Airbnb has grown and grown from strength to strength since it first began. There are hosts all over the world, and plenty of people looking to book a property so that they can travel and create new memories. By listing your property on Airbnb and exploring everything it has to offer, there is a lot to be gained. Becoming a Superhost means learning how to be the best of the best. This symbol is a powerful one amongst hosts on the platform, and will bring more revenue, increased bookings and better ratings overall. Do you want to know how to get the Superhost badge? Read our guide below.
What is an Airbnb Superhost?
The Superhost initiative was created by Airbnb to offer elite locations to guests wanting a more luxurious stay. To become a Superhost you must meet the superhost criteria Airbnb sets out which are explored in more detail below. It opens up a world of opportunities for your investment prospects and ensures that you will receive bookings, exposure and more. There is a lot to be said for this status, and the more you know about, the easier it will be to achieve. Airbnb has a number of regulations in order to keep it legal, functional and prosperous, and it is sensible to get to know the ins and outs of how everything is supposed to work so that you can strive for the absolute best.
Superhost Airbnb Criteria
For anyone hoping to achieve this status, there are certain conditions that must be met first. When you sign up for the Airbnb lifestyle, it will be an accumulative process in order to achieve this, and there are rules to follow too. The absolute minimum standard is that you have to provide enough evidence to support you being a top-tier host, but this extends further into the following five categories.
5-Star Reviews
It is always nice to get a great review, right? It goes without saying. For a Superhost badge, you will need a 5-star review from at least 80% of your total stays over the course of an assessment quarter. Bear in mind that a bad review has the power to significantly hold you back, so these need to be avoided at all costs. 5-star reviews are only possible if you create a 5-star guest experience, which means it is all to play for. Take care of all the small touches like amenities, welcome baskets, guest guides, host availability, question solving, and most of all cleanliness and maintenance of a property first and foremost. After this, focus on the bigger picture and work on essential skills like customer service and general management style too.
Minimum Stays
Every quarter and year you will get a certain number of bookings. This number dictates how achievable the Superhost badge is. For Airbnb, they dictate that there is a minimum requirement of 10 stays booked in over the course of one year. If you can hit that target, then you are well on your way to Super town. If you can’t, then you should take a look at how to increase these bookings naturally by considering management strategies like the ones provided by Upperkey, getting to know the Airbnb marketing terms, and improving the facilities so that people leave more reviews and boost your ranking status.
Quick Responses
From time to time, a guest will get in touch with you to ask a question or resolve an issue. For instance, there may be a maintenance problem with the property, or they could be stuck with figuring out how to access the key. Your job is to make that as problem free as possible by ensuring you respond to every query as quickly as possible. For a Superhost, this also means responding to the messages you get outside of a booking too. Airbnb will observe your response rates and rank you accordingly.
Management Style
Your management style will dictate a lot, and the main point here is how you handle the bookings that are secured. Airbnb expects that its best hosts do not cancel bookings wherever possible so as not to inconvenience guests and start the lengthy process of refunds and so on. If you have a high cancellation rate and it is because you do not honor the bookings, then you will struggle to gain Super status.
All-Round Great Hosting
Lastly, ensure that you are simply a perfect host. Don’t leave any detail unattended to and make sure that your guests have above and beyond what they need for a wonderful stay. This will improve your reviews, the rate of re-booking and how you are seen on the platform too.
The Difference Between Airbnb Plus Host and Superhost
You may have seen the term ‘Airbnb Plus’ around, and it is good to know the difference between the two. These categories exist to make a distinction between regular hosts and ones that go the extra mile and manage their properties well. Airbnb Plus is a separate scheme to the Superhost one, and while there are similarities, becoming the latter takes more effort and adherence to a stricter criterion than the former. What are the big differences?
Restricted Areas
Airbnb Plus operates in major cities only. This means properties outside of say, London, Paris, Dubai or Venice (though there are plenty more), won’t be able to access the Plus status at all. While Airbnb is looking to change this, it is not yet active and, therefore, there are limitations in this sense. Superhost status, however, can and is awarded to anyone who meets the mark and goes the extra (extra) mile for their guests. Any property that hits the required standards can gain the Superhost badge and benefit from all that entails.
The Benefits of Being a Superhost
So, why is this status something to aim for? There are a lot of properties on Airbnb which have seen exponential growth since it first opened its virtual doors. Hosts from all over the world list their houses, apartments, boats, treehouses, cabins and more in hundreds of locations. Therefore, you are a part of a vast network of hosts that are all aiming for the same thing, securing bookings and creating revenue as a result of these stays. Superhost status makes this infinitely more attainable by boosting your profile, increasing visibility, and providing guests with a number of great reasons to book your property over an alternate listing.
Increased Revenue
The best thing about being a Superhost is that you will see a definite rise in revenue. One of the main objectives on Airbnb is to create a stream of income from your property alongside everything else. By being able to do this almost organically thanks to the Superhost elite status, you will benefit greatly in terms of your financial goals and outcomes. A higher number of vacation goers will book your property because of its superior status, and this means it becomes easier to retain and boost income along the way.
Higher Rankings
When you consider that there are over 6 million properties listed on Airbnb, it can quickly become difficult to stand out from the crowd when it comes to exposure. How do you climb up the rankings and find a way to ensure people see your property instead of having it listed on page six of the search results? You become a Superhost, of course! With this status, an owner will see a natural elevated exposure in the Airbnb listing rankings, which means your property will come up in the top results more often than it did before. This means more potential guests will see it first and therefore create more click-throughs and an increased likelihood that the property will be booked out.
Superior Profile: The Badge
When you become a Superhost, you will automatically be awarded with a badge that goes on your listing for all to see. This makes your property instantly more appealing and lands you in an exclusive club of other Superhosts who provide exceptional quality just like you. This badge shows people that your hosting skills are top quality, which will endear them towards your listing because they know they will be well looked after. It will also show the world that you’ve earned this, and hard work pays off.
Rewards
There are also incentive rewards to remain a Superhost once the status has been gained. Not only do you receive a higher referral fee if you bring people onto the Airbnb platform, but you also have access to an exclusive travel coupon that will subsidize a vacation elsewhere. These are fantastic perks in the grand scheme of things and will make your status even more appealing.
Airbnb Superhost is a program for hosts that create the best experiences for their guests and maintain their properties to an impeccable standard. They must be creative, responsive, nurturing and anticipate needs before they even exist in order to acquire and retain this badge. There are lots of benefits including exclusive rewards, a significant increase in revenue, higher booking subscriptions and bigger exposure for your listing. All in all, if you fit the bill, it is something to strive towards for anyone looking to create a long-term investment with Airbnb.