It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Superhost!

Wait, that’s not quite right. Is it? Superman, right.

So what’s a Superhost? It’s not a superhero. At least not quite.

If you use Airbnb, either as a guest or as a property owner, you’ve likely seen this designation designed to distinguish the best of the best Airbnb hosts. But this isn’t just some fancy label. Instead, it’s a ticket to more bookings, better guests, and, ultimately, more money.

Ready to take the leap to become an Airbnb superhost? Here’s everything you need to know to make it happen.

What is an Airbnb Superhost?

Quite simply, an Airbnb Superhost is a host the company has identified as one who routinely provides exceptional services to guests.

When you become an Airbnb Superhost, the name will appear under yours when guests look at your profile, making it clear to them that you have been identified as a top Airbnb host.

Why You Should Become an Airbnb Superhost

That the Superhost designation is given to those who provide an exceptional experience should be enough to convince you to take this seriously. After all, isn’t pleasing people what this is all about?

Of course it is! But so is making money! A Superhost tag will help you do this by:

Giving your listing better visibility — Superhost’s properties tend to show up at the top of search results, leading to more eyeballs looking up your property, which brings about more reservations.
More bookings — In addition to boosting your listing’s visibility, guests are also more likely to choose a Superhost when all other things are equal. Earning this status gives you a clear leg up on your competition.
More money — With more visibility and more bookings, your place goes vacant less often, you can charge more as a result of higher demand, and, in the end, you can put a lot more money in your pocket.

How to Achieve Superhost Status

Given the benefits of Superhost status, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that it’s a bit of an exclusive club.

The Requirements to Become an Airbnb Superhost

One good thing, though, is that you don’t have to apply to become a Superhost. Instead, Airbnb is constantly on the lookout for them, and when you meet the criteria they’ve identified, you will automatically be awarded Superhost status.

When this happens, you will receive an email notification and then the label will appear under your name within a few days.

To get to this point, you must satisfy the following requirements set forth by Airbnb:

Your property must have been booked for at least 10 short-term stays or 3 long-term stays totally at least 100 days
Cancellation rate must be less than 1 percent, or 1 out of every 100 bookings.
Message response rate has to be at least 90 percent, and average response time cannot exceed 24 hours.
More than half of your guests must have left you a review
Your host rating must be at least 4.8/10

Airbnb checks for Superhosts four times per year — Jan. 1, Apr. 1, July 1., and Oct. 1 — and when it does, it analyzes your stats from the previous year, which means you have lots of chances to improve your metrics and get noticed by Airbnb.

But you don’t have to wait until these dates come to find out if you’re going to make it. Airbnb lets you track your Superhost progress as you go.

The process of analyzing all these stats usually takes four or five days, so if you believe you qualify or don’t immediately get an email, be patient. It may take some time to verify your profile and then a little more time for the label to appear on your listing.

How to Meet the Superhost Requirements

The standard for becoming an Airbnb Superhost is high, but it’s not impossible to reach. If you focus on providing your guests with an exceptional experience and treat this like a job, you’ll be able to get your numbers up in no time.

To help you get there a bit sooner, here are a few tips:

Manage Your Calendar to Avoid Cancellations

Airbnb does not want people canceling their trips. It’s bad for everyone involved. But it especially doesn’t want hosts to cancel.

When this happens, Airbnb has to give all the money back, which is a pain in its own right, but it also tarnishes people’s view of the platform and makes it less likely they’ll return.

Avoiding cancellations is fairly simple, especially if you only use Airbnb to list your property. Once it’s booked, it will appear as unavailable to other guests and you don’t ever have to worry about overbooking.

If you do list on multiple platforms, consider using vacation rental software. This will integrate all of the different platforms you use to make sure there are never any booking issues and you don’t have to cancel. Beyond that, it’s just a matter of making sure you follow through with what guests expect.

Use Push Notifications to Keep Response Rate Up

Airbnb really values hosts who communicate with guests. It helps establish trust and leads to an overall better experience. If you aren’t logging into the web platform, or even if you are, make sure you have the Airbnb app downloaded on your phone.

Then, go into settings and make sure you have push notifications turned on for messages. This way, when someone sends you a note, you can get it straight to your phone as if it were a text or instant message. Respond right away and not only will guests appreciate it but Airbnb will notice too.

Do Your Best to Provide an Exceptional Experience

Lastly, to become a Superhost you need to be, well, a super host. You need to do everything you can to ensure your guests have not only a positive experience but an exceptional one. Remember, for you to get onto Airbnb’s radar and achieve this status, you have to wow guests so much that they leave you an average rating of 4.8.

Fortunately, there are a few things you can focus on to give yourself a much better chance of reaching this target, such as:

Keep the place clean — Although you’re not a hotel, people have come to expect hotel-type cleanliness when they first enter your property. You can do this on your own, but most Airbnb hosts find it’s easier to hire a professional service to make sure the job is done correctly.
Provide an accurate description of the property — Nothing is worse than showing up to a property expecting one thing and getting another, especially if the things you based your decision on weren’t accurate. Don’t ever embellish your property hoping to win more bookings. Your guests’ disappointment will only hurt you more in the end.
Make check-in as easy as possible — People want a painless check-in experience, one they can do on their own time and by themselves. Lockboxes and digital keypads work great for this, just consider changing the password every so often to avoid any issues down the road.
Encourage reviews from your guests — The more reviews you get, especially when they’re good, the better chance you have of becoming a Superhost. Initiate this process by leaving a review for your guests, but also don’t be afraid to leave little reminders on the property or, when appropriate, reaching out and asking for it directly.

If and when you receive a bad review, or at least one that’s below that 4.8/5 threshold, don’t panic. There’s time to recover. Make sure you read the review and give due diligence. There’s a chance the guests just have an ax to grind, but they may also point you to an issue you can address that will improve future guest’ experience and increase your chances of becoming a Superhost.

Become a Superhost and Let the Bookings Roll In

In a way, Superhosts are kind of like superheroes. They respond to messages faster than a speeding bullet, their schedules are more up-to-date than that of a locomotive, and they are able to leap to the top of search results with a single bound. Don’t have the time to do this, or you simply don’t think this is feasible? Consider using uplisting’s short term rental software! You can automate the small things like booking messages, reservations, and much more!

Start taking your Airbnb business even more seriously and put the effort into becoming a Superhost. Then, once you do, it’s time to get the bookings, and the money, start rolling in.

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