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.

[Igor282]

Yes bad reviews happen, and they suck! But what about the "feedback ratings" like cleanliness and location and the other all being 5 * but the overall rate beeing a 4*

This happens constantly, and makes no sence at all ! The overall rate should be an avarage rate of all the feedback rate and overall rate

[Megan202]

I too was very upset after a profoundly deaf, but sweet lady, left a mean comment.  SHE SAID I HAD EXPECTED HER TO BE ABLE TO LIPREAD, which was completely untrue.  I felt so sad that  this was what she had said.  I automatically  spoke to her on arrival and even after she had been out for a walk, that was taken as insulting.  EVEN THO I HAD WRITTEN NOTES TO HER, ONE CANNOT BE BLAMED, AS A HOST, FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO 'SIGN'  Many folk have never been expected to

[Sunil20]

I also come across same issue like many guests make booking for one person then they arrive more then booked guest. after reporting to Airbnb support team, nothing happens. 

[Daisy-And-Eva0]

I think they should weight the star base on the length of stay.  How can a 1 night stay be equal to a month long stay.

[Natalie427]

How about adjusting  number of night stays ? When reviews are a 5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Melissa-And-Brian0]

The most important thing that Airbnb can do is to allow customization of Smart Pricing.  I have been consistently burned by this offering when I choose to use it since it overrides both my days-of-stay minimums and published pricing (yes I know I am allowing it to offer lower prices), but the only bookings I am getting from it are for the high season when I don’t want to offer less minimum stay requirements and lower pricing.The program is useful for slower seasons but unnecessary during high season.  

The fix is easy.  Allow hosts to select the months that they want to offer Smart Pricing.  Can’t believe that a smart company like Airbnb hasn’t figured this out.

[Mary1135]

I had my Superhost status removed , reason stated: I didn't book enough during the quarter.  Hmmm. 2 days before i had turned down a booking request -- prospective guest asked in her only message what my cancellation policy is (which is clearly stated in my listing). I received a solid booking at the same time for the same dates on another platform. Now which guest would you want -- Solid Booker or Potential Canceller? I responded accordingly to the Potential Canceller, and she complained about me to Airbnb.  I received a caustic message and 2 days later they removed me as Superhost.  

Guess what-- I don't even care. I learned that Airbnb doesn't show any loyalty to me as a host (with only one listing, which I take care of meticulously).  So I'll continue to list on other platforms as long as that works out. It is MY property, MY mortgage, MY insurance, and of course MY vulnerability to bad guests or occurrences. 

As a guest, I don't check whether a host is 'Superhost' because I know it's meaningless.  I check for location, price, and preponderance of reasonable reviews. 

P.S. do I regret not booking Potential Canceller? What do you think? How quickly did she send a complaint to ABB? Do I want such a person on MY property?  

[Tim844]

If the wedding (they were visitingv for) is canceled, and thus the reservation was canceled... How does that work against me? 

[Phil276]

I have a 100%response rate, 0 cancellations ever, 99% acceptance, 390 reviews and a 4.7 but one or two unwarranted bad reviews makes it impossible to get to 4.8. 

This system isn't fair

[Patricia2072]

Airbnb should look at the guests who give low ratings. Some do so consistently so they can get a better deal.  Ratings should be assessed for fairness. 

[Caroline688]

see below...

[Caroline688]

Honestly, get rid of the super host status.  It is meaningless.  Even without making your "required number of visits" to earn the super host badge, I get great guests to fill my availability.  Most people don't care as long as your place is nice and the reviews are good.

[Shona55]

Guests will say that they love everything about my place and still only give me 3 stars.  Some people will not give you a 5 star rating no matter what you do so I think the system is bogas!!!

[Iza3]

I was Superhost since the beginning but since I have long term guest, and the reviews are at the end of 6 months or so, I lost my status, and I think that is unfair.

You should do a mid term review so we can continue with our status.

[Jill88]

Yes, please address retaliatory reviews. When a guest cancels a five day stay at the last minute and demands a refund because it isn't what she expected (even though the place is exactly as described), a host faces the dilemma of refusing a refund knowing that the guest will, most likely, retaliate with a horrible review. And, that's exactly what happened.

Also, how can one bad review bring down the host's rating even if the host has received 50 or more stellar ones?