Reviews are the currency of the short-term rental industry, but the four major distribution channels do not treat them the same way. The differences are not cosmetic — they determine whether you can screen a guest before accepting a booking, how long you have to respond, and how quickly a bad score fades from your average.
This article compares the four systems using only each platform's own official documentation.
The core difference in one sentence
Airbnb, Vrbo, and Expedia operate two-way review systems in which both parties rate each other. Booking.com does not — its official help page describes only guests reviewing accommodations, with the sole partner mechanism being a reply to a published review.
Side-by-side comparison
| Guest → property | Host → guest | Blind window | Scale | Submission deadline | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbnb | Public | Visible to future hosts only | 14 days | 1–5 stars | 14 days |
| Vrbo | Public | Two-way system | 14 days | 1–5, converted to /10 | 6 months |
| Booking.com | Public | None | N/A | 1–10 | 3 months |
| Expedia | Public | Yes, encouraged | 14 days, double-blind | 1–5 | 6 months |
Airbnb: structured but narrow guest ratings
Airbnb's official help article frames host-to-guest reviews as optional. Hosts may rate guests 1 to 5 stars across exactly three categories — cleanliness, house rules, and communication — which are then combined into an averaged rating for the stay.
The visibility rule matters more than most hosts realise. A guest's detailed ratings for past stays, along with their overall category and averaged ratings across stays, can only be read by hosts when that guest requests or books a future stay. Guest reputation on Airbnb is therefore gated at the point of booking rather than openly displayed.
Vrbo: the most thoroughly documented system
Vrbo's Content Guidelines set out the two-way mechanism explicitly. Once either the traveller or the partner submits a review, the other party has 14 days to submit theirs, and both publish simultaneously. If the second party does not submit within that window, the first review publishes alone, and no additional reviews can be submitted for that stay.
Several other official details are worth knowing:
- Travellers score 1–5, but Vrbo converts all scores to a score out of 10 to calculate the displayed property average
- Reviews must be submitted within six months of the stay
- Partial reviews auto-submit for publication after 21 days if left incomplete
- Accommodation reviews are removed after three years, except where a property has only a limited number of reviews
- AI-generated reviews are explicitly prohibited
- Vrbo itself may offer travellers incentives such as savings, coupons or loyalty rewards, given regardless of whether the review is positive or negative, and labelled as incentivized. Partners may never offer incentives
- Partners acquiring a property may request the transfer of historical reviews without the previous manager's permission — but the transfer covers all reviews, positive and negative
Booking.com: one-way by design
Booking.com is the outlier. Only guests review, and scores run from 1 to 10. The platform uses a weighted system in which the more recent the review, the bigger its impact on the total score.
Guests submit subscores for location, cleanliness, staff, comfort, facilities, value, and free WiFi. These are submitted independently of the overall score, so there is no direct link between the two.
Reviews are generally accepted within three months of checkout, and Booking.com may stop showing them once they are 36 months old or if the accommodation changes ownership. Guests must contact Customer Service to edit a submitted review. The only action available to a property is a public reply.
Expedia: reciprocity as a growth lever
Expedia Group's partner guidance confirms the double-blind mechanic in the same terms as Vrbo. After each stay, both parties are encouraged to leave a review; once one party submits, the other has 14 days; reviews remain private throughout that period; and once the process completes, no further changes are allowed.
What distinguishes Expedia's official positioning is that it actively markets reviewing guests as a business tactic rather than an administrative chore. When a host reviews a guest, Expedia sends the guest an email notification, which reminds them to reciprocate and increases the likelihood they will review the stay. Expedia addresses the retaliation concern directly, stating that the double-blind process ensures both hosts and guests can review their experiences without fear of retaliation.
Strong review performance also feeds Premier Host qualification, an invite-only programme offering a badge on all property pages, increased search visibility and exclusive perks.
What this means in practice
Guest screening is impossible on Booking.com. There is no official mechanism to rate or flag a guest for the benefit of other properties. If problem-guest risk is a concern for your portfolio, this channel offers no protection.
Airbnb gives you structure; Vrbo gives you time. Airbnb's three fixed categories produce consistent, comparable data, but the 14-day submission deadline is tight. Vrbo and Expedia allow six months to review.
Score decay is documented on two platforms. Booking.com weights recency and archives at 36 months; Vrbo removes accommodation reviews after three years. On both, a poor score is a fading liability rather than a permanent one.
Reviewing guests is a growth tactic, not just a courtesy. On Expedia and Vrbo, leaving a guest review triggers a notification email that measurably increases the chance of receiving a property review in return.
Nothing can be edited after the fact on Vrbo or Expedia. Once the double-blind process completes, no further changes are allowed. Write the first time carefully.