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
Anna2498
Level 2
Southend-on-Sea, United Kingdom

Totally agree either knock out worst and best by a percentage or the worst and  the best star rating.

I also agree raising the increase to 10. I had 11 5* reviews I received  one spiteful 2* and Airbnb wrote to me to say that as rating had dropped below 3* it was at risk of being removed from the site as they wanted all the guests to have a good experience! 

I agree, some formula has to come up to track unrealistic reviews

Sister, I feel for you. The veracity of reviews is in serious jeapordy. 

I only allow guest with recommendations to instant book. I would start there. 

I find that about 90% of my guests are 1st time users. What do you do in that situation??

Yes James, I have done the same, because of retaliatory reviews.

 

Arline3
Level 3
New York, United States

I had a similar experience. I think Airbnb gives guests too much power. The one I had said my place smelled though she stayed three nights and said nothing. Additionally, my place is new, online for six months only with all new stuff and frequent updates. You can’t please all the people all the time.

Andy573
Level 2
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Agreed

I absolutely agree.
Recently I had a revenge review. What can one do about the text...? well, yes, reply.

 

But the star review was absolutely inaccurate. Airbnb guidelines are:
it has to be accurate

it has to be true

 

well, that was not the case. Still Airbnb customer support refused to delete the review.

It was absolute nonsense and a waste of time to communicate with these guys.

Hi Catherine,

you are right and I think Airbnb can do more. I can understand that it is often not easy for Airbnb to find out what is a lie or who is right: the host or the guest. But please read my comment 2 comments before: There are some facts which Airbnb can use:

If all review criteria ar voted with 1* e.g. check in 1*, communication 1*, precise description 1 *, location 1*, price performnance 1*, cleanliness 1 *....when there is no profile in the voting and all is with 1* and before you have a lot of 5 * and 4* reviews, then this should be enough evidence the the 1* review is a blackmailing and does not fit to the rules: it is not accurate and it is not true and has to be deleted from Airbnb, as it does not help when we can answer on the bad review: our average star ranking was ruined !! and that is where potential guests are looking when the make a quick search when they look for accomodation: they do not do in details at that moment...later when they decided forone orthe other the guest is looking to the details in the review.

You are correct. When I had to evict a guest in the middle of the night due to a large party he was hosting ( police had been called and neighbors complained) when it clearly stated in my house rules that I did not allow parties, I called Airbnb Support to circumvent what I knew would be a bad review before it was even left. Although CS told me I had done the correct action the 1* review stood and I lost my Superhost standing. 

The same thing happened to us recently.  The couple was an instant  book for two nights and they lived six miles from our place. They gave no information other than coming to relax and enjoy the beach.

They gave us a horrible review stating that we were “always around.” Then they said we were stalking them. Come to find out, my father had bought a condo close to them and started an Airbnb that they were unhappy about.  It was hard to believe they had paid money to leave a negative review. Totally unfounded and over 600 5 star reviews. It met Airbnb’s standards and was not removed. 

We also had a person call in our Airbnb claiming to be a neighbor. She was the girlfriend of the man renting a home across the street from us. She made unfounded claims and it was left to us, home owners, with a business license, to defend.   Beware of this type of behavior.

Seems oftentimes like the original operator you speak to "gets it", then transfers you to someone totally clueless who is supposed to be the manager that makes a terrible conclusion. Maybe Airbnb should give their first tier operators more flexibility and authority, as they seem brighter most times than the managers

I am of the belief that if you write a businesslike, savvy response that is true you can get from under it. It is an opportunity to restate the pluses of your unit. I am a marketer so that’s my approach. Free advertising in the response. I have gotten compliments on my responses to revenge reviews.

and those negative reviews tend to come from guests who have not been good themselves (untidy, checked out late) who seem to strike out unfairly to combat and pre-empt potential criticism towards them