Superhost and not doing very well

Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

Superhost and not doing very well

I have 5 listings and on 4 of them i receive messages stating "you do not meet our basic requirements". Which is rather nonsense, as i generally have happy guests. But i am critical in acceptance, so my acceptance rate is below what Airbnb wants to see. But as it is MY house and it is ME who has to deal with the guests, so it is ME  (and not Airbnb) who decides which request is accepted or declined.

I expected my Superhost status (which i do not really care about) would be gone. But guess what: It received the useal congratulation these days "you are a Superhost" . Despite the messages "you have 4 listings to work on", stlll on my dashboard...... What kind of insane algorithms is the Airbnb software programmed with ?

12 Replies 12
Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

@Emiel1% a

I think Huma mentioned in another thread that acceptance rate is not really a requirement for superhost status. It seems this 88% rate is just there to frighten us 🙂 Someone said he/she has 17% acceptance rate and is still a superhost.

@Branka-and-Silvia0, that's me! One listing=100%, the other=17%. Superhost.

Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

@Branka-and-Silvia0

Thank you !

I will never reach 88% acceptance rate and now i know nothing to be frightened off, you even can be a superhost ! But i would like to see Airbnb stops the annoying messages, treating hosts like a toddler.

Kind regards,

Emiel

John1080
Level 10
Westcliffe, CO

@Emiel1, I had to decline a string of people last month, so my acceptance rate fell to 91%. Concerned, as I was nearing that 88% mark, I called and was told that it doesn't really matter and isn't really important. They said over and over, the most important is keeping the response rate at 100%. Now, I don't know if the person I was speaking to knew what he was talking about, but that is indeed what I was told. 

Gillian19
Level 10
St Leonards, Australia

@John1080 No, generally the CS team don't know how the platform works or what the rules are. They just want to close calls, keep guests happy by giving refunds and ignoring anything difficult in the hope it goes away.

@Gillian19, that is the feeling I get as well. 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Yes, @Gillian19 that is true. Unfortunately, it seems that Airbnb doesn't always update their call centre staff on new policy changes very quickly or at all. 

 

When this stupid 88% Acceptance Rate criteria was brought in, I got quite worried, because like @Emiel1 I started getting the exclamation marks on my dashboard that one of my listings wasn't meeting basic requirements. How could that be? I was a Superhost! 

 

Anyway, it turns out that:

1. Most of the reps I talked to initially had no knowledge of the 88% acceptance rate criteria and kept telling me that it doesn't matter how many times I declined, I would not be penalised. Others told me that it was probably a technical error and that they would look into it and get back to me but never did.

2. Slowly, the reps started becoming aware of the criteria. I was told by one that I would not be delisted, but I should accept ALL requests going forward. The rest told me it didn't matter, that I would not be delisted and one told me that it was better to decline than risk my response rate going down.

3. This criteria is not part of the Superhost requirement, so you can get warning messages about it at the same time as glowing messages telling you what a wonderful host you are. The acceptance rate for one of my listings was below 88% for many months and I kept Superhost status throughout.

4. If even a host whose rate drops to 17% for one of her listings still doesn't have it delisted and keeps her Superhost status, then clearly it is just an empty threat to try to coax (or bully) hosts into accepting everyone! Perhaps that will change, but for now, I don't think it's a real threat.

 

My way around this, which usually works, but not always, is to try to convince the guest to withdraw the request. If the request is completely unsuitable, e.g. asking to accommodate more people than you maximum, bring infants or children when you don't accept them, demanding a discount etc etc. and the guest is not withdrawing the request or responding, you can call Airbnb and ask them to cancel the request.

 

I have only done this a couple of times because it's all very time consuming, but it worked. Otherwise, just hit decline before the 24 hours is up. It's not ideal as it can affect your search ranking, but it's better than having to host a nightmare guest who is going to be dissatisfied and leave you a bad review/ratings as that will probably affect your search rankings more and be stressful all round.

@Huma0, it seems getting a straight answer out of the staff at Airbnb is like pulling teeth. I truly think they aren't very well trained at all and that information isn't passed along very speedily within the company. 

 

I think this 88% acceptance rate question is still in progress and we won't have a definitive answer for a while! 

Ute42
Level 10
Germany

.

Hi @Emiel1,

 

what is the actual acceptance rate of Your 5 listings?

 

I have an acceptance rate of 83% and am not a superhost. But in 2018 my listing always showed under the first 3 to 6 listings in searchranking when searching for a place for 10 guests in a 100 km circle north-east of Munic / Germany, including Munic. My monthly listing-views always were around 300 views per month.

 

Last month I had set no bookable dates im my calendar so for the last 30 days my listing didn't show at all in airbnb search. As a result of this, my listing-views went down to 50 views for the last 30 days. The 50 views I had are solely views from people reading in the CC and then clicking on my listing.

 

Today I opened bookable dates in my calendar and now my listig shows as no 35 in search results.

 

As it looks, the more people click on Your listing, the further up You move in search results.

 

cc: @Huma0 for search result ranking

 

 

Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

Hello @Ute42 ,

It's now 76%, 72% , 80% and 85%. I never has reached 88%. Sometimes it's down toward 50%. Only 1 of my listing is 88%. 1 listing also has a general rating of 4.3 (due to 1 nonsense review few months ago, but offcourse Airbnb immediatelly started to "warn me" that i am at risk !).

So the "threatening" messages of Airbnb (even continously on the dashboard  ! ) compared to the recent  "congrulations, your again a Superhost !" makes me feel annoyed about this circus. But a lot is explainded here by others like @Huma0, and conclusion is: host should not take everything from Airbnb too serious, as even CS has not a clue what exactly is communicated to the hosts.

 

BTW Thanks for giving some insight in how your search result were affected.

 

Kind regards,

Emiel

Amy38
Level 10
Nashville, TN

I write back immediately refusing request....wait a few hours and accept guest who has by then moved on....accept guest, refuse special request.  100% response and acceptance rate.

 

and never let Abnb block days for anyone  before they book.

Ute42
Level 10
Germany

.

We are discussing this subject right now in the german CC.

 

Question: Does anyone have only one listing, ist superhost but has an acceptance rate below 88%?