It's not just the minimum 4.7 rating that's an issue. There are other things that have been introduced, and who knows what else is to come, to pressurise the traditional Airbnb host. Acceptance Rate is one of these. We had previously been told that we were not being measured on this. Then, it became apparent that you need a 95% Acceptance Rate to qualify for Airbnb Plus. Now, it seems that we must ALL have 88% or above to be listed at all.
I didn't even know about that one until the other day when I started getting a stupid computer generated warning on my dashboard telling me I had slipped below minimum standards. That didn't make sense to me, seeing as I'm easily meeting Superhost standards, plus the listing in question has 100% 5 star reviews, i.e. a 5.0 average.
After a bit of investigation, I realised the warning was referring to my acceptance rate for that listing, which is stupid, because I am meeting that target. I spoke to a CS rep to ask why I was being told I was below standard for a target I was meeting. She told me she didn't know and that I should just ingore the warning message for now, but also that I should accept ALL bookings going forward. ALL of them.
Really?? I asked her, what about all those people who want to book who have clearly not understood the listing or are choosing to ignore my rules, e.g. want to bring their kids when my listing is child free or trying to sneak in extra unpaid guests? Seems I now have to call Airbnb each time something like this happens because if I hit 'decline', I may be delisted.
Great reward for my 5.0 average, don't you think?