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.

[Louise234]

This is a very valid point and one that frustrates me as a host. 

[Stephanie365]

I have a welcome manual that tells guests everything they need to know. This includes the check out process. And in the checkout portion of my manual, I ask my guests to give a fair and honest review. I then explain that AirBNB accepts nothing less than 5*, so if they found their stay to be acceptable to please put 5*. And just so my guests don't think I am blowing smoke up their butts, I have a copy of the Forbes article entitled,   "Forbes Magazine: The One Issue With Airbnb Reviews That Causes Hosts To Burnout"

It also addresses the "location" category as not only not being helpful, but actually detrimental.

[Peter-and-Pearl0]

Stephanie, 

Do you have a copy of that article you would mind sharing with me? 

We were just awarded superhost status after our first 6 months of listing and 2x now we have gotten a 4 for location. Not because we have a crappy location, but because on the map it looks like we are right on the water, and we are across the street from the water, the canal to be exact. We are in Sarasota and like the rest of the coast, we have inter-coastal water ways and canals and out of state people can't distinct those from one another. It just look like we all live on the ocean. I wish it would specify that the "location" meant it was clean, safe and as described.

Thank you, Pearl

[Lara-and-Manpreet0]

Yes! Thank you

[Craig378]

And the title for “Location” should be changed to “Location Description Accuracy” (or similar). URGENTLY! We’ve been marked down for things like traffic which is a problem for the entire city which is not the spirit of this rating.

[Lara-and-Manpreet0]

Absolutely! We can’t change the location of our house. They booked it, they should be responsible for their choice. Just “location” is asinine, confusing, and irrelevant. It needs to, ideally, not exist or at the very least ask the question more clearly, like “was the location as described” but even that can lead to confusion and is still irrelevant.

[Leanne143]

Agreed , I’m finding a few of first timers are confused by the ratings and some just find it too hard to bother even if they’ve had a great stay - they don’t understand the impact on the host’s rating !!

[Dominique198]

Spot on!

[David4355]

I totally agree, just yesterday someone gave five stars for all the sub sections, then an overall four stars.  How is this even allowed?

[Mary-Joy-and-Hans0]

Airbnb support should ask the guest when there is such discrepancy!! and correct that to 5 *

as it is neither logical nor mathematically possible...and means that the guest did not understand the star voting

[Rob5]

Receiving a 4 star overall rating when all categories are given a 5 star rating has happened to me a few times.  The guests also didn't mention anything in their review or feedback comments that would have provided some insight into their less than 5 star rating which just left me wondering what the guest was thinking.  I recall one guest stating they never give a 5 star rating because no host is perfect.  Perhaps they would think differently if there was also a Super Guest status.  Instead of forcing the guest to choose an overall rating, why not have it calculated based on the average of the ratings for each category.

[Arto-and-Sandra0]

Agree with you. The third step ("How did the stay compare with your expectations") should be removed. It is simply not in line with the other steps where stars are asked for and therefore confusing.

Two examples to illustrate my point, me being a guest:

1. I book a place which looks great and has been getting glowing five star reviews. Everything works smoothly, the place is comfy and clean, I have an excellent stay there and am happy to give five stars in every category just as all other reviewers did. However, in step three I choose in the middle: the stay has met my expectations - not more and not less - because I expected to have a "five-star" stay in that listing.

2. I book an average looking listing which is only rated three stars. My stay turns out to be quite nice, the host is friendly, the place is a bit dated but clean. It's not as excellent than my stay in example number one, but still great - so I'll give a mix of four and five stars in the various categories. And in step three, I'll choose "stay was better than expected" because I was positively surprised.

So, although the second listing got a better score in step three, it doesn't mean that the stay would have been better - it was simply exceeding the expectations because the expectations were much lower to start with.

But that makes me think: Should I have selected something higher up (a bit better / much better than expectations) for the first stay also in that step three? Will they get somehow penalized even if I gave them five stars everywhere where stars were asked?

Last but not least: What is the usefulness of that step three question anyway?

I personally don't see it very useful at all. Please get rid of it.

Cheers,

Arto

[Mary-Joy-and-Hans0]

it must be better to have: was it like described in the booking page?...fully yes: 5* not like descibed 1*...but stars are not easy to use e.g. if you describe: the house or room is in a very busy and perhaps loud street...you need to get 5*...but I assume guests will not put 5 *

[Lara-and-Manpreet0]

Well said @Arto-and-Sandra0 . Great examples. It’s true, I would honesty think the same way answering it and rate it that way as a guest because I would be trying to answer the question accurately, having NO idea that it was not being recorded accurately and actually hurting the host I’m trying to help by leaving a review in the first place.

[LeeAnn27]

@Arto-and-Sandra0 

Excellent description of this portion of the review problem!