Superhost status

[Bob1240]

I see that others have had problems with Superhost status.

At one level it is a nonsense, but if it does provide benefits it should be applied fairly.

My story is this: I have been a member of Airbnb since 2015. I have been a host since 2018 and a Superhost since about 2020. My overall rating is 4.9; my response rate is 100% (usually within 1 hour); my cancellation rate is zero.

Like many others I stopped hosting completely during Covid as I felt unsafe.

I restarted in February - first let 11-13 th Feb. As at 1st April I had 10 completed stays.

BUT: it should have been by end of 31st March.

 - If the deadline were end of 1st April I would still be a Superhost  

 - If I had limited the 10th stay to 3 days instead of 4 I would still be a Superhost  

 - If I had not had a cancellation on 7th March at a few hours notice I would still be a Superhost 

I have challenged this. The responses I get are patronising, belittling and totally unhelpful. I am also invited to make a general comment, which I have, but expect this to be totally ignored.

I feel we are in the hands of mindless bots and algorithms rather than an organisation that cares about people.

If you agree please make a noise.

[Huma0]

@Bob1240 

Sorry to hear about that, especially as you were so close. However, there are numerous threads here on the CC on the same subject, so people have been making a noise about it. Do a search and you should find quite a few of them, with comments from hosts in the same situation. 

Even though I hosted a lot less this past year, I was lucky to keep my status because I host long term guests, so mine was based on number of nights booked rather than the number of stays. There are many other hosts who are in the same position as you though.

If it's any consolation, it sounds like you are probably likely to regain the status next quarter.

[Bob1240]

I didn’t respond at the time as I wasn’t sure what reaction I would get; but I did solve the problem.

 I wrote a personal airmail letter to the chief executive in LA setting out the issues as in my mail of April, adding that if I had thrown my guest out on 31st March I would have retained Superhost status, and asking if this is what Airbnb would have preferred.

A week later I received an international call simply stating that I had retained the status. No explanation; no apology.

 I have now been a Superhost for an unbroken period of 2 years, albeit that includes the Covid period when I didn’t host and Superhost requirements were suspended. Never received a coupon. The assessment always states that I will receive a coupon when I have next been a Superhost for a year. 
From the thread I know I am not alone in this.

Any thoughts?

Bob

[Huma0]

@Bob1240 

It's kind of a bit hidden. The voucher doesn't automatically appear in your account credit. You have to go to a link to activate it first (link should be in the email sent to you when you achieved a year of Superhost status). I found this out the hard way and therefore lost out on the first couple of rewards I received, but have managed to use them since.

Each one is valid for one year, so you need to keep an eye on that too, as Airbnb will not normally extend them. Also, once used, they are non refundable/exchangable, so if you need to cancel the stay, you will lose the credit.

[Bob1240]

Interesting.

I get an email on Monday 3rd October: Congratulations. You made Superhost again. No reference to a coupon, although I have been Superhost for an unbroken period of over 2 years.

I dig down into the Airbnb web site. Under Superhost I find : “We are assessing your Superhost status. The outcome should be available on 6th October “.

Needless to say: Nothing yetBob

[Huma0]

@Bob1240 

Yes, it's weird. The website is now showing that I got the status, but it was still showing that I was being assessed two days after I got the email notification. There seems to be some sort of time lag. 

The email you get when you've maintained a year of Superhost should look different to the one you get after the other quarters, i.e. normally every quarter, the subject line is 'You've earned Superhost again!' and then the email says 'Keep it up to earn a bonus'. However, when it's been a year, the subject line is 'You've earned a Superhost bonus!' and the email looks like this:

You then have to click on the button to go activate the coupon and then you receive another email with the subject line 'Here's your Superhost bonus!', which contains the code you can use when booking a stay.

I believe also, once you have activated the coupon, the code should appear on the website in your account, or at least it used to. There was a page where you could see both used, expired and valid coupons but I can't find it anymore...

[Bob1240]

Finally got my coupon after being told I didn’t qualify because of a (non-existent) alleged break in the status. Sometimes persistence pays off.

Now........ Where  shall we go?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Bob1240 You could book place with a host in Ukraine. It is far more rewarding than actually travelling. Pick carefully - I recommend a host that has only 1 or 2 listings and who has been operating for some time before the war started.

[M199]

@Bob1240 

@Huma0is correct in her response.  There are probably 1,000's of hosts in a similar situation,  myself included  because of a single cancellation in June 2021.

Keep focusing on the next quarter. It's  not worth the mental or emotional stress.

[Shelly241]

Had I known about this deadline I would have dropped prices and limited stays to a day.  I found out about this a little too late and didn’t make it.  My home is set up with pool, spa and outdoor activities and I’ll miss out on the entire summer.  I’m looking elsewhere to list

[Colleen253]

@Bob1240 Just goes to show that Superhost has very little to do with good hosting, and everything to do with being a useful tool through which Airbnb can manipulate hosts. 

The jury is out on whether or not it actually provides benefits (beyond the little coupon). 

[M199]

@Colleen253, @Bob1240 , @Huma0 

Coupon??  What coupon, I've been a SH for more than a year.  Never got a coupon. But then as far as I'm concerned, I'm not in the game for the Airbnb coupon reward. (Yes, the rental $),  I'm in the game for the benefit of my guests to be able to get out of ghe city and experience true nature.

[Huma0]

@M199 

I've so far used $300 worth of Superhost coupons. It's nice, but considering that's over a six year period, it's not such a big deal given all the work that has gone into it.

A few years ago, Airbnb announced that it was introducing free photoshoots as an alternative Superhost reward. I was thrilled about that because I had done quite a few home improvements, like adding new bathrooms, so I needed my listing photos updated.

When I tried to activate this, however, it didn't work. I contacted CS and was assured it was just a technical glitch and that, whenever I wanted to book the photo shoot, I just needed to contact them again and they would sort it out.

Of course, nothing of the sort happened. Suddenly they changed their story and said the reward was just for new hosts. I responded that this didn't make any sense at all, given that it was supposed to be a Superhost reward, so how could it only be for NEW hosts?? I couldn't have been the only one to complain because they suddenly stopped making a big song and dance about the new reward and it no longer appeared on my hosting dashboard as an option...

Typical case of bait and switch.

[Huma0]

Here's a story I haven't told often because I didn't want to get anyone in trouble, but it was a few years ago, so here goes...

Around the same time that I was guaranteed the free photoshoot reward, which I was subsequently denied, I was asked to do an interview for the Airbnb newsletter, which I agreed to. The interview was done over the phone, the journalist was very nice, and it was all straightforward.

Then, Airbnb marketing told me they needed to come to my house to shoot a portrait. They said it would take a couple of hours, but it would be better if no guests were staying. I explained that was impossible before their deadline as my rooms were already booked. I managed to block out one day for them though, and they said they would reimburse me for lost earnings (which they never did).

The two hours turned into almost a full day. The photographer was suddenly coming at 11am instead of 1pm, which I explained was difficult because I needed the morning to get the house prepped as I had guests checking out. They told me that was fine, I could go about my business, they just needed to test lights etc and wouldn't bother me while I was cleaning. Not true. I was expected to pose the entire time and it was impossible to get the rooms ready for the next guests. I also didn't like them being photographed just after guests had checked out and they were messy, but hey ho.

They decided last minute to send someone else to film and interview me as well for another thing about International Women's Day. No idea what happened to that as they said they would send me the coverage but never did. Meanwhile, the photographer was stressed, because she had a long list of photos she had to get, including every room of my house, me visiting local attractions, posing in the street (was pouring with rain the whole day which didn't help) and on and on.

At the end of all of this, I was told that I could not use any of the photos/videos on my listing (I never even saw them) because the copyright belonged to the photographer. This is not true, which I was able to easily find out because I work in an industry that deals with this. Airbnb had bought the copyright from the photographer, so I don't know why they felt the need to lie to me about it.

Still no idea what happened with the videos, but the article, with one photo was eventually published but kind of hidden. They never informed me as promised. I found out by accident from a friend who had stumbled across it. It was somewhere on the CC. Again I found out by accident when a couple of fellow hosts stumbled across it. The article edited in such as way so that it wasn't really my words at all (stuff included that I did not say). There was one photo. I have never seen the others that were taken in seven hours of non-stop shooting.

They spent almost a whole day photographing me and my house for their marketing purposes and I got no payment, no use of photos, not even a notification of when and where anything was published. 

Meanwhile, CS decided that I didn't deserve the Superhost bonus of free photoshoot (these normally take about an hour) as promised, while Airbnb got a free full day photoshoot at my house for their marketing purposes. I was not happy to say the least.

So, @M199 

Yes, you are right. Expect the worst.

[M199]

@Huma0 

My motto, expect the worst, hope for better.  Just the ongoing Host saga. I have absolutely zero expectations of support/reward from Airbnb. Can't be dissapointed when my expectations are so low.

Heck, I get more cash back rewards from my credit card purchases.