Brad Dillard's The Superhost Academy Review: Can You Make More Money as an Airbnb Superhost? + An Alternative

What Are The Superhost Academy Pros and Cons?

Pros:

• Customized mentorship based on your experience and situation.
• Co-hosting program for new students to earn while learning.

Cons:

• Lack of transparency in the website in terms of price and contents.
• Short-term rental arbitrage holds a lot of risks.
• Short-term rentals are in risks of losing business because of saturation and tightening restrictions.

Price: The Superhost Academy price is given during the scheduled call. Expect various upsells.

Refund Policy: The Superhost Academy has no refund policy listed.

Origin: The Superhost Academy was originally branded as Six-Figure Superhost.

Reputation: The Superhost Academy has mostly positive reviews online.

June 22, 2024

Brad has vast experience with different companies. Working with him in his program has been amazing. His knowledge, work ethic, and coaching skills are truly topnotch.

Micheal

5.0

5.0 out of 5 stars (based on 1 review)

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This review is based on my own experience and is my genuine opinion.

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Can You Make More Money With a Superhost Badge?

Yes, you can make more money with a Superhost badge because it provides several benefits. Most people who book prefer Superhost properties, as it is a guarantee of quality hosting. Airbnb Superhosts make an average of 64% more than regular hosts. Superhosts charge 11% less per night than standard hosts but have an average occupancy rate of 47% against the 27% for standard hosts.

It is easy to become a Superhost if you provide the best Airbnb experience to ensure guest satisfaction. That said, only 19.4% of Airbnb hosts are Superhosts. You don’t have to be a host long to qualify for the Superhost badge. A new Airbnb host can get their Superhost status as soon as they meet the requirements and pass the assessment. Your Airbnb Superhost status shows up for multiple properties. This means even if one of your properties is subpar, it still displays the Superhost badge.

What Is the Benefit of a Superhost Badge?

The benefit of a Superhost badge comes down to marketing. You get preferential positioning in Airbnb’s search results pages, which increases the visibility of your listings. Aside from additional visibility, Superhosts also benefit from exclusive privileges, reduced commission fees, and exclusive rewards.

What Are the Requirements for Becoming an Airbnb Superhost?

• Have at least 10 trips or 3 reservations that total at least 100 nights.
• Maintain a response rate of at least 90%.
• Maintain less than 1% cancellation rate.
• Maintained a 4.8 overall guest review rating.

Anyone host who meets the requirements is eligible for Airbnb Superhost. Property type does not affect your eligibility. It takes up to 1 week for your Superhost badge to show up on your listing. You do not need to apply as Airbnb will assess your profile automatically. Having a Superhost badge lasts for 3 months until the next assessment period. If you fail to meet the Superhost requirement in the assessment, you will lose your badge.

The number of reviews is irrelevant to qualify for Superhost. You just need to maintain an average of at least 4.8 guest review rating. Canceling an Airbnb reservation will affect your Superhost badge eligibility. If you cancel a reservation within Airbnb’s Extenuating Circumstances Policy and file a claim, it will not affect your eligibility.

Who Is The Superhost Academy For?

1. Beginners who want to learn how to create a short-term rental business. This works even if you do not own or have much capital to invest in a property.
2. Current hosts who want to scale their business. This is for those who do not have enough capital to buy more property but want to scale.
3. Real estate investors who want to learn short-term rental arbitrage to diversify their portfolio. The custom mentorship works well with experienced investors.

How Does The Superhost Academy Help You Make Money?

The Superhost Academy helps you make money with their 3-phase mentorship program. The phases will take you from earning money while getting experience in being a host to creating and scaling your own listings.

• Phase 1: For newbies who do not have property or capital, you are paired up with older experienced members so you can learn and get some management experience by co-hosting. You also get to earn a share of the profits in order to build capital for phase 2.
• Phase 2: Once you have gained enough experience and saved some capital to do rental arbitrage, you can now create your own Airbnb listing. You will start searching for properties and negotiating with landlords. When your listings are active and you start to scale to more properties, you can partner with new members to help manage your business.
• Phase 3: When you have saved enough to buy your own property, you are at the doorstep of creating long-term financial stability. Owning the properties lower the risks as you can sell the property for a profit or switch to long-term rentals.

What Do You Get With The Superhost Academy?

• Done-for-you tools, templates, and scripts
• Access to the entire library with over 100+ videos
• Group coaching calls
• Custom 1-on-1 coaching
• Co-hosting with older students

What Are The Superhost Academy Reviews?

The Superhost Academy reviews are extremely positive. They have 11 reviews on Google, averaging a 4.6-star rating. However, these reviews do not give any real world examples of success and appear to all be posted on the same date. There is also one negative review but it is from a non-student who wasn’t able to get a callback. Take these reviews with a grain of salt.

Who Is Brad Dillard?

Brad Dillard, full name Bradley Neil Dillard, is a short-term real estate investor, mentor, and creator of The Superhost Academy, LLC from Salt Lake City, Utah. He is the creator and host of Rocky Mountain Homestays. Before venturing into short-term rentals, Brad was working 80 hours a week as a tax associate. He worked for overs 2 years for Poston, Denney & Killpack, PLLC, then for Stayner Bates PC. After being denied a raise, he quit and went into sales. Brad created Airbnb hosting with Rocky Mountain Homestays in 2020 and when it grew to earn six-figures, he resigned in 2021 as a sales manager after almost 3 years of working in sales. He is also the co-founder of L&D Tax and Consulting Services and has a master’s degree in taxation from Weber State University.

What Is Brad Dillard’s Claim?

Brad Dillard claims that he can help you make $500-$1,000 a month with working 5-7 hours a day while starting out with The Superhost Academy. He is referring to the co-hosting part of the program which will pair you up with an experienced host within 30 days of signing up. Just how practical are his claims?

How Much Does an Airbnb Co-Host Make?

An Airbnb cohost typically makes 10%-20% of the nightly rate. Hosts on Airbnb make an average profit of $924 a month. This means you earn $92.4 to $184.8 a month on average. As there is no information on how many experienced hosts are available for you to partner up with in the program or how much they earn, we cannot verify this claim.

What Are The Superhost Academy Alternatives?

• BNB Investor Academy – Michael Elefante. This teaches Airbnb beginners how to launch and scale short-term rental businesses using strategies like arbitrage, co-hosting, and buy-and-hold. It includes personalized coaching, community support, and templates to streamline setup and automation. While reviews are mostly positive, critics note the risks of market saturation, increasing regulation, and the hands-on nature of managing Airbnbs that undermine its appeal as “passive income.”
• Airbnb Freedom Fast Track – Jonathan Farber. This is a 90-day training designed to help you secure your first Airbnb property quickly and automate operations through VAs and systems. It covers arbitrage, co-hosting, extended stays, creative financing, and business partnerships. The course positions itself as a faster entry into cash flow but faces the same regulatory uncertainty and workload challenges as other short-term rental models.
• Airbnb Arbitrage Roadmap – Preston Seo. This course teaches students how to build a 6-figure income through Airbnb rental arbitrage, expanding across platforms like Vrbo, Homestay, and Booking.com. It promotes aggressive scaling—$2.5K per unit, 40 units = $100K/month—but glosses over the rising regulatory risks, operational headaches, and tightening competition that make this level of growth difficult for newcomers to sustain.
• Airbnb Accelerator – Humza Zafar. This shows students how to profit from Airbnb without owning property, using a rental arbitrage approach. The course promises automation and step-by-step guidance, but the model struggles with subleasing restrictions, seasonal volatility, and high operating costs that squeeze profit margins thin. It’s pitched as a side hustle but may demand more time and risk than advertised.

Is The Superhost Academy Worth It?

The Superhost Academy is not worth it because renting out a property to use for your short-term rental has high interest rates and costs of rent. If you want to do Airbnb or VRBO, it’s better to have your own property. This reduces the effects of oversupply to your business as you have a backup plan for the property, such as using it for your own, reselling, or putting it up for long-term rental.

A short-term rental business is very risky as cities around the world tighten the model’s restrictions amidst the housing crisis caused by rent increases and oversupply. In the AirDNA report, listings in the United States skyrocketed to 1.38 million as many investors flocked to the business in search of passive income. The report noted that many Airbnbs remain vacant in places like the Smoky Mountains, Eugene, Oregon, the North Georgia Mountains, and even South Florida. Cities like New York City, Dallas, Philadelphia, and New Orleans have passed laws that virtually ban short-term rentals. Memphis, Tennessee, among others, requires a license for it. San Francisco can only list their property for 90 days a year. Changes in regulations in the market could spell the end to your short-term rental business. This worldwide phenomenon was named “Airbnbust.”

According to Fannie Mae, housing prices are expected to rise another 3.9%. Interest rates remain high at 5.5%. This means that you will be paying more to rent your rental arbitrage properties. With the risks of low occupancy rates, there is a high possibility you will lose money.

Also, more travelers are moving back to hotels, unless booking for big groups. This is because of the hassle Airbnb experiences, such as the checkout list or hidden fees.

If you’re looking for a more predictable, low-maintenance alternative that isn’t subject to city ordinances or platform shutdowns, local lead generation may be the better pick. Instead of relying on guests, bookings, or property licenses, you rent out digital real estate to local businesses, earning monthly income from ranked websites that never complain, cancel, or check out early.

Why Local Lead Generation is More Secure Than Short-Term Rentals?

Local lead generation is more secure than short-term rentals because it’s not dependent on external platforms, physical locations, or volatile housing policies. Instead, you build a service website, rank it with local SEO, and find local businesses to buy your leads. You own the platform, control the rules, and get clients knocking on your door. This allows you to earn a steady income each month, without needing permission to operate.

In my opinion, running an Airbnb in New York City or San Francisco today is like booking Madison Square Garden for a concert. You can set the stage, sell tickets, and even schedule performers like it’s a Live Nation tour, but if the city pulls your event license the night before, it all disappears. That’s what short-term rental hosts risk: building a business on space they don’t fully control, hoping platforms and local governments don’t change the rules overnight. By contrast, local lead gen feels more like owning digital office space on Fifth Avenue. Once it has a renter, they stay for many years.

Local lead gen isn’t just more secure, it’s less emotional. There are no phone calls at 11 p.m. about broken locks or missing shampoo bottles. Just business owners paying you for leads because your site delivers what Google values most: relevance, location authority, and responsiveness.

The best part is that it only costs $500 to build and rank a website and $30/month to maintain it. Compare that to the thousands of dollars you have to spend on property. So it’s a lot less risky as well.

Local Lead Generation Is My Top Pick for Digital Real Estate

Local lead generation is my top pick for digital real estate as it’s truly passive income. It allowed me to quit my boring 9-5 job that I hated. It allowed me to explore the beauties of Ireland and Germany. It even allowed me to dive into more hobbies and business opportunities. It’s really what gave me my freedom.

One of my websites, Elgin Elite Roofing, 649 Tollgate Rd, Elgin, IL 60123, (847) 925-7339, elgineliteroofing.com, converts 40% of its traffic. That’s around 7 leads that convert. I sell these quality leads to a local roofing company and ask for a 5% commission. The company makes $56,000, and I get 2,800. I now have more than 50 websites, all earning this amount. My monthly total comes out as $52,000!

Don’t miss out on this great business opportunity! If you want to learn how to get started, check out my local lead gen biz course. Or, work for my roofing client and get a 1% to 5% commission for each website you build and rank.