Guest favourite badge disappeared

[Adam1846]

Hi. For about four weeks, my listing had this badge until last week's technical glitch resulting in understated review counts and ratings.

The glitch has been resolved but guest badge has disappeared. The only activity on the listing since then was a guest making a cancellation which according to the badge criteria per this link sent to me by support may not be a factor, it mentions host cancellations only, but I do note the list of criteria is not exhaustive https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/3496. Support have said reason badge not appearing is because overall rating is not above 4.8 which is true. However, the highest the overall rating has EVER been is 4.7 in March 2024 which was two weeks before the badge was applied. They failed to answer my question which is why the badge WAS applied when rating didn't fit the criteria. They did say this: "As you have mentioned previously that one of the reservation was cancelled. So that might be one of the reason that your guest badge has been removed and it might update late.". 

My conclusions:

1) Overall rating criteria increased to 4.8 last week coinciding with the glitch.

2) Badge was incorrectly applied previously.

3) Guest cancellations ARE a factor possibly omitted from the criteria list because Host has no control over guests cancelling.

Anyway, any pointers would be appreciated. My rate of bookings increased shortly after the badge was applied so in my interests to figure this out.

Thanks.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Adam1846 I have no confidence in the Guest Favourite tag as the criteria are, unlike Superhosts, obscure. Basically Airbnb can make any listing they like  a Guest Favourite which removes any value it might have.

[Helen3]

I agrée @Mike-And-Jane0

Lots of hosts who have guest favourite status  have listings with low ratings from guests. 

@Adam1846 your listings are an example of where Airbnb gives listings with what it says are low ratings ie 4.5 and 4.6 with guest favourite status  making a mockery of the whole system 

[Adam1846]

@Helen3 Thanks. So sounds like it's a manual process by Airbnb rather than automated which would be driven by pre-determined rules. Support have today decided to 'escalate' my query despite me saying yesterday 'I'm done' with the case! 

[Adam1846]

@Mike-And-Jane0 Thanks. I wonder what rationale they use. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Adam1846 Being cynical I suspect the mega-hosts get their properties favoured. It must be done by computer though - surely!

[Adam1846]

@Mike-And-Jane0 Well if it's automated then something went wrong if we are to believe what they told me which was overall rating must be above 4.8.

[Helen3]

Yes it's strange that your listings which have ratings of 4.5 and 4.6 got guest favourite status previously ifAirbnb only awards them to hosts with an average 4.8 ratings @Adam1846 

it proves my point that the Guest Favourite is a much watered down version of superhost status . 

[Adam1846]

@Helen3 The highest average was 4.7 but badge applied few weeks later when rating was 4.55. Maybe last week's glitch revealed error in badge formula and got fixed accordingly. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Helen3 If you read the rules for Guest Favourites they are designed for individual listings and hence should not be averaging the ratings of a host with more than one listing. They also say they average to 4.9 (might be 4.8) but, as written, this allows Airbnb to give the award to any listing as long as all Guest Favourites average to 4.9!

My cynical view is that this is so mega-hosts can have Guest Favourites in their portfolios without being Superhosts (because some listings are pulling them down) and also allows Airbnb to support big money makers by just randomly awarding them Guest Favourite status.

[Helen3]

Yes I appreciate that @Mike-And-Jane0  but @Adam1846  listings range from 4.5 to 4.7 so he's not got any that are 4.8 to 4.9 so it's strange that Airbnb would award him guest favourite for any listings . 

[Adam1846]

Thanks @Helen3 .

@Mike-And-Jane0 My query refers to one listing only, not all. What do you mean by mega-host? Is it an official Airbnb host status?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Adam1846 No mega-host is my term for those hosts who have lots of properties and are treated differently to us mere mortals. They occasionally post on here complaining that their Airbnb special contact is not doing a good job for them!

[Adam1846]

@Mike-And-Jane0 They get a special contact, like an agent?