Guest favorite vs Superhost: what each one actually measures

Superhost is awarded to a host and assessed four times a year: a 4.8 overall rating, a 90% response rate, under 1% cancellations, and a minimum booking history. The Airbnb Guest favorite is awarded to a single listing, updated daily, based on ratings, reviews and reliability, with no published star threshold.

One judges you. One judges the listing.

Superhost attaches to you, across every listing on your account. Co-hosts cannot earn it, even when they run the listing day to day.

Guest favorite attaches to one listing. Each is judged separately, so it is normal to have one carrying the badge while the others do not.

That changes what a quality problem costs you. A weak listing drags your Superhost status across the whole account. It only costs the Guest favorite badge on itself.

What each one requires

Superhost, checked quarterly on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October, looking back 12 months:

• 10 reservations, or 3 totalling at least 100 nights

• 90% response rate within 24 hours

• Under 1% cancellations

• A 4.8 overall rating or higher

Guest favorite, evaluated every day:

• At least 5 reviews in the past 4 years, 1 of them in the past 2

• Overall star ratings, review content, and guest to host communication

• Category ratings for check-in, cleanliness, accuracy, communication, location and value

• Host cancellation rate, review removal rate, and quality incidents reported to Airbnb

No star threshold is published for Guest favorite. Plenty of guides claim you need a 4.9. Airbnb does not publish a threshold, and eligibility is decided on a mix of factors rather than a single number, so treat any figure you read as an estimate.

If your rating sits just under the 4.8 Superhost line, that gap is usually caused by a few recurring issues rather than many. Rating Rescue reads your full review history at once and names them, which is hard to see from the inside when reviews arrive one at a time, months apart.

Where guests actually see them

A guest can filter an entire market down to Guest favorites in one click. They cannot do the same for Superhost. Airbnb also files its host-facing Guest favorite article under "Optimizing for search", which tells you how the company frames it.

The part most hosts have not seen

Airbnb also ranks eligible listings by percentile. The top 1%, 5% and 10% get a gold trophy and a highlight at the top of the page.

There is also a bottom 10% label, shown above the reviews, and only for listings that have already had a quality-related communication from Airbnb.

If that applies to you, the clock matters. Rating Rescue covers what to do with a listing-issues warning and, where a listing has already been removed by the quality system, how appeals are prepared and timed.

What both are really watching

The same four things: your ratings, what guests write, how reliably you deliver, and how often you cancel.

Removal of reviews is narrow. It only applies when a review breaks the Reviews Policy, and disagreement on its own is not grounds. Recovery is the bigger lever. Rating Rescue tells you straight which of your reviews actually qualify, then hands you the fix list in order, so the next stays bring the average back up.

Frequently asked questions

Can I be a Superhost without a Guest favorite listing?

Yes. Airbnb states you keep the Superhost badge either way.

What rating do I need for Guest favorite?

Airbnb publishes no star threshold, only the factors listed above.

How often is each updated?

Superhost quarterly. Guest favorite daily.

Is there a Superhost filter?

No. At the moment the guest-facing filter is only Guest favorite.

Did Guest favorite change the Superhost program?

No. The criteria and quarterly checks are unchanged.

Sources: Airbnb Help Center, What's required to be a Superhost, Guest favorites and highlights, and Guest Favorites: most-loved homes according to guests.