Does anyone know how cancellation rate is calculated for Superhost Status?

[Epic-Stork0]

Has anyone figured out the precise formula used by Airbnb to calculate cancellation rate for superhost status? The general explanation of this figure given by airbnb is (# cancellations)/(# bookings), but this is not very helpful.

I understand that only cancellations labeled "cancelled by host" are included in the numerator, but what about the denominator? Airbnb purports to include all bookings accepted over the applicable timeline in this figure, as opposed to bookings completed? Additionally, our insights portal says that this status is determined every three months, based on previous 1 year, but customer support reps have said that it's calculated every three months, based on previous three months, and that our insights portal is wrong.

I cannot seem to find any combination of our figures that yields the cancellation rate that Airbnb says we have. I have called airbnb to ask this question and spoken to multiple people, but they just keep repeating an explanation of how percentages work. "You have to have less than 1 cancellation per 100 bookings, or less than 2 cancellations per 200 bookings, etc." They have been less than helpful. If anyone has looked into this or understands how it works— please let me know! We had some emergency cancellations recently so we would like to understand how many bookings we need to get back to <1% cancellation.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Epic-Stork0 Superhost status is calculated every 3 months based on data for the previous 12 months.

I think it is completed bookings that count as it is only these that have reviews 

Realistically, unless you are a massive organisation, you will need to wait 12 months for the cancellations to disappear from your stats.

[Bob-And-Tam0]

TL;DR: Please see my last 2 paragraphs...

We launched our listing in January 2022. Since we launched, we've had 55 stays, have 100% response rate, all 5* ratings from 47 reviews (I guess 8 guests didn't feel like rating us). Here's the kicker: in February, we had a double booking (because I was trying to use VRBO at the same time and F-ed up.) We cancelled the guest's booking within less than an hour for a stay that was  over 2 weeks out, because it had been booked on VRBO a few weeks prior to the double booking, but there was a glitch with calendar sync and we toasted our Superhost status for who knows how long. So today I was perusing our insights and lo and behold, with 30 days left in the assessment period, we are at exactly 1.0% for our cancellation rate. How is that? We've cancelled 1 booking out of the 55 we've hosted so far and we have 31 upcoming reservations. ten of those have check-ins in September. the farthest out being at the end of March '23. 

It would seem that by Sep 30 we will definitely achieve SH because any increase in the number of stays while holding the single cancellation steady, whatever math they're using, HAS to drop the % below 1.0, maybe just to 0.998%, but that's all it takes.

BUT, if I add our 55 completed stays to the 31 upcoming, that's still only 86., so how could this be? (at the end of the last assessment we had:  all 5*, 100% response, and 38 stays, but a 1.33% cancellation rate.)

Holy cr*p,  I think I just figured it out!  If I take the 55 and the 31, AND add our 14 "cancelled" reservations, the total becomes exactly 100. ONE of those 100 is the one that was "cancelled by host." 1 out of 100 is 1.0% which is our current rate. So all we need is for someone to confirm a new booking between now and September 30 for any date out to our 1-year limit, and we've go SH in the bag!

So, it seems that # cancellations / # bookings is correct, but we need to factor in our "other cancellations" in the denominator as they count as "reservations the host did not cancel."

[Michael2496]

I don’t know how they don’t have exceptions / override facilities for this. I also can’t understand how they don’t somehow incorporate stay length into the equation.

For example, let’s say I have a booking for 350 days, for which I get 5 stars. I then have a booking for 2 days which I have to cancel. Airbnb completely ignores the fact I have been an “excellent host” for almost a full year, but because I cancel a 2 day stay, I now have a 50% cancellation rate in that years analysis period.

Right now I have (actual) 84 stays and 376 nights. If I’m not mistaken, 82 of the 84 stays are 5* and 2 are 4*.

I like to consider myself an exceptional host. However, because I had to cancel a single 2 day reservation, I’m now at >1% cancellation rate and have lost out on two superhost analysis periods because of this one cancellation and the third isn’t looking promising (unless I get a bunch of small stays instead of longer stays - which I have no control over basically).

Airbnb really needs to reconsider how they calculate this.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Michael2496 An alternative view is that cancelling a guest ruins their holiday. As such perhaps any cancellation in the superhost period should mean that the superhost status is lost no matter how many bookings the host has.

[Michael2496]

Understandable, but it's also one thing when it's a foreigner coming for a week and planning this way in advance and a local who's just looking for some time away and could easily take said weekend getaway a week later or whatever the case is.

In my case, I had an existing guest (foreigner) who was having back surgery and complications arose and had to have their stay extended. I actually had to do two cancellations (both weekend stays from locals) and I offered them both alternative accommodation a short distance away from the unit at half the price and one accepted the offer and one did not.

Unfortunately, 'medical emergency' is not covered by extenuating circumstances (be it my own or the guests).

[Dwight54]

I think you may be missing the bigger picture.  As a guest I have a choice of hotel or AirBnB.  I had an AirBnB cancel on me.  I’ve never had a hotel cancel.  When I travel overseas, I book far more hotels than AirBnB’s because I see them as reliable.  I would never book an AirBnB for my arrival because of the risk of not being able to get in after spending a day traveling. Taxi arrives, drops me off and I can’t get in.  Then what?  A hotel has a lobby.  If something is wrong, there is a person there to help.

I only book with Super Hosts.

When an AirBnB host cancels, they damage the AirBnB organization.

[Sam7311]

I think as a host if you cancel within a day because of a mistake, no one is really losing out. But it’s going to take me over a year to get back to superhost status because we only do weekends & mistakenly I had auto book on etc etc so even though I’ve only ever had 5 star reviews, I take massive care of my guests, I’ve had guests cancel on me last minute but  because of one tiny mistake that hard work is all gone. So I think a bit more flexibility would be appreciated by hosts. I cancellation or of 40 x 5 star bookings shouldn’t equate to that level of punishment. 

[Mary1523]

Had the same to me. Got the calendar syncing wrong with VRBO. Had to cancel the airbnb side within hours. But if it ever happened again, I will cancel the VRBO side regardless. Less impact.

All you can do is hope you get enough highly rated bookings in the next assessment period. And when you only get weekend bookings for a large property, its alot harder!

Airbnb are trying to preserve the trust of bookings, I get it. So the penalty is severe on mistakes, we just learn from them.

I feel for you,

Regards

Mary

[Mary1523]

Hi Mike 

Tough situation to be in.

Interesting that you took on the problem of the guest having surgery though. Why? I get being a nice human (and you were very kind clearly), but by cancelling the incoming guests, that was going to impact your future bookings. I would have said to the existing guest, got another booking, what would you like me to do? Did they care you were going to be impacted?

Airbnb will never do extenuating circumstances for medical, and nor should they. It's hard as a host to make any judgement like that, so we keep out of it. It's not a reason for a cancellation in either direction.

Kind regs

Mary