Airbnb Ratings: How the System Works and What a 4.8 Really Means
This guide explains how Airbnb ratings work, what the average rating is across 6,348 live listings in 15 markets, and how the Guest favorite badge relates to the number.
Table of contents
Airbnb ratings run so high that a 4.8, which sounds excellent, put a listing in the bottom 28% of our sample.
The median rated listing scored 4.95, and 72% scored 4.9 or higher.
Researchers spotted the pattern a decade ago.
In 2015, a Boston University team found that nearly 95% of more than 600,000 Airbnb listings scored 4.5 or 5 stars, while hotels on TripAdvisor averaged 3.8.
We pulled the ratings and Guest favorite badges of 6,348 listings in 15 markets in October 2026 to see where the numbers sit now, and how they compare with hotels in the same cities.
Key Takeaways
- The overall rating is its own question. Guests rate the stay overall and in 6 categories, and Booking.com's overall doesn't come from its subscores either, as our Booking.com review score guide found.
- The median Airbnb rating was 4.95. 72% of rated listings scored 4.9 or higher, and only 0.9% fell below 4.5.
- A 4.8 is a low score on Airbnb. Every listing rated 4.80 to 4.89 sat in the bottom 28% of the sample.
- The Guest favorite badge almost never goes below 4.7. Among listings with 5+ reviews, 95% of those rated 4.9 to 4.99 had it, against 24% at 4.7 to 4.79 and 1 of 177 at 4.5 to 4.69.
- Airbnb out-rated hotels in all 15 cities. The median listing scored 4.95, against 4.4 for TripAdvisor hotels in the same cities.
- Superhost belongs to the host, and Guest favorite belongs to the listing. Superhost needs a 4.8 overall across a host's listings, while Guest favorite compares each home with other homes.
How the Airbnb Rating System Works
After checkout, guests rate the home overall and in 6 categories, each on a 5-star scale.
Airbnb's ratings article lists the question behind each one:
| Category | The question guests answer |
|---|---|
| Overall | "How was it?" |
| Cleanliness | "Did the home meet our standards?" |
| Accuracy | "Was it accurately represented with up-to-date photos and info?" |
| Check-in | "Was it easy?" |
| Communication | "Did the host respond to messages promptly?" |
| Location | Whether the guest was told about safety, transport, nearby places, and things like noise |
| Value | "Was it worth the price?" |
Airbnb says the overall rating is its own category, separate from the other six.
So a home can score 5.0 on cleanliness and check-in and still land a 4.7 overall, because guests answer that question on its own.
The number you see on a listing is the average of those overall ratings.
Airbnb shows it once at least 3 guests have rated the home, "near the home's title in search results and on the listing."
Until then, the search cards in our data showed the word "New" instead of a number (439 of 6,348 listings, about 7%).
Category averages sit next to the reviews on the listing page.
When a guest picks 4 or 5 stars for a category, they can also tick what stood out, like "Easy to find" for check-in.
What's the Average Airbnb Rating?
The median rated listing in our sample scored 4.95, and the mean was 4.92.
US markets ran slightly higher (median 4.96) than international ones (4.94).
A perfect 5.0 was common: 25.8% of rated listings held one.
Those perfect scores skewed young.
The median 5.0 listing had 11 reviews, against 69 for the whole sample, and 45% of them had fewer than 10.
Here's how each market looked:
| Market | Rated listings | Median rating | Share at 5.0 | Share below 4.8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rome | 370 | 4.97 | 24% | 4% |
| Scottsdale (US) | 382 | 4.97 | 36% | 4% |
| Austin (US) | 720 | 4.96 | 26% | 6% |
| Gatlinburg (US) | 437 | 4.96 | 31% | 6% |
| Kissimmee (US) | 470 | 4.96 | 33% | 7% |
| Nashville (US) | 697 | 4.96 | 19% | 6% |
| Bali | 318 | 4.95 | 31% | 4% |
| Dubai | 251 | 4.95 | 40% | 13% |
| Paris | 368 | 4.95 | 31% | 10% |
| Tokyo | 310 | 4.95 | 33% | 6% |
| London | 338 | 4.94 | 29% | 12% |
| Bangkok | 288 | 4.92 | 19% | 19% |
| Istanbul | 289 | 4.91 | 17% | 18% |
| Amsterdam | 236 | 4.86 | 6% | 34% |
| Barcelona | 274 | 4.84 | 5% | 39% |
Barcelona and Amsterdam were the tough graders, with more than a third of listings below 4.8 and only 5 to 6% at a perfect score.
Rome and Scottsdale topped the list at 4.97.
Dubai had the most perfect scores (40%), but also 13% of listings below 4.8, so its ratings spread wider than most.
What a 4.8 Really Means
Because ratings bunch near the top, a small step in the number is a big step in rank:
| Share of rated listings below | US | International | All 15 markets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.5 | 0.4% | 1.4% | 0.9% |
| 4.7 | 2.2% | 6.2% | 4.3% |
| 4.8 | 6.1% | 14.7% | 10.7% |
| 4.9 | 21.3% | 34.0% | 28.0% |
| 5.0 | 72.4% | 75.9% | 74.2% |
A 4.80 beat about 11% of rated listings, and a 4.89 beat 28%.
In the US markets, a 4.8 ranked lower still: only 6% of listings scored below it.
It's a crowded band, too: 997 listings, about 1 in 6, sat at 4.80 to 4.89.
The city changes the answer.
In Rome, a 4.8 beat 4% to 15% of local listings, from a 4.80 to a 4.89.
In Barcelona, the same score beat 39% to 66%, so a 4.89 there sat above the city's median.
Amsterdam came close, where a 4.8 beat 34% to 59%.
The review count changes it as well.
Perfect scores cluster on new listings: 87% of homes with 3 to 9 reviews showed a 5.0, against 3% of homes with 200 or more.
The median 4.8 listing had 97 reviews, against 11 for the median 5.0.
Among listings with 200+ reviews, the median was 4.92, and a 4.8 beat 17% to 41% of them.
So a 4.8 from 300 stays has held up across many guests, and a 5.0 from 4 stays hasn't been tested yet.
For hosts, a 4.8 sits at the edge of the Guest favorite badge.
Among listings with 5+ reviews, 61% of those at 4.80 to 4.89 had it, against 95% at 4.9 to 4.99.
The category averages on the listing page show where the missing points went (cleanliness and check-in are the ones to read).
Airbnb Guest Favorite: What the Badge Takes
Airbnb's Guest favorites article describes the badge as a collection of homes picked "based on ratings, reviews, and reliability data from over half a billion trips."
Eligible homes are evaluated every day and compared with other homes "globally and/or within their country."
The factors Airbnb lists:
- Overall star ratings, feedback in reviews, and messages between guests and hosts
- Category ratings for check-in, cleanliness, accuracy, communication, location, and value
- Host cancellation rate
- Review removal rate
- Quality-related incidents reported to customer service
- "A minimum of 5 reviews in the past 4 years, with at least 1 of those in the past 2 years"
In our sample, 75% of listings with a rating had the badge (81% in the US, 70% abroad).
That share runs far above Airbnb as a whole, because our listings came from the first page of search results, which favors top-ranked homes.
Among listings with at least 5 reviews, the badge went to 94% of perfect 5.0s and 95% of listings at 4.9 to 4.99.
At 4.8 to 4.89 it dropped to 61%, at 4.7 to 4.79 to 24%, and below 4.7 it nearly vanished.
The lowest-rated Guest favorite was a London flat at 4.57 from 7 reviews (the badge is on the live page), and the next lowest sat at 4.71.
The fewest reviews on any Guest favorite was 5, which matches Airbnb's minimum.
The badge takes more than a rating.
Of 1,442 listings with a perfect 5.0 on their details page, 336 lacked the badge, and 270 of those had fewer than 5 reviews.
In all, 206 listings rated 4.9 or higher with 5+ reviews missed the badge, probably on the reliability factors.
Our data shows the rating and the badge, and Airbnb's other inputs aren't public, so the cutoffs above are observed patterns that can't be turned into a formula.
Inside the program, the top 1%, 5%, and 10% of eligible homes get a gold trophy icon, a gold badge, and a highlight at the top of the page.
The bottom 10% get a label above their reviews, shown only after Airbnb has already contacted the host about quality.
Guest Favorite vs Superhost
The two badges measure different things:
| Guest favorite | Superhost | |
|---|---|---|
| Applies to | One listing | The host, across all their listings |
| Evaluated | Every day | Every 3 months, over the past 12 months |
| Rating rule | Compared with other homes globally or in the country | 4.8 or higher overall |
| Other requirements | 5 reviews in 4 years, cancellations, review removals, quality incidents | 10 reservations (or 3 totaling 100+ nights), 90% response within 24 hours, under 1% cancellations |
The Superhost rules come from Airbnb's Superhost article.
A Superhost's newest listing can go without the Guest favorite badge until it collects 5 reviews.
A Guest favorite home can belong to a host who misses Superhost on response rate.
Our data can't count Superhosts.
The listing details return one label, and when a home has both, the label is "Guest favorite."
Airbnb Ratings vs Hotel Ratings
In the same 15 cities, 1,639 TripAdvisor hotels with 3+ reviews had a median rating of 4.4, against 4.95 for Airbnb listings.
99.1% of rated Airbnb listings scored 4.5 or higher, against 45% of the hotels.
The gap was widest in Kissimmee (hotels 3.8, Airbnb 4.96) and Gatlinburg (3.9 against 4.96).
It was narrowest in Bali, Istanbul, and Dubai, where hotels had a median of 4.7.
That's the same shape the Boston University study found in 2015, with both sides a bit higher today.
Both of our samples lean toward well-ranked places (the first page of Airbnb results, the first 150 TripAdvisor results), so read the gap as a same-cities comparison of well-ranked places.
The BU researchers suggested one reason: when guests and hosts rate each other and the stay feels personal, both sides tend to be more charitable.
Hosts can also turn guests down, so a guest's own reviews are at stake too.
How We Collected 6,348 Ratings
The US listings (2,991) come from searches on October 6, 2026, in the five markets of our Airbnb occupancy rate study.
The international listings (3,357) come from October 15 searches in 10 cities, 12 neighborhoods each, at 2 and 4 guests.
The hotel ratings come from the TripAdvisor sample of our average cost of a hotel room study.
For the badges, we called StayAPI's Airbnb listing details endpoint once per listing, on dates its calendar endpoint showed as bookable:
curl -G "https://api.stayapi.com/v1/airbnb/listing/1019840685860243923/details" \
-H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
-d check_in=2026-11-09 \
-d check_out=2026-11-11 \
-d adults=2 \
-d currency=USD
The response for an Austin bungalow, truncated:
{
"success": true,
"listing_id": "1019840685860243923",
"details": {
"rating": "4.99 (73)",
"rating_count": 73,
"badge": "Guest favorite",
"max_guests": 4
}
}
| Field | Example | What it is |
|---|---|---|
details.rating |
"4.99 (73)" | The average overall rating and the number of ratings, as the listing shows them |
details.rating_count |
73 | Number of ratings |
details.badge |
"Guest favorite" | One label: "Guest favorite", "Superhost", or empty |
details.max_guests |
4 | Guest capacity |
The dates matter: on a stay the listing can't take, the details call returns an empty rating and badge.
Per-review star ratings come from the Airbnb reviews endpoint, and our guide to Airbnb review data compares the ways to get them.
Getting Started
- Check any listing's rating, review count, and badge with the free Airbnb listing details tool.
- If you host, open Today, then Menu, then Insights, then Reviews, to see your category averages.
- Compare your overall rating with your market's row in the tables above, and treat anything under 4.9 as below most of your competition.
- Read the reviews behind a weak category with the free Airbnb reviews tool.
- For a portfolio or a market study, sign up at stayapi.com (free tier, 50 requests, no credit card) and pull ratings and badges for your comp set.
- Schedule that StayAPI pull weekly with N8N or Make.com, so you see a rating slip or a badge disappear the week it happens. For a review and rating feed across many listings, see reputation data or book a demo call.
FAQ
How do Airbnb ratings work?
After a stay, guests rate the home overall and in 6 categories on a 5-star scale.
The listing shows the average overall rating once at least 3 guests have rated it, and the overall is its own question, separate from the categories.
What is a good Airbnb rating?
In our sample of 5,748 rated listings, the median was 4.95 and 72% scored 4.9 or higher.
A 4.9 or above keeps pace with most listings, and a 4.8 sits in the bottom 28%.
What are the Guest favorite requirements?
Airbnb requires at least 5 reviews in the past 4 years, with at least 1 in the past 2 years.
It then weighs ratings, review feedback, category ratings, host cancellations, review removals, and quality incidents, compared with other homes globally or in the same country.
How do I see my Airbnb rating?
Your overall rating shows next to your listing's title once 3 guests have rated it.
For category averages, go to Today, then Menu, then Insights, then Reviews.
Why are Airbnb ratings so high?
Researchers at Boston University suggested that when guests and hosts rate each other and the stay feels personal, both sides rate more kindly.
In our data, 99.1% of rated listings scored 4.5 or higher, against 45% of hotels in the same cities.
Is a 4.7 on Airbnb bad?
It's low for Airbnb: listings rated 4.70 to 4.79 sat in the bottom 11% of our sample.
Among those with 5+ reviews, only 24% had the Guest favorite badge, against 95% at 4.9 to 4.99.
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