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.

[Arline3]

That’s what I thought until I was told this by an Airbnb customer service rep. The individual said that the report is computer generated and there is no way to appeal. I am not sweating over being a superhost. I treat my guests well and leave it at that.

[Sarah977]

@Arline3  It sounds like the CS rep didn't know what he was talking about. You actually saw that the decline went down as a cancellation? Because if it lowered your acceptance rate below the target, that would lose you Superhost as well. But if they registered a decline as a cancellation, that's just plain wrong.

But I agree that it's not worth sweating the Superhost carrot.

[Arline3]

Good morning,

my acceptance rate did go down. Not only that, no one told me about this and I was expecting to be a superhost so I questioned it. Of course my overall just went down because of a revenge review. No worries though, I am an experienced marketer so I know how to write and to still make my listing look good. Here’s my listing and the review 

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/32968738?guests=1&adults=1&source_impression_id=p3_1559262636_ihBVh4Dfd...

I am just determined to make make the money I need for my place and to pay my bills. I gave up on being a superhost. I made the most money ever in six months for September, so to heck with superhost. 20 great reviews and one bad one. Sometimes I am thankful when they don’t leave a review because the place sells itself.

have a great day and thanks.

[Brooke179]

I'm with you!  I have 4 EXTREMELY affordable and chic rooms in the heart of Washington, DC.  I charge a FRACTION of the market rate and our customer service and response rate are unmatched . The overwhelming majority of reviews are 5 Stars.  All it takes is a few unappreciative guests to leave 3-4 stars to keep you down!  I've even had guests comment that they had a wonderful stay and everything was perfect then give 3 stars.  This is so unfair.  While my rates in DC are super-cheap, they are expensive by comparison to the rest of the world.  Asking a guest to rate your "value" when they do not understand context with regard to geography and cost of living, is a detriment to hosts living in expensive locations.

[Martin1241]

It’s a culture thing in Europe 4 stars us well above average and 5-star is beyond exceptional.  So Europeans often would give you a 4-star review thinking it was great.  The 4.8 avg Target is a very American thing

[Kevin1322]

That's a good point @Martin1241  A four star overall won't put me off booking. Before I came to Airbnbnb I would have thought 4 stars would be perfectly acceptable, 3 as average.....

I'd still happily consider booking into a 4 star listing after looking at some recent reviews.

The 4.8 target is a high bar this side of the pond, I agree.  4.5 would be more like it here.  It's a cultural thing.

[Marta1048]

@Brooke179 Your post offered me some relief, thank you. 

My place, although modest and not yet refurbished, is in an  extremely expensive location. We offer location and square meters with a lot of attention to cleanliness and hospitality. But received two reviews stating they (the guest) could have bought more with the money invested.  Which is not true at all, I made my research. 

How do you usually respond to that, please? Advice would be much apreciated. Thank you. 

[Jill88]

Yep! I've stopped striving for the Superhost status. My places are clean and cute and accurately described and they bring in badly needed income. I recently got a review that simply said, "Mediocre." What in the world does that mean? That was not a helpful review! It doesn't help me improve anything. I can't lose sleep over unhappy people who don't communicate well. Life goes on!

[Deb125]

Don't strive for superhost - just do the best you can,  thats all you can do, I've been a super host then not a super host because most of my bookings come from another platform.. I always text guests before they leave that we enjoyed having them as guests, and ask if there is anything that could use fixing, repairing or replacing,  that may help alleviate some reviews of  insignificant  stuff.  A friend of mine (same condo complex) received a bad review, the people were constantly yelling and  fighting, on the outside deck, in the pool area, actually scaring other guests, the manager had to go check on them,  they wrote a review that the walls were thin and everyone could hear them quietly talking. LOL 

[Linda1633]

Do you have instant book?

[Debra319]

I've had a similar experience with one guest booking and brought his wife. Both were extremely large. They complained about the queen size bed, having to walk 10' to their studio ( their heavy suitcases)and a request to remove shoes (because I knew it was dusty, it's actually a 15k carpet)). The bathtub was too high( antique clawfoot) and my gardens not lovely enough( saw lots of garlic plants). BTW- gardens are award winning and  spectacular! Particularly the koi pond and all the amazing flowers ♡ but they couldnt be bothered to walk another few feet....everyone else raves, they blasted me and I had 3 reservation xcel the next day. The problem is it took 2 weeks for my response to be posted....I feel like I'm at the mercy of the client. I cant actually review a client who dog destroyed my yard, left 8 piles of poop and dog hair everywhere inside. Can you imagine 2 bad reviews nevermind one?

[Beverley22]

You can NEVER please all the guests all the time. I had a retreat one weekend housing 29 guests. The facilitator was disorganized and tried to shift the blame on me. Two weeks later I had a family reunion (also 29 guests). They couldn't stop raving about everything and said it was a perfect weekend. 

Obese people can also be a problem.  They can complain about the most expensive mattresses!

[Donna710]

I had same thing happen to me. Ridiculous 

[Laura109]

I always feel apprehensive when hosting someone totally new to Airbnb. They are unfamiliar with what is expected and with the star rating system. Whatever you do for them, though it may be exceptional, they  take as”This is how Airbnb works.” So I let them drop their belongings off 3 hours early, help them get Lyft right away so they will make it to an appointment they had been on track to miss, offer them nice snacks. And because they have nothing to compare it with, they do not give 5 stars because they don’t want to “grade too easy.”  

[Poonam14]

Soo true I think when last few reviews are consistent we should be given right to remove these revengeful reviews