Post Reports: Why does everyone want your 5-star rating?

Published September 25, 2025

Main Theme Overview

In this episode, host Elahe Izadi talks with Washington Post features and culture reporter Ashley Fetters Malloy to explore America’s "review culture." Why does it feel like every business—airlines, hospitals, restaurants, even doctors—constantly pressure us to leave five-star ratings? The conversation covers why these ratings matter so much to both big and small businesses, how they influence consumer behavior, and the unintended effects of this constant quest for feedback.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Ubiquity—and Weirdness—of Rating Requests

• Personal Anecdotes on Review Overload
  • Elahe starts with stories of bombarding emails: hotel, airline, even airport parking all ask for reviews right after her trip.

    “The one that really got me was I received another email that I received from the airport parking garage. … Tell us about your recent parking stay. And I’m, like, parked there, got the car after.” —Elahe (00:32)

• Medical Services Now in the Rating Game
  • Ashley notes even doctors are now asking for public Google reviews, describing the dynamic as “kind of surreal.”

    “Orthopedic surgeon and my cardiologist both recently asked me for Google reviews, which felt kind of surreal.” —Ashley (01:39)

Real Experiences from the Review Trenches

• Flood of Requests Across All Kinds of Businesses

  • Stories include:
    • Ross Presser (HelloFresh user): Annoyed by repeated requests to rate meals, deliveries, and even post pictures.
    • Anna Fitzpatrick (Canada): Amused by being asked to rate cannabis shop interactions—a shift from the “just some guy at a party” days.
    • Corey Lonis (Long Island): Asked to review his hospital stay while still “delirious” after surgery, illustrating the extremes of the phenomenon.

      “A day after my surgery, I got a Please review your experience at the hospital where he drilled a hole in your skull and put an implant in my brain. Painkillers. And I can’t hear anything. And delirious. And they’re like, hey, how do you like your stay?” —Corey (as summarized by Ashley, 04:40)

• Doctors Explain the Why

  • High Google ratings mean higher search placement, which translates to more patients and customers.

    “When you have a higher rating on your Google page, you will show up higher in search results on Google.” —Ashley’s Orthopedic Surgeon (05:12-05:46)

The Economic & Psychological Stakes of Reviews

• The New Phone Book
  • Elahe compares Google’s search ranking to being first in the old phonebook, reshaping small business economics (06:09).
• Impact on Small Businesses
  • Example: Sarah Jerrick’s Boulder liquor store relies on attracting customers via high Google ratings, especially in a margin-slim industry.

    “You might drive an extra five or ten minutes to go to the shop that has four and a half stars on Google and avoid the one that has 2.5.” —Ashley (06:31)

Are Reviews Authentic? Incentives and Legality

• Freebies for Reviews
  • It’s legal to offer incentives for any review, but illegal to incentivize specifically positive reviews (08:01).

    “It is perfectly legal to offer incentives for reviewing a business; it is illegal to offer an incentive for a specifically positive review.” —Ashley (08:01)

Do Big Corporations Actually Care?

• Amtrak Case Study
  • Despite feeling like feedback vanishes into a void, big companies do pay attention:
    • Amtrak used reviews to redesign their delay alert systems and remake menu offerings (steak and lobster mac & cheese in first class—a customer favorite).

    “Amtrak recently overhauled its alert system…because people did kind of give that feedback of like, hey, I'm not getting this info in time.” —Ashley (11:22)

• The Democratic Side of Reviews
  • Ashley acknowledges: annoying as they are, public reviews give consumers a voice and can lead to real change—even as they introduce new problems (12:30).

Cultural and Social Effects of Ratings

• Flaws and Biases in the System

  • Elahe and Ashley debate review biases, such as customer service complaints downgrading the ratings of hole-in-the-wall cultural restaurants, even when the food shines.

    “I'm, like, skeptical if the rating is too high sometimes I'm like, no, thank you.” —Elahe (13:42)

• The Dilemma of Sharing Hidden Gems

  • Ashley worries about favorite restaurants getting too popular due to high ratings, sharing her “sweet spot” for trust in ratings:

    “I like this range. I like this ratio of 4.8 stars to 151 reviews.” —Ashley (15:04)

• Drama in the Reviews

  • Elahe looks for drama in the business-owner responses—a modern-day “soap opera” in the comments (15:09-15:29).

• Difference Between Popular Ratings and Criticism

  • Anna Fitzpatrick (writer) describes how the Goodreads rating “flattens” nuanced literary experiences to a single digit—losing complexity.

    “The success of her book could be affected by people reading it and then just boiling down…their entire portfolio of feelings…flattened down into a single digit.” —Ashley about Anna's perspective (16:13)

• Idea for Dual Ratings (Critic & User)

  • Ashley suggests a Rotten Tomatoes-style approach: critics’ and users’ ratings side by side.

    “It does feel like everything should have a Rotten Tomatoes style. Two different readings where it's like, here's what it got from critics and here's what it got from the general public.” —Ashley (18:09)

Personal Reflections: How Reviews Shape Choices

• Ashley’s Takeaway
  • Recognizes her consumer decisions (from restaurants to doctors) are deeply influenced by ratings—perhaps more than she realized.

    “It really drove home to me how much we all are depending on Google search results and Google reviews…All of these things kind of impacted my own consumer spending decisions more than I realized.” —Ashley (18:34)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Being Bombarded by Reviews:
  “It's obviously not for fun. It obviously matters to someone what our feedback is.” —Ashley (02:07)

• Surreal Review Requests:
  “I've never received quite a stack like that, but orthopedic surgeon and my cardiologist both recently asked me for Google reviews, which felt kind of surreal.” —Ashley (01:39)

• How Google Reviews Transform Business:
  “You might drive an extra five or ten minutes to go to the shop that has four and a half stars on Google and avoid the one that has 2.5.” —Ashley (06:31)

• Critical versus Crowd Consensus:
  “It does feel like everything should have a Rotten Tomatoes style. Two different readings.” —Ashley (18:09)

• On Review Fatigue:
  “As much as I'm complaining about the reviews, I rely on them.” —Elahe (07:39)

• How Reviews Affect the Little Guys:
  “Every purchase counts. Like those are slim margins that most business like that operate on.” —Ashley (06:31)

• On the Democratic Nature:
  “It’s kind of nice to have the opportunity to say something in a public forum about the experience you had… there are downsides… it can feel dystopian.” —Ashley (12:30)

• Sweet Spot for Restaurant Ratings:
  “If it has like 5,000, then it was like on Eater or it was on the Infatuation. Right. If it has 150, it's like enough people walked by it in the neighborhood and were like, oh, that looks good, and went in. That I trust.” —Ashley (14:41)

Important Segment Timestamps

• 00:32-01:47: Elahe and Ashley share personal accounts of review fatigue; the oddness of doctors seeking Google reviews.
• 03:12-05:46: Listener stories about unwanted review requests, including after surgery, and the logic behind doctors’ review soliciting.
• 06:31-07:39: How Google ratings impact local businesses and consumer decisions.
• 07:56-08:12: Discussion of legality: when it’s OK to incentivize reviews versus paying for only positive ones.
• 10:51-12:16: Big companies care: Amtrak’s use of feedback to improve service and menus.
• 12:30-13:50: Reviews as democratizing—but also flawed—feedback; cultural biases and skepticism about authenticity.
• 14:08-15:09: “Gatekeeping” your favorite places—the sweet spot in review numbers.
• 15:54-18:09: Impact of ratings on authors & the difference between critics and crowds; suggestions for platforms to show both.
• 18:34-19:02: Ashley’s concluding reflection: Google reviews shape more of our lives than we admit.

Tone & Takeaways

The conversation is sharp but lighthearted, frequently self-aware (“I’m not gonna lie, I rely on them!”) and full of wry realness about the annoyances and benefits of review culture. Listeners come away understanding both why “everyone wants your five-star rating” and how much power those little stars secretly hold over the economy—and our everyday choices.