Review Policy

1. Scope

This policy applies to three separate types of review on CostaCasas: property reviews (about the accommodation), host reviews (written by a guest about the host) and guest reviews (written by a host about the guest). Scores and averages of these types are never combined. This policy also explains the host quality labels “Trustworthy” and “Exceptional” (sections 13 to 17), which are based only on published host reviews.

2. Reviews are personal opinions

A review reflects the personal experience and opinion of its author. It is not a statement by CostaCasas and not a guarantee that the information is objective, complete or accurate. CostaCasas does not verify the truth of a subjective experience.

3. Who can write a review

Only stays recorded in a rental agreement signed via CostaCasas (Easy Contracts) can be reviewed. Reviews are therefore labelled “Verified stay (signed agreement)”: this means a signed agreement exists, not that CostaCasas checked the stay itself.

• Property review: the guest, via a personal one-time link sent by email to the guest address in the signed agreement on the departure day (from 12:00 UTC). No account is required.
• Host review: only the account that signed the agreement as guest.
• Guest review: only the account that owns the agreement as host.
• No review is possible when host and guest are the same account, when the agreement was cancelled or not signed, or when it was signed less than 24 hours before departure.
• One review per agreement, per author and per review type. A second attempt is refused.

4. The 14-day period

The review period starts on the departure date stated in the signed agreement and runs up to and including the 14th calendar day after that date. So that nobody loses time because of their time zone, it closes only when that 14th day has ended everywhere in the world (at 12:00 UTC on the following day). Review links expire at the same moment. Reviews cannot be submitted before the departure date or after the period has closed.

5. Blind reviews and publication

To limit mutual influence, reviews of the same stay are blind: neither party can see the score or text of the other before publication. The other party only sees that a review has been submitted.

• Reviews of a stay are published together as soon as the host has reviewed the guest and the guest has written the host review and, where an invitation was sent, the property review.
• If not every review is submitted, every review that was submitted is published automatically once the review period has closed (this check runs hourly, so it can take up to an hour). A party who does not write a review cannot block the publication of the other party’s review.
• Property reviews that are not linked to a rental agreement are published immediately.

6. No changes after submission

A submitted review cannot be edited by its author, so it cannot be adjusted after seeing the other review. After publication, the person or owner reviewed can reply publicly. To correct a factual error, remove personal data or withdraw your own review, contact us via the complaints procedure; CostaCasas does not rewrite reviews but can hide them where justified.

7. Prohibited content

The following are not allowed:

• fake reviews, reviews about a stay that did not take place, or reviews written by or for the reviewed person;
• paid or rewarded reviews;
• threats, harassment or discrimination;
• personal data of third parties (such as contact details, documents or payment details);
• defamatory or unlawful content;
• commercial spam or unrelated content.

8. Moderation, also before publication

CostaCasas moderates reviews only against the objective rules in section 7 and the law. A negative review is never in itself a reason to hold back or remove a review, and we do not judge whether a subjective experience is “true”. Authorised staff (moderators and administrators) can:

• hold a submitted review before publication (temporary suspension) while it is examined;
• hide a published review;
• release a held or hidden review again; a released review follows the normal publication rule and never appears earlier.

Every decision requires a reason and is recorded with date, staff account and reason in a protected security log. The author is informed by email of the decision, the reason and how to contest it (where we have an email address for the author), as described in our Digital Services Act page. The author's own overview shows the status “Submitted · waiting for publication”, “Published” or “Not shown (moderation)”.

9. Reporting and appeal

Signed-in users can report a published review with the report button (one report per person per review). You can also report via the complaints procedure or by email. You can ask for an explanation of a moderation decision and contest it within six months, as described in the Digital Services Act page and the complaints procedure. This does not affect your right to go to court or a competent authority.

10. Who can see guest reviews

Guest reviews are not public. They are only shown to the guest concerned and to hosts to whom that guest has sent a pending or approved contact request, or with whom the guest has a rental agreement that was not cancelled. They may only be consulted to assess a contact request or rental with that guest. Host reviews and property reviews are public, with the author’s chosen or first name and the month of stay; email addresses and agreement details are never shown.

11. Replies

The owner can reply publicly to a property review. The reviewed host or guest can reply once to a published host or guest review. Replies must follow the same rules.

12. Role of CostaCasas

CostaCasas provides the review tool and moderates it as described above. CostaCasas does not guarantee any stay, user or review. Nothing in this policy limits your statutory rights as a consumer.

13. Host quality labels

CostaCasas can show one of two labels on a host’s public profile and next to the host’s properties:

• Trustworthy – a reliable host who takes their responsibilities seriously.
• Exceptional – an outstanding host who goes the extra mile for their guests.

A host has at most one label. Exceptional replaces Trustworthy. Hosts cannot apply for a label, buy one, choose one or change one. Labels are separate from advertising packages and from the “Featured” placement, and they do not affect them.

14. How labels are calculated

Which reviews count: only published host reviews count, meaning reviews written by a guest about the host after a stay with a signed rental agreement, which have completed the 14-day blind period and moderation (sections 4, 5 and 8). Property reviews and guest reviews never count. Reviews that are hidden after moderation do not count, and reviews still in the blind period do not count either. The label uses the “Overall” score (1 to 5 stars) of each published host review. Scores are never estimated or filled in for missing reviews. We use the following meaning: 1–2 stars = insufficient experience; 3 stars = mixed or sufficient, with points to improve; 4 stars = good; 5 stars = excellent.

• Trustworthy requires all of the following: at least 5 published host reviews; an average Overall score of at least 4.2 / 5; at least 80 % of these reviews giving 4 or 5 stars; and fewer than two active serious-problem registrations in the last 24 months (section 15).
• Exceptional requires all of the following: at least 10 published host reviews; an average Overall score of at least 4.7 / 5; at least 90 % of these reviews giving 4 or 5 stars; on average at least 4.5 / 5 on each of the four host sub-scores (communication, accurate information, helpfulness, and keeping agreements); and no active serious-problem registration in the last 24 months.
• A high average alone, or a large number of reviews alone, is never enough for a label.
• Hosts with fewer reviews than the minimum get no label. We do not show a negative message for this; the absence of a label is not a negative judgement.
• One negative review does not automatically remove a label. Because the rules use averages and percentages over all published host reviews, an occasional 3-star or lower review fits within the thresholds. A label disappears only when the thresholds as a whole are no longer met. A review is never registered automatically as a serious problem.
• Labels are calculated automatically on our server from current data, each time a profile or property page is shown. A change therefore applies immediately when a host review is published or hidden after moderation, or when a serious-problem registration is added, withdrawn or decided on appeal. Nobody can change a label manually.
• CostaCasas never hides, changes or removes an honest negative review to give or keep a label. Moderation follows only sections 7 and 8.

15. Serious host problems

A serious problem is a factually established shortcoming that substantially affects a host’s reliability, for example a guest who was denied access to a property that had been booked under contract. A subjective negative experience, a low score or a negative review is never in itself a serious problem.

• Step 1 – Proposal: an authorised CostaCasas administrator first records a proposal with the host concerned, the date of the incident, a reason and motivation, a reference to the file or evidence, a unique reference to the event (the same event cannot be recorded twice), the date and the responsible administrator. A proposal does not count for labels and is not shown publicly.
• Step 2 – Notice and response: the host is informed by email of what was reported (the event, the date and a description), with care for the privacy of others involved. Internal evidence references are not shared automatically. The host can respond securely after signing in, on the page “Reported problems” in their account, and add a reference to their own evidence. A response received another way is recorded by an administrator. The date and result of the notice and of the response are recorded. If the notice cannot be delivered, this is recorded as failed and the procedure cannot continue until the host has been notified. The host has 14 days from the notice to respond.
• Step 3 – Reasoned decision: an authorised administrator assesses the proposal and the response. A decision is only possible after the host has been notified and has either responded or the response period has ended. The decision (“substantiated” or “not substantiated”) must be reasoned. Not responding is never in itself treated as evidence that the report is correct. The decision, its reasons, its date and the responsible administrator are recorded, and the host is informed of the decision, the reasons and how to object (section 16).
• Registration date and 24 months: a registration becomes final on the date of the decision. The 24-month period below is counted from that registration date, not from the date of the incident.
• No deletion: a registration cannot be deleted. It can only be withdrawn with a stated reason. Withdrawn registrations stay visible in the internal history. Every proposal, notice, response, decision, appeal and withdrawal is recorded in an audit log that cannot be changed afterwards.
• Effect on labels: only final (“substantiated”) registrations from the last 24 months count. One final registration blocks Exceptional; Trustworthy is still possible. Two or more final registrations block both labels. Proposals, registrations decided as not substantiated, withdrawn registrations, registrations whose appeal was accepted, temporary protective measures and registrations older than 24 months do not count. Registrations are not shown publicly.
• Urgent temporary protective measure: in exceptional cases an authorised administrator can record a temporary protective measure. This requires a specific explanation of why immediate action is necessary and proportionate, and a fixed end date of at most 30 days. The measure ends automatically on that date. It is not a final registration and has no effect on labels. The host is informed and can respond.

16. Objections against a registration or label decision

A host can object by replying to the decision email, through the existing complaints procedure (page “Complaints procedure”) or by email to CostaCasas, stating their arguments and evidence. The existing complaints procedure stays unchanged.

• An authorised administrator records the objection, its date and the host’s arguments. While the objection is handled, the registration keeps counting.
• A decision on an objection can be taken no earlier than 48 hours after it was recorded. The case is reassessed on the basis of the file and the host’s arguments. Where possible this is a different administrator; when only one is available, the same administrator may decide, and this is visibly recorded. CostaCasas’s legal reviewer can be consulted, and the consultation is recorded.
• The decision records an answer to the host’s arguments and the reasons for accepting or rejecting the objection. The host is informed of the decision, the answer, the reasons and further options, including the complaints procedure, out-of-court dispute settlement and the courts. If the notice cannot be delivered, this is recorded and the host is not considered informed.
• If the objection is accepted, the registration is withdrawn and the label is recalculated immediately (section 14). If it is rejected, the registration stays active.
• Objection against a label calculation: labels are calculated automatically from published reviews. A host who thinks a label is wrong can ask us to check the calculation and the reviews used. Objections against an individual review follow section 9 (Reporting and appeal).
• CostaCasas does not promise a fixed handling period or a particular outcome.

17. Labels are an indication, not a guarantee

Labels are an indication based on reviews from guests with a signed rental agreement and on the quality criteria above. They are not a guarantee of quality, safety or the course of a future stay, and not a statement by CostaCasas that a host or property is “the best”. Guests remain responsible for their own choices and agreements with the host (see section 12).