Quick Summary
Airbnb Plus was an invite-only program that badged design-forward homes after an in-person, checklist-based inspection. Launched in 2018, it stopped growing around mid-2020 and was officially discontinued in November 2023. Its replacement is Guest Favorites: a data-driven badge awarded daily to roughly the two million most-loved listings, based on ratings above 4.9 on average, strong category scores, and reliability, with top 1%, 5%, and 10% tiers layered on since 2024. Hosts who would once have chased Plus should now manage reviews and reliability, which feed both Guest Favorites and Superhost status.
If you’re searching for Airbnb Plus in 2026, you’ve probably noticed something is off: the program’s pages are gone, the badge has vanished from listings, and most articles about it read like they were written in 2019, because they were. Booking a “Plus” home or applying to join is no longer possible, and chasing a dead badge is wasted effort for a quality-focused host. This guide, current as of 2026, explains what Airbnb Plus was, why Airbnb killed it, what actually replaced it, and where the hosts who cared about that kind of quality signal should put their energy now.
What was Airbnb Plus?
Airbnb Plus was a premium tier launched in 2018 that badged individually inspected, design-forward homes. Unlike any other Airbnb status, it was verified in person: homes had to pass a detailed inspection covering design, amenities, and upkeep before earning the badge.
The pitch was trust through curation. Plus homes got special placement, distinct listing pages, and a badge that told guests a human had actually stood in the property and checked it.
That model made Plus expensive to scale by design. It launched in a small set of cities, required inspectors on the ground, and never covered more than a small fraction of Airbnb’s listings, which is central to why it died.
Why did Airbnb end the Plus program?
Airbnb effectively froze Plus in 2020 and made it official years later: the program had been largely abandoned since around June 2020, and Airbnb formally discontinued it in November 2023. Hosts received notice, and the badge was retired from the platform.
Two structural problems killed it. Human inspections couldn’t scale across millions of listings, and the freeze years proved the badge could go stale: a home inspected in 2019 said nothing reliable about the stay a guest would get in 2023.
The timing of the shutdown announcement told the real story. Airbnb retired Plus in the same release cycle that introduced its replacement, swapping human curation for something its data could do to every listing, every day.
What replaced Airbnb Plus?
Guest Favorites replaced Plus in November 2023, and it inverts the old model. Instead of an inspector visiting once, Airbnb’s systems evaluate every eligible listing daily and badge the roughly two million most-loved homes based on how guests actually rated their stays.
The bar is empirical rather than aesthetic. Guest Favorites average ratings above 4.9 with strong marks across all six review categories, plus reliability signals like cancellation rates around 1%.
There’s also a hard eligibility floor: a listing needs at least 5 reviews from the past 4 years, including at least 1 in the past 2 years, before it can qualify. Since 2024, Airbnb has layered top 10%, 5%, and 1% highlights on the best of them, a tiering Plus never had.
| Airbnb Plus (retired) | Guest Favorites (current) | |
|---|---|---|
| How quality was judged | One-time, in-person design inspection | Continuous guest review and reliability data |
| How often | Once, then rarely re-verified | Evaluated daily |
| Access | Invite-only, select cities | Any eligible listing, anywhere |
| Scale | A small fraction of listings | About 2 million listings, with 1%, 5%, and 10% tiers |
| Guest-facing power | Badge and separate listing style | Badge plus a dedicated search filter guests actively use |
The adoption numbers settled the argument. Guests have booked over 13.5 million stays in Guest Favorite homes since the program launched, a scale Plus never approached.
Is Airbnb Plus still a thing at all?
No. You can’t apply, you can’t book by it, and the badge no longer appears on listings. If you see a page or article treating Plus as active, you’re reading something written before November 2023.
Former Plus hosts kept their listings but not any special status; their homes compete under the same review-driven system as everyone else. The good news is that a genuinely well-run former Plus home is exactly the profile that earns Guest Favorites quickly.
What about Airbnb Luxe?
Airbnb Luxe is a separate program and was not part of the Plus retirement. Luxe is the invite-only luxury tier for high-end villas and estates with vetted standards and dedicated trip support, and it continues to operate as its own category. Plus was aspirational-but-attainable design; Luxe is a different market entirely.
What should quality-focused hosts do now?
The instinct behind chasing Plus, standing out on verified quality, is still correct; only the mechanism changed. Quality signaling on Airbnb now runs through two badges that respond to operations, not inspections.
Guest Favorites rewards the listing: ratings above 4.9, strong category scores, and near-zero cancellations, checked daily. Superhost rewards the operator: account-wide thresholds assessed quarterly. Nearly two-thirds of Guest Favorites are listed by Superhosts, so the same discipline feeds both, and the thresholds, benefits, and portfolio math are laid out in our guide to Airbnb Superhost status.
In practice, the modern “Plus playbook” is review operations. Consistent, prompt host review habits keep the reciprocal reviews flowing that Guest Favorites eligibility depends on, and fast responses plus a clean calendar protect the reliability side of the score.
The broader lesson from Plus’s death is worth keeping: platform programs come and go on the platform’s schedule. Build the operation that earns whatever badge exists, and treat the badge itself as an output of hosting on Airbnb done well rather than the goal.
FAQs about Airbnb Plus
Is Airbnb Plus still a thing?
No. Airbnb officially discontinued Plus in November 2023 after years of dormancy. The badge is gone from listings, applications are closed, and Guest Favorites is the quality badge the platform runs today.
What replaced Airbnb Plus?
Guest Favorites, launched the same month Plus was retired. Airbnb evaluates every eligible listing daily and badges roughly the two million most-loved homes, based on ratings, category scores, and reliability, with top 1%, 5%, and 10% tiers on top.
What is the difference between Airbnb Plus and Airbnb Luxe?
Plus was the mid-premium, inspection-verified badge for design-forward homes, and it’s gone. Luxe is Airbnb’s invite-only luxury tier for high-end villas with vetted standards and trip support, and it still operates as its own separate program.
Do former Airbnb Plus listings keep any special status?
No. Former Plus listings lost the badge and special placement when the program ended, and they compete under the same review-driven system as everyone else. The upside: a genuinely well-run former Plus home tends to earn Guest Favorites quickly.
How does a listing become a Guest Favorite?
It needs at least 5 reviews in the past 4 years, including 1 in the past 2 years, to be eligible. Airbnb then scores listings daily on ratings, all six review categories, and reliability. Badge holders average above 4.9, and the top tiers earn extra highlights.
Key takeaways
The badge died; the strategy behind it didn’t.
- Airbnb Plus ended in November 2023 after being effectively frozen since 2020, because one-time human inspections couldn’t scale or stay current.
- Guest Favorites is the functional successor: daily, data-driven, open to any eligible listing, and backed by a search filter guests actually use.
- The eligibility floor is concrete: 5 reviews in 4 years, 1 in the past 2, then the daily scoring takes over.
- The old Plus instinct now cashes out as review and reliability operations, which feed Guest Favorites and Superhost at the same time.
- Platform programs change on the platform’s schedule; the durable asset is the operation underneath the badge.
Build the operation the badges reward
Fast first replies, clean calendars, and reviews posted on schedule are what daily badge evaluations actually measure. See how Hostfully keeps all three running.