Airbnb Superhost

All About SuperHost Status on Airbnb

While browsing through Airbnb listings, you could have seen some hosts with orange badges. These badges or logos indicate that the owner of the property is a SuperHost on Airbnb, and if you have ever wondered what it means, you’ve come to the right place. Today, we will cover the meaning of being a SuperHost, the benefits this status offers, and share the criteria for becoming one.

How to rank higher on Airbnb read here.

What is Airbnb SuperHost?

What is Airbnb Superhost

Essentially, SuperHost is an exclusive status on Airbnb. It is awarded to the platform’s best hosts and offers a wide range of benefits that we will cover in the next section. The process of obtaining this status involves Airbnb evaluating your performance as a host. The platform does it every three months, granting you an opportunity to earn the status regularly.

Equally, there is a chance of losing this status, as the award is not permanent. To keep being a highlighted host on the platform, you will need to maintain the quality of your service. It is also worth mentioning that there are many articles related to the topic in the Community Center of Airbnb. You can always find them by applying the corresponding tag to your search and learning more about hosts that currently have this exclusive status.

Benefits of Being a SuperHost

The badge awarded with the SuperHost status is one of the most precious benefits of the program. Users of Airbnb will see the special marking on your listing and be more willing to choose your property over the one from a regular host. This will surely have a positive impact on your occupancy rate, leaving fewer unbooked windows in your calendar.

The second advantage of being a SuperHost is related to your income. For many hosts with this award, the occupancy rate increases so much that they can even increase the prices without losing bookings. Many potential guests will be ready to pay a bit more for a service that is approved by Airbnb.

Another benefit of the badge is the increased attention of the support team. You will receive replies faster than usual as well as have an opportunity to provide your guests with faster support. Even though it might seem unimportant, it may become a game-changer when it comes to your guests having a real issue.

For hosts that manage to maintain the status for a year, Airbnb grants a $100 coupon for their own travels. What is even better, SuperHosts benefit from increased referral commissions, getting 20% more for every owner they have invited to the platform.

Last but not least, members of the SuperHost community get access to new features before regular users. Essentially, they become beta-testers of Airbnb’s features, granting them an opportunity to guide the platform with their feedback. SuperHosts also receive invitations to some exclusive Airbnb events from time to time and get highlighted in the Community Center, as we have mentioned before.

How to Become a SuperHost on Airbnb

After discovering the benefits that the SuperHost program offers, it is also important to learn the requirements for such owners. Knowing them will allow you to make an informed decision on whether these benefits are worth the effort of obtaining the status for you. 

Unlike many exclusive awards on other platforms, Airbnb has specific criteria you have to match to become a SuperHost. In this section, we will review them one by one and share some tips on how to comply with these requirements.

A rating of 4.8+

The first requirement every potential SuperHost has to match is probably the hardest one. As a property owner, you have no control over the reviews you receive, making it especially difficult to maintain it on such a high level. The general idea is quite obvious as it implies doing everything possible to keep your guests satisfied.

The first and probably the main tip we can share here is to determine your target audience. Knowing your customers will allow you to create a service that is designed specifically for them, therefore, increasing your chances to keep them satisfied. It is almost impossible to have your Airbnb perfectly suit everyone, so focusing on one group of guests is reasonable.

Another great idea for improving your rating is to add something unique to your property. Having something outstanding available will also likely increase your occupancy rate as long as it does not significantly affect the price. 

Last but not least, it is important to understand the expectations of your guests. Most basic features such as cleaning and having all the amenities are taken for granted, even if it involves putting in a lot of effort. However, not having your apartment cleaned after previous guests will undoubtedly negatively affect your performance.

The ten guests rule

The second parameter for you to comply with relates to the number of guests and bookings you receive. For most properties, it will be enough to accept 10 guests over the course of a year to match this criterion. However, in case your property is more of a long-term rental, you will be able to pass with having 100 occupied nights in three different bookings over the same period of time.

There are many ways of increasing your occupancy rate on Airbnb, but in most cases, you will still follow them whether or not you are trying to become a SuperHost. However, in case you realize that you are a few bookings short and you match all the other criteria, it might be profitable for you to lower your prices to attract the missing guests. 

Discover some owner’s mistakes in Airbnb pricing strategies.

Less than 1% cancellation rate

This criterion is pretty much self-explanatory, as it implies you are canceling less than 1% of all your bookings. This is probably the easiest rule to follow, as you would not normally want to cancel a booking for your property.

It is worth mentioning that you can still make cancellations according to the extenuating circumstances policy of Airbnb. Such cancellations won’t be counted towards your SuperHost statistics, but you will need to report them properly to the team of Airbnb.

For this rule, we don’t have any tips to share, as you don’t need to do anything special to follow it. The only suggestion we have is for you to attentively read the terms for allowed cancellations. This will allow you to better understand how to handle different kinds of cancellation-related situations.

All about Airbnb cancellation policies for hosts read here.

A response rate of 90%

A response rate of 90% implies responding to at least ninety percent of your inbox within the first 24 hours. Even though it might sound easy before you launch your business, it becomes trickier, especially, for the first few weeks or even months of operation. 

Most aspiring hosts have to deal with issues they haven’t taken into account and manage all the basic tasks, as they don’t usually have teams of workers behind them. It is almost impossible to be ready for everything, so our tip here would be not to chase the SuperHost status right after you create your first Airbnb listing (how to start your Airbnb listing optimization read here). Give yourself at least the time of the first assignment period to make your service stable.

In general, there are two ways of ensuring a high response rate. You can either hire a person to manage the inbox for you or set up a piece of automation software to save you some time on basic replies.

Check your performance

Airbnb has a built-in feature that allows you to track your SuperHost progress. To browse your statistics, you will need to log in to the platform, visit the Performance tab and find the SuperHost section there. On the following page, you will see all the criteria and your corresponding results.

To be more specific, you will be able to check your response rate, the number of guests, your overall rating, and your cancellation rate. Moreover, you will be able to see the dates of the current assignment period, allowing you to manage your expectations properly.

Mastering the Art of Hosting: Unveiling the Secrets of Airbnb Superhosts