guest favorite status still not appearing?

[Kelly2575]

Hi all --can you help?

We haven't yet been awarded the 'guest favorite' badge even though we met all the qualifications awhile ago.

We have a 5.0 rating, 100% response rate, 8 all positive reviews, and a total of 11 stays, but we still don't have a 'guest favorite' badge.  We called Airbnb support and they confirmed we met all the qualifications, but said they couldn't manually add the badge or explain why it hasn't come yet.

Can anyone from Airbnb help us?

[Shelley159]

Hi @Kelly2575 

Guest Favourite works very differently from Superhost. For Superhost, there are 4 set criteria that the host should meet - everyone who meets the criteria gets a Superhost badge. It's therefore very easy to see whether you do or do not qualify.

Guest Favourite is a relative calculation. The top 20% listings in your area are Guest Favourites. This means there is no specific target that you can work towards, and the list changes all the time.

We do know (broadly speaking) what the factors are that affect your Guest Favourite rank:

Guest Favorites: Most-loved homes according to guests - Airbnb Help Center

But we don't know the specifics.

It does look like the sub-category ratings weigh very heavily in the ranking, and recent reviews count more heavily than old ones. 

All you can do is try to perform well relative to your competitors. The good news is that (unlike Superhost which is assessed once a quarter), Guest Favourite updates all the time. You don't necessarily even have to do something "right" - someone else can do something "wrong" and you could move into the top 20% and be a Guest Favourite just because of that!

[Joan2709]

@Kelly2575 

Luv, luv your place! 

As @Shelley159 says, Airbnb is very ambiguous about all the factors that determine GF.  It is puzzling though why you haven't received that yet?  I have seen other Hosts post here about a similar issue.

Reviews

GF also looks at guest reviews and perhaps this is why you haven't received GF yet. 3 of your reviews had negative comments about the stairs and/or steep driveway. Your very first guest mentioned some other negatives about "cold floors", "bedroom too bright" and no microwave. Looks like you have since added a microwave and room-darkening curtains. I always recommend new Hosts have a friend stay for several days before accepting guests. They will provide invaluable feedback (missing microwave, sparse kitchen (no cutting board),  bedroom too bright, cold floors) and you could have remedied these issues before hosting your first guest. It's always good to write a reply to guest reviews when they mention a negative. Mention how glad you were they enjoyed XXX and thank them for their feedback on the negatives and how you have corrected those. This is so future guests understand those issues have been addressed. I believe you have 30days to reply to a guest review.

Stairs/Steep Driveway

Although you mention stairs in Other Details, Airbnb expects you to add info about that to the Guest Safety Section and you don't have that on the listing. I would update that ASAP. Be sure to add the details about exactly how many stairs and flights. I would also mention the steep driveway there and in Other Details as well.

Captions on ALL Photos

No idea if this will help or not with GF, but listing "completeness" is one of the factors for search rank. You have great photos but no captions? Put captions on every photo and don't just list the space. For example: don't just say "Kitchen". Say what guests can do or enjoy in the space. Try "fully equipped Kitchen makes meal prep a breeze!" (be sure your kitchen is "fully-equipped" of course).

Amenities List

You are missing some of the edit details on your amenities and those are "points" for listing completeness in search rank - no idea if it affects GF. Go to the amenities section and choose Edit. You'll see little pencil icons appear. Click those and add the info. Don't forget to add WiFi speed to the amenities list. You'll get a callout from Airbnb on the listing if you do. Scroll down to Wifi speed in the amenities list and you'll see how to do that.

Addl House Rules

This doesn't affect GF, but you have no addl House Rules? You'll find most hosts do, even if it's just to re-state No smoking, No Pets, etc. I would definitely add something there about no unregistered guest/visitors and no 3rd party bookings (booking for someone else but not staying yourself). 3rd party bookings are against Airbnb policies. One of your reviews stated they booked the listing for someone else? You can also just look at similar properties in the area and look at their House Rules to get an idea what you should include. You can also just type "House Rules" in search the community here and get some tips.

[Kelly2575]

@Shelley159 & @Joan2709 ---WOW! Thank you both sooooooooo much for the feedback. That was sooooo incredibly helpful and I've already begun making many of the changes you suggested. That was so kind of you to respond so quickly and thoughtfully.  I really, really, REALLY appreciate it!  I'll write back once I finished making all the changes so you can check things out again, if you wouldn't mind :>) Thank you sooooooo very much.

[Joan2709]

@Kelly2575 

Happy to help...we all were new once too! 😁