The Airbnb Superhost requirements come down to four numbers over the past 12 months: a 4.8 overall rating, a 90% response rate, a cancellation rate under 1%, and at least 10 stays (or 3 stays totaling 100 nights). I'm an Airbnb Superhost, and I run our own two Wisconsin Dells homes, The Hot Tub Hideout and The Arcade Hideout, on Hospitable. This guide covers how Airbnb measures each requirement, what you actually get for it, how it compares with Guest Favorite, and the habits that keep you there, plus Vrbo's Premier Host and what Booking.com has instead.
The short version
- Superhost belongs to your host account, not one listing. Airbnb checks it four times a year.
- You don't apply. Meet all four criteria by an assessment date and it's awarded automatically.
- Cancellations catch the most hosts. Under 100 reservations a year, one cancellation without a valid reason is enough to miss.
- Guest Favorite is a separate badge for each listing, and it's the one guests can filter search results by.
On this page (10 sections)
What is an Airbnb Superhost?
Superhost is Airbnb's recognition for hosts with a consistent record of good reviews, fast replies and reliable bookings. It's a status on your host account, evaluated across all the home listings you own on that account, and it shows as a badge on your listings, on your profile and in search results.
You can't apply for it or buy it. To be considered at all, you need to be the listing owner of at least one home listing, with an account in good standing. Hosts of Airbnb experiences and services aren't evaluated for Superhost in those roles, and co-hosts aren't either (more on that below).
The four Superhost requirements
Overall rating
4.8+Your average overall rating from guest reviews in the past 12 months.
Response rate
90%+Reply to new messages, and accept or decline booking requests, within 24 hours.
Cancellation rate
Under 1%Host cancellations, with exceptions for Major Disruptive Events and other valid reasons.
Completed stays
10+At least 10 stays, or 3 stays that add up to 100 nights or more.
Overall rating: 4.8 or higher
This is the average overall star rating from your guest reviews over the past year. A review counts once both you and the guest have submitted reviews, or when the 14-day review window closes, whichever comes first. If a review is published after an assessment period ends, it counts toward the next one.
There isn't much room at 4.8. One 4-star review takes four 5-star reviews to average back to exactly 4.8, and one 3-star takes nine. That's why I treat every 4-star review as information, not bad luck. Superhost only uses your overall rating, but the category ratings (cleanliness, accuracy, check-in, communication, location and value) usually tell you why the overall slipped.
Response rate: 90% within 24 hours
The Superhost response rate isn't the same number you see on your profile. For Superhost, Airbnb looks at your first reply to each new message thread over the past 12 months. The response rate on your profile only covers the past 30 days.
- Accepting, pre-approving, declining, sending a message or sending a special offer all count as a response.
- Letting a booking request expire does not, and it hurts your rate.
- Follow-up messages don't affect it, so you never need the last word in a conversation.
- Declining a booking request doesn't hurt your Superhost status, as long as you do it within 24 hours.
Cancellation rate: under 1%
Airbnb spells out what under 1% means for smaller hosts: if you have fewer than 100 reservations in a year, you need zero cancellations. For most hosts with 1 to 10 homes, that's the real rule. One cancellation costs the quarter.
Some cancellations don't count against you:
- Major Disruptive Events, like government-declared emergencies, evacuation orders, unforeseeable natural disasters, or long utility outages that affect most homes in the area. Weather that's normal for your area and season doesn't count, so a typical Wisconsin snowstorm generally won't qualify unless it leads to something like an official travel ban.
- Other valid reasons, like major damage or emergency repairs, a serious illness that keeps you from hosting, or proof that a guest plans to break house rules or throw a party. Instant Book hosts get a few extra reasons, such as a guest who signals they're likely to break a house rule (bringing a pet, say) or who has several negative reviews.
Airbnb may ask for documentation, like photos of the damage, and decides after reviewing it. Some things are always on the host, even if the guest is the one who clicks cancel: a double booking, moving a guest to a different property, or a listing that's badly inaccurate. Airbnb can also withhold or suspend Superhost status for hosts with high host-initiated cancellation rates or high review removal rates.
Stays: 10, or 3 totaling 100 nights
These are reservations you've hosted in the past 12 months across your listings. The 100-night option exists for hosts who do mostly long stays. You don't need a full year of hosting, so a new host who reaches 10 stays with clean numbers can qualify at the next assessment.
When Airbnb checks, and how to track your progress
Airbnb assesses Superhost status four times a year. Each assessment is a 7-day period starting January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1, and each one looks back over the past 12 months. If you start meeting the criteria in the middle of a quarter, you get the status at the next assessment, as long as you still qualify then. Airbnb emails you at the end of the assessment to say whether you gained, kept or lost the status, and the badge can take up to a week to appear.
To check where you stand, open your host dashboard and go to Performance, then Superhost. On desktop the direct address is airbnb.com/progress/opportunities/superhost. It shows how you're doing on each of the four requirements. I look at it a few weeks before each assessment date, while there's still time to clear an open request or see whether a borderline rating needs attention.
The 12-month window cuts both ways
Because every assessment looks back a full year, a single cancellation stays in your numbers through up to four assessments. The same goes for a run of low reviews. Good habits take a while to show up, and so do mistakes.
What Superhosts actually get
These are the perks Airbnb lists on its Superhost program page as of November 2026:
- The badge on your listings, profile and in search results, which signals to guests that you have a strong track record.
- Priority support when you contact Airbnb Support.
- A $100 Airbnb coupon every time you reach four quarters in a row as a Superhost.
- An extra 20% on top of the standard host referral bonus.
On ranking, Airbnb's Resource Center lists "a boost in search results" among Superhost benefits. The help article on how search works is more specific: for homes, the algorithm considers the Superhost criteria, meaning host cancellations, responsiveness, and ratings and reviews. So the behavior behind the badge feeds your ranking even before you earn it, which is good news for newer hosts.
In a January 2025 Resource Center article, Airbnb said Superhosts earn 60% more than other hosts, based on median earnings from October 2023 to October 2024. Superhosts tend to be more established hosts with more reviews, so I wouldn't read that as what the badge alone does. The badge helps guests trust you, but the habits behind it are what move bookings.
One thing I'd stop counting on: some articles still say guests can filter search results for Superhosts. Airbnb's current help pages describe a filter for Guest Favorites, not Superhosts. Skift reported back in April 2024 that the Superhost filter had been removed, and hosts on Airbnb's community forum say the same.
Superhost vs Guest Favorite vs Top 1%, 5% and 10%
These three get mixed up all the time. Superhost is about you as a host. Guest Favorite and the Top 1%, 5% and 10% highlights are about each listing.
| Superhost | Guest Favorite | Top 1%, 5%, 10% | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belongs to | Your host account | Each listing | Each listing |
| Who qualifies | Listing owners who meet all four criteria | Homes with 5+ reviews in 4 years, at least 1 in the last 2, that rank highly against other eligible homes | The top 10% of eligible listings |
| What's measured | Overall rating, response rate, cancellations, number of stays | Overall and category ratings, review feedback, guest messages, host cancellations, review removals, quality incidents | Ratings, reviews and reliability |
| How often | Quarterly | Daily | Updated regularly |
| What guests see | Badge on your listings, profile and in search | Badge in search and on the listing, plus a search filter | Gold trophy, gold Guest Favorite badge and a top 1%, 5% or 10% label |
Airbnb introduced the Top 1%, 5% and 10% highlights in November 2025. Top-ranked homes also get a highlight at the top of the listing page and a label above their reviews. The Top 10% label only shows if the home has at least one review in the past 2 years. At the other end, homes in the bottom 10% get a label above their reviews, but only if Airbnb has already contacted the host about quality.
In practice, the same host habits earn all three. The difference is that Guest Favorite weighs category ratings and review removals, so a home with a 4.8 overall and a weak cleanliness or accuracy score can be a Superhost listing and still miss Guest Favorite. And because Superhost is account-wide, one weaker home on your account can pull down the overall rating that your best home's Superhost badge depends on.
How to become an Airbnb Superhost
None of the four numbers is hard on its own. What makes Superhost hard is hitting all four every quarter, including the weeks you're busy, sick or on vacation. This is what keeps our homes there.
1. Answer fast without living on your phone
Airbnb's own scheduled quick replies (Messages, then Settings, then Manage quick replies) can send the predictable messages for you around booking, check-in and checkout, which cuts down the questions that need a live reply. A property management system goes further. In Hospitable, the same message sequence runs on Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com, and the AI drafts replies from each home's own details in the Knowledge Hub, so guests get a real answer quickly instead of "I'll get back to you."
Keep notifications on, have a backup person for the days you can't answer, and decide every booking request within 24 hours. Declining is fine. Letting it expire isn't. I use automation to give guests faster, better answers, not to game the metric.
2. Never cancel: block dates instead
Most host cancellations I hear about were avoidable. If there's any chance you'll need the house, for family, a renovation, hot tub service or seasonal maintenance, block those dates before someone books them. Keep every channel's calendar on one system so a Vrbo or Booking.com booking can't land on an Airbnb night, because a double booking cancellation counts against you even if the guest clicks the button.
If a guest wants different dates, use a change request rather than cancel and rebook. If a guest asks to cancel, they can do it from their own trip. Airbnb's policy says hosts may not encourage a guest to cancel. And if something truly goes wrong, like a burst pipe, cancel promptly so the guest can rebook, and send Airbnb your photos so it can be reviewed as a valid reason.
3. Protect the 4.8 with honest expectations
Most 4-star reviews I've seen come from a gap between what the listing promised and what the guest found, not from anything broken. So we say the specific things out loud. The lower-level fireplace at The Arcade Hideout has been disabled and is only decorative, and the listing says so. The Hot Tub Hideout has a separate thermostat on each level, and the house manual explains it before anyone gets cold upstairs. Our TVs are Rokus in Guest Mode, so guests sign into their own streaming accounts, and they know that before they arrive.
Put stairs, noise, hot tub rules, parking and anything unusual in the listing itself. For reservations booked on or after November 20, 2026, Airbnb doesn't let hosts add new rules or requests after booking, whether by message, a sign in the home or in person. Anything a guest needs to agree to has to be in the listing's house rules before they book.
4. Make every turnover the same
Cleanliness complaints are the quickest way to lose a 5. Give your cleaner a written checklist with photos of how each room should look, a restock list, and a simple way to report damage or anything that isn't working before the next guest arrives. When something comes up in two reviews, fix it rather than explain it.
5. Check in early in the stay
A short message the first morning catches a problem while you can still fix it, instead of reading about it in the review. And when the same question keeps coming up, answer it before anyone asks. At The Hot Tub Hideout guests ask about the front deadbolt, which is exactly the kind of thing that belongs in the check-in message and near the top of the house manual.
6. Get to 10 stays
A new listing usually needs bookings and reviews before it can hold its full rate. Opening up shorter stays and making gap nights bookable helps you reach 10 stays in your first year. After that, price for total revenue, not occupancy. If you're starting from zero reviews, our Wisconsin Dells cold start case study shows how we handled it.
Two things I'd avoid. Never ask a guest for 5 stars or tell them anything less hurts you. And don't offer anything in return for a review. Ask for a review, and let the stay speak for itself. Our Airbnb message templates include a review request that stays within the rules.
If you lose Superhost status
Airbnb reassesses every quarter. Miss any one of the four criteria at an assessment and you lose the badge and the perks, and you'll get an email saying so. Your four-quarter streak toward the $100 coupon starts over too.
Getting it back works the same way as earning it the first time. There's no application. Meet all four criteria at a later quarterly assessment and the status comes back automatically. How long that takes depends on what you missed:
- Response rate: usually the quickest to fix, since every new thread you answer within 24 hours helps.
- Rating: new 5-star reviews pull the average up, and older low reviews drop out of the 12-month window.
- Cancellation: if you have fewer than 100 reservations a year, one cancellation can keep you out until it falls outside the 12-month window, which can mean up to four assessments.
- Stays: a slow season can drop you under 10, so keep the calendar open through the year where you can.
If you think a cancellation should have been excused, contact Airbnb with your documentation. Airbnb's help pages don't describe a separate appeal for Superhost itself, so the realistic path is meeting the criteria at the next assessment.
Co-hosts and Superhost status
Airbnb only evaluates listing owners for Superhost. Listings where you're a co-host don't count toward your eligibility, even if you're set as the primary host on them. A co-host who also owns a home listing can qualify, but only on that listing's performance.
This has two practical effects:
- If you hire a co-host or manager, Superhost stays tied to your account and your numbers. Their slow replies or cancellations land on your record, so pick someone who treats your 4.8 as their own.
- If you're a co-host building a business, you can't earn Superhost from client homes. Your own listing is the only route.
When we manage or co-host a client's home, it's the owner's account being measured, so we run it on the same rules we use on our own homes.
Vrbo Premier Host and the Booking.com equivalents
If you list on more than one channel, the rules are different enough to change how you operate. Vrbo has a close equivalent. Booking.com doesn't.
Vrbo Premier Host
| Airbnb Superhost | Vrbo Premier Host | |
|---|---|---|
| Applies to | Host account | Each listing |
| Rating | 4.8+ overall | 4.6+ average, with 5+ Vrbo reviews |
| Responsiveness | 90%+ response rate within 24 hours | 99%+ booking acceptance rate |
| Cancellations | Under 1%, with exceptions | 0% owner-initiated |
| Volume | 10 stays, or 3 stays totaling 100+ nights | 5 bookings or 60 booked nights |
| Checked | Jan 1, Apr 1, Jul 1, Oct 1 | Feb 1, May 1, Aug 1, Nov 1 |
| Look-back | Past 12 months | Past 12 months |
These are Vrbo's criteria effective January 1, 2026. Premier Host is awarded per listing, and listings that stop qualifying are removed at the next review and added back automatically once they qualify again. Vrbo lists the benefits as a Premier Host badge, a Premier Host search filter, a boost in search position, priority 24/7 support, and eligibility for Vrbo's email, social and PR campaigns. If a listing qualifies for both Premier Host and Vrbo's Loved by Guests badge, Loved by Guests is shown instead.
The big operational difference is booking requests. On Airbnb, declining a request doesn't hurt Superhost. On Vrbo, the 99% acceptance rate means declining does, so set your Vrbo rules, minimum stays and blocked dates so you rarely need to decline. The rating bar is lower at 4.6, but the cancellation bar is 0%, and Vrbo's criteria page lists no exceptions to it. Track it in the Performance Milestones widget on your Vrbo dashboard and the Premier Host scorecard on the Performance page.
Booking.com
I couldn't find a Superhost-style host status in Booking.com's partner materials. The two closest things are:
- Traveller Review Awards. An annual award based on guest review scores, with a kit you can download and share using your property ID. The 2026 awards were announced in February 2026 and were based on reviews published between December 1, 2022 and November 30, 2025. The bar in recent years has been an average review score of 8.0 or higher from at least three reviews: that's what Booking.com's partner help center listed for the 2024 awards and what its 2025 announcement stated. Check the current year's FAQ in your Partner Hub before you plan around it, since the details can change.
- The Genius partner programme. This is a visibility program, not a quality badge. Your property needs to be open and bookable, with at least three reviews and a review score of 7.5 or higher (with an exception where your area's average is lower). In return, you give Genius members a 10% discount on your least expensive and most popular unit, and Booking.com gives you extra placement and tags. You apply under Opportunities in the extranet.
Booking.com reviews use a 1 to 10 scale and recent reviews weigh more, so the same expectation-setting and turnover habits matter there too. If you join Genius, price your Booking.com rates for the commission plus the discount rather than copying your Airbnb rate. Our Booking.com listing optimization and Vrbo listing optimization pages cover how we set each channel up.
Quick answers
What are the Airbnb Superhost requirements?
Over the past 12 months you need a 4.8 or higher overall rating, a 90% or higher response rate within 24 hours, a cancellation rate under 1%, and at least 10 stays or 3 stays totaling 100 nights. You also have to be the listing owner of a home listing with an account in good standing. Airbnb checks four times a year.
How long does it take to become a Superhost?
You don't need a full year of hosting. Once you meet all four criteria, you're awarded the status at the next quarterly assessment, which starts January 1, April 1, July 1 or October 1. The badge can take up to a week to show after the assessment ends.
Can one cancellation cost you Superhost status?
Yes, for most small hosts. Airbnb says hosts with fewer than 100 reservations in a year need zero cancellations to stay under 1%. Cancellations covered by the Major Disruptive Events policy or another valid reason, like major damage or serious illness, are excepted.
What are the benefits of being an Airbnb Superhost?
As of November 2026, Airbnb lists the Superhost badge on your listings and profile, priority support, a $100 Airbnb coupon each time you hold the status for four quarters in a row, and an extra 20% on top of the standard host referral bonus. Airbnb also says the status can help your search visibility.
Do Airbnb Superhosts rank higher in search?
Airbnb's Resource Center lists a boost in search results as a Superhost benefit, and its help article on search says that for homes the ranking considers the Superhost criteria: host cancellations, responsiveness, and ratings and reviews. So the habits that earn the badge also help your ranking, whether or not you have the badge yet.
Does Superhost status apply to all my listings?
Yes. Superhost belongs to your host account, and Airbnb evaluates it across all the home listings you own on that account. One weaker listing can pull your account-wide numbers down, and the badge shows on all your listings once you have it.
Can a co-host become a Superhost?
Not from co-hosting. Listings where you're a co-host don't count toward Superhost, even if you're the primary host on them. A co-host who also owns a home listing can qualify based on that listing's performance only.
Is Superhost the same as Guest Favorite?
No. Superhost is a status for your host account, checked quarterly. Guest Favorite is a badge for individual listings, evaluated daily, based on ratings, category ratings, reviews and reliability. Guests can filter search results for Guest Favorites.
About the author
Lashan Wanigatunga
Airbnb Superhost who runs his own Wisconsin Dells rentals and helps other hosts with listing optimization, pricing and automation on Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com.
Sources
Checked November 2026. Prices and features change, so confirm on each company's site.
- Airbnb: what's required to be a Superhost
- Airbnb: Superhost program and benefits
- Airbnb: understand the Superhost program
- Airbnb: maintain Superhost status
- Airbnb: tracking your Superhost status
- Airbnb: how to become a Superhost (Resource Center)
- Airbnb: response rate and response time
- Airbnb: scheduled quick replies
- Airbnb: respond quickly to guests (Resource Center)
- Airbnb: host cancellation policy
- Airbnb: canceling as a host without adverse consequences
- Airbnb: Major Disruptive Events policy
- Airbnb: Guest Favorites and highlights
- Airbnb: Guest Favorites, most-loved homes
- Airbnb: new highlight helps top homes stand out
- Airbnb: how search results work
- Skift: Guest Favorites and the Superhost program (April 2024)
- Airbnb: house rules and requests policy
- Vrbo: Premier Host criteria
- Expedia Group: Vrbo Premier Host program
- Booking.com: Traveller Review Awards
- Booking.com: Traveller Review Awards 2026 (review period)
- Booking.com: Traveller Review Awards 2024 FAQs
- Booking.com announcement: Traveller Review Awards 2025 criteria (via Hospitality Net)
- Booking.com announcement: Traveller Review Awards 2026 (via Hospitality Net)
- Booking.com: becoming a Genius partner