How does feedback work on Workaway?

Feedback is probably the single most important function on the site that helps the community to grow. We have a dedicated team who personally review EVERY single feedback that is left or received via the site.  We love reading about all the fantastic opportunities and connections that members have made from both the Workawayer and the host's perspective. Thankfully over 95% of feedbacks are positive.

Feedback also allows us to keep the site safe for everyone.

Dealing with negative feedbacks from our side can also be a very sensitive issue and it is one we are constantly tweaking and updating. We won't allow abusive words, insulting text or feedback containing overly personal criticism. Everyone has a valid view point on what they do or do not feel is acceptable and we know that occasionally clashes of personality can escalate to a war of words.

We are aware that different sites deal with feedback in a variety of ways. From Tripadvisor (anyone can leave feedback,) to Airbnb  (only users can leave feedback within a certain time period,) Couchsurfing ( friends not members can leave feedback,) and even WWOOF (no feedback can be left at all!) Over the years we have been compared to each of these sites and we have looked long and hard about the fairness and validity of each system.

Here at Workaway when bad feedback is left the following happens:

  1. A member of our team looks at the feedback and if serious will start an investigation taking into account the opinions of both parties and previous feedbacks.

  2. The rating and feedback will be published on the site. Please note, however, if there are abusive, derogatory or offensive comments, the text will either be redacted or kept confidential. We do this to stop an escalation of a situation where people often want to retaliate to the opinions left, which is often subjective and personal to each individual case. We allow the Workawayers to be contacted privately by any paid up member to find out further information should they choose to. This enables members to find out other member's opinions without the site having to deal with accusations of slander and defamation. If more than two 1 star ratings are left within a certain time period then the host or Workawayer are taken offline and an investigation started.

Members can also leave confidential feedback which can only be seen by our Workaway team. We keep this on file for reference to help us with future decisions if needed.

Sometimes members have questioned why it‘s hard to find hosts with bad feedbacks. This is because we remove those hosts from our list.

We can however confirm to all members that if a host or Workawayer is online and has received a bad feedback the negative feedback symbol will be shown on their profile. Neither hosts nor Workawayers can remove this symbol once it has been published.

Workaway is growing fast and has benefited 1000s of people. We love what we do, but rest assured, safety and being fair to all is our number one priority.