Super Hostess and ratings

[Margaret253]

As the rules regarding Covid have only just been relaxed how can your Super hostess rating be removed  because of number of day hosting??  

I have been through two  terrible years of isolation and have only just started receiving guests.  Surely my situation should not penalise me and number of hosting nights should not come into play.  Airbnb should b grateful  that I am hosting at all.  I am an original Airbnb Hostess and my place is Home from Home. Saying that I will host when I want to and when I can as my house is my HOME. I have children visiting and friends and therefore the criteria of number of days should not exist.  

ALSO.  I have 5 star reviews most of the time.  how can a guest give 5 stars for every category and then a 4star overall rating.  It  doesn't make sense.   

[Huma0 · Accepted solution]

@Margaret253 

Yes, number of stays has long been part of the criteria for Superhost. This element was removed from the requirements for a period of time due to COVID, but has now been back in effect as of the April 22 assessment. Many hosts are unhappy about it and complaining. Just search this forum and you will see.

However, even if you have enough stays to qualify, you also need to reach a minimum of 4.8 stars overall as an average for the past year and I see that you are at 4.7 something. Guests do sometimes rate lower on the overall score (the only one that actually matters for the assessment) and higher on individual categories. Some people are not that logical when scoring. Some others might have gripes that they didn't feel fit within the categories offered. I see your lowest category is value, so I would have a look at that to see why people are marking that down.

Sure, I totally agree that as homeshare hosts (or any hosts for that matter), we should be able to choose how often, how many and which guests we host in our homes. Unfortunately, the Superhost criteria does require that we host a minimum number of stays/or a minimum number of nights in any one year. While it is nice to have the Superhost status, I think it's more important to host the number/quality of guests that you feel comfortable with, which may mean you need to forget about the Superhost status. I am not sure it is as important as we lead ourselves to believe, even though it does hurt to lose it.

[Margaret253]

Thankyou for  taking the time to reply. I am going to address the value.  I live in a million pound house in an exclusive part of London  ,two underground stations within 7-8 minutes walk plus an overground station  (same distance.) Hyde Park is a short distance away. Buses are available on every street around me going to all parts of London.  I offer a light breakfast .  My bed has an expensive memory foam mattress.  I have silk curtains and expensive carpeting  An adjacent shower room and toilet exclusively for guests .  As I am now only taking one guest  so it is only used by that guest.  Every shop within walking distance, a quiet road and have two patio gardens and in the good weather you can sit outside .  This is rare in the middle of the City.  I could charge £80 a night and would still be under the worth of what I am offering.  Just to let you know what they are complaining about.  Instead of lowering my price I am probably going to increase it.  Numerous guests are surprised how cheap it is.  So you see Air BnB's ratings are nonsense and only upset the Host.  

[Huma0]

@Margaret253 

I sympathise completely. I am in a fairly central area of London, a 5-6 minute walk from the underground, and then only 10 minutes to Oxford Circus or 8 to Victoria and there are numerous buses. I have expensive furnishings and silk curtains etc. etc. and a number of well renovated bathrooms. Loads of shops within a five minute walk, two outdoor areas for guests to enjoy. Although the house is on quite a busy road (which I make clear), it's fairly tranquil inside, in the gardens and in the bedroom that faces the gardens, which by the way is the room that strangely gets the lowest ratings, especially for location! 

I charge nowhere near £80 a night and need to put up my prices too.

But it's weird how guests assess value sometimes. Obviously, if the listing was overpriced, they would be able to find the same quality for less, or better quality for the same price. Clearly they didn't, otherwise they would have booked those other listings instead. But some guests base 'value' on what they think they would like to pay/can comfortably afford, not what is realistic in the location they are booking.

I get a lot of students contacting me about my rooms asking for extra discounts because it's over their budget. I don't understand why people are looking outside of their budget in the first place...

[Margaret253]

Thank you for replying."there is nought so queer as folks".  I am charging £45 and some of my visitors say I am one of the cheapest in the area.  Charging less means I would practically make a loss.  I am putting up my prices a little from June onwards.  This shouldn't be on the assessment list as you are saying, some people think anything is too much.  Let them book a doss house but I will not be reducing my prices.  I really don't care how many visitors I have as like a break in between and was travelling a lot. 

I also am asked for discounts but do not comply.  They either book or they don't.

AirBnB are losing out when they take away your status.