Probably not surprising but like yesterday's post I am also writing about my experiences of becoming and then keeping Superhost status. This week is Superhost week when Airbnb is focusing on Superhosts and gives them a bit of extra publicity.
I have been hosting since 2012 - and Airbnb reminded me in their Superhost Week announcement that since I started I have hosted 325 guests from 36 countries. The Superhost Scheme was launched in 2009, but I was not really aware of it until after a couple of years hosting. And then I was really determined to become a Superhost. But it must have taken me quite a while before achieving superhost status.
I host in London in a lovely neighbourhood called Stoke Newington. There is lot of greenery, a park and a street with cute little shops and masses of cafes and restaurants. It is a great area for foodies. But there is no tube although there is a bus stop almost in front of the house. I get a mix of visitors - either parents of children who live in the area, but their flat is too small for their parents to be there as well, guests for weddings (town hall is about 3 minutes walk from my house), as well as tourists who are keen on walking and seeing another side of London. But I also get the tourist that just wants to hop on the tube and go to the centre. Quite a few don't know how big London is so they just book without thinking about it.
I rent out a small room in my flat and live in the flat as well. In addition to the bathroom, the living room and the kitchen is shared. I do breakfast, including a full english. You can see pictures of the flat and the area here in my listing after rooms type number 534433 (it doesn't accept the link)
Initially I had quite a few problems with getting my overall score of 5. Often guests didn't understand the system and didn't know what to compare it with - 5 star hotels? Some cultures never give the highest score. So I have to explain to the guest that they have to compare it with what is in my listing. And before confirming a booking a always email them 2 or 3 things that I haven't got, so that they are aware of it: That is no tube nearby, the room is small (lots of luggage doesn't work), the flat is old, not modern and sometimes I also say that they only have a room not the whole flat. In some cases after that message the potential guest doesn't go ahead as he/she wants to be near a tube for instance.
Once they are happy with it and they book, then mostly over breakfast at a convenient moment I ask them about how they selected my space, and then the conversation mostly ends up with the scoring system. I tell them generally that they don't need to give me a review but it would be great of course and I explain a bit about being a superhost. I also explain to them that I will give them a review after they have one theirs.
This system seems to work, and when I wasn't a superhost as yet I wasn't that much aware of it and of its importance.
Now I have also found that often there are problems and people still don't understand:
- location - I am scored down because I am not in the centre of London. But as long as they put this in the location category but if they give you an overall 5 then it still counts towards your superhost review.
- the flat is not modern - I have had couples where the woman books for both, going to a wedding nearby. The man likes modern and hates the old of the flat, so I am scored down. In this case actually I strongly suspected that the couple had a row, and if you have a bad experience then this reflects on everything.
- cleanliness - I do a lot of cleaning but guests that expect something modern won't be happy. That's why I started to emphasise the type of accomodation I offer.
- the room is too small - even though I am stressing this, it seems to be very difficult for some guests to understand this. There is nothing you can do about this except for clear pictures.
Lately I have also had some guests, where the booking was made by the man and the woman then did the review. She was not happy as she wanted to do whatever she wanted and did not obey the house rules. Therefore she scored me an overall 2, whilst individual scores were higher. This was just before the latest superhost review and I was concerned that I would loose my superhost status. Luckily at the last Q & A from Brian Chesky I had heard that where this happens and there are outlayers Airbnb will look at it and ignore. So this happened in my case and I kept my superhost status.
I don't know whether any of you remember Chip Conley, but he wrote about three rules for hosting. They are key for me to becoming and staying a Superhost:
- be very organised
- empathy (understand what the guest is going through)
- being very welcoming
Happy hosting and happy festive days wherever you are.
Dieneke