Superhost status assessments are biased against new hostings.

[Steve7]

I've been hosting on AirBNB since October 2015. My assessment was early Jan for Superhost status. All my features were above the limit except number of confirmed hostings. In 3 months I hosted 7 guests (need 10 per year). My questions is why am I even being "assessed" if I don't qualify?

AirBNB should allow new hosts with lest than 1 year ( maybe 3 months) to still qualify. 7 hostings in 3 months is more than enough considering you need 10 in a year.

We have 83% 5 star status, 100% for eveything else.

This is a huge feature flaw AirBNB and you should rectify this. We worked hard for Superhost status but your own arbitrary limitations denied us of that.

[Dave-and-Deb0]

Hi @Steve7,

We also started in October and had a long term rental of 30 days but managed to reach SuperHost status. It can be done. I do see your point though. Good luck in the next round!

Dave

[Steve7]

Did you have 10 bookins in that short time? If not how did you get superhost as that is a defined requirement.

[Kelly3]

Superhost is not for everyone, Airbnb wants Superhosts to be 'experienced' as well - so they want at least 10 booking experiences for that status.

This is not the only flaw of Superhost system, but there gotta be some clear rules about this, so Airbnb just decided like that.

If you keep hosting like this, you will get that Superhost badge in April.

[Steve7]

They knew  we had less than 10 hosts, yet still assessed us. If we just joined and cannot physically accomaodate 10 bookings before the defined date, they still say, "better luck next time" instead of acknowledging the fact that 10 bookings is impossible in such a short amount of time - and 7 is somehow not good enough! Their criteria is based over a year! No we start fromscratch for the next assessment periord. This is stupid and I think it needs updating to be more fair for those hosts trying their hardest to establish themselves on this site from the get go. A response from the official AirBNB folks here instead of their user base would be ideal. I hate it when big companies farm out their support calls and feedback to other users. I appreciate your replies but this is a flaw of AirBNB and they need to respond, and make it more fair if they are going to assess us regardless of time frame.

[Dave-and-Deb0]

Yes I did and as I said, I had a 30 day booking in the time as well. I also had 2 bookings outside of Airbnb. October to January is 3 months. It was close though.

There are other options out there Steve other than Airbnb. I hope you are successful in the next round. I would be concerned though as 83% is pretty close to the cutoff after 7 guest stays.

Also, everyone's assessment date was the same and it is automated so whether you had 1 completed stay or 100, you would get assessed.

I bet you are not missing the weather in Edmonton Steve!

Happy Hosting!

Dave

[Maria-Lurdes0]

I was a Superhost for 4 years back from the dark ages when we were interviewed, reviews combed through, sent a 50 page manual (and a t-shirt i still have, yeah!).   I lost Superhost status last year when I had to cancel a booking (first time ever) and I was pretty sore about it.   BUT  - I do think that it's not a bad idea to require hosts to have a number of bookings under their belt, and personally I think that 10 bookings isn't enough experience.   It is a very sloppy fault in the system that you're deemed to be 'assessed' when really there is no assesment taking place but you're still receiving the cut and paste responses.  That sucks, and it could be tightened up.  It can't be that hard to have a script that says "you don't yet qualify for assessment, only three more bookings (or whatever) until you can participate in the program".

I miss the good old days when we had an active community leader (at least here in the NY community), when we had real live contacts at HQ we could call, and who knew us, back when we had support people who had grown along with the company and could answer anything and could escalate appropriately and resolve issues.  I'm feeling melancholy right now because I just found my old Jordache jeans that I no longer fit in, and Gilligan's Island is on TV.  Growing pains are common when companies grow from a small operation to worldwide juggernaut status, so I'm sure they'll get it right soon.

[Garry0]

I'm not sure they will get it right soon.  Tripadvisor which started out with the same "community" approach as Airbnb goes down  the hill rapidly, especially its Vacation Rental division. If you are interested look up Holidaylettings  and Flipkey ( Tripadvisor's subsidiaries ) on Trustpilot or look at the Tripadvisor support forum. As Airbnb gets more pressure to become profitable - a probable loss of $150 million in 2015 - they will be tempted to automate more and more and become less and less friendly.

[Trinity-And-Cristina0]

I disagree, not impossible. I've hosted 19 guests so far in a little less than 3 months... they just need to see that your star rating isnt based on so few people, so it holds a little more weight for superhost status

[Helga0]

@Steve7 I don't think the bias is against new hosts. On the contrary, it seems easier to achieve the status starting now with no bookings and getting the 10 bookings with good reviews. Starting new in 2015, I could have very easily achieved the status in my first quarter of hosting the shared room listing, when clients were nice in a hot Summer, with a cool garden outside.

But then, I already had done long time bookings of two apartments. (since 2011). Renting small lived in apartments to mostly foreign guests, who are used to much more space, makes 5 stars very difficult to obtain.  Besides there were a few revenge evaluations of guests who did heavy damage. I had to work my way up from about 53 % and those old bookings still weigh in. Two periods later (with a high rise in Summer and some arbitrary dumpings over the recent holidays) has me back to 63%. Even with only satisfied guests, giving 4 stars only from time to time and nothing worse, I could not make the 80 % for another half year, when the May 2015 catastrophes which made me wish to quit renting, will no longer count. 

So profit from this period, with no weight around your feet and your mood still enthousiastic, to get the badge in April. 

When you are an old host, you will join @Maria-Lurdes0 and me thinking of the good old times, when it was also about hosting, not only about statistics. 

[Robin4]

@Steve7 .....Steve it is exactly the opposite of what you are saying. In the first few months of listing Airbnb do whatever they can to give you as much exposure as possible! They want you to be successful and they keep your listing prominent in your category. This is also evident by the fact that you hosted 7 guests in that time…or at least 7 that left you reviews, which, let’s face it is not bad going!!

As another post said, it’s fairly obvious Airbnb are going to reward hosts who have experience, and are solidly proficient at what they do, and although @Dave-and-Deb0 may have achieved it, 3 months is ‘pushing the choke’ a bit. We achieved it in 6 months, but not by much.

The assessment guide at the bottom of your dashboard is just that…It’s a guide to give an idea of how your progress is tracking, and what you need to achieve before the next assessment cut-off point.

Don’t be despondent Steve…keep working on your style and you will surely be rewarded in the next round…..Cheers….Rob

[Steve7]

Thanks @Robin4,

It's the assessment cut-off point that makes no sense. It's an arbitrary time. Why not start the time as soon as you acheive your first hosting?

I'm just annoyed that we hit the mark on every aspect, except we needed 10 hostings, but managed to get 7 in less than time as we started midway through a hosting period.

Thanks for your encouragement, but I'm just annoyed at arbitrary rules and made up time points.

Steve

[Robin4]

@Steve7 I understand your frustration Steve but with the sheer volume of hosts around the world it would be impossible to manage a rolling assesment program. The only way it can happen is assesment data at a certain pre-determined time for all hosts.

The other thing you have to remember Steve, it can work in your favour too. When you do achieve it, at some point should you fall below the required 'Superhost' status you still retain it, and it is still visible until the next assesment cut-off.

Regardless of the ups and downs of the system Steve, you have a great Condo and some super reviews....Don't be discouraged that you didn't quite get there this time.....the world awaits you pal!!...Cheers....Rob

[Susan36]

SH status, in my book, should be reserved for "seasoned" Hosts - 10 stays/year does not equal a "seasoned" Host.  But that is the system and it automatically reviews the Host whether they've had 1 or 100 stays the past year for SH eligibility.  don't be too concerned about being a SH but do try to give a stellar Guest experience so that your star ratings stay up there.  remember that you are, as a Host, at the whim of the guest as to what star rating(s) you will receive and SH status can be attained and lost.