We’ve all been there. You find a property with a 4.9 average, only to discover that those missing 0.1 stars were actually due to someone's profound disappointment in the handle of the toaster. Or worse, you see a 4.6-star stay that is a "hidden gem" but suffered from a single bad weekend three years ago. Star ratings are a blunt instrument in an age that requires surgical precision.
The Case of the Shrinking Middle
In the modern world, any review that isn't a 5-star is often seen as a failure. This has led to "Rating Inflation," where the vast majority of properties are bunched together in a meaningless 4-to-5 star cloud. When everything is supposedly perfect, nothing is. The poor traveler is left with the exhausting task of reading fifty separate "buts" to work out if the place is actually appropriate for them.
The Old Guard: The Score
4.7 Stars (Appears impressive, but hides the fact that the bathroom tiles are an acquired taste).
The New Wave: The Summary
Reestit Peat Fire: "Exceptional host connection. Vibrantly active street. Linen quality is a recurring highlight."
The Intelligence Shift
At Reestit, we’ve stopped obsessing over star ratings and started paying attention to what people are really saying. Not the polite stuff. The honest stuff. We look at the Sentimental Density of reviews — in other words, the parts where guests drop the filter and talk about what actually mattered to them.
By using smart summaries, we cut through the fluff and get straight to the point. No more scrolling through hundreds of "lovely stay" comments. This is Travel 2.0: moving away from tidy little scores and towards real-world truths.
It also means we can see what people genuinely agree on. In the old system, one grumpy review could drag a place down unfairly. But when we look at reviews in bulk, patterns emerge. If one person mentions thin walls, that’s useful to know. But if twenty people all independently praise the quality of the bedding, that tells you something far more important.
The more often a detail shows up, the more it reflects what staying there is actually like. Not perfection. Just reality.