PeakRatePeakRate › Guides › Airbnb Guest Favourite
Guide · UK hosts
Airbnb Guest Favourite: how to get the badge, and does it help?
You can’t apply for Airbnb’s Guest Favourite badge. Airbnb evaluates listings automatically, every day. Here’s what it says it looks at, the fixes that follow from that, and an honest answer on whether the badge helps.
In short
- Airbnb judges each listing automatically, every day. There's nothing to apply for.
- Its factors: at least 5 reviews in the past 4 years (1 in the past 2), strong ratings and review comments, high ratings in all 6 categories, host cancellations and quality issues below 1% on average, messages kept on Airbnb, and a low review removal rate.
- Airbnb publishes no minimum star rating. It describes Guest Favourites as rated above 4.9 on average.
- The badge shows in search and on your listing, and guests can filter for it. Airbnb has never said the badge itself lifts your ranking, but the things that earn it are things Airbnb says count in search.
What Guest Favourites are
Airbnb calls Guest Favourites "a collection of the most loved homes on Airbnb, according to guests". Its Help Centre says there are about 2 million of them, chosen using "ratings, reviews and reliability data from over half a billion trips", and that "Listings are evaluated automatically every day".
A Guest Favourite gets a badge in search results and on its listing page, and guests can filter search to show Guest Favourites only.
What Airbnb looks for
Airbnb's host guide, "Understanding Guest Favourites" (12 November 2025), lists these factors:
| Factor | Airbnb's wording |
|---|---|
| Enough reviews | "At least 5 reviews from guests in the past 4 years, including at least 1 review in the past 2 years" |
| Ratings and comments | "Overall star ratings, feedback in guest reviews and communication between guests and hosts on the platform" |
| All six categories | "High ratings for check-in, cleanliness, accuracy, communication, location and value" |
| Reliability | "host cancellations and quality-related customer service issues below 1% on average" |
| Reviews kept up | "A low review removal rate" |
Airbnb Resource Centre, article 642, read 17 October 2026. The older Help Centre article (3496) says "At least five reviews from guests" without the time window, and reliability "of 1% on average".
Each listing is judged on its own. If you host several, one can be a Guest Favourite while another isn't.
Do you need a 4.9 rating?
Airbnb doesn't publish a minimum. Its "Why reviews matter" article says Guest Favourites have "ratings above 4.9 stars on average, plus high marks for all 6 categories". That's the average for the group, not a cut-off you have to clear. A listing slightly under 4.9 with strong scores everywhere and a clean reliability record isn't ruled out by anything Airbnb has said.
Guest Favourite vs Superhost
| Superhost | Guest Favourite | |
|---|---|---|
| Who's judged | You, the host (listing owners only) | Each listing, on its own |
| How often | Every 3 months, looking back 12 months | Every day |
| Star rating | 4.8 or higher overall | No published minimum (group averages above 4.9) |
| Other rules | 10+ stays (or 3 stays totalling 100+ nights), 90% response rate, under 1% cancellations | The factors above |
Superhost: Airbnb Help Centre, article 829. Guest Favourite: Help Centre 3496 and Resource Centre 642. All read 17 October 2026.
You can have both. Airbnb says a Superhost with a Guest Favourite listing gets both highlighted on the listing page, and a Superhost whose listing doesn't qualify still shows the Superhost badge.
The gold version: top 10%
Since November 2025, Airbnb compares eligible listings (at least 5 reviews in the past 2 years) on ratings, reviews and reliability. "The top 10% of eligible listings include: A gold trophy, A gold Guest Favourites badge, A label with the listing's top 1%, 5% or 10% ranking." It shows in search results, on the listing page and above the reviews. The same comparison puts a label above the reviews of listings in the bottom 10%; see our guide to Airbnb conversion rate.
Five fixes
- Get to five reviews. Review every guest. Airbnb says "Reviewing guests is one way to remind them to review you." Its own example of a review line is as simple as "Thanks for being our guest!"
- Find your weakest category. Guests rate check-in, cleanliness, accuracy, communication, location and value, each from 1 to 5 stars, and your listing's ratings page shows all six. Work on the lowest first.
- Fix accuracy. Airbnb's accuracy question is "Did the place meet the guest's expectations based on the listing?" Describe the place honestly, quirks included, so nobody arrives surprised.
- Don't cancel. Host cancellations count against you. Our tip: keep one calendar in sync everywhere you take bookings, so a double booking never forces a cancellation.
- Keep messages on Airbnb. Airbnb counts "communication between guests and hosts on the platform".
Airbnb updates Guest Favourites daily: "if your listing isn't included now, it could be soon."
Does the badge help?
Here is everything Airbnb itself has said:
- Visibility. The badge appears in search results and on the listing page, and guests can filter for Guest Favourites only.
- Views and bookings. In its Q4 2023 shareholder letter (February 2024), Airbnb wrote: "Since the launch of Guest Favorites, these listings are getting more views and bookings." It gave no figure. These were already its best-rated homes, so that isn't proof the badge caused the difference.
- Search ranking. Airbnb's "How search results work" article doesn't mention Guest Favourites at all. It does say "Higher-quality listings with better ratings and reviews tend to rank higher in search", and that quality includes on-platform messages and cancellation information. So the work that earns the badge also counts in search, badge or no badge.
About "% of ranking" claims. Some blogs say the badge is a fixed share of Airbnb's ranking. Airbnb hasn't published any such figure in the Help Centre or Resource Centre articles we checked, so treat those claims as unverified.
Where price comes in
One of the six categories is about price. Airbnb's value question asks guests "How was the value of the place for the price?" Separately, its search article says it looks at total price and how it compares with other listings in the area for the same dates: "Listings that are priced below other comparable listings in the area with similar characteristics, such as guest capacity and amenities for homes, tend to rank higher in search."
That doesn't mean be the cheapest. It means knowing where your total price sits against the listings a guest would compare with yours, for the same nights, and being sure the stay feels worth it.
Questions hosts ask
How do I get the Guest Favourite badge on Airbnb?
You can’t apply. Airbnb evaluates listings automatically every day. It looks for at least 5 reviews in the past 4 years (1 in the past 2), strong ratings and review comments, high ratings in all 6 categories, host cancellations and quality issues below 1% on average, messages kept on Airbnb, and a low review removal rate.
Do you need a 4.9 rating to be a Guest Favourite?
Airbnb publishes no minimum. It describes Guest Favourites as rated above 4.9 stars on average, which is the group’s average, not a cut-off.
What is the difference between Guest Favourite and Superhost?
Superhost judges you as a host every 3 months and needs a 4.8 overall rating, among other rules. Guest Favourite judges each listing on its own, every day. You can have both.
Does Guest Favourite help your Airbnb ranking?
Airbnb has not said the badge itself lifts ranking. Its search article doesn’t mention it. It does say listings with better ratings and reviews tend to rank higher, so what earns the badge also counts in search. Claims that the badge is a fixed share of ranking are unverified.
What is the gold Guest Favourite badge?
Since November 2025, the top 10% of eligible listings get a gold trophy, a gold Guest Favourites badge and a top 1%, 5% or 10% label, shown in search, on the listing page and above the reviews.
Check it against your real competitors
Guests rate value against the price they paid, and Airbnb’s search compares your total price with similar listings for the same dates. Check where you sit before you change anything.
- Free listing audit (Airbnb listings). Paste your Airbnb listing link and PeakRate compares your price and listing with similar ones nearby.
- PeakRate, for the full picture. You choose the competitors that count, PeakRate tracks their prices night by night, and puts a suggested price next to the typical competitor price. Nothing changes until you approve it.
- Built for UK hosts, priced in pounds. From £19 a month for one property (£49 for up to 3), with a 30-day free trial and no card. It sends approved prices through Hospitable today, with more systems coming soon (see the latest).
More guides
- Easter and summer 2027 pricing
- Short-term let pricing
- England’s short-term let register
- How to price your Airbnb
- Airbnb’s 15.5% host fee
- Airbnb slow season
Sources
- Airbnb Help Centre, "Guest Favourites: Most-loved homes according to guests" (article 3496): evaluated automatically every day, about 2 million, half a billion trips, judged per listing, Superhost relationship. Read 17 October 2026
- Airbnb Resource Centre, "Understanding Guest Favourites" (article 642, 12 November 2025): the factors, badge in search and on the listing page, the filter, updated every day. Read 17 October 2026
- Airbnb Help Centre, "Guest Favourites and highlights" (article 3495): guest-facing criteria and percentile ranking. Read 17 October 2026
- Airbnb Resource Centre, "What to know about the highlight for top homes" (article 666, 12 November 2025): top 10% gold trophy, gold badge and top 1/5/10% label. Read 17 October 2026
- Airbnb Resource Centre, "Why reviews matter" (article 41, 17 September 2025): the six categories and their questions, "ratings above 4.9 stars on average", reviewing guests. Read 17 October 2026
- Airbnb Help Centre, "What’s required to be a Superhost" (article 829). Read 17 October 2026
- Airbnb Help Centre, "How search results work" (article 39): quality, ratings and reviews, total price compared with listings in the area; no mention of Guest Favourites. Read 17 October 2026
- Airbnb, Q4 2023 Shareholder Letter, p.5 (February 2024): "these listings are getting more views and bookings". Read 17 October 2026
PeakRate makes pricing and competitor-benchmarking software for hosts. Where this guide mentions it, we say so; everything else is sourced above.