Airbnb Superhost Status: Does It Really Affect Performance? | Tim Hubbard

So if you've been on Airbnb before, you've undoubtedly recognized that little badge, that little symbol that says one host is doing a really good job, that super host status. And VRBO has a similar thing called premier Host. So this week we're gonna talk about those specific items and whether or not they really increase your performance and what you can do to achieve those statuses. So stay tuned. Let's jump right in. Welcome to Short Term Rental Riches. We'll discuss investing in real est, but with a specific focus on short term rentals. Quick, actionable items to acquire, manage and scale your portfolio. I'm your host, Tim Hubbard.

Welcome back to the Short Term Rental Richness Podcast. Happy you're here again. As always, we've got an important topic this week for you. It's that little super host status or badge. But that little badge can pack quite a punch. So I want to unravel this week and provide some insight. We'll break down exactly what it is and how you qualify for it. We'll talk about just some of the benefits in general overall and things that I've noticed along my journey. Managing over 20,000 guest arrivals now in my personal portfolio. So let's go ahead and just get started. So what is a superhost in the eyes of Airbnb? Well, it's basically someone that's just doing a better job than the majority of competition. I say majority because the majority of people do not have super host status. So the equivalent to this with VRBO is called their premier host. And I will break that down as well. What they require for you to achieve that status. But effectively, both of these badges or statuses or status size, that's a tough one. I'm not quite sure. Both of them can and do help your performance. So they are very, very important. So how do you qualify to be a superhost? And we've touched on this in the past, but basically in a nutshell, on Airbnb, you need to have hosted at least 10 trips or three reservations totaling at least 100 nights. You need to have maintained a 90% response rate or higher. That should be all the way at the top. And if you're using a good property management software, that should be 100% because you can automate the response times, but you want to make sure you're following up with people because communication is key and that really can make or break our reviews. So we also need to make sure that we're maintaining a 1% cancellation rate or lower. Now it's on the side of the host, the owner. So we can't Cancel More than 1% of our guest reservations. We don't really want to be canceling any of them because that really affects us. Now, this is a difficult one if you have a lot of properties or if you're managing a lot of properties, because this metric applies to someone with one property and applies to someone with a thousand properties. Unless you have those properties broken up under multiple Airbnb accounts, which I happen to have multiple Airbnb accounts. In that scenario, you would need to qualify on all those Airbnb accounts to make sure that all your properties had superhost status. So Airbnb doesn't want people doing this, but it is something we've talked about in the past and it's something that I've done. And you might want to consider if you have a ton of different properties. But I would say if you have one Airbnb account, you're adding a bunch of properties, add them to the account that has super host status, because it really does help. So the last thing that Airbnb wants is they want you to have an average review of 4.8 or higher. So those reviews are based on things like communication, cleanliness, location value, all those things that go into review. Your average needs to be 4.8 or higher. So if we look at VRBO's equivalent to this, that's called the premier host, and theirs is slightly different. They want an average rating of 4.3 stars or higher. They want a booking acceptance rate of 90% or higher, and they want a cancellation rate of 5% or lower. And that's an owner initiated cancellation rate. So they don't want us canceling guest reservations either. Really, the only times we should be canceling guest reservation is if we're concerned about our property, and there's some sort of evidence to support that, maybe the guest had bad reviews in the past or they're not responding to any of your communication. So we shouldn't be canceling reservations really, outside of that reason, unless there's something that's just completely out of our control and the tree falls on our property and our property just isn't available for a guest. And in that case, you want to make sure that you involve Airbnb or you involve vrbo. So what are the benefits of a super host? Well, first of all, you go up on the search rankings, and we know how much power these OTAs like Vrbo and Airbnb really have over our properties. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars on marketing and they can control where our properties are. If you haven't checked out the episode we did recently on boosting your search ranking, go back and check that one out. We'll make sure to put a link for the show notes. So they do boost your search rankings and they also have a search filter specifically for Super Host status. And so for someone that hasn't really stayed in a lot of properties, or maybe they they're concerned with the service level of an area of a property, they might elect to only look at properties that have Super Host status, and that's going to eliminate everyone else that doesn't have that status. So I will tell you, I just booked 5, 5 different Airbnbs in Europe for a trip I got coming up. And I wouldn't say that the Super Host status for me is a determining factor because there might be a property with 200 reviews and they have a 4.9 rating or better and it's really good and really good comments. But maybe for some reason they had to cancel a few reservations. So they don't have that Super Host status. So it's not a make or break it deal for me, but it is something that provides a little more proof that this host, this person cares about the guests they're receiving in their property. So by having Super Host status or having the premier host status, it boosts our search ranking on the platforms. It allows us to be included in that filter if someone's selecting specifically to stay in properties with Super Host Status. This all in turn is going to help us make a little more money. But there are some exclusive rewards outside of that. For example, with Airbnb, you get a special customer support. I wouldn't say that this Airbnb Super Host support is perfect. I mean, it really depends on who you get, but at least you have a support line and they will recognize you when you call in. So that's always a good perk. And so is this worth aiming for? Well, sure it is. We want our properties to have the best ranking, we want to make the most money with our properties, and we want our guests to be super happy in our properties. And the Super Host status is just proof that we're doing those things right. So definitely, definitely make sure you're paying attention to those metrics so that you can qualify to have your Super Host status. It is something, I should say, that you don't get to keep forever. Once you have it, they evaluate it every quarter, every three months. So make sure that you're staying up to par, you're Staying where you need to be so that you can hold on to it for as long as you want. Now, it is also a metric that's kind of hard to measure, right? So a couple stats from Air DNA. The average occupancy is higher. That's a clear metric, clear stat that we can see with Air DNA data. And super hosts make a little more money. On average, super hosts have a value star rating. So value is one of those components of 4.9 compared to a 4.6 for people that don't have super host status.

You could expect, again, this is, according to Air DNA, an increase of views on your property. So how many people are actually viewing your property of about 5%. So that's huge, right? I mean, if you have a thousand views a month and you go to 1,050, that's 50 other potential people that could be booking your property. So it's something we definitely want to strive for. It is something that it's a little hard for us to measure until after we've achieved it though, right? Because if we don't have super host status right now, we don't have a way of measuring the impact it would have on us. So once we get it though, we can check our listing metrics, the insights in Airbnb, to see how that really affected our property. Again, make sure to account for seasonability. So if you get super host status the same time that your season really perks up where your property happens to be, then consider that as well. A couple just quickly tips and these might seem obvious, but a couple quick tips to earn that superhost status. Make sure your listing is accurate. Cleanliness is probably one of the biggest things when it comes to negative reviews too. So make sure you're doing a good job at cleaning your property. Make sure you're leaving reviews for your guests and ask for a five star review back. Now, you might want to not ask for a five star review back, but you might want to provide your guests with a sort of scale when they check out. Maybe you want to say, hey John, I hope you really enjoyed our property. It was fantastic hosting you. We would really appreciate your review because it's the lifeblood of our business and, and, and allows more people to find our property. To us, a five star rating met all of your expectations and you had a great time. A four star rating is less than perfect and we dropped the ball somewhere. A three star rating is. You know, we need to lock our door and not let anyone in. So you might want to come up. You don't need to use those specific ones. I'm just coming off the top of my head with these. But if you want to explain the rating to your guests when you ask for that review, because a lot of times people might rate your property a four star and to them they think that's a perfect rating. They might think four star, oh no, that's perfect. Five star has to go above and beyond. So if you can expect explain that rating system to them in a message after they check out, that could help your overall average review. So if you don't have Super Host status yet, hang in there. Make sure you are meeting those metrics. And if you're meeting those metrics on Airbnb, then you're probably meeting them on vrbo. So that's good news. Hopefully you can get both Premier Host and Airbnb Super Host status. It really does help. It really is something that I use when I look for properties personally to book them and I know that other people do as well. So a little bit of insight on that. It is definitely impactful for your property. I hope you have it soon if you don't already. Until next time, take care out there and I hope you have a wonderful week.

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