Luxury Lost in Translation: The Flaws in Airbnb’s Badge System
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Harkison, Tracy
Matthews, Maria
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Auckland University of Technology (AUT) Library
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The global rise of peer-to-peer accommodation platforms such as Airbnb has reshaped the lodging landscape. The platforms offer everything from budget stays to luxury escapes relying on the ‘Superhost’ badge to indicate hosting excellence. However, in November 2023, Airbnb introduced a new recognition system - ‘Guest Favourites’- and removed the ‘Superhost’ filter [1]. This shift has raised questions as to how effectively these designations reflect guest satisfaction, particularly in the luxury segment, where service quality and property features are critical. On the one hand, the ‘Superhost’ status is host-centric, based on consistent performance indicators such as high ratings, responsiveness (90%+), low cancellations, and minimum booking counts [2]. In contrast, ‘Guest Favourites’ highlights the appeal of the accommodation itself, emphasising high review scores, frequent bookings, and overall guest popularity [3]. This latter designation shifts the emphasis from the intangibility of host behaviour to the tangible attributes of the property (e.g., décor, cleanliness, amenities or location).
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3508 Tourism, 35 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services, 3504 Commercial Services, 3506 Marketing
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Hospitality Insights, ISSN: 2537-9267 (Print); 2537-9267 (Online), Auckland University of Technology (AUT) Library, 9(2), 9-12. doi: 10.24135/hi.v9i2.184
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Copyright (c) 2025 Hospitality Insights. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Copyright (c) 2025 Hospitality Insights. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.