Superhost filter gone?

[Jessie90]

Appreciate the new filter for guest favorites, but that is not equivalent to booking with a Super Host, which gives  me a lot of comfort when booking in an unfamiliar location.  Guest ratings are always a little suspect.  I hope this filter is reinstated, I may never book on airbnb again, too risky otherwise. 

Any one else have this issue, it's gone both on the website and app.

[Marsha66]

Guest Favorites designation/filter is useless, IMO.   I booked a "guest favorite" and had to cancel upon arrival because it was filthy.  A major pitfall is that guests tend to give more positive than objective feedback.   This skews the results and makes it more difficult for guests to find lodging with which they are comfortable.  

[Mariana-and-Shanthuru0]

We've been consistent users of Superhost on Airbnb, relying on it extensively for our travels. It has always been a valuable tool for us. Shouldn't a platform like Airbnb consider consulting its users and understanding their preferences before making significant changes? Good bye my favorite companion during travels.

[Anita918]

When will we get our badge back? 
my listings have dropped and now I think I know why!! 

[Breanna · Accepted solution]

I also wanted to share a bit more related to this topic @Jessie90.

Yes, I can confirm the Superhost filter has been removed. This is to simplify some of the search filters and we added a new Guest Favorites filter to help guests find some of the most-loved homes on the platform. Guests will still be able to see whether their Host is a Superhost on the listing page.

Guest Favorites are evaluated on a listing level, while Superhosts are based on the individual Host. A Superhost that adds a new listing, for example, would need to host several stays before their new listing could be considered for Guest Favorites.

Hope this helps with context.

[Jessie90]

This approach will filter out new listings from people like me who would take a chance on a new listing with no reviews if the listing was by a superhost.  I will never find those listings now, it seems like the new system will favor older listings. It also leaves open a potential for tampering because a new listing can just rack up some stays with friends and family who will leave favorable but not necessarily accurate reviews.  I also use the superhost filter as a "gatekeeper" particularly when I visit foreign countries, I like the idea that the host (as opposed to the property) has attained a certain standard.  With so many fake reviews rampant on all platforms the superhost filter was helpful in, well, filtering out some of that noise.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Jessie90 @Breanna if the Superhost filter has gone presumably Airbnb will abandon the concept of Superhosts next and save the $100/year reward they used to get. Ah well - I guess Airbnb is just going to be another STR in future with no real differentiation from all the others.

[Christiana72]

I agree. The Superhost filter (in addition to looking through reviews), was a great safety feature. I don’t understand why we can’t have both.

[Mark4445]

They've also started limiting reviews to 1000 characters, so those are no longer comprehensive or substantive.

[Michael8187]

Bad idea Airbnb.

[Sharon1557]

Oh, man, are you *kidding*? That's terrible news.

I've been living remotely, mainly staying at Airbnbs, for the past three years, and I relied on Superhost designations to pick out places and I never had a bad experience. So now I've got to go look at each individual listing?

Superhost was a great differentiator between Airbnb and sites such as booking.com. If that differentiator is no longer there, I'm going to have a tough time justifying continuing to use Airbnb.

[Mark4445]

I agree. We only book with superhosts. And since we can't see that info anymore, we won't be using Airbnb any longer. We've been using Airbnb for 9 years. We're done.

[Kris4654]

That really degrades the value of the platform for me. I like to cook a lot and I find that only superhosts ever have an acceptable kitchen setup. If they are not superhosts you are lucky to get a dull knife, a few TBS of oil and some hardened salt. With a superhost I get a kithen I can walk in with my groceries and start cooking. 

Bring back the superhost filter. Unless you had atons of feed back from users that it was confusing then someone in your UX department has made a MAJOR mistake. 

[Angela3709]

Dear Breanna, I used to book Super Hosts only as it gave me a sense of security around the quality of the booked accommodation and the people I would stay with - it was a reliable way to meet people who had been hosting for some considerable time and of staying in rooms which were really nice. I am very disappointed that the Super Host filter has been removed. I have just been searching for rooms using the Guest Favourites filter. One property listed with this filter had only been listed for 1 month! How can someone be awarded a Guest Favourite filter after listing for just 1 month?! I no longer feel comfortable booking with AirBnB due to the loss of this filter. 

[Jeff2688]

This is a bad change. I am travelling internationally to a destination I am unfamiliar with, one that has the potential for scams, boosted ratings, etc. I had hoped to rely on the Superhost filter to separate the wheat from the chaff. Airbnb has made that considerably more difficult. I urge Airbnb to revisit this site modification. 

[Anna14526]

I’m absolutely not a fan of this change. I really want the Superhost filter back. I book airbnbs only by superhost. I do not like the extra work it takes to sift through to find superhost listings. I will not book a listing that isn’t a superhost and you’ve just made it harder to find the types of places I would book.