Building and Improving the Superhost Program

[Airbnb]

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.

[Catherine935]

Yes same thing happened to us.....spoke many times to Airbnb but to no avail.  Guest left us 3 stars for everything where we normally get 5 stars. Lost all of our Super Host Badges.  Yes we will get SH back in October, but not all of the badges we already had.  Not fair at all.  Now, as I instant book, if I get a feel that a guest is going to be problematic I just cancel them.  No stay, no review, and no stress in my life.

[Gen23]

Re super hosting unfair at times!! A host may contact guest and ask if all’s well or anything required, and the answer all good . They then give only a  4 star rating!!

unfair! 

[Raman8]

Some people don't know the difference between feedback and compliments.

One of guest from China with no knowledge of English was very happy with everything we provided to her. She personally praised to me about house cleanliness but she gave compliments in feedback sections that means I need to improve.

I asked airbnb for help but they couldn't understand as it was not showing to them according to them but they remove the review in Chinese language 🙂 which said good about me.lol

[Christine2061]

I totally agree to your comment but how do we do as super host if we don’t answer within 24 hours to a booking ???

I live in a remote location where sometimes there is no internet connection for 2 days

( yes it’s true) and it’s very penalizing 

so please, allow us to answer within 2 or 3 days 

[Saad37]

Great. But what about unfair reviews that rate you at 1 star for no reason and just  because they are not knowledgeable about Airbnb? At the time that the 30 reviews before and after are all 4 to 5 stars?

[Andras7]

the 5 starts are a joke anyway in a 3 tumbs system, the stars should be removed and replaced with a 3 tumbs system

[Rene126]

Hi , 

i had superhost consecutively for 5 yrs which says a lot for the effort I put in !

However, this last year I did not receive the volume of bookings I would ordinarily receive. For no fault of my own. However the guests I had hosted left awesome reviews. Because I did not have enough volume they stripped me of my superhost status which makes it even harder to attract more volume , therefore does not make any sense. I complained & did not even receive a response !!!! 

Rene 

[FIlippo204]

I will become I will become super host next October 

i really hope I can increase my prices as they are half than booking

airbnb suggests me to lower the price to a level which does not cover my costs 

what is your experience on that?

[Ingrid267]

Don’t be pressurized to lower rates you can get guests who really want Hostel standards eg dormitory style 

[Sarah977]

@FIlippo204  Totally ignore Airbnb's price tips, almost all experienced hosts do- they are absurdly and insultingly low. They have nothing to do with what your place is worth or how much it costs you to host. The only thing they have to do with is Airbnb trying to get you to lower your price so that pretty much anyone can afford to book it, so Airbnb gets to collect their service fees. Add up your costs to host and base your price on what makes it worthwhile for you.

[Wanjiru1]

Often times some people book and cancel because the place doesn’t match their plans e.g. when someone books the place and have to cancel because an additional friend had decided to tag along meaning the place is no longer a fit. It’s therefore hard to control cancellations. 

[Ingrid267]

Would be of the view that Super host status is fairly low on guests priorities. I queried this statuscwith my guests and they said they never even noticed I was a super host on my profile. Guests mark high on location, price, WiFi and a clean room. Penalties applying are an extra revenue stream and puts too much pressure on decent hosts.

[Linda881]

Had a revenge review when I was asked to cancel by the guest at no notice to make sure they did not have to pay the forfeit - I refused.  Air bnb employee indicated they hardly ever take these reviews down.  This leaves hosts extremely exposed. There are people playing this for their own benefit. Air bnb are an extremely opaque organisation and eventually this will have its effect, I believe.

[Lien14]

I had guests stayed in my flat, took shower, ate chocolate, slept in beds then they texted me they allergic to mold. They could not find any mold in the flat but they claimed they had symptoms of mold allergy and demanded for full refund otherwise they will give bad review. At the end I had to refund so that to protect my rating. Airbnb did not do anything with it. 

[Jeanette153]

If we give a terrible guest a bad review, how do potential hosts get warned? I also think the host should be allowed to leave a review even if the guest does not.