How to Become a Superhost on Airbnb – and Maintain It (2024)

Becoming an Airbnb Superhost has a wide range of benefits. It allows you to get more eyes on your Airbnb listings, inspire trust in guests, distinguish yourself from your competitors, and ultimately increase your short-term rental revenue.

In this blog post, we’ll cover all the requirements you need to meet in order to become an Airbnb Superhost.Plus, we’ll give you tips on how to maintain your hard-earned position once you’ve achieved it.

Host Tools provides an automated, unified calendar for short-term rental hosts, allowing you to seamlessly list on all major channels.Start your free trial today!

What is an Airbnb Superhost?

Airbnb Superhosts are property owners or managers who provide an outstanding guest experience. Airbnb automatically grants Superhost status to hosts who meet a set of specific requirements as a form of recognition.

If you become a Superhost and you’re able to maintain your exceptional track record, you get to keep your Superhost badge. However, if you fall short of the requirements during a quarterly assessment performed by Airbnb, you lose your status as a Superhost. This would mean losing Superhost benefits.

Airbnb Superhost Benefits

Becoming a Superhost doesn’t just mean you’ll get a distinctive badge displayed on your profile. It also comes with a wide range of benefits. Let’s go over them.

What are the benefits of being a Superhost on Airbnb?

• Improve your listings’ visibility. The number one benefit of being an Airbnb Superhost is that it improves the visibility of your listings. It does so in a number of ways.

For example, there’s a “Superhosts only” filter in Airbnb search that guests can turn on if they want to stay with a recognized host (see image below).

Secondly, Superhosts’ properties are more likely to be featured in Airbnb newsletters and curated lists on the Airbnb website. These opportunities help to get more eyes on your listings and increase your chances of getting bookings.

• Build trust with guests. Most Airbnb guests know that Superhosts provide outstanding service and have lots of experience hosting on Airbnb. This helps to inspire trust. If faced with the choice between a Superhost and a non-Superhost, many guests are likely to opt for the host with the recognizable badge.

• Stand out from the crowd. This point is related to the previous one. Becoming a Superhost distinguishes you from all the other hosts in your area. It makes you stand out and catches the attention of guests. As a result, it’s a good way to gain a competitive edge.

• Increase your conversion rate. The combination of increased trust and improved listing visibility translates into a boost in conversion rates. Another good reason to shoot for Superhost status.

• Earn more by charging higher rates. One benefit that’s often overlooked is that you can sometimes charge higher rates than you normally would. Guests expect a higher level of service and a better experience from Superhosts, so it’s likely that they’re willing to pay more. You may need to run a few experiments to see if this works in your local market, though.

• Gain recognition in the industry. Being a Superhost is a badge of honor. It shows that you’re committed to providing the best possible service and constantly improving your business. This not only impresses guests but also industry peers. For this reason, when looking to establish contacts and build a network in the industry, Superhosts are often vocal about their privileged status.

• Enjoy priority support and additional perks like rewards and bonuses. Airbnb Superhosts get priority support, a $100 travel coupon each year, and a 20% higher bonus when referring other hosts to the platform. Plus, they can get invited to local Airbnb events.

Airbnb Superhost Requirements

Now that you’re familiar with the benefits of becoming a Superhost on Airbnb, let’s see the criteria you need to meet in order to achieve it.

Note that Airbnb measures your performance based on 12 months of hosting. However, you don’t need to have hosted for the full 12 months to be considered for Superhost status.

1. Host at least 10 guests

This is probably the easiest goal to hit. All you need to do is complete 10 guest reservations. For most short-term rental hosts, this isn’t difficult to achieve.

But what if you’re renting out your property on a mid-term basis, and you have a high occupancy rate but very few bookings? In that case, you’re still eligible for Superhost status as long as you complete 3 reservations that total at least 100 nights.

2. Maintain a 90% or higher response rate

This is where it gets difficult. Airbnb is very keen on improving the guest experience and incentivizing hosts to be more attentive. That’s why they expect Superhosts to reply to guest messages and inquiries as soon as possible and maintain a minimum 90% response rate.

The trouble is, guest communication is extremely time-consuming. Typing out messages to guests can take up a large chunk of a property manager’s day. So, if you want to pursue becoming an Airbnb Superhost, we suggest that you automate your Airbnb messages using advanced vacation rental host tools.

For example, Host Tools is an all-in-one automation tool for short-term rental hosts that lets you send automated messages to your guests. It’s super easy to set up. All you need to do is choose a message template, customize it, use tags to add unique booking information, and there you have it. Host Tools will automatically send messages to your guests, helping you keep your response rate high and your response time low.

3. Maintain a 1% or lower cancellation rate

Next up, we have cancellations. If you aspire to become a Superhost, you can only cancel 1 in 100 bookings. Airbnb is very particular about preventing scenarios where guests receive a disappointing notification informing them that the host has canceled their stay. Incidents like these make the entire platform look bad.

The best way to make sure that you never have to cancel a guest reservation is to prevent double bookings. And for that, you need to have a system in place.

If you’re only advertising on Airbnb, you shouldn’t have any issues with double bookings. However, if you list your property on multiple websites – for example, Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com – you need to make sure your calendars are synchronized. Otherwise, two guests could book your rental for the same time period on different platforms.

Now, if you only list on a couple of websites, you might be able to get away with exporting your Airbnb calendar and importing it into Vrbo, and vice versa. However, the more platforms you advertise on, the more complicated this process gets. What’s more, iCal connections aren’t the most reliable – it can take a few hours for your availability to get updated, and there’s no guarantee that a double booking won’t slip through the cracks in the meantime.

So, your best bet is to use a vacation rental channel manager that has direct API integrations with booking platforms. Thanks to these powerful connections, channel managers can instantly sync your calendars the moment you get a new booking. This makes it easy to display your real-time availability to guests at all times.

Host Tools is a channel manager with direct connections to Airbnb and Vrbo (you can also add other channels via iCal). It’s an intuitive tool with no steep learning curve that can save you a lot of headaches by avoiding double bookings. As a result, it helps you maintain a low cancellation rate and increases your chances of becoming a Superhost.

4. Maintain a 4.8 overall rating

Last but not least, Airbnb requires Superhosts to achieve and maintain a 4.8 overall rating. This is where the guest experience factor really comes into play. In order to achieve this score, you need to make sure that your guests have a great experience staying with you, and feel comfortable recommending your rental to other Airbnb users.

Plus, you need to make sure that guests actually express their contentment in the form of reviews. By asking guests to rate their stays, you can strengthen your online reputation and attract new bookings, since travelers trust the opinions of their peers.

However, messaging guests to ask them for reviews can be time-consuming if you do it manually. So we suggest using a software tool to automate the process.

With Host Tools, you can leave automated 5-star reviews for your guests and ask them to leave you a review in return. If they don’t respond, you can send them automated review reminder messages. This is a great way to boost your rating and get closer to achieving Superhost status.

How to Maintain Your Airbnb Superhost Status

Has the desired Superhost badge appeared on your profile? Congratulations! Just remember, your work is not done.

In order to maintain your Superhost status, which Airbnb reevaluates four times a year, you need to keep doing a good job. If you slack on your duties as a property manager at the expense of your guest experience, you will be stripped of your hard-earned recognition.

So what can you do to maintain your position as a Superhost?

First off, keep paying attention to and working toward the requirements listed above. Maintain a 90% response rate, don’t cancel any bookings, and make sure your average star rating stays above 4.8.

Once you’ve done all that, you need to go further still. Guest expectations are changing. What may have earned you a 5-star review in the past may not do the same today.

For example, since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, guests have been more hygiene-conscious and started expecting higher standards of cleanliness than ever. What was once considered a spotlessly clean rental may not be seen as one today when guests expect property managers to adhere to strict cleaning and disinfection protocols.

So, to preserve your Superhost status, it’s important to constantly strive to elevate the guest experience and improve the service you provide. Try adding some nice touches to your rental that show you’ve gone above and beyond.

For example, consider installing smart locks. Guests appreciate the option to do a self-check-in, and keyless entry isn’t complicated to set up. Host Tools has a smart lock integration: you can use it to automatically send your guests unique access codes that they can use to enter your rental without the need for physical keys.

Hopefully this clears up all your doubts around the requirements of becoming a Superhost on Airbnb and maintaining the coveted status in the long run. Now, let’s go through some of the most commonly asked questions around the Airbnb Superhost program.

How Do You Become a Superhost on Airbnb?

You can become an Airbnb Superhost by providing an outstanding guest experience and meeting a set of specific requirements defined by Airbnb. These requirements have to do with completing a certain number of reservations, keeping your response rate high, keeping your cancellation rate low, and achieving high overall ratings.

Airbnb evaluates qualification for Superhost status every 3 months on the first day of each calendar quarter (1 January, 1 April, 1 July, and 1 October). If you meet the requirements for the previous 12 months from the review date, you are automatically eligible to become a Superhost.

However, you won’t become a Superhost immediately after achieving all the requirements. You have to wait until the nearest upcoming review date when Airbnb evaluates all listings, and that’s when you’ll be awarded Superhost status.

You can find more information about becoming a Superhost in Airbnb's Superhost Terms and Conditions.

How Many Reviews Does it Take to Be a Superhost on Airbnb?

Becoming a Superhost does not depend on the number of reviews you manage to collect. On the other hand, you do have to maintain a 4.8 or higher average overall rating and meet a number of other criteria.

How Much do Airbnb Superhosts Make?

It’s difficult to say how much you can make as an Airbnb Superhost. It depends on the characteristics of your property, your local market, your occupancy, and lots of other factors. Some estimations say that the average Airbnb host makes around $20,000 a year. But in rare cases, the profits can be as high as $100,000 a year. What’s certain is that becoming an Airbnb Superhost can positively influence your earnings because it increases your chances to get more bookings, maintain a higher occupancy rate and improve your conversions.

Host Tools provides an automated, unified calendar for short-term rental hosts, allowing you to seamlessly list on all major channels.Start your free trial today!