Building and Improving the Superhost Program

Airbnb
Official Account

Building and Improving the Superhost Program

Superhost Criteria.jpg

 

As our global host community grows and becomes increasingly diverse, Airbnb’s programmes and policies need to grow and adapt as well – both to ensure the success of people from all over the world, and to show our appreciation for hosts’ hard work and amazing hospitality. That’s why we’re updating the Superhost programme to make it more fair, inclusive, and valuable to hosts everywhere.

 

 

Review rates

Great reviews are essential to earning Superhost status. They also help create a community where trust and transparency is shared between guests and hosts. But, hosts can’t control whether or not their guests choose to leave a review. After examining global data and speaking with Superhosts in a number of countries, we discovered that review rates aren’t consistent worldwide – some travellers always leave reviews, while others rarely do. This discrepancy can put some hosts at a disadvantage when it comes to consideration for Superhost status. In order to make the evaluation process more fair for everyone in our global community, we’ll no longer require that hosts have at least a 50% review rate in order to become Superhosts (or retain their existing status).

 

 

Cancellation policy

As part of our effort to make sure Airbnb programmes are built to meet the needs of all hosts, we’re also updating our cancellation requirement. Previously, we required that Superhosts have zero cancellations, but for hosts with an extremely high volume of bookings across multiple listings, that standard is impractical. To make the programme more fair for high-volume hosts, we’re now allowing one cancellation per 100 trips booked over the past year, which means a cancellation rate of less than 1% across all of your listings. It’s important to note that we still take cancellation as seriously as ever. Over the past five years, the Superhost community has worked hard to earn the trust of their guests and we will continue to reward that trust by recognising the most reliable hosts with Superhost status.

 

Both the changes to our cancellation and review requirements will take effect on the 1 July quarterly Superhost assessment. We’ll also be updating hosting dashboards at this time to reflect this new criteria.

 

 

Stay tuned 

We’re committed to continually improving the Superhost programme so that it works for the entire host community. That includes using clear, fair qualification criteria and making it valuable for every Superhost. From the overall design of the programme to how it rewards the community, we’re looking at different ways to not only make your hosting experience more positive, but also help you be more successful. So, please stay tuned, there’s a lot of exciting news to come.

674 Replies 674

Agree

Graham-And-Bev0
Level 2
Inverkeithing, United Kingdom

Yolanda8  You keep reposting the same meaningless text. Please either type in correct grammatical language - even if that is not English - or just refrain from spamming the board.

How do we found out guest bringing extra guests? Do we need to record in camera ? I had horrible experience with a guest who organized a bridal shower party where she brought 2 mini bus load of people ( as per neighbors). It was one night booking and I had no way to trace that for evidence except loads of trash bags.

here I must mention my positive Airbnb support experience:
last year Alex booked for 2 persons. In the morning 3 persons came out of the room.
No, that was not biblical!

I told him that things would not work that way, asked for the key and sent him off.

Both nights were paid, while the group only stayed one night. Airbnb supported me on that.

What if the guest only selects for 1 person, and 2 people show up when it says clearly in the listing this room is for one person.  For a listing I have in another state, I had to ask people on the thread if the booking is going to be for only one person ( as it says in the listing) and have they read all my house rules and do they agree with them.  But what DO YOU DO if they select only 1 person, and you think only one is coming, and two people show up at your door? 

Suggest when you message the guest to confirm whether I or 2 people prior to accepting their booking This obviously wont work if you have instant book setting on

 Crazy.  I agree Airbnb resolution sides often with the guests over the hosts.

Jamp-Apartments0
Level 2
Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic

Often? My experience says that is it always! In resolutions, in conditions, in monitoring the response rate and time, etc. The system should be fair for all users!

I agree. I have room for 6 people but all of a sudden this family had another member appear 2 days after arrival. I have a $100/night charge for guests over the maximum plus they broke several things and got nothing from Airbnb and they kept the 1 star rating from this disrespectful Guest. ???!!

I had a similar experience and air bnb support team was useless. Also my review was totally out of spite and nothing was done 

Get a bad review who can’t respond to? You? I always write a reply to unjustified bad reviews I receive, calmly and clearly pointing out the flaws, mistruths or misaligned unrealistic/unreasonable expectations versus reality. This has served me well as subsequent guests who I hosted advised me that they appreciated the fact that the review was given context, challenged and rebutted. Remember there is no opportunity for a guest to respond to your reply, so hosts always have the last word on reviews. Use this to your advantage.

This not entirely true. The guest can respond to your reply by then reporting you for something. We have had this happen twice when guests didn't like our response to their review, which were BTW polite and accurate.  We then had CS telling us to resolve the guest complaint within a designated time or lose Superhost and Plus status. The dice is loaded in favour of guests.

 

I had a horrendous review once - there was a problem with the lock (24 hr secure building ) and when I tried to put them up in the hotel where the conference was (by the way, at my additional expense, so losing money), they then told me they had3 people so needed 2 rooms. Air bnb CS heard me but didn’t do anything, so I rebutted.

 

Lesson learned= I started sending, along with pertinent info, a “We Strive for 5” document. I explain what they should be looking for in cleanliness, check in, realistic communication, location etc and how it relates to value. I won’t be compared to a hotel for certain things, but our space, location and view are often how I price during busy season. I’m always lower than 2 hotel rooms, and slightly more than 1. I also ask that they let me know if something happens so that I can work to resolve the issue while they are there. The good news is, most people can read and see the one off looney toons who complain out of proportion to the problem. I don’t do instant book because of this, and also to avoid people who don’t read the house rules - we have age and occupancy restrictions in our building - and I don’t want to cancel and go through that hassle either 

Arline3
Level 3
New York, United States

You are nice to refund a night when house rules were broken. I would have asked Airbnb to find somewhere else for them to stay and call the police. They would be guaranteed a place to stay overnight when the cops are involved.

Beverley22
Level 2
Tierpoort, South Africa

Yeah when guests misbehave or are noisy the hostess is blamed!