Why Review Content Matters

Today we’re discussing the recent changes to the ORA algorithm. As it turns out, the content within reviews has a greater impact than the star rating by itself. It’s become clear to the average renter that a simple star rating tells an incomplete – potentially even misleading – story of what living at the property might look like for them.

We studied over 1,000 apartment residents in order to map their priorities, understand their non-negotiables, and calculate the real impact of specific review topics. We found that there is a clear hierarchy of renter concerns. A 1-star review complaining that the pool is frequently closed is not the same as a 1-star review complaining about roaches in the kitchen! Over one third of renters stated that they would not live at a property with reviews that mentioned a deal-breaker issue, even if the overall star rating was high. This previously alluded to “hierarchy of needs” is detailed below:

Furthermore, renters are getting sharper at uncovering these issues, due in part to the rising pervasiveness of personal LLM usage. In our survey, 51.6% of respondents said they have already used or are considering using AI tools to summarize reviews and identify recurring themes to assist their apartment search.

This pattern rings the bell for the necessity of a reputation metric that is content-aware. A property’s reputation is no longer simply its average score, and the ORA score was updated to reflect this. For further insight on why context matters more than ever, read the full report on Why Star Ratings Are No Longer Enough.