Why am I not a Guest Favorite?

[Ryan3422]

I read on Reddit that the Guest Favorite badge only applies to properties that got 5 stars overall and 5 stars in cleanliness on their last 5 reviews.  This is nowhere in the "articles" / robotic responses support will send you, or from support over the phone.  This means if you are a Superhost that got a 4 star in cleanliness over the last five reviews (which can take a year for some people to accumulate), then you won't be a Guest Favorite.  They also removed the Superhost filter for guests to search for, and replaced it with a NICE BIG WELCOMING GUEST FAVORITE filter instead.  So, for all you hard-working 5 star overall with dazzling reviews Superhosts that got a 4 star in cleanliness on one of your last five reviews, then you are lumped in with the one star hosts and are essentially un-filterable when a guest searches.  Welcome to the graveyard.

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/605669673879860817?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=c7895f3f-9196...

I guess my reviews aren't good enough to be a Guest Favorite.  Thank you Airbnb, for crushing my views and wrecking my chances for any possible stays right before the slow season starts.

[Cody265]

Clean better. Problem solved.

[Ryan368]

Don't get me wrong, buddy. But you've got 38 reviews total. You're going to find out really soon that there are people out there who you just can't please. 

[Cody265]

So what, it all averages out. For one thing, it doesn't work the way the OP said it does. But even if it did, you may lose the status temporarily when you get a bad review but if you are consistently doing a good job you'd soon get it back.

[Debra300]

@Cody265,

Guest Favorites listings are given higher priority in search results.  This means if a listing loses GF status it may be more difficult to acquire the number of reservations and reviews to regain the designation because the listing may get buried in the results pages.  This can be quite detrimental for some hosts and their businesses because some listings get only a couple of bookings a year, especially if they cater to long-term stays.

You are very fortunate to not yet host a guest that has imagined or unreasonable expectations.  I once had a guest mark our place down because she said there were too many hills on the island.  

[Cody265]

I have had unreasonable guests, but again the system does not work as the OP described. If the issue is just not getting very many reviews in a year, they may need to address that with other strategies, but whether it's SH or GF the same "problem" will exist where just a couple of bad reviews can tank the average. Though, I don't really see that as a problem so much as just the nature of the game for any business dealing in lower volume where every transaction is higher stakes.

[Ryan3422]

@Cody265 The "problem" is that although I deal in lower volume, I don't have any bad reviews that have tanked my average.  I'm still over a 4.9 in all categories and a 5 overall.  The nature of the game is AirBnb is just ignoring this issue and leaving a handful of qualified hosts out to dry with no explanation.  

You really went through every comment on here and provided no useful information, just best guesses and arguments.  

#DoBetterCody

[Cody265]

Why do you think you should be ranked equally with those who who work hard to meet ths high "guest favorite" standard. I work very hard to maintain these standards, and I'm very glad Airbnb has begun to recognize that. Most guests leave 5 stars by default, but only the best hosts can earn that rating from the more discerning guests. Do better if you want to be a guest favorite.

[Ryan368]

Because this filter is entirely at the mercy of subjective standards which you personally will soon find out. If you think that you won't come across that guest who cannot be pleased, you simply have not been doing this long enough. You will have your run ins with people who will leave you a 4 star review because a lightbulb burned out during their stay or because the batteries in the remote went out, etc. Or, even because the weather wasn't good on their vacation. 

Superhost filtering was far superior because it looked at the bigger picture over a larger set of data. 

If they wanted to raise the bar for superhost, that would have been fine. This new guest favorite system is trash. It basically punished the host for having one guest who may have just been an unreasonable person. If you host for any considerable length of time, you will absolutely run into these people. 

[Cody265]

Except that's not how the system works at all.

[Helen3]

It's incredibly patronising and rude  to tell other hosts 'do better ' to qualify for guest favourites when many are SH who have to pass higher standards @Cody265 

Guest favourites very much favour newer hosts like yourself .

For example last year I had a host staying who gave me four stars - my only four star in the last three years because of a) my location - her daughter lived two roads away and she'd visited the area many times and knew my road well  - she didn't like that bins were out as it was bin collection day b) check in - because I couldn't accommodate her request for an 11 am check in. She was able to go to her daughter on arrival so it made no difference . I offered to let her cancel penalty free if she wasn't happy but she insisted in staying and marked me down

had that happened recently I wouldn't have got guest favourite even though I have hundreds more five star reviews then you have .

in your expert view - what would you have expected me to 'do better)

you will find many guests irrational when it comes to ratings often marking hosts down because they haven't bothered to read a listing 

[Cody265]

One 4 star rating over a 3 year period won't cause you to lose guest favorite status, so your whole premise is based on false information. The original poster was wrong about how the system works. I know this from experience because I recently had a guest check out way late and one room smelled like marijuana. I got it as aired out as I could and couldn't smell it anymore by the next guest. They could though, and I refunded their cleaning fee. They left 4 star overall and for cleanliness, while commenting that I handled it very well and that they will book again. My Guest Favorite status still remained, so while Airbnb won't disclose exactly how the system works it's clearly not the way OP described.

In any case, the best part of the new system is there are a lot of crappy places in my area hosted by corporate Superhosts. A lot of them have star ratings in the 4.6 range but were still boosted as SH based on thousands of other managed properties even though their local ones are trash.

[Helen3]

Unfortunately you'll find there are hosts on guest favourites with 4.6 and 4.7 ratings on some of their listings @Cody265 

[Cody265]

I have though not in my area.

After comparing GF with other nearby listings, my best guess is that this badge is just marketing the same factors that were already used to rank search results (including ratings, but also things like flexible cancellation policies, lower prices, instant and flexible booking, etc).

[Ryan3422]

@Cody265 You say my whole premise is wrong, but you are just out here talking out of your wazoo firing off "best guesses".  We are not talking about losing the guest favorite status.  We are talking about never getting it in the first place, about still not knowing exactly what it is based on, about how no one at AirBnB support can do anything about it, etc.

To me, it looks like they rolled out an algorithm that swept through all properties in a phased approach, scanned each property once, assigned this badge not based on the criteria AirBnB stated, then never ran it again.  They probably realized that it was not assigning the badge correctly and instead of running it again to pick up the qualified properties that were missed, decided to never run it again to avoid further mistakes.  I have screenshots from multiple conversations with different support reps and ambassadors that say I meet all qualifications for the badge, and to just wait patiently until it gets applied.  If the algorithm is run daily, then how am I still badgeless?

[Jennifer4563]

I'm in the same boat and have been getting nothing but the run around. I actually had the badge assigned and then I had a terrible guest who caused $4k in damages to my property. It took me almost the full 14 days to gather all the documention and quotes to submit my resolution center request. Within 10 minutes of me sending the reimbursement request, the guest left a retaliatory 2 star review. I contacted support and they agreed it was totally retaliatory and pulled the review down. It was up for less than 3 hours, but when he posted the review, I lost the badge.

The review came down and my stats went right back to were they were. The badge didn't come back after 24hrs. It still hasn't despite it being now 7 weeks since the bad guest and the review going up and being pulled down. I've spent more than 10 hours on the phone with support, escalating to Specialists and then further to Supervisors, to no avail. All I keep getting is the same canned robotic response - the link to the page that explains how the GF badge works. 

At this point, it's becoming insulting. I understand how the system is "supposed" to work. The problem is that it doesn't work. If it did, I would've gotten my badge back 7 weeks ago, as I was meeting the requirements and had the badge. The only negative thing to happen was the retaliatory review which was removed. Since then, I have only added an additional eight 5-star reviews. I have 100% communication and 0% cancellation.  Meanwhile, multiple homes around me with stats well below mine have the badge. This system and the supposed requirements are essentially false adverting. 

Also, I know I look like a new host, but I'm not. I have been working in the industry for a decade with several of the bigger national STR PMs. I just recently went out on my own, hence the 2 months hosting tag on my listing. I understand a lot more than the average layperson about how this system all works. I'm absolutely devastated because I went from being booked at 100% occupancy to zero bookings, or even inquiries. This bad guest destroyed my home, then caused me to lose the last two weeks of high season. Airbnb refuses to help beyond a cut and paste job saying the same thing over and over.

I have even asked multiple times for them to point out what specific element on my specific listing isn't already meeting the requirements and needs supposed improvement. They refuse to even answer. I've spoken to 8 different Ambassadors, 3 Specialists and 2 Supervisors. Not one has even answered my question. God, I miss the days of having an account manager. The regular customer service experience is absolutely terrible.

No one is seeing my home anymore because of the filter. All my neighboring homes are still getting bookings because they all have the badge, even with ratings well below mine. Anyway, the point is, no, this Guest Favorite badge system does not work and Airbnb doesn't seem to care or have any plans to fix it. They are inadvertly picking winners and losers and it's no longer a merit based program.

I really hope they get it fixed, or do away with it entirely, because adopting and continuing to rubber stamp false advertising really sucks.

Has anyone lost the badge and gotten it back? I agree with the other gentleman. I don't believe the system reevaluates anything. I don't think anyone ever gets it back.