Missed Superhost status due to mistake by Airbnb

[Patience6]

Dear all,

I have been a host for more than 5 years and became Superhost within 6 months of joining and maintained that status for many times. This year my goal was to work hard to ensure i give my guests the best and subsequently earn the Superhost.

A week before the 1st of April, i made a very silly mistake which ended up opening dates on one of my listings accidentally when i could not host as i was upgrading my furniture. Within second, someone made an instant booking. I phoned Airbnb to understand if they could give a penalty free cancellation should i decide to cancel. i neded to make a decision whether to go ahead and cancel or do whatever it takes to accomodate the guest if cancellation would result in me getting cancellation penalties

The consultant explained that they cannot give me penalty free on all 4 categories. They can give one. I suggested the cancellation penalty to be forgiven and she advised that if i take that one, it wont make any difference as if i cancel the reservation, it will not affect my cancellation rate. So i therefore based my decision to go ahead with cancelling the reservation as she said i  cancellation rate penalty will remain >1% but i would have to pay the $100 penalty, have a review on my listing etc. 4 days later i see that cancellation rate went up from >1% to 3.35%. I was totally shocked as she obviously misled me and made me take the decsiion to cancel the reservation impacting on my potentail to be superhost. I was livid and very unhappy. I have been calling Airbnb and all i got was. Sorry it was a mitsake on our side but there is nothing we can do. I am feeling very demotivated as i ahve been very supportive and committed to AirbnB. I feel betrayed by the system and Airbnb not takeing accountability nor willing to rectify the mistake made by one of their team. I definitely would not have cancelled the reservation if i knew this would happen hence why i phoned first. Anyone with ideas how i can deal with this. I still feel Airbnb should have a way to review and reverse the impact it has had on my Superhost status due to their mistake. REgards Patience

[Emiel1]

@Patience6 

As you experienced Airbnb CS is not easy to deal with and sometimes they are providing wrong information. It is a waste of time to try to revert the situation, you will end up frustrated by the responses (If any) from Airbnb

As a host try to avoid to cancel a reservation. Loosing Superhost-status is not the end of the world and you most likely will be Superhost again in future.

[Kerri221]

After being a Super Host for 4 years, that status was revoked due to a 2.73 cancellation rate. I have cancelled 2 guests in 4 years. I called CS and they verified that it was an error on their part and that my complaint would be escalated to the special team or some BS. Have not heard anything from them. Any suggestions as what I should do. I noticed too that the few times I called CS with my super host status the CS rep was much more responsive and knowledgeable and helpful than my recent experience.

[Suzanne302]

@Patience6 

1) Never trust/depend on Airbnb CS.

2) While it might be nice to have as a cherry on top, don't sweat losing Superhost status. I lost Superhost due to shutting down for over a year when Covid hit. I just relisted last weekend, and within 2 days I had 3 bookings filling my first week. One week later and I'm slowly filling my calendar for the next few months. All without my former "Superhost" status.

You'll be fine! Happy hosting!

[Nina75]

You will survive... Not being a super hosts gives you a certain amount of freedom to be creative and take some design risks.  🙂

[The-Landing0]

If a customer cancels does that as well bring down your super host status? I've had a few people book my unit and then cancel a few days later. I'm trying to get back to super host status !