact Vrbo directly to request edits or deletions.

Learn more: Can I delete a guest review?

Improving Your Property's Reviews

Want to boost your property's rating and attract more guests?

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

Learn more: Why are reviews important?

Translation Note

Some reviews may be automatically translated using DeepL technology. Holidu and DeepL do not guarantee complete accuracy of translated content.

Important Disclaimers

• Guest reviews represent the personal opinions of individual guests, not Holidu
• Holidu functions as a distributor of reviews rather than a publisher and accepts no liability for review content
• Hosts and partners are prohibited from posting reviews on behalf of guests or offering incentives in exchange for reviews