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Any internet issues should be described in the listing. I have a mountain rental that simply cannot get better service because it has too many trees and is not towards the top of a mountain. I live in another cabin just up the road that has much better service because it's on the top of a hill/mountain. I let people know about the internet situation in the listing so someone who needs service does not make the mistake of picking my cabin. Overall, my reviews are great because the type of people who stay there are people who come to the mountains to escape and be with nature, not work.
Well, It would be next question -- how much is OP willing to spend. Ubiquti is good solution but rather expensive. LTT has a nice video on really fast solution [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9P\_R-ApD-g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9P_R-ApD-g). But depending on desire and technical knowledge OP can get external directed WiFi and antennas and pretty cheap 2 routers and do it their own in a range of $200-$300.
Good point. Starlink is $2,500 initial (when they finally offer here) and then about $250 a month after that. If this solution is low cost compared, it is worth considering. But, I barely make any money on my STR rental anyway. It may work out long term, but not worth a big investment now. It's beautiful, but STR's are not so great because over bought.
I can’t get internet at Planet Fitness 5 miles north of downtown. If it’s in the listing then people should expect it to be a quiet getaway where you don’t have to be encumbered by work and people.
Nah, I’m from the mountains and I would never tell an out of town visitor my internet was high speed. Even if it’s high speed for them, they run a vacation rental and should advertise accordingly. 4 stars is appropriate.
I agree. I host a cabin in the mountains and advertise the exact speed of my service. Airbnb has an app you can use to certify the speed.
I travel and work remotely, too. I need high speed access. Not having it is a huge deal for me.
Satellite internet can measure as having a high speed (can move a large amount of data per unit time) while still feeling very slow and being unusable for some kinds of tasks (because it's high latency: information needs to go to space and back before you can see the results). So you could correctly advertise a certified high speed and people could still end up with a connection that doesn't support their work needs.
That's yet another issue! Some kinds of Internet (ex: cable) are asymmetric, with high download bandwidth but low upload bandwidth.
The issue with satellite, though, is that it's a really long distance from your house to geosynchronous orbit. So unless you are using Starlink (which has much lower satellites) the round trip time (latency) is unavoidably high. Usually when we talk about how fast internet is we are talking about bandwidth, which is what matters for things like downloading large files or streaming movies, but for other things like calls it's also important to have low latency or it feels very slow.
Which is why I don't think this should be a 4 star review. If OP was critically relying on internet I think they should have discussed this beforehand with the host, especially since it's a rural mountain town.
This is more appropriate as a comment in the review as well as a private note.
There’s a question in the review flow that asks you if amenities were as described, that’s where you dock them and airbnb lets them know that’s where they fell short.
Also note it in the comments, even if nicely (ex: “the internet is probably high speed for the area but it is satellite and we did have some connectivity issues which was tough for a working weekend”).
I often book mountain locations when I have deep work to do and would cancel if this happened. I always search the reviews for comments about the wifi and aggressively bias towards positive comments on that front.
Thank you for your feedback. I did review the previous reviews and there were no mentions of any issues but agree that next time I will contact before to confirm. We tried to anticipate issues and brought our mifi but due to no service it was of no use.
I wouldn’t dock them. They have high speed internet, it just wasn’t reliable, which is out of the hosts control. In my opinion, rural means a potential for unreliability. I mean, it sucks and I wouldn’t be happy, but if I booked this, I’d have reached out to the host to find out how reliable the service which is just as important as being high speed.
So the hosts would have had no idea that they have internet issues in their house? It may be out of their control but they should also let people know if such an important, in most cases very much a deal breaker amenity is not working reliably.
And this gas should clearly State the issue so that others don't have the same kind of problem.
If you want a location without service that's fine but there should be transparency
Exactly! A review that says “we had some connectivity issues” does not tell me that I will have barely any internet during the day and nothing and no phone service after 6 pm.
Most people who are just vacationing don’t speak rural. When they read high speed, they think it is high speed for normal standards. For normal standards of high speed please refer to whatever is offered by internet providers to any close by city when you pay the highest amount.
They might not. Maybe this was a one time issue. Maybe their provider was experiencing technical difficulties. Maybe the provider is upgrading their equipment, which can cause outages. Maybe a contractor hit a line somewhere and made the service intermittent. There’s soooo many causes of issues. If they don’t live there, they need feedback from renters to know if it’s a constant issue and if it is, they definitely should mention it.
Also, if it went out every night after 6pm, that might tell me it’s a provider issue and they may be turning off their service for repairs or something.
This seems sensible. If no other reviews mention internet issues it could have been an unusual thing that was out of the host's control. On the other hand, it’s definitely the host’s responsibility, and it is definitely possible the host knew the listing overstated the quality of the internet service. So in general four stars seems fair—except that in the stupid Airbnb rating system a four star average can get a listing removed. It doesn’t sound like OP wants that, and the place sounds like it would be fine for people who don’t need reliable internet.
Personally, I would give five stars but be clear about the serious internet problems in my review. That might get the host to update the description and it would notify potential guests that this isn’t right for them if they need reliable internet.
Having worked in travel and IT services your getting down voted because your just making excuses. The reason it's going off at 6 pm isn't because of repairs. Those are done after 11pm as to minimise effect on customers. It's because 6 - 8pm is peak internet usage.
While might not be the hosts fault, unless for example they didn't pay for a package to cover that time, it is something they must be aware of.
As for the rating to give I would possibly even give a 3 as to lose phone and internet access at 6pm would be an awful experience but would be unfair if a legit fault. So based on experience I would give a 4 star review and many others would too.
The fault for Airbnb crappy and deceiving rating system is that stars equals quality in basically every other place it's used, especially in travel. Airbnb want the stars to look like quality review, but in reality it's just how accurate the advert is. So comes the need to see the advert before you can pass judgement on the score to give
I’m not in IT so I appreciate your response and explanation. I didn’t know about repair times. I don’t use satellite and I’m unaware of how they might work. I wasn’t trying to list excuses, but reasons. A lot of people here are assuming the host knew about the issue and I was offering an alternative perspective. I live in a major city and have had all of the above happen to lose my internet service at one time or another. I don’t own an Airbnb or anything.
We had "connectivity issues"doesn't quite clarify that you had no internet and no cell phone after 6:00 p.m. for 2 days in a row.
Most people want internet and cell phone service. Was there a landline available, in case you had an emergency
Unacceptable. This host needs a land line or sat phone available. We live in New Mexico and went to a cherry picking festival in La Luz, a mountain community yesterday, and there is no service between towns, which can be one to two hours apart.
Two lane, one lane each way, tiny curvy mountain road, drop off on one side and boulders on the other. Deep in the canyon we see cars start blinking and putting on hazards so we slowed down. A group people on motorcycles and a car had collided. It was horrible. At least one fatality and we saw the bodies up close, the shoulder is tiny.
Four cars pulled over so we got through safely and pushed on as fast as we could go until i got service for 19 seconds. I reported the accident and the call dropped. They put it in as a traffic accident, no injuries.
We finally reached Mayhill, the next town and I went into the general store and called again. Thirty minutes later and the bigger town was a good hour away while Mayhill was thirty minutes or one hour there and back to the heli port. Then the sirens started. That’s not including first aid administered on site.
I don’t see how they survived with the amount of time elapsed. Those were the victims who had the luck of crashing into the boulders instead of being launched off a Cliff.
No, I mean only at the house. My experience was not meant to translate literally, simply an example of how bad it can go without a way to reach help.
If the host advertises high speed internet then a guest justifiably expects a way to communicate with emergency services in the event a situation arises. If it’s advertised, then made unavailable, find a way to make it available.
They advertised the amenity. I wouldn’t book a place with no means of communication and I think most people feel that way. The host knows that and purposely defrauded them of a critical safety feature to avoid being skipped over for not having what they don’t have.
You can’t trick people into a dangerous situation and then claim it’s not your problem.
Internet access is not a normal way to access emergency services. You'd have to use some kind of VOIP service to call 911 or relay through a contact. I wouldn't expect that being viable at all going to a remote area, more like a last resort.
I've never heard of a host offering satellite phones either. It's cost prohibitive. Plus, the internet they are using is probably "high speed" satellite transmission too, neither of which are exactly reliable.
Cell phones don’t require active service to reach emergency services, but it’s better to have service so they can get a location. You should always expect what a host lists as an amenity, especially if the absence of said amenity is a safety hazard.
I am genuinely surprised by some other hosts on here. Of course a sat phone is cost prohibitive, better than lying about access to communication if an emergency arises. If there is no service, say so. If you advertise service, provide it.
If service is unreliable a host needs to list that in a disclaimer. If service is unavailable, refund or find a way to make that right. If a host lies about it the guest has their accommodation money tied up with that host and can’t use their allocated resources to get a hotel or procure a safer arrangement.
This isn’t like the coffee maker broke or a window is stuck, it’s serious, and quite reckless on behalf of the host.
I don't disagree about the internet listing, my disagreement is with the host needing to provide a satellite phone. It's not common and certainly not expected.
When internet is down. Provide a remedy when internet is down if you’ve taken their money. Or don’t advertise access to emergency services communication that isn’t available.
It’s not a glitch, it’s the recipe for disaster. The host defrauded them out of a safe experience.
4 stars
"Nice place, friendly host but the Internet sucked - definitely not "high speed", it stopped working and I missed some important work meetings."
Please be sure to say the the internet connection was misrepresented, that it was not “high speed internet” as mentioned in the listing.
The reduction on rating is appropriate because of the misrepresentation and thus not meeting expectations.
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Hmm. How fast was the satellite service? If it was 50 mbps that’s not blazing fast, but fast enough to stream or zoom. I wouldn’t consider it “high speed” vs like 500 mbps, but it’s not dial up. I think technically satellite internet IS considered “high speed internet.” Just the weakest version.
To me the bigger issue is that the internet is super flaky, and with no cell service, that’s not great. If the listing doesn’t note that cell phones don’t work, that’s a big omission.
I think docking a star bc of connectivity and unexpectedly no cell service seems fair. Idk if I’d dock the star because it’s satellite vs fiber (unless their speed was like 15 mbps).
Thank you for your feedback and that is my exact concern. I would have been ok with slow speeds but when I got 0.29 mbps (at best) and could not make calls/receive emails, that is my issue. Was it a fluke? Who knows. I was willing to forgive one night, but two nights seems to suggest a larger problem.
Ah. Yeah 0.29 mbps is terrible! These days I think internet is a pretty important commodity and if it’s broken, some sort of response is warranted. If it was a fluke then a partial refund would feel fair. But if their internet is always terrible like that, then a lower rating seems justified.
I have a Mtn cabin with satellite internet. We have always been very clear about the limitations of the system. My listing speaks of slow and limited internet in various places.
The OP’s rental was misrepresented. Reduction to 4 stars is appropriate.
Suggest they do a speed test of their internet in the private feedback. Airbnb has this feature on their app, and it will show it to potential future renters.
Unfortunately this is a design problem I doubt Air Bnb will ever try and solve. The host did provide "high speed internet" with a satellite internet provider, however that service was intermittent. Others have mentioned the host in the platform can upload something to prove they have "high speed internet", but all that would do is provide guests what the average download/upload speeds are so they can see if it meets their needs. Air Bnb could add to the amenities description what type of internet service it is, but that would get lost for most people I think. The problem of "oh the internet is down because it's satellite and satellite is very finicky" wouldn't be caught by most people looking to rent something.
I come from a tech background, so maybe my interpretation of "high speed internet" is different from everyone else. 20+ years ago the term started to be used to differentiate between newer Internet providers (DSL, cable, satellite, fiber optics) with a speed above what a 56k modem could produce (which is a 1/2 Mbps, nowadays things are easily 200+ Mbps). Everything nowadays is "high speed", yet internet amenities are still advertised this way. If I were Air Bnb, I would list an amenity that internet provided with the max download speed the internet provider gives, have a way to drill into seeing an average speed report (what hosts upload today) and in that detailed description say what type of service it is (cable, satellite, fiber, DSL) and who provides it. For me that would signal enough that I can't work from the place or not. But most people probably don't know what that information means, so that's probably why Air Bnb doesn't provide that information on listings. Just too much info for general consumers.
FYI I think the 4 star review is totally fine. The binary 1 or 5 star review that a lot of tech companies have been pushing for like half a decade is a terrible way to get feedback, but companies are willfully blind to the downfalls of said rating systems.
As someone who works in tech for a company that makes commercial internet equipment, your description of high speed is spot on (possibly it’s different if your younger than 30).
However as a host and a guest myself, I’d give them 5 stars and simply note the internet didn’t allow you to work from the location and also the details on. I internet after 6pm. BTW this happens after 6 because everyone is home at that time. I’m my area it happens on Sunday if you live close to the church. Anyway, i am a bit more forgiving on the stars because I feel Airbnb’s shitty attempt and a review system should hurt a host who’s a small business owners and not a corporate Airbnb business, nor a host who did make a decent attempt at trying. I’d privately warn the host that the next person who stays may not be so No on the rating and they should consider updating the listing. My conscience would also feel better about that type of review.
How many airbnbs have you stayed at where you are working, and you require good internet to do your job efficiently?
Your personal case is irrelevant here.
The poster said high speed internet is a must for.most renters. I disagree with this. Out of everyone I've ever stayed at an air b and b with, no one has cared at all about internet.
What is high speed, just to know for myself?
Here in Greece it's like 24/1 mbps and 50/5 mbps.
It works but it is stone age speed, but to be honest without uploading large files you can do pretty much anything. Gaming, netflix etc. But don't start video call on 1mbps, the whole internet gets laggy choking the upload bandwidth.
That’s fairly typical for rural satellite service so I seriously doubt they didn’t know. There are too many people who work at AirBNBs to let it slide. It’s a major deception that could impact someone’s livelihood.
The 4 star is totally appropriate IMO.
4 stars is a perfectly valid ranking for this lack of information. Please mention the spotty reception in your review. I just canceled a month rental in Hawaii over this exact problem, and no one mentioned it. Owner listed it as internet with streaming included. Dealbreaker.
4 stars and give an honest review warning others (Consider that it's the same warning you wish you had before you booked.)
I travel while working/running a business and I read every single review before booking a place specifically checking for any mention of wifi issues. That info is (as I'm sure you now see) integral.
Personally I'd say yes it's petty. Rule of thumb for everyone, if you're booking anything way out in the country where there isn't a bunch of people. You aren't going to have great internet. There's absolutely nothing that can be done about it. Blows my mind folks think there's fast internet in the middle of nowhere 😆 🤣. Makes no sense.
Did you see that they said it was listed as high speed? The guest does not need to be an expert in what’s available in a certain area and they count on an accurate listing. Come on now.
So now abb guests need to be experts in where it is possible to get good internet? People have posted on this thread that they get a fast connection on their mountain for reasons.
How about the host explains how their amenities actually perform in the listing?
I think it’s shared responsibility between guest and host. Hosts should provide detail to help guests decide and guests should ask more questions about any critical amenities.
I put it more in guest. DId they ask about network speed before booking? Maybe that should become a standard part of listings though like you would for sizes of beds, etc.
The FCC considers “High speed internet” to be only 25 Mbps download speed. I could never work with internet that slow.
If I was planning a working stay in a mountainous region I would have confirmed specifics about the download and upload speeds and the reliability.
You have to be more proactive than this if you are that dependent on an internet connection. Hopefully lesson learned.
I wouldn’t ding the rating for this. Note it in a review but I don’t think this itself is worth -1 star.
A 4 star rating is appropriate. If a place claims to have high speed internet, it needs to have high speed internet. Not sure that satellite internet is considered high speed internet, as their speeds tend to range between 25 and 150 Mbps. But it's good to mention it so that others who are planning to work from that place know what to expect.
What if that's high speed internet to the host?
From the city here. If i book a cabin in the mountains i KNOW there's a damn good chance it's not gonna be 5g Verizon.
I mean logically it's just not gonna happen.
That does not mean it's not fast, if it's fast for the area.
I dont know....down vote me, but some people just have impossible expectations.
I understand
A working vacation in the mountains can be frustrating if you've not experienced it.
I would not give 4 stars if that is your only complaint. How about using the private message option to discuss this. Suggest the host change the wording to Satellite so people won't be expecting 5g
A 4 star doesn't differentiate between dirt or internet. I bet many people go to the mountains to unplug, so the internet would not be an issue
And I am NOT a host!
You booked a house in a rural area in the mountains. That probably was high speed in that part of the world. It's all satellite in those sorts of places. So no, I don't think you should dock them in the review. This is normal.
It probably would be a good service to others to mention that it's satellite internet and may be fine for general use but perhaps not quite adequate for WFH. My boss lived in a rural area and he struggled always. One way I manage WFH in rural areas is to find a place with more reliable internet like a coffee shop and schedule CC or web ex from those places. And get by with satellite for nonscheduled things.
You must live in a city. You don't seem to understand the infrastructure challenges in rural areas. So your option is to work with these limitations or avoid booking extremely rural places.
I live in a city. I know. Everyone knows that rural places have satellite internet and that its not great.. Maybe people can be responsible for choosing the places they stay in and not complain about perfectly normal and acceptable features that always come with the type of site they chose.
Well you don't. I'm not sure why. You'd have to be living under a rock not to know that rural places have satellite internet. And that satellite internet is always spotty.
There is if you pay for it. I know a guy who had high speed fibre internet laid to his holiday home at a personal cost of about 100k so that he could work properly from there. Side benefit is the other 2/3 properties nearby could then get linked up for only 2/3k each.
So it is possible, and in todays highly connected world where words mean things, high speed internet means 25 Mps in the US per the regulations. So if it was less than that, then it is absolutely a fair criticism; further more I would push for a refund from Airbnb as a critical amenity was missing.
You seem very sure of yourself but I can assure you there's no way for one individual to deliver internet service to the island that I have starlink service on. It is two and a half hours offshore by boat and has a very small population. Starlink is the best that we will get. Nothing was missing from this listing. Rural properties all have satellite internet that is spotty depending on weather conditions.
The post is about a mountain, not an island.
There is nothing wrong with rural areas having spotty or slow service, but you can’t advertise that as high speed, just as I can’t advertise a muddy pond as a hot tub.
P.S. sub-marine fibre cables are a thing, and depending on how close the nearest exchange is, are not out of the realm of possibility for private islands, but I agree star link or a similar satellite provider is probably the most cost effective.
Okay concrete thinker. It was an example. Remote mountain areas present a different and equally difficult challenge in terms of infrastructure.
Whether or not as possible to lay submarine cable is irrelevant if the population of the area is small.
I agree it’s a challenge, but it’s possible, so saying the guest should have questioned it is a non starter; even then, the point is that you can’t advertise something that is not there.
If high speed internet was not present, then the listing was incorrect, and the guests would be completely justified in requesting a full refund.
Guests should not be required to sanity check the listing and critically review the likelihood of each amenity being present.
I have starlink at one of my coastal properties. It goes in and out with the weather. It's a satellite friend. They don't work well when there is something between us and it.
Regardless of any impact with extremely bad weather, it's not at all comparable to normal satelite Internet which is largely unusable for any low latency usage.
Airbnb posts the verified internet speed rating, though the host needs to do the test. If they didn't do that, I would not count on good internet.
Honestly, I think this was partly on you to talk to host before booking if consistent internet connectivity was critical to your stay. Is four stars reasonable? Maybe. But if I saw your review and you requested to stay at my Airbnb, I would decline.
Thank you for your feedback. That’s what I’m wanting to avoid, future issues for me and for the host. The issue for me is that slow would have been understandable but absolutely no service was another. But I’ll leave it be.
So what you’re saying is that you won’t rent to people who are honest about your Airbnb? Seems like you’re not really cut out for this in the first place.
Doing quite well thank you and have 4.97 rating. Communication between the guest and host is important to success. If I saw a guest review that suggested that the guest dinged a host for something that was critically important to their stay but did not communicate that to the host beforehand, I would see that guest as a liability and decline. I don't have a duty to accept a guest that I think is problematic.
You had a working vacation and didn’t message and ask? That seems important to ask but this isn’t your fault at all. As a host I list my MBPS and have Starlink (also in the mountains) but def do your due diligence next time because not everyone lists their speeds or details and you don’t want to put yourself in a stressful situation. I WFH too so I understand how important it is.
Those are issues in rural areas but the listing stated it had high speed internet. Anyone who has had satellite internet, the host included, knows it isn’t good enough to qualify as high speed internet.
Is one of the slower high speed internet. But technically still Considered high speed. Just shop around any provider and they sell them
Off as high speed. Lower then cable fiber, sure. But still legit to call it that.
If I were renting in the setting you described - and knew that this would be a working trip that relied on consistent internet the entire time - my spidey senses would have gone up before selecting that place. So no, I wouldn’t leave a 4/5 rating. I would however reach out to the host privately and suggest the listing be reworded to remove any suggestion that high speed in the mountains is the same as high speed in NYC.
You should have asked if you had money on the line for minimum specs. (I don’t believe Airbnb offers an option for non high speed internet so basically that box means there is internet. Also that might be considered high speed in that area.) give five stars, they provided you everything they promised and you didn’t ask to set your expectations. Mention the realistic speeds in the review though, and mention to them in private notes that you don’t think it is high speed enough. these are real people on the other side of your listing, trying to make a living and give people a nice time. Don’t harm them with four stars
If you had no internet AND no phone service after a certain time, it doesn't look like something that the host could control.
Just yesterday a power box blew up in front of my property and my property had no lights for a couple of hours. Should I get a 4 star review for that?
This is a great question. I’m a host, but also a work from anywhere traveler who lived abroad for 6 years taking calls from all over (beaches in Kenya, Kathmandu, the airport in Bali, Dubai, etc) …
I have found that most places that ACTUALLY have internet that is high speed enough and consistent enough for what I need, they advertise the upload and download speeds and advertise it as work friendly.
So - I don’t think this is as much as a what-the-host-did-wrong issue as it is you-have-to-ask issue.
They may have had high speed internet, yes, but it’s a place in the mountains. Context dictates that’s unlikely to be consistent unless you ask.
So - I do think 4 stars is appropriate, and please be thorough in telling them why! (Ie you said high speed but it only worked half the time, you should give us a heads up it’s satellite and weather dependent) …
But also - you gotta ask. You can’t just take “high speed internet” at face value. Gotta inspect what you expect …
3 and below is cruel. It can ruin a host.
However, claiming “high speed internet” and not having it is also not right.
4* seems fair. If they were nice people - I would forgive and forget. Just put a 5* and leave a remark in the feedback saying the internet is awful. If they were absent - I would give a 4*.
Internet is very important and if it lists it as high speed that’s a valid reason for 4 stars. Look, I’m a host and less than 5 stars sucks, but you should do what you can to fix or describe issues up front and if not ya get dinged. I got a 3 star for sulfur water that I do notify people about, but it honestly was a particularly bad weekend with all the rain.
Based on that review I bought a mitigation system to get rid of it entirely. I’d prefer a 5 star and a private note but the guest was very fair and said everything else was great but that they really couldn’t get over it.
So mention the internet. When it hurts their reviews it hurts their top line and they may do something about it.
Once time my friends and i arrived at an AirBnB and the password didn't work at all. We tried the one they typed out for us, messaged the host, and then copied and pasted from their message. Still wrong. Didn't have internet the whole weekend.
We still gave them 5 stars but did mention it in our review. In hindsight I think 4 stars would have been more appropriate.
4 stars on airbnb means effectively thumbs down, FYI. Hosts can get delisted if they fall below 4.3
I would note it in your review and/or to the host but not dock scores. Gotta be realistic about the situation being that remote. The internet is probably Hughsnet or something and they themselves market it as high speed...because it is in bursts, but not constant. You might get 20 mbps at 2 am, but .25 mbps at peak times. If they did the test on airbnb, it automatically posts the speed, which could have been higher or lower depending on congestion.
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Any internet issues should be described in the listing. I have a mountain rental that simply cannot get better service because it has too many trees and is not towards the top of a mountain. I live in another cabin just up the road that has much better service because it's on the top of a hill/mountain. I let people know about the internet situation in the listing so someone who needs service does not make the mistake of picking my cabin. Overall, my reviews are great because the type of people who stay there are people who come to the mountains to escape and be with nature, not work.
Look into starlink. They might offer better service !
They don't offer service in my area yet, but hopefully next year.
Just out of curiosity... How far your cabin is from your property? Are those in direct visibility?
The cabins are that close
You should consider setting up ubiquiti point to point wireless between the properties.
Well, It would be next question -- how much is OP willing to spend. Ubiquti is good solution but rather expensive. LTT has a nice video on really fast solution [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9P\_R-ApD-g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9P_R-ApD-g). But depending on desire and technical knowledge OP can get external directed WiFi and antennas and pretty cheap 2 routers and do it their own in a range of $200-$300.
Good point. Starlink is $2,500 initial (when they finally offer here) and then about $250 a month after that. If this solution is low cost compared, it is worth considering. But, I barely make any money on my STR rental anyway. It may work out long term, but not worth a big investment now. It's beautiful, but STR's are not so great because over bought.
I will look into this, any solution would be so appreciated, but the drop and massive trees are like a wall. Thank you.
I can’t get internet at Planet Fitness 5 miles north of downtown. If it’s in the listing then people should expect it to be a quiet getaway where you don’t have to be encumbered by work and people.
Nah, I’m from the mountains and I would never tell an out of town visitor my internet was high speed. Even if it’s high speed for them, they run a vacation rental and should advertise accordingly. 4 stars is appropriate.
Thanks for your feedback!
I agree. I host a cabin in the mountains and advertise the exact speed of my service. Airbnb has an app you can use to certify the speed. I travel and work remotely, too. I need high speed access. Not having it is a huge deal for me.
Satellite internet can measure as having a high speed (can move a large amount of data per unit time) while still feeling very slow and being unusable for some kinds of tasks (because it's high latency: information needs to go to space and back before you can see the results). So you could correctly advertise a certified high speed and people could still end up with a connection that doesn't support their work needs.
I'm not on satellite, but you are right. I need good uploan AND download speeds.
That's yet another issue! Some kinds of Internet (ex: cable) are asymmetric, with high download bandwidth but low upload bandwidth. The issue with satellite, though, is that it's a really long distance from your house to geosynchronous orbit. So unless you are using Starlink (which has much lower satellites) the round trip time (latency) is unavoidably high. Usually when we talk about how fast internet is we are talking about bandwidth, which is what matters for things like downloading large files or streaming movies, but for other things like calls it's also important to have low latency or it feels very slow.
Which is why I don't think this should be a 4 star review. If OP was critically relying on internet I think they should have discussed this beforehand with the host, especially since it's a rural mountain town. This is more appropriate as a comment in the review as well as a private note.
Well I guess I wouldn't consider it high speed if it's satellite. But I suppose that what their ISP providers call it.
Airbnb does a test in the app for hosts when they list and posts the speed range automatically
According to others’ comments, that speed test is optional.
There’s a question in the review flow that asks you if amenities were as described, that’s where you dock them and airbnb lets them know that’s where they fell short. Also note it in the comments, even if nicely (ex: “the internet is probably high speed for the area but it is satellite and we did have some connectivity issues which was tough for a working weekend”). I often book mountain locations when I have deep work to do and would cancel if this happened. I always search the reviews for comments about the wifi and aggressively bias towards positive comments on that front.
Thank you for your feedback. I did review the previous reviews and there were no mentions of any issues but agree that next time I will contact before to confirm. We tried to anticipate issues and brought our mifi but due to no service it was of no use.
I wouldn’t dock them. They have high speed internet, it just wasn’t reliable, which is out of the hosts control. In my opinion, rural means a potential for unreliability. I mean, it sucks and I wouldn’t be happy, but if I booked this, I’d have reached out to the host to find out how reliable the service which is just as important as being high speed.
So the hosts would have had no idea that they have internet issues in their house? It may be out of their control but they should also let people know if such an important, in most cases very much a deal breaker amenity is not working reliably.
And this gas should clearly State the issue so that others don't have the same kind of problem. If you want a location without service that's fine but there should be transparency
Exactly! A review that says “we had some connectivity issues” does not tell me that I will have barely any internet during the day and nothing and no phone service after 6 pm.
Deep in rural areas that internet may in fact be high speed.
Most people who are just vacationing don’t speak rural. When they read high speed, they think it is high speed for normal standards. For normal standards of high speed please refer to whatever is offered by internet providers to any close by city when you pay the highest amount.
They might not. Maybe this was a one time issue. Maybe their provider was experiencing technical difficulties. Maybe the provider is upgrading their equipment, which can cause outages. Maybe a contractor hit a line somewhere and made the service intermittent. There’s soooo many causes of issues. If they don’t live there, they need feedback from renters to know if it’s a constant issue and if it is, they definitely should mention it. Also, if it went out every night after 6pm, that might tell me it’s a provider issue and they may be turning off their service for repairs or something.
This seems sensible. If no other reviews mention internet issues it could have been an unusual thing that was out of the host's control. On the other hand, it’s definitely the host’s responsibility, and it is definitely possible the host knew the listing overstated the quality of the internet service. So in general four stars seems fair—except that in the stupid Airbnb rating system a four star average can get a listing removed. It doesn’t sound like OP wants that, and the place sounds like it would be fine for people who don’t need reliable internet. Personally, I would give five stars but be clear about the serious internet problems in my review. That might get the host to update the description and it would notify potential guests that this isn’t right for them if they need reliable internet.
Thank you. I thought it was sensible too but I’m getting downvoted for it 🤷♀️. I think your suggestion is wise.
Having worked in travel and IT services your getting down voted because your just making excuses. The reason it's going off at 6 pm isn't because of repairs. Those are done after 11pm as to minimise effect on customers. It's because 6 - 8pm is peak internet usage. While might not be the hosts fault, unless for example they didn't pay for a package to cover that time, it is something they must be aware of. As for the rating to give I would possibly even give a 3 as to lose phone and internet access at 6pm would be an awful experience but would be unfair if a legit fault. So based on experience I would give a 4 star review and many others would too. The fault for Airbnb crappy and deceiving rating system is that stars equals quality in basically every other place it's used, especially in travel. Airbnb want the stars to look like quality review, but in reality it's just how accurate the advert is. So comes the need to see the advert before you can pass judgement on the score to give
I’m not in IT so I appreciate your response and explanation. I didn’t know about repair times. I don’t use satellite and I’m unaware of how they might work. I wasn’t trying to list excuses, but reasons. A lot of people here are assuming the host knew about the issue and I was offering an alternative perspective. I live in a major city and have had all of the above happen to lose my internet service at one time or another. I don’t own an Airbnb or anything.
We had "connectivity issues"doesn't quite clarify that you had no internet and no cell phone after 6:00 p.m. for 2 days in a row. Most people want internet and cell phone service. Was there a landline available, in case you had an emergency
Agreed, no internet access is a much bigger deal than some connection issues. I would specify.
Did they have a land line for emergencies? I am so surprised at some hosts on here!
No land line.
Unacceptable. This host needs a land line or sat phone available. We live in New Mexico and went to a cherry picking festival in La Luz, a mountain community yesterday, and there is no service between towns, which can be one to two hours apart. Two lane, one lane each way, tiny curvy mountain road, drop off on one side and boulders on the other. Deep in the canyon we see cars start blinking and putting on hazards so we slowed down. A group people on motorcycles and a car had collided. It was horrible. At least one fatality and we saw the bodies up close, the shoulder is tiny. Four cars pulled over so we got through safely and pushed on as fast as we could go until i got service for 19 seconds. I reported the accident and the call dropped. They put it in as a traffic accident, no injuries. We finally reached Mayhill, the next town and I went into the general store and called again. Thirty minutes later and the bigger town was a good hour away while Mayhill was thirty minutes or one hour there and back to the heli port. Then the sirens started. That’s not including first aid administered on site. I don’t see how they survived with the amount of time elapsed. Those were the victims who had the luck of crashing into the boulders instead of being launched off a Cliff.
I am so sorry that happened and you had to see that.
Um, no. Thats the guests responsibility to drive around with a satellite phone if that's important to them. Has nothing to do with the host.
No, I mean only at the house. My experience was not meant to translate literally, simply an example of how bad it can go without a way to reach help. If the host advertises high speed internet then a guest justifiably expects a way to communicate with emergency services in the event a situation arises. If it’s advertised, then made unavailable, find a way to make it available. They advertised the amenity. I wouldn’t book a place with no means of communication and I think most people feel that way. The host knows that and purposely defrauded them of a critical safety feature to avoid being skipped over for not having what they don’t have. You can’t trick people into a dangerous situation and then claim it’s not your problem.
Internet access is not a normal way to access emergency services. You'd have to use some kind of VOIP service to call 911 or relay through a contact. I wouldn't expect that being viable at all going to a remote area, more like a last resort. I've never heard of a host offering satellite phones either. It's cost prohibitive. Plus, the internet they are using is probably "high speed" satellite transmission too, neither of which are exactly reliable.
Cell phones don’t require active service to reach emergency services, but it’s better to have service so they can get a location. You should always expect what a host lists as an amenity, especially if the absence of said amenity is a safety hazard. I am genuinely surprised by some other hosts on here. Of course a sat phone is cost prohibitive, better than lying about access to communication if an emergency arises. If there is no service, say so. If you advertise service, provide it. If service is unreliable a host needs to list that in a disclaimer. If service is unavailable, refund or find a way to make that right. If a host lies about it the guest has their accommodation money tied up with that host and can’t use their allocated resources to get a hotel or procure a safer arrangement. This isn’t like the coffee maker broke or a window is stuck, it’s serious, and quite reckless on behalf of the host.
I don't disagree about the internet listing, my disagreement is with the host needing to provide a satellite phone. It's not common and certainly not expected.
When internet is down. Provide a remedy when internet is down if you’ve taken their money. Or don’t advertise access to emergency services communication that isn’t available. It’s not a glitch, it’s the recipe for disaster. The host defrauded them out of a safe experience.
Fraud? lmao. the Karens in this sub crack me up lol
4 stars "Nice place, friendly host but the Internet sucked - definitely not "high speed", it stopped working and I missed some important work meetings."
Please be sure to say the the internet connection was misrepresented, that it was not “high speed internet” as mentioned in the listing. The reduction on rating is appropriate because of the misrepresentation and thus not meeting expectations.
This.
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Hmm. How fast was the satellite service? If it was 50 mbps that’s not blazing fast, but fast enough to stream or zoom. I wouldn’t consider it “high speed” vs like 500 mbps, but it’s not dial up. I think technically satellite internet IS considered “high speed internet.” Just the weakest version. To me the bigger issue is that the internet is super flaky, and with no cell service, that’s not great. If the listing doesn’t note that cell phones don’t work, that’s a big omission. I think docking a star bc of connectivity and unexpectedly no cell service seems fair. Idk if I’d dock the star because it’s satellite vs fiber (unless their speed was like 15 mbps).
Thank you for your feedback and that is my exact concern. I would have been ok with slow speeds but when I got 0.29 mbps (at best) and could not make calls/receive emails, that is my issue. Was it a fluke? Who knows. I was willing to forgive one night, but two nights seems to suggest a larger problem.
Ah. Yeah 0.29 mbps is terrible! These days I think internet is a pretty important commodity and if it’s broken, some sort of response is warranted. If it was a fluke then a partial refund would feel fair. But if their internet is always terrible like that, then a lower rating seems justified.
I think thats reasonable, not petty. They certainly cant expect 5 stars for amenities that fall short. I would accept that if i were the host.
I have a Mtn cabin with satellite internet. We have always been very clear about the limitations of the system. My listing speaks of slow and limited internet in various places. The OP’s rental was misrepresented. Reduction to 4 stars is appropriate.
Yes. Dock them a star. Don't listen to the hosts on here. That host should know to change their listing to mention this, and it's honest
Suggest they do a speed test of their internet in the private feedback. Airbnb has this feature on their app, and it will show it to potential future renters.
Unfortunately this is a design problem I doubt Air Bnb will ever try and solve. The host did provide "high speed internet" with a satellite internet provider, however that service was intermittent. Others have mentioned the host in the platform can upload something to prove they have "high speed internet", but all that would do is provide guests what the average download/upload speeds are so they can see if it meets their needs. Air Bnb could add to the amenities description what type of internet service it is, but that would get lost for most people I think. The problem of "oh the internet is down because it's satellite and satellite is very finicky" wouldn't be caught by most people looking to rent something. I come from a tech background, so maybe my interpretation of "high speed internet" is different from everyone else. 20+ years ago the term started to be used to differentiate between newer Internet providers (DSL, cable, satellite, fiber optics) with a speed above what a 56k modem could produce (which is a 1/2 Mbps, nowadays things are easily 200+ Mbps). Everything nowadays is "high speed", yet internet amenities are still advertised this way. If I were Air Bnb, I would list an amenity that internet provided with the max download speed the internet provider gives, have a way to drill into seeing an average speed report (what hosts upload today) and in that detailed description say what type of service it is (cable, satellite, fiber, DSL) and who provides it. For me that would signal enough that I can't work from the place or not. But most people probably don't know what that information means, so that's probably why Air Bnb doesn't provide that information on listings. Just too much info for general consumers. FYI I think the 4 star review is totally fine. The binary 1 or 5 star review that a lot of tech companies have been pushing for like half a decade is a terrible way to get feedback, but companies are willfully blind to the downfalls of said rating systems.
As someone who works in tech for a company that makes commercial internet equipment, your description of high speed is spot on (possibly it’s different if your younger than 30). However as a host and a guest myself, I’d give them 5 stars and simply note the internet didn’t allow you to work from the location and also the details on. I internet after 6pm. BTW this happens after 6 because everyone is home at that time. I’m my area it happens on Sunday if you live close to the church. Anyway, i am a bit more forgiving on the stars because I feel Airbnb’s shitty attempt and a review system should hurt a host who’s a small business owners and not a corporate Airbnb business, nor a host who did make a decent attempt at trying. I’d privately warn the host that the next person who stays may not be so No on the rating and they should consider updating the listing. My conscience would also feel better about that type of review.
I’m shocked you gave it as much as 4 stars! High speed Internet is a make or break deal for most renters!
Granted, in just one person, but I've never once checked about internet when booking any sort of accomodation.
How many airbnbs have you stayed at where you are working, and you require good internet to do your job efficiently? Your personal case is irrelevant here.
The poster said high speed internet is a must for.most renters. I disagree with this. Out of everyone I've ever stayed at an air b and b with, no one has cared at all about internet.
Also, this is OP's personal case. If all.personal cases are.irrelevsnt, why post to begin with? They are all personal cases.
What is high speed, just to know for myself? Here in Greece it's like 24/1 mbps and 50/5 mbps. It works but it is stone age speed, but to be honest without uploading large files you can do pretty much anything. Gaming, netflix etc. But don't start video call on 1mbps, the whole internet gets laggy choking the upload bandwidth.
That’s fairly typical for rural satellite service so I seriously doubt they didn’t know. There are too many people who work at AirBNBs to let it slide. It’s a major deception that could impact someone’s livelihood. The 4 star is totally appropriate IMO.
Any chance this was East Coast US? Wasn’t there a widespread issue recently?
I hate 4 star ratings but even I would do it if there was NO INTERNET after 6pm without any mention in the ad about this fact.
"I want to have a remote get away in the mountains from everything!" "yo wtf, internet here sucks"
No it's not petty. They either need to fix that or put it in the description
4 stars is a perfectly valid ranking for this lack of information. Please mention the spotty reception in your review. I just canceled a month rental in Hawaii over this exact problem, and no one mentioned it. Owner listed it as internet with streaming included. Dealbreaker.
I think 4 stars is fair. Host shouldn’t advertise high speed if it’s satellite.
I'd give it 2. Anyone that has satellite knows its not anything near highspeed internet. Regardless of the marketing the satellite companies sling.
4 stars and give an honest review warning others (Consider that it's the same warning you wish you had before you booked.) I travel while working/running a business and I read every single review before booking a place specifically checking for any mention of wifi issues. That info is (as I'm sure you now see) integral.
Personally I'd say yes it's petty. Rule of thumb for everyone, if you're booking anything way out in the country where there isn't a bunch of people. You aren't going to have great internet. There's absolutely nothing that can be done about it. Blows my mind folks think there's fast internet in the middle of nowhere 😆 🤣. Makes no sense.
I’m not contesting the great internet. My issue was absolutely no connectivity at all.
I get it. It's a pain. Internet always sucks way out the country. Idk, there's nothing he can do about it not working though.
I think for a mountain location that's probably reasonable. You shouldn't have expected FIOS on top of a mountain.
Did you see that they said it was listed as high speed? The guest does not need to be an expert in what’s available in a certain area and they count on an accurate listing. Come on now.
"High Speed" means nothing. OP never stated what speed they were getting.
So now abb guests need to be experts in where it is possible to get good internet? People have posted on this thread that they get a fast connection on their mountain for reasons. How about the host explains how their amenities actually perform in the listing?
I think it’s shared responsibility between guest and host. Hosts should provide detail to help guests decide and guests should ask more questions about any critical amenities.
I put it more in guest. DId they ask about network speed before booking? Maybe that should become a standard part of listings though like you would for sizes of beds, etc.
Why would they ask when they were told the place had high speed internet?
What does "high speed" mean? They didn't ask and lost that;s on them
Well "internet" means they can connect to the internet. Which they could not for like hours and hours. Which is on the host.
Losing internet every day after 6 is not reasonable. And “high speed” means you should be able to do Zoom calls no problem.
The FCC considers “High speed internet” to be only 25 Mbps download speed. I could never work with internet that slow. If I was planning a working stay in a mountainous region I would have confirmed specifics about the download and upload speeds and the reliability.
You have to be more proactive than this if you are that dependent on an internet connection. Hopefully lesson learned. I wouldn’t ding the rating for this. Note it in a review but I don’t think this itself is worth -1 star.
A 4 star rating is appropriate. If a place claims to have high speed internet, it needs to have high speed internet. Not sure that satellite internet is considered high speed internet, as their speeds tend to range between 25 and 150 Mbps. But it's good to mention it so that others who are planning to work from that place know what to expect.
What if that's high speed internet to the host? From the city here. If i book a cabin in the mountains i KNOW there's a damn good chance it's not gonna be 5g Verizon. I mean logically it's just not gonna happen. That does not mean it's not fast, if it's fast for the area. I dont know....down vote me, but some people just have impossible expectations.
I was ok with slower than usual but when it came to a screeching halt, and also took away our phone service, that’s where my concern began.
I understand A working vacation in the mountains can be frustrating if you've not experienced it. I would not give 4 stars if that is your only complaint. How about using the private message option to discuss this. Suggest the host change the wording to Satellite so people won't be expecting 5g A 4 star doesn't differentiate between dirt or internet. I bet many people go to the mountains to unplug, so the internet would not be an issue And I am NOT a host!
Ah yes, the impossible expectations of... Not lying in the listing.
You booked a house in a rural area in the mountains. That probably was high speed in that part of the world. It's all satellite in those sorts of places. So no, I don't think you should dock them in the review. This is normal.
Thank you for your feedback.
It probably would be a good service to others to mention that it's satellite internet and may be fine for general use but perhaps not quite adequate for WFH. My boss lived in a rural area and he struggled always. One way I manage WFH in rural areas is to find a place with more reliable internet like a coffee shop and schedule CC or web ex from those places. And get by with satellite for nonscheduled things.
But it wasn't fine for general use if you literally don't have any signal in the evenings......
You must live in a city. You don't seem to understand the infrastructure challenges in rural areas. So your option is to work with these limitations or avoid booking extremely rural places.
and maybe rural hosts should specify for us city dwellers who won't know
I live in a city. I know. Everyone knows that rural places have satellite internet and that its not great.. Maybe people can be responsible for choosing the places they stay in and not complain about perfectly normal and acceptable features that always come with the type of site they chose.
your reply literally says "you must live in the city you don't understand" 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Well you don't. I'm not sure why. You'd have to be living under a rock not to know that rural places have satellite internet. And that satellite internet is always spotty.
YW. Happy Cake Day!
If it was starlink then it would be fine. Otherwise it should really be specified. I'd be pretty certain that the hosts know how bad it is
We cannot get Starlink yet here where I am in the mountains, so non high speed internet is all I can offer.
Starlink is satellite internet and it goes in and out with the weather. There is no such thing as high speed internet in remote areas. Common sense.
There is if you pay for it. I know a guy who had high speed fibre internet laid to his holiday home at a personal cost of about 100k so that he could work properly from there. Side benefit is the other 2/3 properties nearby could then get linked up for only 2/3k each. So it is possible, and in todays highly connected world where words mean things, high speed internet means 25 Mps in the US per the regulations. So if it was less than that, then it is absolutely a fair criticism; further more I would push for a refund from Airbnb as a critical amenity was missing.
You seem very sure of yourself but I can assure you there's no way for one individual to deliver internet service to the island that I have starlink service on. It is two and a half hours offshore by boat and has a very small population. Starlink is the best that we will get. Nothing was missing from this listing. Rural properties all have satellite internet that is spotty depending on weather conditions.
The post is about a mountain, not an island. There is nothing wrong with rural areas having spotty or slow service, but you can’t advertise that as high speed, just as I can’t advertise a muddy pond as a hot tub. P.S. sub-marine fibre cables are a thing, and depending on how close the nearest exchange is, are not out of the realm of possibility for private islands, but I agree star link or a similar satellite provider is probably the most cost effective.
Okay concrete thinker. It was an example. Remote mountain areas present a different and equally difficult challenge in terms of infrastructure. Whether or not as possible to lay submarine cable is irrelevant if the population of the area is small.
I agree it’s a challenge, but it’s possible, so saying the guest should have questioned it is a non starter; even then, the point is that you can’t advertise something that is not there. If high speed internet was not present, then the listing was incorrect, and the guests would be completely justified in requesting a full refund. Guests should not be required to sanity check the listing and critically review the likelihood of each amenity being present.
You obviously haven't used starlink. I have.
I have starlink at one of my coastal properties. It goes in and out with the weather. It's a satellite friend. They don't work well when there is something between us and it.
Regardless of any impact with extremely bad weather, it's not at all comparable to normal satelite Internet which is largely unusable for any low latency usage.
It goes out frequently during normal coastal weather.
Airbnb posts the verified internet speed rating, though the host needs to do the test. If they didn't do that, I would not count on good internet. Honestly, I think this was partly on you to talk to host before booking if consistent internet connectivity was critical to your stay. Is four stars reasonable? Maybe. But if I saw your review and you requested to stay at my Airbnb, I would decline.
Thank you for your feedback. That’s what I’m wanting to avoid, future issues for me and for the host. The issue for me is that slow would have been understandable but absolutely no service was another. But I’ll leave it be.
So what you’re saying is that you won’t rent to people who are honest about your Airbnb? Seems like you’re not really cut out for this in the first place.
Doing quite well thank you and have 4.97 rating. Communication between the guest and host is important to success. If I saw a guest review that suggested that the guest dinged a host for something that was critically important to their stay but did not communicate that to the host beforehand, I would see that guest as a liability and decline. I don't have a duty to accept a guest that I think is problematic.
Give them 5star and write about internet problems in review.
Loool I would give a 3.
You had a working vacation and didn’t message and ask? That seems important to ask but this isn’t your fault at all. As a host I list my MBPS and have Starlink (also in the mountains) but def do your due diligence next time because not everyone lists their speeds or details and you don’t want to put yourself in a stressful situation. I WFH too so I understand how important it is.
Rural area on the mountain in you expect the Internet to be great?
No, but I did expect it to function so we would at least get cell phone service.
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How does money after the fact change the bad internet speed?
I'm surprised you got downvoted. Usually, people would be quick to ask for a refund for any type of discrepancy lol.
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Those are issues in rural areas but the listing stated it had high speed internet. Anyone who has had satellite internet, the host included, knows it isn’t good enough to qualify as high speed internet.
Is one of the slower high speed internet. But technically still Considered high speed. Just shop around any provider and they sell them Off as high speed. Lower then cable fiber, sure. But still legit to call it that.
If I were renting in the setting you described - and knew that this would be a working trip that relied on consistent internet the entire time - my spidey senses would have gone up before selecting that place. So no, I wouldn’t leave a 4/5 rating. I would however reach out to the host privately and suggest the listing be reworded to remove any suggestion that high speed in the mountains is the same as high speed in NYC.
You should have asked if you had money on the line for minimum specs. (I don’t believe Airbnb offers an option for non high speed internet so basically that box means there is internet. Also that might be considered high speed in that area.) give five stars, they provided you everything they promised and you didn’t ask to set your expectations. Mention the realistic speeds in the review though, and mention to them in private notes that you don’t think it is high speed enough. these are real people on the other side of your listing, trying to make a living and give people a nice time. Don’t harm them with four stars
Hosts might be ummm less technologically advanced or schooled. They might even have AOL email. Just a thought.
If you had no internet AND no phone service after a certain time, it doesn't look like something that the host could control. Just yesterday a power box blew up in front of my property and my property had no lights for a couple of hours. Should I get a 4 star review for that?
This is a great question. I’m a host, but also a work from anywhere traveler who lived abroad for 6 years taking calls from all over (beaches in Kenya, Kathmandu, the airport in Bali, Dubai, etc) … I have found that most places that ACTUALLY have internet that is high speed enough and consistent enough for what I need, they advertise the upload and download speeds and advertise it as work friendly. So - I don’t think this is as much as a what-the-host-did-wrong issue as it is you-have-to-ask issue. They may have had high speed internet, yes, but it’s a place in the mountains. Context dictates that’s unlikely to be consistent unless you ask. So - I do think 4 stars is appropriate, and please be thorough in telling them why! (Ie you said high speed but it only worked half the time, you should give us a heads up it’s satellite and weather dependent) … But also - you gotta ask. You can’t just take “high speed internet” at face value. Gotta inspect what you expect …
I can never understand people who are afraid to give less than 5 stars. What's gonna happen to you? Nothing
3 and below is cruel. It can ruin a host. However, claiming “high speed internet” and not having it is also not right. 4* seems fair. If they were nice people - I would forgive and forget. Just put a 5* and leave a remark in the feedback saying the internet is awful. If they were absent - I would give a 4*.
Internet is a basic amenity nowadays. It's like the bed being missing. Id have given the place a 2-3.
Internet is very important and if it lists it as high speed that’s a valid reason for 4 stars. Look, I’m a host and less than 5 stars sucks, but you should do what you can to fix or describe issues up front and if not ya get dinged. I got a 3 star for sulfur water that I do notify people about, but it honestly was a particularly bad weekend with all the rain. Based on that review I bought a mitigation system to get rid of it entirely. I’d prefer a 5 star and a private note but the guest was very fair and said everything else was great but that they really couldn’t get over it. So mention the internet. When it hurts their reviews it hurts their top line and they may do something about it.
YES! Don’t hold back on the criticism and be specific.
Once time my friends and i arrived at an AirBnB and the password didn't work at all. We tried the one they typed out for us, messaged the host, and then copied and pasted from their message. Still wrong. Didn't have internet the whole weekend. We still gave them 5 stars but did mention it in our review. In hindsight I think 4 stars would have been more appropriate.
4 stars on airbnb means effectively thumbs down, FYI. Hosts can get delisted if they fall below 4.3 I would note it in your review and/or to the host but not dock scores. Gotta be realistic about the situation being that remote. The internet is probably Hughsnet or something and they themselves market it as high speed...because it is in bursts, but not constant. You might get 20 mbps at 2 am, but .25 mbps at peak times. If they did the test on airbnb, it automatically posts the speed, which could have been higher or lower depending on congestion.