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.

[Linda909]

Yes  I feel that guests who leave negative review for objective areas should be asked to justify - eg one guest stated the photographs were not of the property which they absolutely were - and this was allowed, or guests who taste 5 * in every aspect but overall day 4* or less - how can that be justified??  Guest reviews need to be accurate just as hosts need to be accurate about their listing

[Filipe101]

That would be useful 

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@Linda909 wrote:

Yes  I feel that guests who leave negative review for objective areas should be asked to justify - eg one guest stated the photographs were not of the property which they absolutely were - and this was allowed, or guests who taste 5 * in every aspect but overall day 4* or less - how can that be justified??  Guest reviews need to be accurate just as hosts need to be accurate about their listing

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[Arline3]

I agree. Keep in mind that not all guests are honest. Some want to eat the steak and nit pay for it.

[Maria---8]

Totally agree with you. They want Ritz amenities with  lowest possible price.

[Deb125]

A very long time ago on another platform called  Home Escape,  I had a lady inquire, she and her friends, did not stay with us .. after a month she came back and gave me a bad review.. she didn't like the place, and that  place didn't look like the photos.. I emailed her back and asked her where she stayed.. she said the Paki Maui.. I told her she reviewed me and I don't own a condo at the Paki Maui, , and the photos didn't match because she didn't stay at my condo.. then NO RESPONSE from her.. Home Escape removed the review.. 

[Hello6]

Agreed.  Would be super helpful for us hosts too (written feedback for bad ratings being required ).  Having bad reviewer justify their why in writing could help make improvement and transparent honesty.  Of course tweeking formula for calculating stars over time could help too.  Drop outliers say every ten reviews.  We like Superhost program.  It is nice to be possibly rewarded for hard work.  Our biggest review hits come for location.  Being in a tourist town but living outside the tourist zone and up a hill we take a few hits even with way lower prices.  We just can not change our location.  We'd love to live by the beach, maybe one day after many guests and profit we could afford it.   Still we very happy with Airbnb as it helping to pay the mortgage and allows us to live comfortable in an otherwise expensive town for locals. 

[Robin436]

Excellent comments I have to say.Of course you could hire one of those companies in the USA that jack up your house and move it on a trailer to the desired location in this case the Beach.Then of course you would have to charge £20,000 per night and advertise as the coolest house in the Northern hemisphere.There would be takers I am sure.

Glad you are enjoying the SuperHost programme.Next time I am in Gran Canaria I will definitely stay with you and enjoy the HIll-Walking.Take care

[Ryan854]

I had a guest give me 5 stars in everything but overall they gave me 4 stars. They came up and knocked on my door As they were leaving and said it was a wonderful stay and they would be coming back for sure in the future. I couldn’t sleep over it I was so mad. Additionally, my listing is very clear, we have one bathroom. When they arrived they said they needed 2 bathrooms but they booked it anyways because the rest looked perfect. 

[Mihai37]

I had it happen exactly like that. They praised us as they were leaving, wished us the best etc. Then in the review they put 5 stars everywhere and 4 overall, and in the private notes they said that the (freshly washed) sheets and towels "didn't have a crisp fresh feel" and that it was annoying for her to come to the kitchen to have her tea even though it said on the listing that the kettle is in the kitchen.

[Pamela95]

I had a guest who marked me down because she had to share a bathroom. We only let two rooms in our home and they share the bathroom and this is written on my listings so I wasn’t pleased. 

[Helen350]

@Pamela95  Yes, so annoying, isn't it? You get what you pay for, & no doubt if you DID have a private bathroom, you'd be charging 50 - 100% more! I recently had a first timer give 1* for cleanliness on the basis that there were 'cleaning rags' on the side of the bath. I pm-d him to say this was so guests could clean up after themselves, it being a SHARED bathroom!

[Linda1633]

I had a guy give me 5 stars in everything but cleanliness, because the screens were dusty.  Then he gave me an overall 4 star because he "was on the fence."  This was after giving him the breakfast of his choice for his entire stay.

It's a brand new sparkling clean renovated space, so there was some construction dust on the screens.

I explained to him that Airbnb has a two tier system.  5 star and everything else. That if a hotel has 4 stars, it's outstanding, but Airbnb you need 5 starts to be a super host.

He was apologetic and said next time he'll just leave a personal note.

[Rosa344]

The same thing happened to me.  That’s how I lost my superhost status.

[Arline3]

I just had a diva guest who did the same to me. I expected it and was prepared with notes on her indiscretions and wrote an amazing review. Note also that if you decline a request it counts as a cancellation. I learned this last quarter when I did not make superhost. I now focus on making money and if I can’t accept a request I ask the potential guest to cancel as I offer a reason. Truth be told, I no longer worry about becoming a superhost. My place is nice and the location is perfect and accessible. That sells and I am meeting my goals while having fun.

[Sarah977]

@Arline3  No, declines don't count as cancellations, but they do lower your Acceptance rate.