Superhost

[Andrew59]

We have a small airbnb in Peru and up until February this year we didn't have internet at home....we had to drive 40 minutes after climbing a 400ft hill in 30 degree heat. Unsurprisingly we never made superhost status due to our lower than usual response rate of 75% (everything else on 100% and loads of confirmed bookings and no cancellations).

However, I'm fairly sure we managed to do pretty well since February by answering all inquiries within 24 hrs. Sadly, we have over 30 inquiries in the year so we're still languishing in the seventies for our response rate. AIrbnb are lovely but have never been able to give us any favours for being so remote and having no internet, understandable ina  way or everyone would be begging.

But I'm quite annoyed we can't be superhosts because the long period of having no possible way of knowing if a guest had written is over but its legacy on our stats remains....we have to now live with this until miraculously we climb slowly to 90%. If we were being judged on our most recent responses (let's say the last ten) then I hope we would be doing better.

Is there any way at all we are going to get to superhost status at the rate we're going? We don't get many inquiries as we're so well hidden. I'm feeling a bit down about this.

ANy suggestions?

A

[Marcus0]

Pray internet arrives soon at your place 🙂

Seriously though i can see your problem with the delay in responding.

Have you thought about using instant book (if it is available to you)? This would remove this problem immediately and allow you to continue your pursuit of being a Superhost.

[Clare0]

@Andrew59 Looks like you are doing quite well in spite of your lack of access to the internet!  While Super Host status is a nice pat on the back and it helps in search rankings, I'm not so sure it really helps that much.  

I've decided to start surveying my guests to see if Super Host status influenced their decision to book with me.  Nope.  So far they have asked "What's that?".  Here were the things that influenced them the most in order of importance: 

1. Pictures:  They wanted to see exactly what the accommodation was like.  Thank you Airbnb Photography!

2. Positive reviews: especially the number of times a guest would recommend my place. 

3. Price

My advice is to concentrate on the things you have control over.  I know many hosts who are not Super Hosts but are laughing all the way to the bank!

Hope this puts your mind at ease.  Good luck!

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

Forget about superhost status - not a single guest who has stayed with us knew what it meant, nor had they used it as a search criteria. They all looked at star ratings and reviews. Superhost is a way for us hosts to feel good about ourselves - nothing more. 

[Stephanie6]

Hi @Andrew59, A company called learnairbnb (.com) did a survey of US airbnb hosts at the end of 2015 and according to the data they gathered, superhosts earn 2x non-superhosts (on average).  This is accomplished through either higher occupancy or higher prices, not by having multiple listings.  

According to airbnb:

"On your listing, your response rate is based on the responses you send within 24 hours to the reservation requests and booking inquiries you’ve received in the past 30 days. The response rate in the Superhost section of your dashboard is based on the responses you send within 24 hours to the reservation requests and booking inquiries you've received in the past 365 days."

To improve your "superhost" calculated response rate you could respond quickly to lots of inquiries, not just booking requests.  So, you could "game the system" by asking your friends and family to each make an inquiry.

Having said all that, I agree with @Clare0 that most potential guests are interested in other criteria.  However, a friend who uses airbnb frequently told me that she filters her searches to only display superhost properties.