To stand out among the millions of other properties on Airbnb, you must go above and beyond to make the guest experience impeccable.
It’s not enough to be a host. You need to become a SUPER host!
Here, we’ll explain everything you need to do to deliver 5-star guest experiences and earn Airbnb’s coveted Superhost badge.
In Lesson 5:
- Airbnb Guest Favorite vs Superhost: what’s the difference?
- Benefits of earning Superhost and Guest Favorite badges
- How to become a Superhost or Guest Favorite
- Delivering 5-star hospitality
Airbnb Guest Favorite vs Superhost: What’s the difference?
Superhost and Guest Favorite are two elite host badges you can earn on Airbnb.
Here’s a quick explanation of what each badge means.
Guest Favorite
Guest Favorite badges are awarded to specific listings for excellent overall ratings. Around 2 million of the most loved homes on Airbnb have earned the Guest Favorite badge.
To earn this badge, you must get high marks in hospitality, amenities, listing accuracy, cleanliness, value, and more.
Airbnb also considers your reliability as a host.
Guest favorite badges are reevaluated daily, so to keep this badge, you must consistently provide guest satisfaction and delight guests with the overall quality of their stay.
Superhost
The Superhost badge recognizes a host’s excellence across all their listings. If you achieve this badge, it will appear on all your listings.
There are 5 core areas of criteria to earn Superhost:
- Response Rate
- Cancellation Rate
- Booking Rate
- Total Number of Nights
- Ratings
The Superhost badge is reevaluated quarterly.
To summarize:
- The Guest favorite badge is awarded to specific properties that achieve excellent ratings.
- Superhost Status is awarded to hosts who meet high-quality standards for hospitality and demonstrate great communication, reliability, and high demand across all their properties.
Top Tip: Superhost is a more prestigious status than Guest Favorite, with stricter requirements to secure it. This means that whilst it’s harder work to maintain, the benefits in terms of increased bookings and chance to charge higher rates are more than worth the investment.
Benefits of earning Superhost and Guest Favorite badges
Earning badges on Airbnb comes with a range of benefits.
Visibility & Exposure
Listings with badges get better visibility and prominence across search, browsing and recommendation features.
This means your listing will rank higher in search and get seen by more potential guests, which ultimately leads to more bookings. Guests also have the power to filter their search to only show Guest Favorites or Superhosts in the results.
Charge Higher Rates
Badges give guests peace of mind and make your property seem more desirable, meaning certified hosts can charge more per night for their property.
Exclusive Promotions & Rewards
Airbnb offers exclusive tools, offers, and bonuses to hosts who’ve earned badges.
This can include:
- Lower service fees
- Financial rewards
- Access to special features
- VIP support
- Discounts on photography
Improve your reputation
Guest Favorite and Superhost badges strengthen your reputation, letting guests know you have an excellent track record in hospitality.
When guests see a badge on your profile, they will instantly know you are a trustworthy host.
How to become a Guest Favorite or Superhost
If you want a chance to earn either Guest Favorite or Superhost, here’s what you need to do:
Guest Favorite criteria
To earn the Guest Favorite badge, Airbnb will consider:
- Your overall star ratings and feedback in guest reviews
- Individual guest ratings for different aspects of the property, like check-in, cleanliness, accuracy, communication, location, and value.
- Cancellation rates
- Incidents reported to Airbnb customer service
You must also have at least 5 guest reviews to qualify.
Superhost criteria
Superhost is an even more prestigious badge, and the criteria are stricter.
Here’s what you need to qualify as a Superhost:
- 90% response rate — You must respond to at least 90% of booking inquiries and messages within 24 hours.
- Cancellation rate of 1% or less — Avoid canceling too many bookings. This can cause Airbnb to view you as less trustworthy.
- Overall rating of 4.8 stars — Superhosts must have an overall rating of at least 4.8 stars, which guarantees fabulous experiences for all guests.
- 10 stays or 100 nights booked — Experience counts. Airbnb won’t consider you for a Superhost badge until you’ve had at least 10 stays or 100 nights booked.
- Complete mandatory tasks — You must have a profile photo and verify your identity to be eligible.
- Follow Airbnb rules — Breaking Airbnb rules, policies, or standards of conduct will damage your chances of earning the Superhost badge.
Delivering 5-star hospitality
To earn a badge like Superhost, prioritize responding to all guest inquiries promptly and go above and beyond to make each guests’ stay incredible.
Here are some ways to deliver 5-star hospitality:
Communicate with guests
Communication is key to success. Ensure no guest messages go unanswered, and check in with guests during the stay to ensure everything is running smoothly.
Guests should know they’re able to contact you at any time during the stay and get a fast response.
Upgrade your property
You can go above and beyond by making the stay extra comfortable and luxurious for your guests.
This might mean improving your welcome basket to include luxury products, refreshing your decor, or installing new amenities.
Personalize each stay
Ask guests in advance if they are celebrating a special occasion such as a birthday or anniversary, so you can include a personalized gift and decoration.
You can also get to know your guests’ interests and help them book specific excursions or attractions that may interest them.
Address problems fast
If anything goes wrong, you should be easily contactable and ready to solve problems as soon as possible.
Accidents can happen, but addressing problems quickly can help you avoid bad reviews.
Avoid double-bookings
If you are listing on any other channels, you may be at risk of double bookings if you don’t have a reliable channel manager.
To avoid having to cancel any bookings, make sure your calendars are synced and you invest in a channel manager.
To recap, to stand out among the millions of other properties on Airbnb, you must go above and beyond to make the guest experience impeccable. It’s not enough to be a host. You need to become a SUPER host!
Achieving Superhost Status will increase your visibility, meaning more bookings, and allow you to charge more per night for your property, meaning an increase in earnings.
Being a Guest Favorite can also help achieve these benefits, but as a less prestigious status than Superhost, the benefits are also less advantageous. However, both are worth working for and the will be an asset to you in growing your vacation rental earnings.
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