Very interesting posts people: Emily's was a treat to read and @Rebecca181 you do make exceptional sense with this particular passage:
"Super Hosts (those with both standard AND unique properties) were ripe to be noticed; were ready to receive some dedicated space on the Airbnb home / search page; had proven track records confirming happy guests; and with some promotion on Airbnb's part, could have gained traction even with non-Airbnb users - the type of traveler they hope to attract with 'Plus'.
My initial impression a month ago of Plus is that AirBnB (aka Brian and company), not the collective feedback and 'wisdom' from its millions upon millions of hosts & guests, were 'deciding' what they should do next; they thenmust have experienced an 'out of this world' stroke of genius one night that came from Outer Space and will surely prove to be an idea more 'brilliant' than what the feedback from millions of mere mortals could possibly have thought of.
I am still of the opinion that the use of a 'standard' (aka Superhost) is a good idea; if it follows requirements based on performance (customer satisfaction, 4.5 should suffice or 9/10) and consistency (long run delivery). A mere 10 'succesful' bookings to me to achieve Superhost doesn't qualify to meet the consistency criteria, I would make it 25, not 10. Then yes, give such hosts marked advantage by virtue of priority placement in guest searches. Any price level listing can qualify, since excellence and consistency is the litmus test. Isn't that what Airbnb should be after foremost? Let the customer choose what 'level' and 'type' of comforst they are willing to pay.
As to this Plus idea, I still find it foolish, for it it is confusively overlapping much of the spectrum of exisiting offerings, BUT with a clinical 'value' criteria that may not have come from the market itself, but from Airbnb's 'marketeers'. I will never forget sitting with a room of 'sales rep' which told me they didn't want to hear anything about the merits of the product whatsoever, rather then wanting to see ~only~ its attractive packaging!
A smooth progressive ladder of recognition of hosts based on performance and consistency would have been simpler and more understandable to implement (with a new Superhost Plus?) and make more sense than a new marketing campaign (aka Plus) now competing in parallel and given now given instant priority, just because it was the latest 'idea' thought of by the founding 'geniuses'. These are the type of mistakes made by the young, whose enthusiam usually overrides 'common sense' gathered from experience.