Superhosts are experienced Airbnb hosts who provide a shining example for other hosts, and extraordinary hospitality and experiences for their guests.

Once a host reaches Superhost status, the Superhost badge will automatically appear on their profile and listing to help guests identify them.

In the eyes of prospective guests, being an #Airbnb Superhost positions you as a better host than other hosts lacking the coveted title. You are therefore likely to receive more reservation requests as a result of having earned the badge. Click To Tweet

Guests are also able to filter their search results to only display listings of Superhosts. In this way, Superhosts have an additional advantage for getting found and booked over those that are not Superhosts.

To become a Superhost, you need to have an Airbnb account in good standing, and need to have met the following five requirements over the past year:

Requirement #1: Hosting experience

Superhosts must have hosted at least 10 trips within the last year.

This requirement is assessed quarterly. At every quarterly review, Superhosts must have hosted 10 trips in the last 12 months prior to the review date.

If attaining Superhost Status is important to you, you may feel compelled to make ad-hoc compromises to reservation requests you may otherwise have rejected as assessment review dates approach. Furthermore, not all hosts live in places where meeting this requirement is easy, let alone possible. Aspiring Superhosts may consider reducing or eliminating minimum night booking requirements or lowering prices to attract bookings that would otherwise not come through.

If every quarter is a ‘race to the finish-line’, then these compromises and last minute efforts may be more hassle than they’re worth and Superhost status may not be for you.

Requirement #2: Reviewed by (at least) half of your bookings

Superhosts must maintain a 50% review rate or higher.

Your review rate refers to the number of guests that leave you a review out of the number of guests you've actually hosted. For example, if 9 guests leave you a review, and you've hosted 10 guests, then your review rate will be 90%. This means that at least half of the guests you host need to leave you a review.

This should not be problematic for most hosts. As long as your guest had a problem-free stay, it always helps to promptly review them ASAP after their stay. They will receive a notification that you’ve reviewed them, which should give them a ‘gentle nudge’ to then do the same for you. If they want to read what you wrote about them without waiting out the 14-day review period, they’ll need to submit their review of you.

Requirement #3: High Response Rate

Superhosts must maintain a 90% response rate or higher.

Your Superhost response rate is calculated on the responses you send within 24 hours to the booking inquiries and requests you’ve received over the past 365 days.

If attaining Superhost status is important to you, ensure that you respond to all booking inquiries and requests within 24 hours. The easiest way to prevent messages falling through the cracks and responding to them promptly is by activating text message push notifications or receiving push notifications to your phone if you’ve downloaded the Airbnb mobile app.

All Airbnb hosts should aspire to respond promptly to guest inquiries and reservation requests out of courtesy and respect. However, maintaining a 90% response rate may not be practical to many hosts for a variety of reasons. If a near-perfect response rate sounds unrealistic, you may wish to consider whether aspiring for Superhost status is right for you.

Requirement #4: High Overall Rating

Your overall rating needs to be 4.8 or higher.

This will be determined by the primary reviews you’ve received from guests (not the individual category reviews). This can be found in the Progress > Ratings section of your Airbnb Hosting dashboard.

If attaining Superhost status is important to you, then the best thing you can do is to continue providing phenomenal guest experiences and openly communicate with guests on the importance of positive reviews for your ongoing Airbnb success.

Unfortunately, unreasonably negative guest reviews are an inevitable feature of Airbnb. Some guests will have unrealistic expectations and some guests operate to an unreasonable rating scale. Both of these factors may adversely impact the reviews guests like these will leave you. To this extent, an element of becoming an Airbnb Superhost unfortunately remains outside of your direct control.

Requirement #5: Commitment

Superhosts don’t cancel confirmed reservations.

It may seem obvious, but cancelling a guest’s reservation can have serious implications on their trip. Cancellations you make under extenuating circumstances won’t count against your Superhost status, but all other cancellations will.

Extenuating circumstance cases will be contingent on proper documentation, where valid. Airbnb won’t mark legitimate cancellations as “made under extenuating circumstances” unless they’re reported to them within 14 days of the original   check-in date. Therefore ensure that you inform Airbnb of any cancellations and the extenuating circumstances that caused them ASAP.

If attaining Superhost status is important to you, ensure that you are prepared to sign-up for honoring all confirmed reservations you’ve accepted. Anything less is a good indication that Superhost status might not be for you.

The Process for Becoming a Superhost

You do not need to apply to become a Superhost. The Superhost requirements are measured every 3 months, and are based on your activity over the past year. The assessment dates are the first of the month in January, April, July, and October.

The process is automated, which means that Airbnb can’t update your status in-between assessment dates. If you meet the program requirements on any relevant assessment date, you’ll automatically qualify for Superhost status. Airbnb will notify you of your Superhost status at the end of each assessment period – usually within 2 weeks after the assessment begins.

Hosts who have had their Superhost status revoked may regain their Superhost status during a future qualification period if they again meet the qualification requirements for the most recent previous 12 months on that review date.

It may take a couple days for your Superhost badge to appear on your listing.

You’re always able to check your progress in meeting the Superhost criteria as well as the next assessment date.

To check your progress in meeting the Superhost requirements and next assessment date:

  1. Login to Airbnb
  2. In Hosting mode, select Progress from the top menu
  3. Click on Opportunities from the menu
  4. Click on Superhost
  5. Select the current period for Show results for

Download the Superhost Status cheat-sheet in...

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