How to get the gold badge?!!

[Jennifer1037]

Hi! I have been hosting for 9 years. My large home is booked practically every single weekend and I have only gotten two four star reviews this entire time. I am a guest favorite 4.99 average with almost 200 reviews, I am constantly the number one property in a search result, and my guests always rave about how I am the best Airbnb they have stayed at. There are countless Airbnbs in my area with just a handful of reviews (one with 25 reviews including 1-star reviews) that have the gold trophy top _%. I still don't have it and am super confused. I have called customer service several times to make sure something weird hasn't been reported on my profile and every time they say everything looks great and it "has to do with the algorithm."--what am I missing? I can't rent out any more frequently, I have phenomenal reviews, I update my listing every week to stay "engaged"..!! 

[Shelley159]

Hi @Jennifer1037 

Here's a recent thread discussing guest favourite measures:

Solved: Re: Transparency in criteria “ guest favorite “ - Airbnb Community

Your listings' ratings are great, but where you rank for guest favourite at any given time, is relative to others in your area. You can do very well and still lose rank just because someone else stepped up.

As discussed in the thread above, we don't have a lot of specific detail about exactly how the rank is determined, but from what I've seen the sub-category scores seem to weigh quite heavily. Subcategory ratings can sometimes trip up listings with high overall ratings. Also, recent ratings (overall and in subcategories) may weigh more heavily than older ones in the guest favourite calculation. But we really don't know enough to be sure of the details ...!

[Jennifer1037]

Thank you for the other post that has a thorough thread! I did learn some from it, though, I will say that I am still confused as I have found at least three listings in my area with lower subscores, fewer reviews, lower overall score, not many bookings etc that have the trophy! There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it!!

[Joan2709]

@Jennifer1037 

Yes...Airbnb has been very vague about what some factors are that determine the gold badge. 

Some have suggested if you don't use the photo tour,  Instant Book and/or don't have a flexible cancellation policy, it will affect the gold trophy status. However, I can definitely say that not having Instant Book or flexible cancellation policy DO NOT affect it.

Some of my guests clients use the photo tour, but don't use Instant Book and don't have a flexible cancellation policy, but they do get gold status. Another host in the same area doesn't use the photo tour and doesn't have the gold status. Both hosts have 5-star reviews but one had one 4-star review for accuracy and location.

So....we really don't know why, as Airbnb has not shared all the factors with Hosts.

[Jennifer1037]

Thank you!! So strange--I do use instant book and photo tour (but definitely won't do flexible cancellation ever;))!! 

[Helen3]

I have had all five star reviews across all my listings for the last three years and have only just moved into the top 10% for guest favourites - go figure @Jennifer1037  @Shelley159 

[Jennifer1037]

wow! that is so crazy! I don't know how some of these properties are getting the gold trophy when ones like yours took a while to get!

[Patricia2526]

Hi @Jennifer1037 

Consistently receive high marks in guest reviews for areas such as check-in, cleanliness, accuracy, host communication, location, and value.

[Jennifer1037]

In the last year, I haven't received below a 5 for any of those categories except occasional location 4! It is truly a mystery to me!

[Helen3]

Not true I have over 200 five star ratings for the last three years and hosts with a handful of reviews are either in the top 1% or 5% while I am not @Patricia2526 

[Joan2709]

@Jennifer1037 

One other metric they may be considering is response time, but that is a guess.

[Jennifer1037]

I respond within seconds/minutes (always within the hour unless it's in the middle of the night) to all of my inquiries/bookings since I have everything pushed through as a text message to my phone, so I know that wouldn't affect me, but possibly other bookings out there