Airbnb Rating Calculator

Enter the rating and review count shown on your listing. The calculator tells you exactly how many consecutive 5-star reviews you need to reach 4.8 (Superhost) or 4.9 (Guest Favourite), how many 1-star reviews you can absorb before you drop below the line, and what every possible next review would do to your number.

Everything is worked out in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere and there is no signup.

How Airbnb calculates your overall rating

The overall rating is a plain average. Airbnb adds up the overall star rating every guest left and divides by the number of reviews, then shows the result to two decimal places. A listing with reviews of 5, 5, 5, 4 and 5 has a star-sum of 24 across 5 reviews, so it shows 4.80.

Two things follow from that. First, the six category ratings (cleanliness, accuracy, check-in, communication, location and value) are averaged separately and do not feed into the overall figure. A guest can give you 5 stars in every category and 4 stars overall, and it is the 4 that counts. Second, every review carries the same weight whether it was left last week or three years ago, which is why the number gets harder to move as your review count grows.

Because the displayed rating is rounded, a listing showing 4.76 with 200 reviews could have a star-sum anywhere between 951 and 952, and those two cases need a different number of 5-star reviews. The calculator accounts for that and tells you the range where it matters, rather than pretending the rounded figure is exact.

Why 4.8 is harder than it looks

The Superhost line sits close to the top of the scale, and that changes the arithmetic. A 5-star review lands only 0.2 above the line. A 4-star review lands 0.8 below it. So it takes four 5-star reviews to cancel out a single 4-star, and the ratio gets worse as the target rises.

The same headroom decides how many 5-star reviews it takes to climb back. The exact number depends on your review count, but the shape is simple: the further you are below 4.8, the more it costs, and the cost is measured in multiples of the reviews you already have.

So a listing at 4.70 with 40 reviews needs 20 perfect stays in a row. The same rating with 120 reviews needs 60. For the 4.9 Guest Favourite line every figure in that table doubles, because there is only 0.1 of headroom above it instead of 0.2.

Being above the line is not safety either. A 40-review listing at a perfect 5.00 can absorb exactly two 1-star reviews before it drops under 4.8. At 4.90 it can absorb one. At 4.85 it cannot absorb any: a single 1-star review takes it under. The calculator shows your own buffer as soon as you enter a rating above your target.

What the calculator does not know

Guest Favourite is also not purely a rating threshold. Airbnb combines the 4.9 figure with category ratings, cancellation history and how the listing compares with similar ones nearby, so 4.9 is necessary but not sufficient. Treat the 4.9 target as the entry condition rather than a guarantee.

The four Superhost requirements

The rating is the number hosts watch most, but Airbnb checks four things at every assessment, each over the trailing 12 months:

• 4.8 or higher overall rating.
• 90% or higher response rate to new enquiries and booking requests within 24 hours.
• Under 1% host cancellations, with limited exceptions for extenuating circumstances.
• 10 completed stays, or 3 reservations totalling at least 100 nights.

Assessments run on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October, and status only changes on those dates. A mid-quarter dip does not cost you anything until the next one, which is what makes the "how many 5-star stays before the next assessment" figure in the calculator worth planning around. The Superhost requirements guide covers each number in detail.

Frequently asked questions

How does Airbnb calculate the overall rating?

Airbnb adds up the overall star rating every guest left and divides by the number of reviews. It is a plain average, shown to two decimal places. The six category ratings are averaged separately and do not feed into the overall figure.

How many 5-star reviews do I need to get to 4.8?

It depends on how far below 4.8 you are and how many reviews you already have. Each 5-star review only adds 0.2 above the 4.8 line, so a listing at 4.70 needs half as many new 5-star reviews as it already has reviews, and a listing at 4.60 needs as many as it already has. The calculator above solves the exact figure for your listing.

Does the calculator use my trailing 12-month rating?

No. It uses whatever rating you type in, and the rating shown on your public listing is the average of every review you have ever received. Airbnb assesses Superhost on the trailing 12 months only, which the public page does not show. If your recent reviews differ from your history, the two figures differ too. Your host dashboard shows the 12-month figure Airbnb actually uses.

Why does one 4-star review hurt so much?

Because the 4.8 line sits so close to the top of the scale. A 4-star review lands 0.8 below the line while a 5-star review lands only 0.2 above it, so it takes four 5-star reviews to cancel out a single 4-star. For the 4.9 Guest Favourite line the ratio is nine to one.

When is the next Superhost assessment?

Airbnb assesses every host on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October, each time looking at the trailing 12 months. The next assessment is the first day of the coming quarter; the calculator shows the exact date and the number of days remaining.

Do category ratings affect the overall rating?

Not directly. A guest gives an overall star rating and separate category ratings, and only the overall rating counts towards the 4.8 Superhost figure. In practice a weak category is usually the reason a guest gives 4 stars overall, so fixing the weakest category is the fastest way to move the overall number. The category-by-category guide covers what moves each one.