The short-term rental industry is expecting a big shift in traveling trends in the year 2022 that will tremendously grow the revenue of Airbnb hosts. As Q3 of 2021 suggests, Airbnb is witnessing record-breaking revenue growth, which is expected to grow in the coming months.
Becoming an Airbnb host is a great opportunity to increase your income. However, how you seize this opportunity is entirely up to you. Your hosting skills will take you a long way to increase your bookings and grow with the industry.
Ever heard about the Airbnb Superhost label? Airbnb hosts with this label receive 22% more bookings than other hosts on the platform.
Intrigued? Read on to know more about how to become a superhost on Airbnb and exponentially increase your bookings.
What is a superhost on Airbnb?
As the name suggests, Airbnb Superhost is someone who prioritizes guest experiences and ensures a great stay for Airbnb users. Airbnb Superhost requirements are not easy to meet, but it is worth the effort. Below you will find not one but seven advantages that an Airbnb Superhost enjoys and why this label is worth the sweat.
Benefits of being an Airbnb Superhost
- Being a Superhost increases the visibility of your listing. How? Firstly, Airbnb has a special “Superhost only” filter that Airbnb users can and mostly do turn on when they want to make sure they are getting their money’s worth. Secondly, Airbnb newsletters and curated lists usually include properties managed by Superhosts. These two factors greatly contribute towards increased visibility and bookings for your listing. You also get a competitive advantage over other hosts in your vicinity.
- Since getting this title is not easy, you are seen as an experienced host who provides outstanding service to their guests once you get the status of Airbnb Superhost. Undoubtedly, guests are more likely to choose someone they can trust with their experience.
- A combination of trust and increased visibility automatically leads to increased booking and conversion rates.
- Now the fun part, with the Airbnb Superhost title, you have proved that you have a lot of experience providing great service. Guests will be willing to pay more when they are sure that you will provide them with an excellent stay experience. However, you may have to run a few experiments with different prices to find your sweet spot.
You can use PriceLabs dynamic pricing solutions to get pricing recommendations based on historical and current booking data, market supply and demand, seasonal and day-of-week trends, special events and holiday predictions, and the number of days left to book.
- Airbnb Superhost is a badge of honor that impresses your guests and your industry peers. When looking to network or establish connections, Superhosts receive a more privileged status. They are seen as someone committed to providing the best experience and growing their business. This can be useful when you are planning to scale your business or make valuable partnerships.
- Airbnb also provides priority support, a $100 travel coupon every year, and a 20% higher bonus when Superhosts refer other hosts to the platform. That is not all; you also get invited to local Airbnb events. You’d be lying if you say you are not tempted to know how to become an Airbnb Superhost.
How to become a Superhost on Airbnb?
If you have read this far, I am sure you are curious to know how to enjoy all the benefits that come with becoming a superhost on Airbnb.
I am getting to it, but first, you should know Airbnb measures your performance as a host based on 12 months of hosting. However, it is not necessary to have hosted for the full 12 month period to be considered for the Superhost title.
1. Host a minimum of 10 guests
This is one of the easiest criteria to meet. Hosting ten guests is an easy task for short-term rental. Mid-term rentals host guests for longer periods. They have a higher occupancy rate but low bookings. If you are one of those, you need to complete three reservations with occupancy of at least 100 nights.
2. Maintain a 90% or higher response rate
This goal may be a little harder to hit. Airbnb expects you to reply to guest inquiries and messages ASAP and maintain at least a 90% response rate. The problem is, typing out messages is a time-consuming task and may take up the better half of your day. If you spend all your time replying to messages, when will you host your guests and give them a great experience?
My advice would be to sign up for advanced property management tools like Hostfully, which will help you automate your messages and maintain your high response rate. Property management software are tools that vacation rental owners and managers use to automate their processes, make their businesses scalable, and maintain the smooth running of your vacation rental business. For example, Lauren Sanders from Luxury Coastal Vacations manages 350+ properties with Track and PriceLabs.
3. Maintain a 1% or lower cancellation rate
Sending out a disappointing notification to your guests informing them that their much-awaited stay is canceled, doesn’t align with a great guest experience. Airbnb is also very particular about preventing cancellations as it makes the whole platform look bad. To become a superhost, you can only cancel 1 in 100 bookings. Let’s face it; it basically means you can’t cancel any booking at all.
Now, usually, hosts have to cancel bookings when they have double booked their listing. If you are just advertising your property on Airbnb, then you don’t have to worry about this problem. However, if you use more than one platform to get bookings, you have some booking management to do.
Firstly, synchronize your calendars with all the platforms you are using. For example, you can export your Airbnb calendar and import it into Vrbo and vice versa if those are the only two platforms you are using. Needless to say, things will become increasingly complicated as you list on more platforms.
Your best bet would be to use a vacation rental property management system and other software that is directly integrated with the platforms you use. For example, software like PriceLabs, revenue management software, doesn’t just help with your dynamic pricing solutions but also instantly syncs your calendars whenever a new booking is made on any of the booking platforms you are using. It is integrated with several PMSes that you can find on PriceLabs’ integrations page. This ensures that your real-time availability is visible to guests, and you don’t get booked twice.
4. Maintain a 4.8 overall rating
This one won’t come as a surprise when asking about how to become a superhost on Airbnb. Ratings matter A LOT in the hospitality business. To become an Airbnb Superhost, you should have and maintain an overall rating of 4.8. Here is where your skills as a host are really tested.
You should provide a great guest experience to Airbnb users to get this rating. Sometimes you may have to go one step further to achieve this goal, which will reflect in the ratings your guests leave for you on Airbnb. They need to feel compelled to recommend your property to other users of Airbnb by your exceptional hosting skills.
You also have to make sure that they express their contentment on the platform by leaving you a great review. Other users read these reviews as they trust the opinions of other fellow travelers.
5. Get Reviewed by at least 50% of guests
Airbnb mandates that at least 50% of your guests should leave a rating on Airbnb. Needless to say, this again is a time-consuming process since not every guest will leave a rating on check-out. You will be required to send a follow-up text to get those reviews.
You can either ask them personally to rate their experience or automate this task with good property management tools like Guesty. Make sure to leave a review for your guests as well.
How to maintain your Airbnb Superhost status
If you meet the above-mentioned goals, you are on a fast track to becoming an Airbnb Superhost. However, maintaining this status is another ball game.
Airbnb reevaluates this status four times a year which means it is not enough to know how to become a superhost on Airbnb. You have to keep up the effort to maintain the status. If you fail to provide great service after getting this recognition, then well, you won’t have the title anymore.
So, how do you maintain this status?
Stating the obvious here, keep following the criteria mentioned above. Ensure you are paying attention to maintaining a 90% response rate, avoiding double bookings and cancellations, and maintaining an average rating of 4.8 stars.
After the basics are done, go one step beyond. Keep yourself updated with the changing trends and provide your guests with exactly what they expect. What resulted in a 5-star rating earlier might not give you the same results today.
For instance, since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the globe, guests have become increasingly conscious of the hygiene and cleanliness of a vacation rental. For this reason, Airbnb has also introduced new cleaning standards and Enhanced cleaning labels to show the guests that you are doing the needful. In addition, the
Airbnb cleaning checklist is also more extensive now than it used to be earlier.
Hosts are expected to adhere to stricter cleaning and disinfecting protocols to ensure the safety and well-being of their guests and prioritize their health.
Additionally, to accommodate the remote working guests who are renting out Airbnbs for their workstations, you can add a special work from home setup. This includes a study table, study chair, and wifi.
You will always need to go above and beyond to show your guests that their stay experience matters to you. Adding a few nice touches will definitely get you those 5-star reviews and preserve your Superhost status.
