How to Become an Airbnb Superhost: Top Tips from an Airbnb Entrepreneur

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Daniel Rusteen is an Airbnb Entrepreneur and author who started the website OptimizeMyAirbnb to help Airbnb hosts perform better on the platform and increase profits
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Looking to learn more about what it means to be an Airbnb Superhost? You’re in the right place! I’m Daniel Rusteen, and as the founder of OptimizeMyAirbnb , a website that helps Airbnb hosts maximize their success on the platform, I’ve compiled a wealth of useful knowledge on this topic. In this article, we’ll go over what an Airbnb Superhost is, how to become one, and how to maintain your Superhost status. I’ll even share a few reasons why you should try to book with an Airbnb Superhost if you’re a guest planning your next vacation. Keep reading for everything you need to know!

Airbnb Superhost 101

An Airbnb Superhost is a host who goes above and beyond. Superhosts must meet a specific set of requirements, like maintaining a rating of 4.8 or higher, a response rate of 90% or higher, and a cancellation rate of 1% or lower. As a result, the Superhost badge indicates that you’re a high-quality, reliable host.

Section 1 of 7:

What is a Superhost on Airbnb?

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  1. To become a Superhost, all you need to do is meet a few simple requirements, like responding to messages quickly and maintaining a high star rating. Airbnb then gives you a special badge to make it clear that you’re going above and beyond, which can lead to more customers choosing your listing over others. From there, you can sit back and watch your bookings (and your business) grow!
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Section 2 of 7:

How do you become a Superhost on Airbnb?

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  1. Airbnb assesses everyone for the Superhost program, so you don’t need to formally apply or fill out any forms. Every three months, Airbnb will evaluate your performance, and if you meet the criteria, you’ll automatically be awarded the Superhost status and badge. Here’s a breakdown of the requirements:
    • Host at least 10 reservations, or 3 reservations that total at least 100 nights.
    • Maintain a 4.8 or higher overall rating.
    • Maintain a 90% or higher response rate.
    • Maintain a less than 1% cancellation rate.
    • Note: You also need to be the listing owner to be awarded Superhost status—you can’t be a co-host.
Section 3 of 7:

Insider Tips for Being a Great Superhost

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  1. The way to guarantee 5-star reviews on Airbnb is to make your listing as honest and descriptive as possible. This ensures that your guests aren’t starting out with a bad impression because they thought the place would be bigger, or that there’d be amenities that you don’t actually offer.
    • One of my tips to set expectations right from the beginning is to include a floor plan in the photos of your listing. This gives a sense of the space, so there aren’t any misunderstandings or disappointments.
  2. Your listing is incredibly important because it’s the first thing your guests are going to see, and if it’s not attractive, you won’t get bookings, even if you have an amazing property. A great listing is divided into three parts: your title, your description, and your photos. Here are a few insider tips to help you optimize each of these components:
    • Title: Most people make the mistake of writing things like, “Cozy place at [whatever city],” but it’s better to mention a few specific amenities that will entice guests to book with you, rather than using vague descriptors. Phrases like “backyard barbecue,” “high-speed Wi-Fi,” “pet-friendly,” or “pets okay” all work well.
    • Description: Guests basically want to know, “What am I getting for my money?” So, in your description, you want to tell them you’re getting two parking places, a coffee maker, a sound system, a pool, a kayak, etc. Don’t use any filler or fluff here—just list out your amenities, clearly and concisely.
    • Photos: Your photos are arguably the most important part of your listing, so make sure you’re including high-quality pictures of several different areas of your property, not just a bunch of pictures of one location. If you’re taking the photos yourself (rather than hiring a professional), pay attention to the little details. For example, if you’re taking a picture of an area with columns, make sure they look straight, parallel, and centered in the photo you upload. Little things like this actually make a big difference!
  3. Ask yourself if you’re offering everything your guests might need during their stay, and if your answer is “no,” do your best to remedy that. For example, if the property has a laundry room, providing detergent is a nice gesture that will probably end up being reflected in your rating. You want to offer as much value as possible with small things like this!
    • Another great amenity to have is a high-quality shower head. It’s something you might not think of, but taking a comfortable, luxurious shower actually influences a guest’s impressions a lot, which can easily sway them to leave you a 5-star review.
    • Other good amenities to include are things like bikes to get around town, smart TVs with access to streaming services like Netflix or Amazon Prime, as well as toiletries and other essentials in the bathrooms.
  4. In this business, there’s something we call “surprise and delight.” This refers to features you don’t necessarily advertise on your listing, but they’re nice things that the guests find once they arrive. For instance, a parting gift works super well as a surprise and delight feature.
    • A parting gift could include fun and thoughtful items like small souvenirs, locally-produced products like honey or jam, as well as snacks or travel-sized toiletries for their journey home.
    • Some Airbnb hosts like to provide welcome gifts, but I actually prefer parting gifts over these. If you provide a gift at the start of your guest’s stay, they may have forgotten about it by the end, which means it might not sway them to rate you higher.
    • On the flip side, a parting gift is fresh on your guest’s mind as they check out, so it has more of a chance of influencing their review in a positive way.
  5. One of the requirements of a Superhost is maintaining a 90% response rate, and it’s also a good idea to keep your response time to under an hour for each message. Luckily, this is pretty easy nowadays because you don’t need to do it manually—you can just set up an automated messaging system.
    • If a guest messages you in the middle of the night or when you’re busy, the system will immediately send them an automated response, which keeps your response rate high and your response time low.
  6. In my opinion, every problem a host might have on Airbnb can be attributed to three areas: your online listing, your offline hospitality, and your pricing. Surprisingly, the area that I see most people struggle with is their pricing. For this reason, I recommend setting up a dynamic pricing tool like PriceLabs to help you price your Airbnb the right way.
    • OptimizeMyAirbnb also has a helpful Youtube playlist with everything you need to know about pricing if you’re looking for more info.
    • Basically, if your online listing, offline hosting, and pricing are all optimized, I believe you’re going to be successful no matter what!
  7. On Airbnb, guests also receive reviews from their hosts, so one thing I recommend as part of your messaging strategy is to let your guests know that they’ll be receiving a 5-star review from you. At some point during their stay, you could send a message like “I’ve loved getting to be your host, and I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to leave you a 5-star review.”
    • When a guest receives a message like this, it creates goodwill between the two of you, and it could sway them to rate you five stars as well.
    • You might also consider messaging something like, “Get ready to experience a 5-star stay!” at the beginning of the stay, to keep that number in their head right from the start.
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Section 4 of 7:

Maintaining Your Superhost Status

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  1. Airbnb checks your performance 4 times per year to make sure you’re not failing to meet the Superhost requirements. For example, if your star rating drops lower than 4.8, you start cancelling a lot of bookings, or you stop responding to messages in a timely manner, you’ll likely lose your Superhost status. On the flip side, if you keep up with all these things, your Superhost status will be automatically renewed.
    • The specific dates Airbnb reassesses Superhost performance are January 1st, April 1st, July 1st, and October 1st.
    • If you lose Superhost status on one of these dates, you can always gain it back again at the next assessment if you start meeting all the requirements again.
    • Below, we’ll go over some expert tips to help you maintain your Superhost status (and be a great Airbnb host in general).
Section 5 of 7:

Airbnb Superhost Benefits

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  1. The Superhost badge is an indicator that guests are going to be in good hands if they book with you, which could drive more people to choose your listing over others. As a host, you want to have as many badges and positive indicators as possible to get guests to book your place consistently.
    • When you’re consistently booked, you’ll likely be able to increase your prices, which ends up benefiting you financially.
  2. Superhosts get more visibility on the app than regular hosts, which means more potential guests will see your listing. Guests can filter their searches to include only Superhosts as well, and you’ll show up in these targeted searches. Beyond this, you’ll enjoy earlier access to new features and pilot programs, priority customer service support, and a 20% higher bonus when you refer others to become hosts.
    • You’ll even receive a $100 Airbnb travel coupon each year that you maintain your Superhost status!
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Section 6 of 7:

Reasons to Book Your Trip with an Airbnb Superhost

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  1. Superhosts are required to have a rating of at least 4.8 out of 5, which means that most of their guests are pretty satisfied with their experience. Superhosts are also required to be very responsive to messages and avoid cancellations, so you can rest assured that your host will be communicative and reliable if they have the Superhost badge. Here are a few other important things to look out for if you’re hoping to book a quality Airbnb:
    • Look at the number of reviews, not just the ratings themselves. For example, if an Airbnb has a 5.0 rating but only 10 reviews, it might not be the best choice. An Airbnb with a 4.95 rating and 250 reviews would be the better option, even though it’s rated slightly lower, because the number of ratings shows consistency.
    • Check to see if the owner responds to negative reviews. If the host responds to slightly critical reviews and shows that they’re taking the complaints seriously, this is a great sign. It shows that they really care about fixing those mistakes and providing a great experience for guests.
    • Make sure the listing outlines their amenities thoroughly. If the host is listing every amenity that they have in an easy-to-understand way, that's another positive indicator. It shows that they want you to have all the information you need when you're booking, so you don't have any surprises when you check in.
Section 7 of 7:

Superhost FAQs

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  1. 1
    Is there a badge for Superhosts? Yes, there is a badge for Superhosts. The design is red and orange, and it looks kind of like a military medal. This badge gets automatically added to your listings when you become a Superhost.
  2. 2
    How much do Superhosts make? There’s no clear-cut answer on how much an Airbnb Superhost makes. The amount of money you earn on Airbnb has to do with several different factors, like your market, how in-demand your property is, and how much your competition charges, so there isn’t one clear number that Superhosts make across the board.
    • Although there isn’t a definitive answer to this question, data from AirDNA suggests that Superhosts have a 29% higher annual revenue potential than non-Superhosts.
  3. 3
    How can you increase your revenue as an Airbnb host? One surprising way to increase your revenue is to not allow guests to book too far in advance. As a host, you want your property to be 100% booked in the short term, so you can get good reviews and increase your star rating.
    • However, you don’t want to be 100% booked for months down the line, because you’re basically leaving money on the table. You want the option to increase your prices if your listing is doing well, but if guests have already booked a long time in advance, they’ll be getting the property at your current rate.
  4. 4
    How do you deal with a bad Airbnb guest? Unfortunately, bad Airbnb guests are just part of the game, and you can’t fully avoid them, but you can have plans in place to deal with issues that come up. For example, a bad guest might be someone who trashes the place or breaks something expensive, like the TV. In instances like these, having an insurance policy would be very helpful.
    • If you’re really scared of having bad guests, you can also turn off automatic booking so you’re in charge of who can actually book your property.
    • As an Airbnb host, however, you do want to accept as many bookings as possible, so there isn’t really a foolproof way to make sure you never get a bad guest.
  5. 5
    What are some mistakes people make on their Airbnb listings? One mistake hosts make is not optimizing their photos. Your photos are probably the most important part of your listing because they entice guests to book with you. Of course, the most important photo is your cover photo, and this should be a picture of your most sought-after amenity. Depending on your market and your competition, this might be something like a pool.
    • Keep in mind that you want to set yourself apart from your competitors. If lots of other listings are featuring their pools, try to make your photo slightly different.
    • This could be as simple as using different colors. For instance, if your competitors’ photos all show a pool with a white wall behind it, try painting the wall behind your pool a striking color to make your property more different and memorable.
    • After your cover photo, the next four photos should be of different spaces in your property, rather than multiple photos of one area. This could be a guest room, the kitchen, the living room, and a bathroom, for example.
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