Day 16: My experience with becoming and staying a superhost

[Dieneke0]

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

[Dieneke0]

@Quincy thanks

[Huma0]

@Dieneke0

Your post is very interesting to me because we are in fairly similar situations. I have hosted a similar number of guests (411 from 41 countries according to the email I received).

I am also in London, not right in the centre, but I am only five minutes walk from the tube station and then it's only a 10 minute ride to Oxford Circus and many guests really appreciate this. However, although I try to make all of this clear on my listing, including journey times etc. some guests still comment in their reviews, "It is not in the centre," as if I somehow claimed that it was! Location is definitely the lowest scoring category in my ratings.

My house is very old. I am not sure how old as it's not very typical in design/layout, but somewhere between 150 and 200 years. It's a big house with large rooms, high ceilings and original sash windows and French doors. It's never going to be as warm in Winter as a modern flat.There are always some minor repairs to do (you fix one thing and then another problem pops up), but the kitchen and bathrooms are new with all mod cons. Still, people complain that the floorboards are creaky.

I also hear you on the cleanliness issue. Mostly I get 5 stars for this, but sometimes guests mark me down with comments like the floors were not clean. The floors are always cleaned right before each guest arrival, but they are old and the stairs are quite rustic looking. They are never going to look pristine no matter how much you clean them. Unfortunately some people do not understand the difference between old and dirty.

To be honest, I don't really understand why anyone would book my place if they prefer modern, minimalist spaces, but sometimes they do.

Then of course there are the guests who simply don't understand the review/ratings system (and why should they when Airbnb tells them 4 stars is good?) When the topic comes up in conversation, they are astonished that we are expected to maintain a 4.7 average or 4.8 for Superhost. However, it can be a bit awkward to bring the subject up. I really love your method of starting the conversation off by asking why they chose your listing. I am going to steal that idea and give it a try! Thank you for the inspiration.

[Dieneke0]

@Huma0

yes that is so typical, same here. And the stories one can tell, they go on and on. I had a booking from a mother and daughter from the Netherlands. And because I am Dutch, they were so excited about being able to stay with someone Dutch, that they completely forgot about the transport. So after having gone round London on Day 1. (they had never been), the next morning at breakfast they asked where the nearest tube was - I told them 15 minutes. ... they really didn't like the bus.

Yes floor boards are difficult to keep clean. Someone who books should check with the partner coming as well whether they like old floor boards etc.

And the rows between  couples that makes the whole experience bad whatever you do are the worst..

But good to see you are also a superhost. We manage one way or another. We should offer staying at our place as an Experience to be in a historic place, and charge a premium for that or offer it as an extra bonus!!

[Huma0]

@Dieneke0

All my listings (I have three private rooms listed at my place) have 'Victorian House' included in the title and no one could look at the photos and think that it is modern. I know that many guests don't read listing info, but you would think they would at least read the title. Not always. I still get enquiries like, "Is your apartment close to a tube station?" for a listing titled "Large and lovely room in Victorian house near tube".

What you say about couples is also interesting. Most couples will have consulted each other before booking with both people looking at the listing. However, I have sometimes had experiences where it's clear that one party didn't know anything about the accommodation before coming because everything seems a total surprise to them. They start to make issues out of stuff that was mentioned on the listing, while their partner keeps saying, "It's fine, that's no problem." Oh dear.

The weirdest experience was a lady who came to stay here on her own. We had been messaging back and forth and she had confirmed she had read the full listing, house rules etc. and was happy with them.

It later turns out that I had not been corresponding with her, but with her husband posing as her! The lady herself had not read any part of the listing and admitted when she arrived that she knew nothing about any of the spaces she was staying at during her multi-country tour.

Her husband booked everything for her, flights, acommodation etc. and even ordered her special coffee to be delivered to her while she was travelling. Luckily she liked the place, so it seems he understood her tastes, but I can see how this strategy could go very wrong. She didn't leave a review of course, I guess because she never actually used the Airbnb account herself!

[Dieneke0]

@Huma0 Yes they are all so familiar stories and we all have variations of that. We try to make the listing clearer and clearer. But at some points or sometimes guests don't really read it.

That's why I always mention the 3  points that the flat doesn't have - also a tip from Chip Conley. That works pretty well mostly.

Yes I also have the problem of someone booking on behalf of someone else .. mostly I spot it. Very annoying. 

I am sure we all have masses of stories to tell of our hosting - it is never boring!

[Huma0]

@Dieneke0

My list of house rules have grown over time and I know a lot of guests don't read them, even if they say they have. So, I also pick three key points to highlight in my very first message and ask guests to acknowledge these. This usually works, but not always! 

I still get guests who have responded to my message acknowleding the three points made arriving and being taken aback by one or more of these points, e.g. that I have cats. There's only so much you can do.

[Rebecca160]

@Dieneke0 You have a lovely, quaint home! Love all of the wood, cozy touches and those lucite dining chairs. Super cool that you have an Olympics torch, as I imagine that spurs on a lot of coversations.

Thank you for sharing your Super host and hosting exepreinces.

[Dieneke0]

Thank you for that Rebecca. Yes the Olympics torch is quite a story.. actually Airbnb put me forward as they could select torchbearers,  being involved in the Olympics accomodation.

I ran in the south, in Paso Fundo on 2 July. There were four others, from past, present and future Olympics (I represented London, Los Angeles, Rio, Tokyo) plus the Airbnb founder Joe Gebbia. We all ran at different times and at different locations.  Four of us met at the Airbnb Open event in Los Angeles in the same year (2016). Experience of a lifetime.

[Francisca16]

@Dieneke0 Thanks for sharing. I learned a thing or two.

[Dieneke0]

@Francisca16 that was the idea.

[Veronica440]

Thank you for sharing ♡

I was really interested to read your story and experiences as I am only new to Airbnb..  When I decided to put my bnb room up with airbnb I had no idea how quickly things would move 😮

I was excited to get my first bookings within hours of it being advertised. 

Three booking... four bookings, and then my phone rang! So answering the phone a women with a slight accent said "I have made a booking for your room for 2 nights" I said "well that is so lovely, when are you coming?" She replied "I am out the front of your house now!" I was horrified... I went running outside and there were my first guests!!!! 

I had no idea about filters at that stage, about allowing at least 24 hours notice with bookings, allowing a day between bookings if I was working etc in my first month I had 18  night out of 30 booked. 

It was definitely a baptism of fire for me. I am now in my 3rd month and I think I am finally getting the hang of things.. 

I was panicky when my 5* rating dropped to 4.9 when a reviewer stated that it was the wrong address, hard to find and not a good location 😮  this was after telling me she booked the room because it was on the edge of a national park!

I have learned so much in the last month especially after finding the community and now finding this new thread..

Thanks for your great advice

Regards

Ronnie

[Dieneke0]

@Veronica440  Thanks for sharing that. I can well imagine you will never forget your first guest. Wow! yes there are so many things we don't know when we start and we learn when we get along. In 2012 there were support structures but not as many as now. It is great that now you can ask someone else or to go to an event.

Best

Dieneke