Could of been if it wasn’t for the fact they gave me a bad review and accused me of lying about where my place was located in the review. They obviously didn’t know how to look at a map.
That’s crap, commiserations 
What an arse.
This made me laugh because that’s exactly my experience with airbnb.
I am French, both guest and host.
Obviously the French in general have a much much higher expectation than for example an American or a Chinese.
The competition for bed and breakfast is extremely tough in France. Obviously France is one of the most touristic country in the world and the whole economy rely more on tourism every year (as entrepreneurs and rich people leave the country en masse).
As a consequence, French are used to excellence as a standard for hosting.
The second explanation is that French culture don’t believe in perfection and a 5 stars rate is often interpreted as perfection and therefore cannot be possible as a rating. Even if they really love it, they cannot put 5 stars.
The explanation for the high expectation in Dutch people too is that they massively go in France for holidays. This is by far their favorite destination and therefore get used to the French standards.
But look at it the other way : getting a 5 stars from French people is like a supreme achievement in life that very few will ever experience. The satisfaction is incredible and worth the try.
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I actually wouldn’t attribute that to higher expectations as I haven’t found the french or dutch to be fussy. I think it’s more related to the mentality regarding grading. In France, you grade harshly in general - in the education system, you are always reminded that you can do better and no one can so easily deserve a 20/20 - so even when you’ve done a really good job, unless it’s a math exercise where you can get 20/20, you might get 15/20 and be told you did an excellent job. The french always remind you that you’re not all that…even if they think you did pretty darn ok and there isn’t much to complain about. I geniunely think it’s more linked to the cultural view of grading.
It’s very different from the A, B, C system in some anglo saxon systems where you are encouraged with positive reinforcement. No such thing in France as positive reinforcement in school!
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@Edouard, @whamser, interesting perspectives, thank you. A lot of my guests are French and mostly we get on great. I speak French (badly but enough to get by!) and that often helps. I think I have had 5* reviews from a couple of them (should I faint??) but I’ve given up checking now as it’s too annoying to see that yellow warning. Actually, I feel good now that most of them award me 4*!
Any French has to agree with that comment on grading. I don’t believe either it is about great expectations.
I went to law school. I averaged 12/20 in my Bachelor, and I was not bad. The top one student had around 14/20 and was seen as a semi-god. Later, I averaged 17/20 in my Master’s degree and before every interview I was asked to provide my grades. I guess it is much safer to assume I would lie on my résumé than actually having those grades.
Coming back to Airbnb, 4* is about the best grade you can get, whatever the effort. However, do French give bad grades with nasty comments? I wouldn’t except so.
We’ve had almost all Dutch and French guests this Summer, and the only people who have given us less than 5 stars have been the Brits!
Our secret? Wine. Lots of wine … a night or two before they leave we invite guests to have wine and tapas with us on our terrace (which i have to say does look very romantic at night …) I make some simple tapas and my husband is very good at topping up the glasses! We get to know them, ask about their lives, how they liked Malaga, etc and in an hour or so they’re marvelling about how good Spanish wine is and metaphorically eating out of our hands … then I present them with a box of my handmade soap as a leaving present. Just let them dare leave a less than 5-star review after that!
I agree that speaking French helps, and our french guests appreciate that I do, since no-one else in Spain does!
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Good point, no they don’t. The written reviews are really nice. They have sometimes mentioned negative things but only ever in the private feedback which, of course, is much appreciated. Are you saying, by the way, that prospective employers didn’t believe your grades? That’s crazy!
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I think genuinely liking people or letting them believe that you do goes a long way. I don’t even list breakfast or the kitchen as amenities but I’ve shared beers and wine, coffee, offered breakfast items in the morning, helped with their laundry. Some people are very concerned that someone is going to “take advantage of them.” I’m more concerned with treating others the way I want to be treated and letting the chips fall where they may. Tapas night sounds heavenly, too bad Spain isn’t on my bucket list.
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Sounds great. Wine is way too expensive here to be handing it out, though! Yes, the Brits. Mmh, what to say. Probably my least good reviews have come from the English. But again, it’s probably more about the demographic than the nationality.
Spanish! Are you kidding? We are apéro-friends. Please don’t reveal the secret that we are just mean to Americans ;D
Is that one of those subjects that is inevitably going to diverge into something where we vent off and exchange clichés about other nationalities and end up looking absurdly bigoted? Damn! I promised myself I would never take part to those, but I guess I couldn’t resist! 
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I hosted only four french families but they all gave me 5 stars, so it’s possible 
. I also get a lot of Dutchies, who gave me 5-stars. Brits, which make up for the bulk of my clientele, are always very kind. The two 4-star I had came from a Singaporean couple and a Danish family.
I agree with @KKC and @Malagachica that showing to guests that “you care” will go a long way to turn a 4-star rating into 5-star. I get better location ratings than my neighbors while we’re in the same location, obviously.
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First French family just submitted their review and I got 5’s!!! Except for location, even though our home is exactly .75 miles to the school they were visiting and .25 miles from their daughter’s home.
Disclaimer: my husband is French and he would agree they have a need to pick on something. It’s in the culture. Our recent French friends who visited us in July were amazed at how accepting we are here in NY and how much they liked that as they feel the French are judgmental even of each other. Then they proceeded to tell us about the Chicago deep dish pizza they had and how disgusting it was and so they didn’t leave a tip! I guess it was the poor waiter’s fault. I bit my tongue and rolled my eyes!
I now recall a French couple that stayed at mine about a year ago. They were polite, everything went really well between us and they were very happy with their stay. They warmly invited me to their place in the south of France, took my email address sent me an email and asked to confirm I got it, said we should definitely be in touch. Then after they checked out, along with a well-worded review, they gave me 4s across the board!
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Voilà Quelle surprise!
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Et quel domage!
That said, a great many of my French guests have been lovely. And rated me all 5s.
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Ok, so we’re English - 32 reviews so far - 31 5* and one 4* - and that 4* was from - a SCOT! Revenge for Flodden Field and / or a reminder of Bannockburn, perhaps?
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A single datapoint is not sufficient. Get 5 repeating instances and then we have a pattern!
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At the very least 5! I’ve hosted over 50 French guests and around 75% of them have left 4*. Even the last lot who brought their delightful young toddler who really took to me, we had a lovely time, they effused in the written review but yep, 4* is all you get.