What is your opinion regarding SuperHost?

David1424
Level 2
Brighton, MI

What is your opinion regarding SuperHost?

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What is your opinion of SuperHost classification and requirements?

I personally don't think it is fair or really achievable. It is specifically for people who are running a bed/breakfast or hotel like revolving door, they should have a different classification to that extent.

I would think that the first requirement to be a SuperHost, would be to actually have repeat business. 

It really annoys me that they get further preferential treatment in the search filter. I could care less about better support or a $100 travel voucher (I want a dozen more $1000 bookings!). The qualification for SuperHost is quite difficult to achieve if you aren't running a hotel-like revolving door of nightly stays. Most of my bookings are weekly, 7-day minimum rentals. Only during the rental season (January through March), do I typically get near 100% bookings.  Not only am I limited seasonally, 98% of those bookings are through VRBO, which gets a LOT more traffic for vacationers. I am already 100% booked from mid-November through March of 2017 in one condo and only 3 weeks available for the other condo, all through VRBO, with one, weekly booking from AIRBNB. 

I would love to be able to bid to manage other peoples properties for them as a SuperHost (I am not sure if they implemented this yet). 

A little background: I have been renting my two vacation rentals for over 20 years. First using a local management company and online myself for 15 years. I have been through it all. There is very little I haven't had to deal with at one time or another. I have spent over $50k on upgrades in the last 5 years alone to keep my condos updated. In the very rare case that a tenant has a problem, I cut them a check and mail them a partial refund. Things do happen; cable/internet cuts out, power goes out, A/C stops working, etc. You just have to roll with it and do your best to keep people happy. Most are understanding. You would think that experience would be important to be a SuperHost, it is not.

I always wonder why companies like this aren't actually filled with management that actually have/has real-world experience running their own rentals. It's one thing to think you know, it's quite another to actually be experienced in doing it. 

17 Replies 17
Dee9
Level 10
Moriches, NY

i am not a superhost, i have no desire to be one, and i prefer not having superhosts stay at my house

Superhost is a classification for hosts, not travelers. 

^^^^^^

 

this superhost is also a super guest  - they are not mutually exclusive. 

 

Host travel too, and many hosts don't like to host other hosts. 

Monica4
Level 10
Ormstown, Canada

@David1424  To my surprise I recently discovered that I am a Super Host. I wasn't trying for it and my location is not great for those wanting a quiet retreat so I get dinged for that. Yes, I do write the location details in the description but most guests don't read that. Anyway, I would not stress out too much about achieving Super Host status. I don't see any difference in the number of bookings. A lot of my guests are repeat customers. If my guests are happy, that is enough of a reward for me.

Do you bid to manage other peoples properties? You can only do this with superhost status. 

Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

I get the impression you are doing so well with VRBO, you really hardly need Airbnb, so why even worry about being a Superhost, which ONLY requires (10) bookings at 5 stars overall. What criterias do you think are more relevant, besides 'repeats' that you mentioned?

I am trying to use AIRBNB more but the main thing I would like to be able to do is bid to manage other peoples vacation homes in my area. I can not do this without superhost status. It is very hard to get 10 bookings in a quarter during my off-season, let alone maintain 10 bookings for 9 months of the year in the off-season.

Where my market is, most people are limited to 7-day, 14-day and 30-day minimum rental periods. For a little scale, during the rental season, I rent 7-day minimums at $418 per night (weekly is approx. $2900) and during the off-season, I rent for $180 per night (weekly is approx. $1240), these don't include the booking fees the host sites charge.

I am confident that I can increase the income current rental owners with my management system and team in place. 


Willow3
Level 10
Coupeville, WA

Ten bookings in a year is hardly a revolving door. Maybe I'm reading it wrong - but you don't seem to hold the status of SuperHost highly, yet say you want it. 

 

And I travel a lot - and have never stayed in the same place twice. Color me confused on your criteria and general post. Even those of us who operate revolving doors (I do - tons of single night stays as I'm a stop over spot) still maintain our properties. Again, confused...

Per quarter, not per year.

@David1424 copy/paste from Airbnb's website on how to become a superhost. Emphasis mine. 

 

To become a Superhost, you need to have an account in good standing, and over the past - YEAR -you must have:

 

Hosted at least 10 trips
Maintained a 90% response rate or higher
Received a 5-star review at least 80% of the time you’ve been reviewed, as long as at least half of the guests who stayed with you left a review
Completed each of your confirmed reservations without canceling


@David0 wrote:

Per quarter, not per year.



It is 10 trips in the last year not quarter:

 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/829/how-do-i-become-a-superhost

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Hi @David1424


I can't say I agree.

 

I achieved Superhost status in my first quarter and have retained it since.

 

I only book my listing for about 50% each month as I don't want to have guests all the time.

 

It sounds like your difficulty in achieving superhost status is because you booking your properties most of the times through other listing companies rather than because it's difficult to achieve.

 

If you want to co-host, set up your own business for this and market yourself directly to hosts in your area - you don't need to go through Airbnb.

We almost will achieve in two weeks adn I am outside the city.  I believe it comes down to taking care of your guests over and above and being reasonably priced for what they get.  I am just 1 review off this coming Oct 1st adn we have only been in business for two weeks.  Next time for sure.

 

Clare0
Level 10
Templeton, CA

@David1424. I think the Super Host classification is very helpful for travellers who want a no-hassle stay.  People can filter for Super Hosts when they search for accommodations which is a real bonus for these hosts.  Sort of like buying items from a Super Seller on Ebay....the trust level goes up. 

I've been a Super Host since I started 3 years ago and I'm not a hotel nor a revolving door...maybe 3 -4 reservations a month.   Personally I'm glad Airbnb has this classification not only for what it does for me, but also the confidence a traveller gains when selecting a Super Host.