Feedback on Superhost criteria

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

As you know I share a lot of your feedback with Airbnb teams.

The Superhost team is currently evaluating the Superhost criteria. They’ve been hearing a lot of feedback from hosts both here in the Community Center and during research sessions. Here are some of the things they’re considering:

1. Number of trips: 10 trips OR 150 nights in the past 365 days, instead of 10 trips currently
2. Number of cancellations: 0 cancellations in the past 25 reservations (with a max of 1 cancellation per year), instead of 0 cancellations in the past 365 days currently
3. Average overall rating: Exclude one outlier low-review in the past 365 days from the evaluation

They would like to hear directly from you on these potential changes:

• What do you think about these changes?
• Are these changes easy to understand?
• Do these changes seem more fair to you as a host?
• Do they motivate you to continue to work to become or remain a Superhost?

I will share the feedback you submit on THIS topic specifically with the Superhost team. These are not the only things the team is currently looking into, but they wanted to run these ideas by you first.

Thank you so much and I look forward to hearing from you.

Lizzie

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[Rachael89]

I agree! Also, i have had several older guests just don’t use computers much and never check emails etc to leave a review, so makes it hard to level out my rating if i get a couple 4 star averaged stays. Very frustrating. I know guests get several emails, and if we had a great interaction i may follow up after a few days with a text reminder, and still nothing! 

Im not sure what the content is in the initial booking email, but maybe Airbnb could add a paragraph explaining how important it is and how rating system works?.

[Emiel1]

@Lizzie,

It is some minor improvement. I fear the recent changes in the review system (see several postings about the subject in this community) , together wit more and more guest not understanding it, will be another challenge to keep Superhost status. (Allthough being a "Superhost" or a "Normal host" is not bothering me at all !)

[Pete28]

Lizzie - 

The previous SH criteria would allow me to disregard 2 out of every 10 reviews (80% need to be 5*)

Your suggestion would allow me to drop maybe 1 out of 200 reviews (assuming that's how many I get a year roughly).

That is a considerable difference and it makes it much harder to retain SH or to invest in Plus (since it also needs 4.8 )

If most good hotels are struggling to get 80% 5* reviews on tripadvisor, I think that should be a sufficient criteria for Airbnb.

[Lizzie]

Thanks for coming back to me on this @Pete28 and for your extra response @Mark116, this is useful feedback and I will certainly pass it over to the team. 

Ok, so here is a question for you both – without reverting back to the previous system and looking at what is being considered above, what would you suggest? 

[Mark116]

Yes, I checked the Beekman and St. Regis in NYC and they are both at 4.5 which shows how totally insane the airbnb review system is.

[Sandra126]

I actually think that no cancellations was better. Because a guest can feel secure in knowing that this host is EXTREMELY reluctant to cancel.

Made a mistake in my first year on Airbnb and accepted a booking for an already booked day, cancelled it 5 mins after, called Airbnb and they said Too Bad, 12 months wait for you. Suffice to say I have never skipped checking my calendar since then.

[Lizzie]

Hello @Sandra126, 

Nice to hear you input here. 

So you would leave it as it is presently, no cancellations? 

[Nghari-Putu0]

Hi, I think being penalised due to the need to cancel a booking should be considered in terms of potential impact on the guest, such as how far in advance the booking was cancelled, did the guest have ample time to find alternative accommodation, was the guest understanding/accepting of the need to cancel.etc.

As an example I was in a position where I had to cancel a booking. I had sold the property it had been on the market for over a year and was a villa in a complex primarily used for holiday accommodation. I had just taken it off the market and I accepted a new booking for 6 months down the track. Not long after I sold the villa to someone who had looked at it when it was on the market. The new owner did not want to honour the booking. I even offered the guest the  use of my personal villa in the next street but they decided to stay in a hotel instead. The guest was prepared to cancel the booking however they could not be refunded the Airbnb fee so asked me to cancel. I cancelled the booking and even though the guest was completely understanding of my situation and appreciated the efforts I went to to find alternative accommodation I lost my SH status for a year because this situation did not satisfy the extenuating circumstances policy.

I also think that if 1 cancellation is allowed penalty free (or 1 per 25 reservations) it should be applied per listing not one per host. During my time as an Airbnb host , 5 years now - I have had 4 different listings, only 2 are currently active. I am expecting to list another property early next year. During this time I have only ever cancelled 1 booking. 

[Mark116]

I don't care about cancellations, I don't find the current policy that onerous since some exceptions are given, it's the dumb review system that is sooo grating.

[Claudiu-Nicolae0]

@Lizzie

I think all the criteria are currently okay except "Trips reviewed by guests", since it is the only criteria that doesn't depend on a host (and also taking into account that the review process is quite complicated for a guest, many guests abandon it halfway due to this). I think it should be changed to "Trips reviewed by host" or something like that. 

[Mark116]

I don't think this fixes the review problem.  As @Pete0 pointed out, even the best hotels in the world don't maintain a 4.8 or 4.9, it is not realistic.

[Linda108]

I recently loss SH status due to a 1 star guest review resulting from my cancellation due to my illness and inability to host.  So the guest never stayed but was understandably very upset.

With that in mind, here is my feedback:

1. Number of trips: 10 trips OR 150 nights in the past 365 days, instead of 10 trips currently  I like that those hosts with longer bookings can become a SH, however, if you have only hosted a single guest for 6 months, does that really qualify the host to be described as knowledgeable about hosting?
2. Number of cancellations: 0 cancellations in the past 25 reservations (with a max of 1 cancellation per year), instead of 0 cancellations in the past 365 days currently  I agree with the no permissable cancellations in a year.  I think that is helpful for guest confidence.  Not a guarantee, but some additional comfort.
3. Average overall rating: Exclude one outlier low-review in the past 365 days from the evaluation This would have been helpful in my case and perhaps helpful for those hosts that are being trashed by guests because of a claim for damages.

[Lizzie]

Hello @Linda108,

Thank you for your thoughtful response here, I think you raised some excellent points. 

In terms of point 1. You know like me, that we often see long-term hosts understandably upset that they are unable to reach Superhost status. I know this is a hard question, but considering both your question here and that senario, do you think any tweaks to this could improve this? 

It's interesting to hear your view point on the number of cancellations, you and @Sandra126 appear to be in agreement about this. 🙂

Thanks again,

Lizzie

[Connie-Jo-and-Leslie0]

Yes to the damage claim revues. Guests who I’ve caught breaking house rules, with proof, with a paid claim are my only low ‘revenge’ type reviews. These should be removed for sure as they are obviously trying to inflict damage to the host/listing. 

[Katie193]

@Linda108 and @Connie-Jo-and-Leslie0  I agree with removing one outlier review and have some way for Airbnb to flag retaliatory outlier reviews. I have been a super host for 4 years 15 times in a row and just lost it, right before the summer season, because I would not reimburse a guest for her 4th night after she had been partying and having a great time (and even told me she was glad she chose my place in the Airbnb messages) but because she was mad I would not reimburse her 4th night (which is actually an Airbnb policy not to reimburse early check outs) she gave me a 2 star rating and I lost my super host status with a 4.7. Even if she had rated me a 3* I would have a 4.8. In 4 years I have only 3 3's and they were all from newbies not understanding how things worked and that we are not hotels, and some 4's and the rest 5's. It is obvious I do not offer 2* hosting based on the rest of my reviews.

This seriously needs to be looked at by Airbnb. For outlier reviews, there should be an investigation into the messages between host and guest, into requests for damages, and no one should be able to review a place they have not stayed at. Outlier reviews should not be factored into super host status. If Airbnb wants to keep their hosts - they have to protect us from outlier, retaliatory reviews.