You may be asking yourself what is a Superhost on Airbnb? And more importantly, you may be wondering how do you become a Superhost on Airbnb. Given it’s a term many throw around aplenty, I will answer these questions in detail.

In short, an Airbnb Superhost is someone that goes above and beyond for their guests. Airbnb will reward the top rated and most experienced hosts with this status. So in other words if you reach Superhost status, there are many bonuses awaiting you. That includes bonuses such as more visibility, higher earning potential and exclusive rewards.

Reaching this status is a tough ask though, with fierce competition. You’ll need awesome reviews from your guests, plus you must communicate well. Keep reading and I’ll show you how to access all these benefits!

How do you become a Superhost on Airbnb?

Now for the question on everyone’s lips, how do you become a Superhost on Airbnb?

It’s actually a lot easier than you may think. Each quarter Airbnb will assess you on four sets of criteria that you must pass qualify. Luckily half the criteria you have 100% control over, so that is half the battle won already.

So without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the Airbnb Superhost requirements.

Step 1: Maintain a 4.8+ Overall Rating

The trickiest part to becoming an Airbnb Superhost is maintaining a 4.8+ overall rating. In other words, you must receive 5-star reviews at least 80% of the time. That’s not an easy task to say the least!

Let’s put it another way, to maintain that 4.8+ overall ratings, Airbnb deem anything less than 5 stars as a failure. You need to be good, real good!

Luckily for you there is a few hacks that will boost your 5-star ratings. In fact, I cover the topic step by step in my detailed guide on how to get good Airbnb reviews. Go check it out now.

Or better yet, how about I sum up the key points here for you? That sounds much easier!

5 Tips to help you get 5 Star Reviews

• Ensure your listing is accurate
• Make a good first impression
• Your property must be spotlessly clean
• Have modern amenities
• Be sure to communicate with your guests

First, make sure your listing is accurate. Yes, that means including any flaws about your property. Trust me, guests will find these faults during their stay, so it’s best they are aware of them prior to arrival.

Second, first impressions count. It’s important to kick things off in a positive way. So consider including things like a welcome note, little gifts, some snacks, and so on. They are only small touches but they make a difference.

Third, place a strong focus on cleanliness. Ensure there are no stains on the linen, every surface is spotless and that your place is smelling lovely. An Airbnb Superhost is someone who leaves their place spotless. Check out my detailed guide on how to clean an Airbnb.

Fourth, have modern amenities, as guests expect this these days. I am talking about things like a Smart TV with USB, free WiFi, coffee machine, and so on.

Finally, ensure you communicate with your guests. I’ll cover this topic some more below, but it’s so important.

Step 2: Never Cancel a Booking!

I asked earlier what is a Superhost on Airbnb? Well, it certainly isn’t a host that cancels a booking on a guest that’s for sure. In fact, if you do this, you can kiss your chances goodbye!

Airbnb is very strict on this. You must maintain less than a 1% cancellation rate. In other words, this means 0 cancellations for hosts with less than 100 bookings for the year.

Also, you wont effect just your Superhost chances by cancelling, you can expect a drop in the Airbnb search rankings too. Additionally, you’ll have a big black mark on your listing, which future guests will see.

You may be asking what is the policy for cancelling for extenuating circumstances? Sometimes bad things happen right? Things beyond your control.

This covers things like a death of a family member, serious illness, natural disasters and so on. In other words, it has to be seriously bad!

So how do you become a Superhost on Airbnb? Not cancelling would be a good start.

Step 3: Have 10+ Complete Stays

Another criteria on becoming a Superhost on Airbnb is to complete 10+ stays over a span of one year. Sounds easy enough right?

You may be asking yourself what if I’m a host that caters to longer term reservations? That’s cool, Airbnb are aware that it’s tougher for hosts that cater for long term stays.

The good news is you’ll still qualify for Airbnb Superhost by hosting 100+ nights over at least 3 stays. Again, this is over a one year period.

Airbnb wants to ensure that guests feel confident staying with an experienced host. So as long as you have hosted either 10+ stays, or 100+ days over 3 bookings, you can qualify for Superhost status.

Step 4: Maintain a 90% Response Rate

This is a criteria that you can control yourself. A key requirement to becoming a Superhost on Airbnb is maintaining a 90% response rate. So what does this mean exactly?

It means you must respond to 90% of new messages within 24 hours. In other words, you must be quick at replying to new questions and booking enquires.

Let me give you a tip though – reply to messages immediately! Don’t assume that because you have 24 hours to reply, you can take your time about it.

What you may not know is that response time is a crucial factor in the Airbnb rankings algorithm. They track the speed at which you respond to guests and it will impact your search rankings, so keep this in mind.

If a guest asks you a question and you don’t immediately know the answer, then reply saying you will get back to them. This will not only improve your response time, but it will satisfy your guest.

One way to speed up your response rate is to utilise saved responses. This is a new thing Airbnb introduced recently that is the best friend of a Superhost. They are basically templates that you can re-use over and over and save you time.

Luckily for you I have create an article of the 13 best saved Airbnb message templates. Do yourself a favour and check them out.

What is the Airbnb Superhost Bonus?

You may be asking what is the Airbnb Superhost bonus? Or further to that, is gaining Superhost status even that beneficial?

First, let’s take a quick look at what the Airbnb Superhost bonus is. Airbnb states that you’ll have more visibility in the search results, which is crucial. As a byproduct of that, you’ll be able to attract more guest and earn extra money.

Secondly, a little badge will show next to your name that indicates your Superhost status. The benefit here is that you will be more appealing to guests in the search results.

As a result, it builds trust with potential guests as they will know you go above and beyond.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the advantages and bonuses of the program.

Airbnb Superhost Bonuses

• Increased visibility
• Earn extra money
• Attract more guests
• Access to exclusive rewards
• You’ll get a Superhost badge

Increased visibility

The big benefit of becoming an Airbnb Superhost is a significant boost in visibility. This brilliant article by Airdna shine the spotlight on the benefits.

Their analysis shows Superhosts experience an 81% higher occupancy rate. In addition to that, those same hosts saw a 5% improvement in listing traffic.

A reason for this increase is Airbnb will feature you to guests in search results, emails and more. They even provide a search filter option to show only Superhost listings in the results.

As a result of this extra exposure, you will see a jump in earnings. A topic which I am about to cover next.

Earn extra money

The real benefit of becoming an Airbnb Superhost is a significant boost in earnings. This is a byproduct of more exposure from increased visibility.

Airdna’s study showed that Superhosts were earning 60% more revenue per available day.

It makes sense though. Increased visibility leads to more listing views, which increases the chances of getting booked. This all means means more money for you. The bonuses all tie in with each other.

To sum up, more visibility and trust from guests can mean more money for you.

Access to exclusive rewards

The icing on the cake is that you will receive some exclusive perks along with your new status. So what are these rewards I hear you ask?

Firstly, you will earn an additional 20% bonus on top of Airbnb’s standard host referral bonus. Currently their standard bonus is $100 USD, so your exclusive bonus becomes $120.

Secondly, you get an Airbnb Superhost bonus. They give you the choice between a $100 travel coupon, or a free professional photo session. I will be bias here an urge you to take the photo session. Professional photos will lead to more money in the long term.

Finally, you will gain insider access that regular Airbnb hosts do not have access too. That’s things like priority support and early access to new features. You’ll even receive event invites to product launches!

These perks may not be ground breaking stuff, but they are still pretty cool nonetheless.

What perks will I receive?

• Bonus 20% host referral bonus
• $100 travel coupon
• Free professional photo session
• Priority support service
• Early access to new features
• Exclusive event invites
• Discounts and resources for tax

Read more information about these bonuses over at Airbnb.com.

You get a Airbnb Superhost badge!

I love this, you get a badge next to your name! That’s right, your little icon gets it’s own shiny little Superhost badge to show off how good a host you are.

Your status will even appear in the display panel at the top of your listing. As you can see from the photo above, Airbnb explain how highly rated a Superhost is.

This builds trust immediately and makes a guest more likely to book your property. These little Superhost badges also appear in the search results. As a result, it makes your listing stand out even more.

How do I find my Superhost status on Airbnb?

I question I often hear asked is how do I find my Superhost status on Airbnb? Luckily there is an easy answer to this question, which I will guide you through.

Step 1: Go to your Host Dashboard

On a desktop computer, go to your Host Dashboard and click on Performance on the top menu. Next, on the sub menu click Opportunities. This will bring up a page where you can select Superhost.

It’s a little different (and easier) on the Airbnb mobile app. On the bottom menu there is an icon for Progress, so press that. Then it is just a matter of scrolling down and pressing Superhost.

Step 2: Check your progress

Airbnb award Superhost status every three months, or in other words, every quarter. You’ll be able to view your progress for each of their criteria I explained earlier in article.

Here you can check your overall rating, cancellation & response rate, plus total stays. Your screen should look a little something like this if you are doing everything right:

Step 3: Make improvements (if needed)

If there are any categories where you need to improve, Airbnb will certainly let you know.

This is the area where you can learn what to work on so you can ensure you get the status after the 3 month period. Once you have made the improvements, you can look forward a higher status.

Does an Airbnb Superhost stay with you?

Believe it or not, a question I hear asked all the time is does an Airbnb Superhost stay with you? It’s asked so often that I am compelled to answer it in this article.

The answer is, yes and no. Really, it all depends on the type of listing. I’ve done a detailed post on this topic which you can read here – private room vs entire place.

To summarise, if you book an entire place, it means the host will not stay with you. You’ll have the place all to yourself. On the other hand, if you book a private room, the host will be staying with you.

You can easily distinguish between the two and they are easy to search for. I explain all that in the article above.

How many reviews does it take to be a Superhost on Airbnb?

Back in the early days of the program, Airbnb had some very stupid criteria. One of which was 50% of your guests must have left you a review.

That’s why you will often hear the question asked how many reviews does it take to be a Superhost on Airbnb?

Thankfully that rubbish is gone as a criteria, but don’t rest on your laurels. Obtaining reviews from your guests is an important rankings factor.

The more reviews you can obtain, the better. Some guests may forget about leaving a review, while others are too lazy. Whatever the reason, a good idea is to send your guest a message to prompt them.

A good idea that works for me is reminding the guest when you send their check out message. It can be something as simple as the following.

Hi {guest_name},

I trust this message finds you well. Thanks once again for booking our Airbnb, you were a wonderful guest and hope you enjoyed your stay.

Can I please ask you a big favour? When you have time, could you please leave a quick review for us on Airbnb.

Reviews are the lifeblood of an Airbnb host’s success, so I would be very grateful.

Summary

Hopefully that has answered your question what is a Superhost on Airbnb? If it hasn’t, then please get vocal in the comment section below.

I would like to summarise now. We learned that you can become a Superhost by nailing four different categories.

First, you need to maintain a 4.8 average star rating. Second, you must never cancel a booking on a guest, that’s a big no no. Third, you must complete either 10 stays, or host 100+ nights. Finally, you will need to maintain a 90% response rate.

If you are one of the few hosts who can achieve all that, there are plenty of bonuses that await you. The big bonus is increased visibility, that leads to more guests seeing your listing. We know what that means don’t we? It means a higher chance to get booked and earn more money.

And finally, I showed you how to check your status progress on the Airbnb app and website.

What is a Superhost on Airbnb?

Further Reading