Airbnb Superhost: How long does it take to become one?

How long does it take to become an Airbnb Superhost?

If you're just getting started on Airbnb, you're probably wondering, "How long is it going to take to get the Superhost badge, and will it actually improve my rental income?" In all honesty, it took me a pretty long time to earn the Airbnb Superhost badge.

Today, I'm covering why it took me so long, how long it actually took me, if it really improved our business, and how long I think it would take you to earn the badge if you are just getting started.

First, let's quickly review the criteria to become an Airbnb Superhost:

You need to be highly rated and achieve a 4.8+ overall rating.
You need to be responsive. Respond within 24 hours at least 90% of the time, to your inquiries.
Host at least 10 stays a year in order to be eligible for the badge.
Last, you have to be reliable. Honor every reservation, unless there is an extenuating circumstance in which you have to cancel, and then you would work with Airbnb on that, but for the most part, your calendar has to be accurate and up to date, so that you do not have to back out on any of your reservations.

I mentioned that it took us a really long time to earn the Airbnb Superhost badge, and I think it was close to two years. If I reflect back on why we didn't obtain that badge sooner, I really think it's because I was stronger at the online side of hosting, and I needed to improve my offline side of hosting.

Five years ago, I really didn't take the proper attention and care needed to that guest experience once they walked through the door. I focused all of my energy on the online side, but I wasn't being as attentive as I needed to the offline side.

I didn't have the smoothest check-in process. I wasn't using a digital lock at that time, and I didn't have some extra amenities that were really important to my guests.

We could have been doing a better job on the offline hosting, and once we improved those aspects, we remodeled, we offered more amenities, and we improved our check-in system, and that is when we then earned the badge, and then we have earned it ever since, for the past three or four years. As you can see, the Airbnb Superhost badge did not come overnight for us!

Did the Superhost badge actually improve our business? Yes, I would probably say overall, it has, but we were still doing pretty well without it. We were still getting some great bookings from there, and it didn't completely change our business overnight, but I have noticed, that we get more instant bookings than ever before.

I think because of our badge, our high number of reviews, people automatically trust our listing a lot more now than they would have before the high review count and the badge. So, we get a lot more instant bookings now with the badge and

I would say those are actually the norm now.

Overall, I think the Superhost badge is great to have, and I certainly wouldn't want to lose it, but I also don't think it is a deal breaker, and you can do well even when you don't have it.

If you don't already have it, keep working towards it, but don't worry too much if you don't have it right away. Like I said, it took us a little while to earn it, so just be patient and it will definitely come if you're being consistent.

How long is it going to take for you to earn the Airbnb Superhost badge?

Well, the first thing you need to know is that you do not need to apply for this. It is an assessment that happens automatically on Airbnb's end, and you won't need to do anything. They assess listings quarterly, so they will assess everyone's listings on the first day of the month of January, April, July, and October, and when they assess your property, they're going to look at the last 365 days of data, and look at if you met the criteria that I mentioned previously.

The first thing that you will need to know is are you going to be able to host 10 trips within that period of the next time that they're going to assess? Let's say that's April, is the next time it's going to be assessed, then have you hosted at least 10 trips and met all of that other criteria?

A study by AirDNA in 2017 actually noted that the number one reason that Airbnb hosts are disqualified from receiving that badge is because they haven't hosted the 10 trips, so that's going to be the number one factor.

Then, the next one that AirDNA noticed was that they were missing it because they weren't reaching the 4.8 overall rating. So, for your first few stays (and really all of your stays), you want to knock the guests' socks off, because you want to ensure that you're getting that five-star review.

So, you'll want to take into consideration how quickly you can do those things, and then that will help you determine how long it is going to take you.

Conclusion:

Remember, it did take us a long time to earn the badge, and we were still doing pretty well on the platform before we received the badge, so if you just missed it, don't worry. There's another assessment in just a few months, and just keep being consistent and working towards it.

To take a step back for a second, the first thing that you really need to do to earn the Superhost badge is you need bookings first and foremost, to even get the opportunity to earn that badge.

I have a free guide you can check out, it is my seven-step process to getting your listing seen and booked.

This vacation rental marketing roadmap will walk you through how to get booked when you're first getting started. The quicker you can start getting those bookings, the quicker you can work your way towards Airbnb Superhost status.