Clarity about the recent Superhost criteria change

[Airbnb]

We’ve noticed a lot of discussion lately about the updated Superhost criteria, so we wanted to explain why we made this update.

The Superhost program recognizes the best and most iconic hosts on Airbnb. Since it began, in order to be a Superhost you had to meet several criteria. You had to host at least 10 stays per year, you had to have zero cancellations (except for extenuating circumstances), you had to respond to 90% of the messages you received within 24 hours, and 80% of your ratings had to be 5 stars.

The first 3 criteria are staying the same, but beginning in July, instead of needing 80% 5-star reviews, Superhosts will now need an average review score of 4.8.

There are several reasons why we decided to make this change. First and foremost, because it’s simpler and easier to understand. One of the top pieces of feedback we received about the old program criteria was that guests couldn’t intuitively understand what it took to be a  Superhost. By making the change from 80% 5-star reviews to an overall rating of 4.8, guests can more easily understand what it means to be a Superhost. Additionally, switching to an overall rating of 4.8 stars also brings consistency across our new programs like Collections and Plus, which require a 4.8 overall rating as well as several other criteria.

In looking at recent data, we estimate that between 90% to 95% of our Superhosts are going to have no problem qualifying for the Superhost program under the new criteria. Ultimately, it’s our goal to have as many Superhosts as possible and have all hosts provide amazing guest experiences worthy of stellar reviews. Our plan is to continue to closely monitor how these standards impact the Superhost program and evolve them based on what’s working and what isn’t. We truly appreciate the feedback you’ve provided so far and we look forward to working with you to bring further clarity and consistency to the program.

[Ute42]

With the new airbnb superhost criteria I expect the following things to happen:

1. Many hosts will realise that the new criteria are almost unachievable and they may decide that they will not even strive for obtaining the badge. So instead that the overall hosting-performance goes up, it may go down.

2. Hosts who still want the superhost badge will fight against negative reviews like a lion and call airbnb 15 times to take a negative review down, no matter if the case is closed or not. Incoming phonecalls at airbnb may go up considerably.

3. The relationship between hosts and guests will change. The focus will no more be to provide a great stay but to get a great review no matter what the costs may be. Hosts will talk about this review-system to their guests no matter if they are interested to hear about it, some may beg them on their knees to rate with 5* and some may offer cash money in exchange.

4. A certain group of guests will soon find out how much damage they can cause with their ratings under the new requirements, they will become more and more demanding and their behaviour will get worse. There already are guests who know how to use the existing system to their benefit, supported by airbnb who lets guests that have requested a refund or never stayed at the property write reviews.

Instad of hosts looking foreward to meet a new and interesting guest from somewhere in the world, they will be anxious about any new arrival. I'm getting a new guest, good lord, pls let him give me a 5*. The „live like a local“ feeling will be gone, replaced by anxiety.

@Rebecca181, I can't reply to Your posts directely either.

Dear airbnb,

there are 2 statements in Your message that I cannot believe.

The first statement is:

„One of the top pieces of feedback we received about the old program criteria was that guests couldn’t intuitively understand what it took to be a Superhost“

I am relatively new to airbnb and have only started to read posts in the community center in february. But ever since I read the english and german CC every day and I have red more than a thousand posts on all kind of subjects. I have never red a post from a guest saying: „uh, i wonder how this superhost thing works and how the hosts get their badge.“ Not a single post like this. Has anyone else ever red such thing? The only group of people who cares how to become a superhost are the hosts, the guests simply don't care. And therefore I cannot believe that this is a „top piece of feedback“.

The second statement ist:

„In looking at recent data, we estimate that between 90% to 95% of our Superhosts are going to have no problem qualifying for the Superhost program under the new criteria“

What is the overall average rating of the 4 Million + listings that airbnb has? We don't know that but we do know it for the London market. If You are looking for a place to stay in London You will find a line on the airbnb page that says: „Over 1,500,000 guest reviews in London, with an average of 4.5 out of 5 stars.“ Let's assume this is the average worldwide. I think we can forget about listings that have a 3.x rating or below, because these places will be delisted by airbnb. I believe the overall situation looks like this:

While there are almost no listings with an average rating of below 4.0, 95% of the listings have an average rating from 4.0 to 5.0 If You now move the requirements for being a superhost from a 4.2 average to a 4.8 average, You can see in this chart how many listings will be affected by this change, we are talking hundreds of thousands. It is impossible that 90% to 95% of the existing superhosts will remain superhosts, my guess is that two thirds of the existing superhosts will lose their badges.

Does anyone of You reading this believe these two statements?

Airbnb, come on!

[Ute42]

ups, there must have been a softwareglitch in the above post.

[Ana1152]

En Santiago de Chile, me complica la baja de precios sugerida por la organización, acá 10 dolares no son nada ya que es la capital de américa del sur más cara.  Prefiero mantenerme en mis precios y no bajarlos aaunque eso signifique menos visitantes.

[David126]

I assume they just want to cut down the number, they made a system that screwed itself and saw this as a solution. May not be effective, we will see.

I would not mind so much if they were honest about what they were doing and why they were doing it.

[Cathy229]

I feel very disappointed by these changes to SH status. I have found that guests leave bad reviews if they have caused damage that's going to be expensive to put right. It makes you feel helpless and resentful of a system that rewards and allows bad behaviour. I, too, point out things about my listing, but in general guests  don't read house rules. And increasingly I've found guests do not clear or clean up, I'd hoped for an improvement when I dropped my cleaning fee, but no luck. 

Comments about the location category are so right- it should be dropped, guests can see clearly on the map what the location is, so don't book if you don't want to be in that location. 

Airbnb do need to introduce more regulations to help hosts with difficult guests,  not make things even more one sided with this change to the SH status. 

[Rebecca160]

Well, that was frustrating Airbnb. I just spent 15 minutes replying to one of the above posts and Oops, an unexpected Error occured. Really now?  I have been posting and replying to posts with no issues for weeks and now, all of a sudden, on one of the most critical posts ever to appear on this platform, there is a computer glitch preventing us from replying to one another. Mmm hmm, I do not think so. This was deliberate, me thinks. Shame on you!

And what is up with the date on this post? Three weeks ago? Nope. It was posted this afternoon, a bit stealthily, I might add. Really, we are not as stupid as you seem to think we are.

And the new ratings system? You must think that we are complete imbeciles. Do you realize how we got to the point where we could rent out a room or home and share our lives with others? We were smart enough to get the education that we needed to rise in our fields and purchase our properties and furnish these properties. We are wordly enough that we enjoy meeting new people and sharing new experiences. We are pretty smart, some are very, very smart. And some are really good at math, like @Ute42.  I looked her numbers and graphs over and it sounds pretty solid.   And if we can really extraploate  those numbers out to the Airbnb universe, the results of the new ratings systems will be harmful for the majority of Super Hosts and devastating for those scoring below 4.7.

This is not weeding out a few bad hosts, this is wholesale slaughter. And why? I see that you are really pushing the Collections and Plus Hosts, which has already significantly cut into my business, and now you are pushing your boutique hotels. Is this all you want? Do you want all hosts to have the exact same standards? Hmmm? Cause that sure sounds like you want to be Airbnb Hotels Worldwide and not Airbnb Home Hosts Around the World.  

Your new rating system is not based on any sound logic or principles, unless the effect that you want is to remove as many hosts as quickly as you can.

You should consider hiring some good statisticians and listening to your hosts and guests.

[Bert-And-Pat0]

I want to join this conversation becuase I want to see what level I am.  I have never seen that before???

[Pete28]

What is lacking here is that if the rating scale for success was applied to hotels then the Four Seasons Seattle would not make superhost, it has an avg score of 4.5, and only 82% rate it 5*.

What Airbnb is creating is an arbitrary measure of success which is way beyond that found in the wider hospitality industry. 

- hosts will burn out or no longer care about ratings. That doesn't seem to benefit Airbnb.

- hosts will reject new guests, or those that have any previous history of leaving low * reviews. Airbnb will have a reputation for rejecting guests.

- hosts given low * reviews will pester Airbnb to have them removed.

- we will end up like uber where every driver starts by showing you a big lanyard to remind you he is 5* or out of a job. Is that the vision of Airbnb ?

Most hosts want to do their best for guests, why create a system which forces them to haggle over ratings ?

[Leslie241]

I've always thought Airbnb guests were the best! (Sorry for the rhyme). But Superhost, just like any of the "best" in their genre is not supposed to be easily achievable. Basically they go beyond the call of duty from whence that guest from hell is not so bad after all. Not saying it's easy but not everyone is cut out to be a host. 

The fact that guests are rated as well as hosts at Airbnb surprised me initially. But I realized that by rating guests, they are more likely to on their best behavior or they too will suffer from poor ratings. Hosts can also check out their prospective guests before accepting them. So the ball more often than not is in the host's corner; not the guest's. 
My son for example has very low ratings as a guest at Airbnb! It's not that he's rude. He's just inconsiderate. Needless to say, when he comes home to visit, I don't encourage him to interact with my guests. Lol!

[Ute42]

Dear airbnb,

if You are embarrassed about my post with the graph in it pls feel free to delete it.

I don't want to be the reason that an important topic like this gets hidden from the community.

[Fred13]

Airbnb: There are two Superhost Requirement changes, one recent and one coming, that merit some more imaginative thought on your part; both, in different ways, are asking hosts to 'ham' for reviews by hosts from guests.

1- The 'Trip Reviewed' one where at least 50% of guests must leave a review in order for the Host to keep Superhost. That puts the host in a position of 'hamming' for reviews (to achieve a minimum number). A foolish requirement,  especially in the case of listings that have Guest Books or their clientele and/or are of a certain nature. See our Bird Island Placencia, who you have used extensively in your advertising, yet despite the fact it receives nothing but 5-star reviews for (4) years only about 50% of its guest leave public reviews from Day #1; why it continually flops between being a 'SH listings' or not. It receives 4/8 reviews a month on average, why is a minimum of 5+ a must, saying the same thing? Superhost shouldn't  be dependent on such an unnecessary requirement, serving little purpose.

2- The 4.8 vs. 4.7 issue: I gather that the objective is to raise the standard so only a given % of Hosts achieve that number, so it indeed becomes a 'mark of distinction'. Nothing wrong with standards, and I also see this is a requirement still somewhat in flux and not final. The pitfall in that requirement for most hosts, is in the fact that most hosts are catering to an economic-socio bracket that is not consistent, or predictable by nature. If you Airbnb, do not take into consideration true retaliatary 'reviews' especially when there is already an existing conflict between parties, and continue to adhere to such a strict sacrosant policy that you can't remove ~any~ and all reviews (no matter how absurd and with such few exceptions), then you are making being a Superhost a matter of luck, and I am sure that is not your intention. Standards are meant to show excellence and consistent, not be dependent too highly on who you happen to get as guests, since most hosts do not have much of a choice in the matter; especially after your other policy changes in the last year to make Airbnb so 'inclusive' and accept all guests so 'blindly' by hosts. 

Both of these policies merit further thought and modification to make sure they achieve brighter results.

[Emily352]

As you know, I'm not a Host nor a Superhost. “Superhost” is a word never existed in my vocabulary.

So, you wil tell me: "Why do you write in this discussion?" Because, fortunately, I still do not have cobwebs that cover my neurons.

Miserably faded the hope that sooner or later a little wisdom would reappear in AIRBNB, you have to rub your eyes two or three times when you read what kind of proposal AIRBNB has come up with by way of a solution of the problem: “Superhost”.

This allert beats the hell out of me. My eyes are all on one side like Peppa Pig.

What beautiful mind has given birth to this idea? I am a disciple of Mr.Lombroso. Ok, everybody, I think I have figured out who is this creature. He has long nails, bushy eyebrows, long canines, always bloodstained. He moves back in front of cloves of garlic. AIRBNB is an emotional vampire that feeds on our trust, our dreams, our insecurities, sucking our energy with manipulative marketing methods.

You do not need to be Einstein to understand that keeping an average of 4.8 will be really tough. A goal almost impossible to achieve.

So far you have had to reach 80% of 5-star reviews. From July you will need a minimum of 10 reviews and an average of 4.8. This means – as noted above -  if I have 9 five-star reviews and receive a two-star review, I lose Superhost status.

Would this be the improvement that has been asked in the past?

I’ve got only a strong desire to pull the heads on the wall. AIRBNB enters in the Superhost's life and destroys what little happiness he still had. And the host, according to AIRBNB, should welcome this good news with open arms!

Listen, dear AIRBNB, maybe it’s time to calm things down. In this strange boat in the midst of the waves that you pretend to rule, the host is at the mercy of a flood of guests who take him up and down, when and where they want.

Most hosts are subject to unjust, misleading, retaliatory reviews beyond their control: most guests do not even know how the review system works.

 “We estimate that between 90% to 95% of our Superhosts are going to have no problem qualifying for the Superhost program under the new criteria. Ultimately, it’s our goal to have as many Superhosts as possible (…)”

Your thought, AIRBNB, will knock out most of your hosts. It might be time to mutiny. Remember that the host are the suppliers of raw material, you sell the idea of ​​staying in the house of others, but if there were no houses, you would not exist.

Love,

Emily

[David126]

I must admit I do find the whole thing slightly amusing, just looked up the Ritz and they would not make the cut to be a Superhost, do not think they list on AirBnB.

Tte one entity that would fail really badly in this process is AirBnB itself, 90% plus of hosts have a better review rating.

[Andrea714]

"You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can't …” … please, all the people all of the time” (Poet John Lydgate as made famous by Abraham Lincoln).

Some people just cannot be pleased or need to criticize just because.  I get 5 stars almost of all of the time on everything.  I don't have a vacation resort location and am very clear in my description.  I am located 2 miles from Stanford and many very large high tech companies in the Bay Area so I am almost fully booked all year.  Most people are supremely delighted.  But a tiny few are unrealistic.  One young woman and her boyfriend came to visit her sister who had just had a baby and lived 2 short blocks away.  My location was perfect for them. Why they chose it.  But I got 4 stars from her on location?  5 on everything else.

One woman only gave me 4 stars for cleanliness because she saw a spider.  I am the best cleaner ever.  She raved about staying here otherwise after 9 months in hotels.  I could go on with a couple more.  I've only had a couple 4 stars and they hurt and always seem most unfair, but I understand the sentence above.  Clearly, Airbnb does not.  Another thing that is significant is I have mostly long-term guests 2 months or so.  One 1 night guest in a cranky mood can affect my ratings significantly.  

I screwed up my rating last year, (new host) when I canceled a one night guest because I had a 3-week guest that was having panic attacks trying to find a permanent place to live and needed 2 more weeks to find one.  He had ADD and a lot of stress with a new job and a major move.  I was trying to be a good host.  The fellow I canceled was very understanding and could easily get another booking.  That happened a year ago the first week of April but I won't get my SH status back till June this year because of the rating period cut off every 3 months.  I understand the cancelation policy but I think I should have been able to explain to an understanding person the circumstances.  I was trying to be a concerned and caring host.  I won't do it again.

I am going to give Airbnb 1 star for this new rating system.  There are so many things wrong with it.  I think you have forgotten your roots and your mission.  

[Robert-And-Nancy0]

This new method for Superhost status has only strengthen our reasons for transition to guests who are looking for longer term places. We have made Superhost since 2014. Other than it gives us a view near the top (also could be due to the fact of low inventory in our area) we have found it not to be anything special. Now that it is going to be harder to maintain that status, it will be easier to move on from the short term rentals. Airbnb started out as a wonderful concept and was truly a way for people to travel and enjoy the actual culture of where they were visiting, or the ability to afford a nice place to stay. Now it has become a corporate giant and it has lost the true meaning.

How many of us have done things for guests we never get credit or rated for. Can’t tell you how many times our listing would come up in the major city search (we are 40 miles from the city) and we would get the questions from inquiries about transportation etc. We would always take the time to email back that we are not on the outskirts and would include a list of safe and reasonably priced towns and listings of where to look. Airbnb does not include that in our rating. How may times we, as host, have overlooked the messy, the broken, the rude guest in hopes that the next will be great and that we maintain our superhost. During snowstorms, digging out cars, during power outages inviting guest to sit by our fire and use our stove the list goes on.

This is still a great concept and hopefully Airbnb will realize it and will give credit where credit is due, to the wonderful, hard working host and to the guests who make our experience enjoyable and rewarding.

Sorry if this comes off as a rant but our hearts are back in Aug 2013 when we started this and part of us still miss it very much.