What is an Airbnb superhost? And if I’m doing Airbnb cleaning or VRBO, STR (short-term rentals) what do I need to do to meet Airbnb cleaning expectations?
Once we learn “what is an Airbnb superhost?” we can learn how to provide hospitality to Airbnb guests and hosts.
An Airbnb superhost is a house cleaning FAQ as caretakers and partners accept jobs for booking and short-stay turnover services.
Listen: What is an Airbnb Superhost? House Cleaners Want to Know
Watch: What is an Airbnb Superhost? House Cleaners Want to Know
Hey there, I’m Angela Brown, and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question, and I get to help you find an answer. You can find this and 400 other answered questions in this series on our YouTube channel.
What is an Airbnb Superhost?
What is an Airbnb Superhost? A house cleaner wrote in with a question. She got contacted by an Airbnb Host who wants her to come run her Airbnb, and she wants her to help her become a Superhost.
And she says, “What does that mean? What is Airbnb? And what is Super Host?” There are a couple of acronyms, and the VRBO is Vacation Rental By Owner.
That is a house that is an extra house or a second that somebody is not using half the year. So they throw it up on the market. In this marketplace of vacation rentals, where people will come rent out the whole home for a couple of days or a week.
What Does Airbnb Stand for?
Now, Airbnb stands for AIR Bed ‘N Breakfast. And basically what it is, is people renting their homes and they’re only renting a room or two of their homes for somebody to come to stay.
Let’s say there was a conference going on in town and all the hotels were booked. An Airbnb is somebody that lives in that town and they would say, “Well, listen. I have two guest rooms that are open. Why don’t you guys come stay at my house.” There’s this whole online community marketplace called Airbnb, and it’s a movement.
There are over 400,000 Airbnb’s listed. What happens is people then, instead of staying at a hotel, they stay at a house.
Airbnb Clients Stay in Your Home
A lot of times they’re coming in through the front door of the house. They’re using the person’s fridge. They’re sitting on the living room couch of the person. And then they go to their room.
They have their own little space where they have their private bathroom and private room. And they’re staying in what is like a suite environment, but they’re not staying in a hotel. All right, when you get a job to come to clean an Airbnb, and Airbnb are looking for cleaners all the time, right?
If you are a house cleaner, this is something to consider, as far as another business opportunity to increase your revenue. So, what you want to consider is the Airbnb Host to become a Superhost. There’s a series of criteria and requirements that you have to meet.
How to Become an Airbnb Superhost
To become an Airbnb superhost you have to get over 4.8 percent rating on an ongoing basis. That is your average, 4.8 percent. And you get your high ratings and reviews, check this out, by being clean, and having a wonderful environment and a wonderful experience. But by having the cleanest space.
Airbnb says that the five-star reviews that are on their site generate more than 20% more bookings than lower ratings. They get higher ratings and reviews by being easy to work with, by communicating with the customers.
One of the Super Host requirements is that you have to have a 90% communication rate. And that is within 24 hours you have to get back in touch with the people over 90% of the time. Even if you yourself are on vacation, you’re still fielding calls and questions and touching bases with the people that are staying in your rental.
You Cannot Cancel as an Airbnb Superhost
All right, another rule is you cannot cancel. At all. You cannot cancel a booking. If somebody books your space unless it’s an act of God like there’s a hurricane, or a tornado, or a flood, and it is mandated by the government that you evacuate and get out of the house, you can’t leave, right?
And then you’d better have some news clips that say, “We are demanding everybody to evacuate.” Or if there’s a death in the family, you better be prepared to show up with a death certificate. They are not messing around. You can lose your Superhost status.
As a Host, you do not get to cancel on the bookings that you have agreed to. But you can block out your bookings and say, “This week, I, myself, am going on vacation and I won’t be renting out my home.” It shows up as your house is blocked.
You Have to Have More Than 10 Bookings Per Year
All right, another thing that you have to consider with the Airbnb bookings is they must have more than 10 bookings per year. This is not a once a year booking, but it’s an ongoing booking where you have ongoing clients that are coming and staying at your house.
There are requirements that the Super Host has to meet and maintain. And then every quarter, those are renewed. Within three months, all that rating could go away. By having the right house cleaner as part of your team, that helps you keep your Super Host status.
But, when somebody goes online to book their Airbnb, it pops up with this little banner that says, “Super Host“.
People Want to Stay at Super Host’s Houses
If you want to stay with somebody and you know you’re going to get a great place to stay, you want to stay with the people that are Super Hosts. It’s kind of an ego thing, like, “Hey, these people are screened and they’ve jumped through these hoops to maintain this certain status of excellence.”
By having that on their listing, you know you’re staying at a great place. When a person asks you, “Can you come help me clean my Airbnb?” What they’re asking you is this, “Can you, will you, be as reliable as I am to my guests? Will you show up every day? Or will you show up every time between cleaning?“
With Airbnb, usually, people will stay for two or three days, sometimes five days. And you don’t clean while they’re there, you clean between the guests.
How to Clean Your Airbnb
If you have three new guests coming in this week, you have three cleanings to do. You’ll be cleaning between each of those guests. And the cleaning is not regular house cleaning.
You are resetting the entire space for that magical 5-star experience. And where we teach speed cleaning and we teach things like efficiency and get in and get out and all these things, you don’t have that luxury with an Airbnb. The minimum requirement for most Airbnb’s is that you’re there to clean for two hours. And it takes about, on average, even if it’s one or two rooms, it takes about two hours to reset everything.
That is restocking the coffee, changing the linens, and cleaning all throughout the house.
Being an Airbnb SuperHost is a Commitment
But, the Host is asking you is, “Will you be my partner? Can you commit?” There’s a commitment. Airbnb is not, “I don’t feel like cleaning today, so I think I’m going to skip.”
They need you to be there. And if they bring you on as part of the team, you’re part of the team. You don’t get to cancel. They don’t get to cancel.
You are expected to follow the same standards that they themselves are expected to follow. This is a long-term relationship, and if you guys work out well together, it can be a very lucrative source of income for you.
*** RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE ***
Airbnb Toolbox: How to Become an Airbnb Host, Make Money on Airbnb + Manage Your Vacation Rental (Includes Copy/Paste Templates) – https://amzn.to/2NOZDpA
The Airbnb Story: How Three Ordinary Guys Disrupted an Industry, Made Billions . . . and Created Plenty of Controversies – https://amzn.to/2wHiDQi
A WEALTH OF INSIGHT: The World’s Best Luxury Hoteliers on Leadership, Management, and the Future of 5-Star Hospitality – https://amzn.to/2ClzLAA
The Heart of Hospitality: Great Hotel and Restaurant Leaders Share Their Secrets – https://amzn.to/2Pyh3aG
Practicing Hospitality: The Joy of Serving Others – https://amzn.to/2wL8fX2
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