All About Airbnb

Stay updated on all the Airbnb news, product updates and promotions! Disclaimer: this is a fan-created website (not directly endorsed by Airbnb). Content and opinions by @sliver86.

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Airbnb Has Finally Announced an Official API 🚀

Airbnb has until now been very careful in choosing which external partners to work with. While many have been asking for it for a long time, Airbnb has never made available an API to help other companies create products built around the Airbnb experience.

Today, with the announcement of an Official Airbnb API those days seem to be over, as the company is getting ready to embrace the community of developers and tech enthusiasts that are interested in building a product for the ecosystem.

A Journey Towards Openness

At the 2015 Airbnb Open the company unveiled Host Assist, a platform aimed at including externally-built tools and services to help hosts do their job more efficiently.

At the same time, we spotted a couple of websites and appsmaking use of official Airbnb API, sparking the interest of hundreds of developers across the world, all interested in improving the experience for hosts and guests.

Unfortunately, both these early signs of aperture were not followed up by concrete initiatives, as Airbnb kept its platform inside of a walled garden.

Developers had to find hacks and workarounds to obtain information from the private Airbnb API, something that was against Airbnb’s terms of service.

However, as the company kept growing, also the interest to collaborate with it increased. In the last 2 years, despite the limitations imposed by Airbnb, many services have been launched by independent developers, showing a clear demand for a more structured approach that could help the entire ecosystem grow.

Partnerships as the Way Forward

Allowing travellers to live local experiences in the most authentic way has always been at the center of Brian Chesky’s vision for Airbnb.

In the last years Airbnb has started to look outside of its core accommodation rental business, with the intention to be the central hub to manage every aspect of a trip.

In order to execute this strategy, Airbnb acquired a few startups (like the Barcelona-based Trip4real), and signed partnerships with others (as Resy and Detour).

These collaborations are a clear sign of how Airbnb can - and in some cases needs to - leverage external partners to push its growth outside of the pure hospitality business. However, the company has until now limited the access of its API by examining prospective tie-ins partnership by partnership.

As Airbnb announced an updated Affiliate program at the end of September, we speculated the upcoming launch of an Official API to support Airbnb’s new interest in partnerships development.

Still, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that Airbnb has finally made the step forwards to create a platform for developers to build applications interfacing with its ecosystem.

The Long Awaited Official Airbnb API

Announced in parallel to more advanced host tools and integrations with Property Management Systems, Airbnb is now finally ready to give access to its API to external developers.

While the API is not publicly accessible to everyone, this is a huge step forwards for the entire ecosystem, as the availability of an official API will make the development process clearer, simpler and more structured, allowing to implement ideas that until now could not have been executed.

You can request access to them by filing an application here.

Airbnb will evaluate incoming requests (looking at business opportunity, technological strength and ability to support the shared customers. If you get accepted you will be granted access to the API documentation, with the support of a “global team of partnership managers” to help you succeed in the development of your application.

The specific details of the technical API documentation are not publicly available, but from the FAQ published on the page, the focus seem to be more skewed towards the host side:

The API allows development teams to securely Oauth into new and existing Airbnb accounts. Your application users will have the ability to push updates to content, rates, and availability. As Airbnb guests book your listings, we’ll pass back messaging and reservation details, allowing applications to build custom workflows and create amazing experiences for our shared guests.

Given that Airbnb is currently hiring for API Integration Consultant roles, both in Dublin and Berlin, we expect the efforts and resources put into the development of this platform to only grow over time.

We will update this article as soon as we will gather more information... but in the meanwhile, if you have more details about the new Airbnb API, let us know in the comments below!

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Airbnb Has a Secret Events Widget for Affiliates 🗺

We recently talked about Airbnb’s renewed interest in affiliate marketing.

As part of the relaunch of its partnerships program, we discovered another very interesting feature that many potential affiliate will find interesting...

Events Are Keys to Airbnb’s Marketing & Growth Strategy

A local event was the reason why Airbnb was born.

In October of 2007, ISDA - an international design conference - was coming to San Francisco, and all of the hotels were sold out... and that triggered Brian and Joe’s idea to build airbedandbreakfast.com and rent out 3 airbeds in the flat.

A big part of Airbnb’s initial growth strategy to acquire early adopters (both on the guest and host side) was focused on targeting events that would drive up the demand (and prices) for hotels rooms. With most of the hotels booked out, Airbnb also managed to secure PR attention, another key driver of the company’s early success.

Increasing Efficiency & Scalability of Events Marketing

Airbnb has obviously never forgotten this extremely valuable lesson, and has kept thriving thanks the increasing demand created by local events.

In the past Airbnb has been using dedicated landing pages to support its own marketing channels (SEM, display & SEO).

Recently, it looks like events started becoming even more central to Airbnb’s marketing strategy, as the company has started offering a widget that can be embedded on third party sites to showcase available accommodation in the proximity of a local event.

The ability to easily feature any Airbnb listing on an external website is one of the perks of the of the new Affiliate & Partnership Program, and as such, it is for now only available to selected partners.

Despite being a pretty a simple feature, building an embeddable widget is great move: a super simple way to integrate with Airbnb, in combination with the monetization offered by the affiliate program, is the perfect combination that will allows Airbnb to build relationships with external partners and event organizers in a quick and scalable way.

And the fact that Everfest (Chip Conley's new festival and events promotion company) is using this widget to display Airbnb listings close to showcased events, is a good sign that this is something that Airbnb will be focusing more on in the future.

One more thing that the hotel industry will have to worry about...

Let us know what you think about this in the comments section below, and don’t forget to sign up to our newsletter to always stay on top of every Airbnb related news!

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Airbnb Has a New Affiliate & Partnership Program 💰

Of all the channels available, affiliate marketing is probably the one that Airbnb never really took too seriously or cared too much about.

However this might be changing soon, as we the company is preparing to focus more on building stronger partnership with other brands.

Launching a New Affiliate Program

Affiliate marketing had been one of the channels that helped Airbnb gain initial traction.

However, over time other more scalable marketing channels took priority, and at the end of 2015 Airbnb shut down what was the left of its affiliate program, keeping it alive (in a very simple format) for a few selected partners like Hipmunk or GoEuro. 

Over the last years Airbnb has been partnering with bigger brands, but mostly to work on ad-hoc marketing efforts, such as the multiple “Night At” campaigns.

Today, the company seems to be ready push its efforts beyond branding campaigns, as explained on a recently launched landing page promoting the page promoting the Airbnb Affiliate program.

Promote Airbnb, Get Rewarded

The new affiliate program offers 2 types of incentives for traffic sent over to Airbnb’s website:

for every booking made by Airbnb guests

whenever new users sign up as hosts

In order to facilitate more qualified traffic to reach its site, Airbnb will be allowing its partners to easily feature on their websites any of the 4 million homes available on the marketplace.

As of today, the only way to access the full list of Airbnb offers is to scrape its website, something that is against the company’s terms and conditions.

In order to achieve this goal, Airbnb might be start offering an official way to access its API or some sort of XML feed.

While the new partnership program is mirroring Guest and Host referral programs by focusing on both side of the marketplace, it targets a very different audience to spread the word about Airbnb.

The requirements listed on the landing page (including a minimum of 1M visits a month) clearly show how Airbnb is taking a very different direction compared to the first version of its affiliate program (targeted more at small websites and blogs), focusing now on building strong partnerships with established brands.

Surprisingly there is no mention of the new Experiences part of the business, something that Brian Chesky has been pushing hard and that is experiencing a fast growth pace in multiple cities around the globe.

Will this new marketing opportunity enable Airbnb to increase even more its reach and influence in the online travel industry?

Let us know what you think about this in the comments section below, and don’t forget to sign up to our newsletter to always stay on top of every Airbnb related news!

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Airbnb Hosts Put their Guest Communications on Auto-Pilot

Since its launch in 2008, Airbnb has become a global hospitality giant and its loyalists are to be thanked for this. As most will point out, the many perks and benefits that come with renting a home through websites like Airbnb supersede the daunting task of communicating with guests.

After a guest books a reservation, it is often followed by a long exchange of messages between the host and the guest discussing specifics about the upcoming stay – where to obtain the key, parking information, access to laundry facilities, and other privileges available to them.

While some hosts enjoy the human factor behind the conversation, the sheer quantity of messages, many of which are answers to repeated questions from previous reservations, can be overwhelming and difficult to manage.

According to a study from a home-sharing company, HomeAway, rental owners spend an average of 8.4 hours per week managing their rental properties. In some cases, the sizable workload can be reason enough to stop welcoming guests altogether.

A Centralized Location

Thankfully, Airbnb has heard these cries and recently started offering the possibility to use Saved Messages. This feature helps reduce some of the manual work by enabling hosts to centralize their message templates into a single location for future use. While this functionality is a definite move in the right direction, some say the pain of managing the multitude of messages is definitely still par for the course. 

“I missed out on $600 from losing a reservation with a great guest due to the guest not receiving the check-in details in a timely fashion”, says Mario, Los Angeles Airbnb Host.

  Automate and Simplify

Automation, not solely the use of templates, is another and perhaps more formidable solution to this problem. By automating the repeatable messages, hosts can experience a dramatic reduction in the volume of messages that require their attention. Less time messaging means more time to focus on delivering excellent guest experiences. Meanwhile, guests benefit from receiving the right information at the right time, since information can be scheduled to trickle out when needed at scheduled times, making guest travels less stressful and more enjoyable.

The list of companies in the Airbnb ecosystem providing solutions to fill gaps left behind by Airbnb is growing. One such company, Aviva IQ, is quickly capturing the hearts of many Airbnb hosts.

“It has been a lifesaver for me, as a host with multiple groups arriving and departing every week.  I no longer worry about sending pertinent details to each group – it’s all taken care of!” explained Nikki, San Mateo Airbnb host.

Aviva IQ Co-founder and Airbnb Superhost, Deborah Yuster, experienced similar growing pains to her peers and wanted to develop a simple way to automate her business. Seeing how much it helped her own business, she now wants to share it with the rest of the Airbnb community, for free. “With Aviva IQ, Airbnb Hosts can automate their messages and lighten their workload by 80%”, says Deborah.

  Centralize and Personalize

Aviva IQ comes equipped with message templates for each of the following message categories: 

Confirmation

Check-In

Booking Extension

Check-Out

Review Request

Users can deploy the templates out of the box, customize their own wording on the fly, or import Saved Messages from their Airbnb account.  

By utilizing Aviva IQ’s tags, guests receive personalized messages with details specific to their reservation date and time.

And, by using Aviva IQ’s built-in scheduler, hosts can decide exactly when they want guests to receive each message.

How can I automate the communication with my Airbnb guests?

In just a few simple steps, Airbnb hosts can auto-populate an Aviva IQ dashboard with their Airbnb listing and create their own customized messages:

Go to www.avivaiq.com

Create a free Aviva IQ account using a Gmail address

Link your Airbnb account

Import your Saved Messages from Airbnb, use Aviva IQ’s message template, or create your own

Schedule their delivery

“Aviva IQ has been a huge time saver for me and helps keep my Airbnb guests happy”, added Lily, San Francisco Airbnb Host. 

Happy being the operative word, especially when satisfied guests translate into 5-star reviews, which in turn boost a listing’s visibility and bookings, something Airbnb hosts strive to reach and maintain.

So, whether hosts use Airbnb’s Saved Messages feature that centralizes message templates into one location, or they use an automated messaging service like Aviva IQ, it looks like Airbnb hosts will be able to put the enjoyment back into hosting.

Aviva IQ is opening up their free beta to the public at the 2016 Airbnb Open in Los Angeles on November 17th. If you are at the Open, look for the wacky flying propellers to learn more about Aviva IQ. 

For more information, email [email protected] or visit www.avivaiq.com.

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Airbnb’s Newly Refreshed and Minimalistic Look 🏳️

The Airbnb Open 2016 is approaching and Airbnb will announce new products, introduce new policies and explain the general direction the company is taking.

One of the most awaited updates will be the public launch of City Hosts, a brand new product line that will allow the company to reinvent itself and start being the go-to destination for all of those looking for a way to explore and experience new places in an unconventional and more local way.

To embrace this evolution, Airbnb is also slowly rolling out an updated design throughout its entire website, gradually testing and revealing what will be its future look... 

Let’s see together what this is all about!

A brand new homepage

We recently saw Airbnb testing a new version of its homepage.

The variation that got initially introduced (with a few commonalities to the older version, but featuring multiple background images), was additionally A/B tested against a much more different design.

A new minimalistic version eventually got rolled out, and can be considered the first sneak peak into the future design direction taken by Airbnb, with a lot of white space, smoother corners, new fonts, and a slightly updated color palette.

Host pictures & listing titles removed from listing tiles

We recently talked about the A/B tests performed to push the adoption of Instant Book when browsing for an accommodation.

In parallel to these changes, Airbnb has been experimenting with some new visual updates for the tiles used to preview listings.

The new design being currently under A/B test is not just a change in the user interface: by removing the picture of the host and the name of the listing, Airbnb is approaching a new way to manage interactions between hosts and guests.

The anonymization of listings obtained by hiding the face of the host in the search results could be seen as a further effort to prevent discrimination, a topic that - after all the negative PR generated during last year - has become one of the main priorities for Airbnb.

However, by focusing more on the accommodation and less on the host, the company is somehow making a step back on the human component of Airbnb, a key differentiating factor that makes many people prefer it to other more anonymous OTA websites.

This is indeed a quite radical change, and if looked from a host perspective, it’s somehow in contrast with other decisions taken to make the reservation experience on Airbnb more personal.

New search box & guests filtering options

Following a couple of recent changes that allow hosts to be more in control of their reservations, Airbnb is also rolling out an updated search box.

Aside from the aesthetic changes (also in this case, aligned with with the new design direction), the main difference lies in the possibility to specify how many adults, children and infants will be travelling.

This functionality is also mirrored in the search result page and on each listing, allowing Airbnb to more accurately suggest the best accommodation for each different group of travellers.

A new skin for your listing

Another big upcoming change is undergoing on the listings pages, where Airbnb has been slowly unveiling an updated user interface.

Currently still under A/B testing to understand the impact on conversion and engagement metrics, the new update doesn’t include any radical changes, but it rather focuses on reorganizing some elements already existing on the page, refreshing them by aligning the design with UI elements that have been recently adopted for other sections of the site, such as the co-hosting one.

In particular, the following changes have been applied:

A larger and stronger font for the listing’s title - by adapting the font size and weight (from 24px regular, to 36px bold), Airbnb is increasing the focus on this element. Interestingly, this test is running concurrently with the one that is hiding the title of the listing from the tiles in the search result page...

A clearer visual focus on the overview - the icons used are not changing, but they get their own section, highlighting their importance in helping a user to quickly scan the features of an accommodation.

A larger font size for the listing description - also in this case, Airbnb increased the font size of the left section. This could be a controversial choice: on one hand larger fonts can help to increase readability (especially for older people), on the other hand they reduce the amount of visible information on the screen, decreasing the overall clarity of the content presented. Furthermore, this also increases the complexity of dealing with other languages (such as German or French) where longer words can more break the intended layout of the page.

Reorganized and updated reviews - compared to the old version, each review now occupies more horizontal space to accommodate for the larger font size and to give more attention to each single comment.

New review stars color - instead of the more traditional yellow, Airbnb is A/B testing the same green already used in links and buttons as an alternative color for the review stars.

A new header...

Airbnb’s header has been changing throughout the years, following the different designs being rolled out over time. Thus it’s normal that, with a design refresh like the currently ongoing one, also this element gets updated.

The new version is currently being A/B tested and features a few key differences:

No brand name next to the logo - given the increased maturity of the Airbnb name and a higher brand awareness, the logotype doesn’t necessarily need to be visible next to a logo (the Bélo) that more and more people got used to.

No search box - this is an interesting UX change, likely due to the fact that the new background-less homepage is much more focused on search as the primary call to action. As a consequence, Airbnb likely decided to remove a redundant element from the header. It’s important to notice that the search box has not been completely removed: this change has been applied only to the homepage, where the search box will still appear if you scroll below the fold (where the main search box is not visible).

No borders, icons or buttons - while before the different tabs were clearly separated and had their own “individual space”, now they all live in a common area without a clear differentiation... something that we believe could potentially confuse users.

A new footer...

Being at the bottom of every page, many don’t look often at the footer. However, it’s an element that can guide people throughout the website, offering users (and bots) a convenient way to quickly reach important areas of the site.

The old version featured a black design and was structured into 5 sections:

Localization settings (language and currency)

Information about the company

Resources for guests

Resources for hosts

Social media profiles

The new footer (rolled out globally without any test) maintains the same structure as the old one, but is featuring the same white design currently being adopted for the rest of the website.

Together with the visual changes, the list of linked resources in the footer got reduced, pointing out to a reorganization of the site structure to give more attention to specific sections (and to ensure a correct site crawlability and optimize the site for SEO).

It’s interesting to see how some links to social media profiles have been removed (Google+, Pinterest, YouTube), likely pointing out to the decision to focus on a more restricted set of channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) that have a higher return potential.

Airbnb has been around for more than 8 years, and its website went through a lot of changes reflecting a continuously evolving brand identity.

Despite having launched many new functionalities and having tested many visual changes, since the major 2014 design update Airbnb’s look and feel has not received any major upgrades. 

How do you like the most recent changes? Do you prefer the new or old version? Tell us in the comments below!

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Increased Visibility for Instant Book Filters ⚗️⚡️ 

Back in June 2015, Airbnb started testing the possibility to filter search results and only show those available on Instant Book. The test gave positive results and the new feature eventually got integrated in the website functionality.

In the last weeks, we noticed that Airbnb has started testing a few new features on its search results pages to incentivize more guests to pick listings with Instant Book enabled.

Let’s see together what Airbnb has been working on lately...

An easier way to find listings with Instant Book

If you are visiting a search result page on Airbnb and want to see only listings with Instant Book, you normally have to click on “Filters”, then select the checkbox and apply your selection.

However, given that this option is currently behind the filters toggle and is not immediately visible when the page loads, many people might have not even been aware of its existence. 

This situation led Airbnb to rethink the usability of this feature, and test a new version of the filter, incrementing its visibility, adding a clearer explanation and reducing the steps needed to apply it.

You can see how an option that before was not immediately visible and took 3 clicks to perform, is now is an extremely prominent position and is quickly actionable with a single click.

Complementary to this test, Airbnb has also been introducing a modal (loading after the user has already performed some actions on the page) that heavily promotes the possibility to “Book your trip instantly”.

The rationale behind the tests

We recently saw how Airbnb is exploring different ways to get more hosts using Instant Book (including a possible increment to the host service fees).

The new tests presented in this article are directly impacting more the guest side of the marketplace, but are clearly motivated by a very similar motif: increase the adoption of Instant Book.

Airbnb’s push to get more guests and hosts choosing Instant book is driven by a few reasons:

Reduce the uncertainty before a booking: the “normal” booking process on Airbnb can be somehow confusing for guests that haven’t used the website before, because even after submitting a reservation, the hosts can still refuse the booking. Removing this level of uncertainty helps Airbnb to come closer to the hotel booking experience that more people are used to.

Increase conversion rate: not having to wait for the host approval means that every submitted booking will go through, increasing the percentage of visitors successfully making a booking.

Curb discrimination: after being heavily critiqued because some hosts rejected guests based on their race or gender identity, Airbnb identified in Instant Book one of the solutions to the problem. As a consequence, it became a priority to make it easier for guests to make a reservation without the prior approval of a host.

As part of the new “Open Doors Policy”, Airbnb has committed to increase the number of listings on Instant Book, hoping to have at least 1,000,000 by January 2017... thus we expect more and more focus and experimentation around on this feature in the upcoming months.

What do you think of this test? Do you think it will help you to discover accommodation that better fit your needs? Tell us in the comments below!

And remember: sign up to our newsletter to always stay up to date with the most recent product updates, tests and promotions from Airbnb!

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Get a $100 Airbnb Discount for the best US Ski Destinations ⛷🏡  

Continuing its efforts to penetrate more the vacation rental market (one of the company’s top priorities for the year 2016) and grow its user base, Airbnb has recently launched a promotion offering a $100 discount to be spent on accommodation in 13 top ski destinations in North America.

Let’s find out what this is all about...

To support the marketing campaign, Airbnb has created a dedicated mini-site (available at https://vacation.withairbnb.com/skipromo/).

Through it, visitors can discover 13 top ski destinations that Airbnb has identified as key development areas and obtain the $100 promotional codes to be used for their first reservation.

Each skying area has then a dedicated page (for example, the one for Aspen, Colorado), where visitors can discover a selection of Airbnb listings, with a link to the corresponding search result page featuring all the available places.

List of coupons codes 🎫

Adirondacks - coupon code: Adiron100

Aspen - coupon code: Apen100

Catskills & Hudson Valley - coupon code: Cathud100

Jackson Hole - coupon code: Jackson100 

Mammoth Lake - coupon code: Mammoth100 

Mont Tremblant - coupon code: Mont100

Park City - coupon code: Park100 

Sun Valley - coupon code: Sunvalley100 

Stowe - coupon code: Stowe100

Tahoe - coupon code: Tahoe100

Telluride - coupon code: Telluride100

Vail - coupon code: Vail100

Whistler - coupon code: Whistler100

The 100$ can be used for any reservation above $500 made in the corresponding location.

The coupons can be used until October 29, 2016 and the travel dates must be between December 1, 2016 and April 1, 2017.

How to use coupons on Airbnb

Search listings and choose the one that suits your group's needs.

Request to book the place (or select Instant Book if available), and create your account or log in.

Proceed to checkout and enter coupon code before submitting.

Keep in mind that these coupons are valid only for guests that never booked before on Airbnb!

Sign up to our newsletter to always be informed about new offers and promotions from Airbnb!

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Use Instant Book if you don’t want Airbnb to charge you more 🤑 

Not long ago we reported how Airbnb is planning to update its Cancellation Policies and increase the hosting fees. 

By making it easier for guests to cancel a reservation without penalties, Airbnb hopes to remove friction in the booking process and increase the amount of reservations. However, the changes - soon to be applied to every listing in Italy - have not been welcomed positively, and many people feel that the company is neglecting the needs of the host community.

In order to further improve the booking process, Airbnb is now looking into new ways to get more hosts to use Instant Book. However, also in this case, the host community will not be please by what Airbnb has in mind...

Instant Book as the default (and only option)?

Instant Book is presented by Airbnb as a functionality that reduces the hassle and increases the number of bookings, but many hosts simply don’t feel like using it, as it might disrupt their way of hosting.

However, in the past months Airbnb had been testing some changes that made Instant Book the only available option to accept reservations for newly created listings.

Many hosts openly critiqued the move, highlighting their malcontent and threatening to leave the platform after a direct confirmation from the company.

Bitter-sweet incentives to make you use Instant Book

In the last week, a few hosts reportedly got asked by Airbnb to answer a survey about Instant Book.

From the screenshots we received, it looks like Airbnb is trying to understand what is the best way to push the adoption of Instant Book, not by forcing hosts into using it as done in the past, but rather offering incentives to do so.

Similarly to what had been recently, with the increase in host service fees for hosts that don’t choose a flexible cancellation policy, Airbnb seems to be willing to play with its fees in order to facilitate the adoption of Instant Book.

A 90-days waiver of the 3% fees could definitely incentivize hosts to use Instant Book, but the idea of higher fees for non Instant Book listings is already alarming those hosts that are not willing to automatically accept any reservation.

For now this is just a survey, thus the proposals might not be reflected into actual changes... but a wider availability of Instant Book listings is one of the tools proposed to fight discriminatory behaviour, we can expect Airbnb to push more into this direction in the near future.

What do you think about it? Would these conditions make you adopt Instant Book? Let us know in the comments below!

Want to be informed about new features launched on Airbnb? Sign up to our newsletter and stay up to date with all the most recent news!

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Airbnb Rolls Out a New Homepage, Focused On Experiences 🚀 

In preparation for the Airbnb Open and the launch of City Hosts, Airbnb is gradually rolling out a new homepage design, with a simpler design and a strong focus on experiences as a key message.

As for most of the changes rolled out by Airbnb, the new homepage has been released as an A/B tests and thus is not yet live for 100% of the traffic.

To ensure you can view the new version, visit www.airbnb.com in incognito mode or clean your cookies until when you see it.

Compared to the old version, the new homepage has a more condensed look, fewer sections and a clearer focus on the “live an experience” message that the company has been pushing more and more as the center of its brand identity.

If you are in the test group you will now see:

A carousel of feturing inspirational backgrounds

The “Don’t go to Paris. Live There” promotional video

A search box, with destination, check & checkout dates and number of guests

A list of top cities to explore that will vary based on the location of the user

Guidebooks examples, with examples of highly-rated places in town

If the visitors has already been browsing the site, comes back and is closer to the decision of booking an accommodation, a “Recently viewed” section will appear showing the most recent listings

Furthermore, but only for selected users, an invitation to join the City Host private beta

UPDATE: we noticed that a different (and extremely white) version of the homepage is also being tested...

Which version do you like the most? Tell us in the comments below!

Do you want to receive more news about Airbnb? Don’t forget to sign up to our newsletter to always stay up to date with the most recent news about Airbnb!

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Airbnb is Testing a Change to its Cancellation Policies that Hosts will NOT like 😡🚫🏠 

When Airbnb has to introduce important changes or product updates, it often tests them only on a smaller portion of its user base.

For example, in the past Airbnb tested an increase in the host fees for bookings coming from paid ads, a move that was not greeted favourably by the host community.

This time, the SF based company is planning to introduce an update to its cancellation policies and a corresponding increase of the host service fees... a move that doesn’t make the host community happy.

Let’s see together what is this all about.

How are the Airbnb Cancellation Policies going to change?

With an email sent on the 15th of September, Airbnb has informed Italian hosts that it will soon make big changes to the rules that define when and how guests can cancel a reservation.

In order to provide guests with more confidence when they want to book an accommodation on Airbnb, the company is planning to apply the following changes (the page is currently only visible to Italian hosts):

Each policy will have a grace period, i.e. a set period of time before a reservation when a guest can cancel and receive a full refund

The Moderate and Strict policies (less favourable to the guests), will be accompanied by an increase in host service fees, from 3% to respectively 4% and 5% to keep into account the extra protection from cancellations

Guests that cancels pre-trip will not be charged the guest service fees, making cancellations truly 100% refundable

Feedback gathered from the community showed Airbnb that the current cancellation policies are not well understood by guests and that listings with a “flexible” cancellation policy are more likely to receive bookings.

This strategy is taking a direction similar to the one adopted by other players in the travel industry (such as Booking.com) following the idea that, by offering more favourable cancellation terms, potential guests will be more likely to book an accommodation on Airbnb.

Furthermore, with clearer terms the company is looking to better educate guests about the consequences of cancellations, reducing the hassle for hosts who often have to waste time answering questions about this topic.

A comparison with the Old Policies

Overall, the new Cancellation Policies are generally much more favourable for guests and, especially for the “strict” one, have worse terms for hosts.

When making a comparison, it’s possible to notice how the main differences between the old and the new policies lie in the introduction - for every type of policy - of a period of time in which guests can cancel a reservation without any financial loss, and in the amount paid out to the host in case of cancellation.

Flexible policy: no big changes

Moderate policy: changes only in the cut-off time (from 5 to 7 days prior to the check-in)

Strict policy: changes in both the cut-off time (from 7 to 30 days) and in payout value (what used to be a 50% payout becomes 0%, what was 100% now it’s 50%)

Airbnb is openly trying to incentivize more and more hosts to adopt a flexible cancellation policy, and as a consequence the “extra level of protection from cancellations” offered by non-flexible policies will be available at a premium.

Super strict policies (30 & 60) are also changing, but given that only a super small of selected hosts has access to them, we’ll not cover their changes in details in this post.

The Negative Effects of the New Cancellation Policies

It is true that the old cancellation policies were complex to comprehend and that these updates have been thought to facilitate their understanding.

However, while the upcoming changes will be adding extra benefits for guests making a reservation on Airbnb, the same can’t be told about hosts side, where only worsening conditions seem to have been introduced.

The Airbnb Italian host community doesn’t seem to trust the theoretical potential increase in reservations that Airbnb is using as argumentation to justify the upcoming changes and perceives almost any adjustment as pejorative.

When analyzing the main reasons of discontent, the increase in fees (that could at first sight be perceived as the most relevant bone of contention) is actually not the main concern of Italian hosts.

What really worries the hosts community is that by introducing a grace period for every kind policy, Airbnb is de facto granting guests the option to cancel a reservation without any consequences.

This means that a guest will have any incentive to cancel whenever they will find a better or cheaper alternative, possibly also outside of Airbnb.

While even an increase in cancellations might not affect negatively Airbnb’s long-term business (as it might be balanced by an overall higher number of bookings), such a change would have a strong negative impact on individual hosts.

In fact, especially for more professional hosts, cancelled bookings are always a disruptive occurrence, as there’s no guarantee that the slots left empty will be booked again.

Furthermore, the increased service fee combines with the possibility to cancel without penalties might increase the chances that hosts and guests will agree to circumvent Airbnb’s booking system to avoid paying the booking fees.

Gathering Feedback before a Global Rollout

Having to deal with a two-sided marketplace, Airbnb always needs to carefully balance changes that can affect both sides of the platform.

To test the waters before a global rollout, the changes highlighted here will initially only be applied to Italian listings after the 18th of October 2016.

Airbnb has not commented on the reasons why Italy was picked as the test market, but from the conversations with representatives of the company it has been confirmed that the policy updates will be rolled out to the rest of world.

However, by observing the initial reactions of the community, it looks like Airbnb has miscalculated the amount of dissatisfaction that these updates would have generated among the host community (as can be shown by a petition created to fight this changes), and it might be possible that further adjustments will be applied to take into consideration of the host feedback.

If - as many other hosts - you also believe there could another ways to improve the cancellation policies, you can:

Leave a comment below, telling us how these changes are going to affect you and offering suggestions for improvements

Send an official feedback to Airbnb from this link

Sign the online petition on change.org 

UPDATE 18th October 2016:  the new cancellation policies are live for all the listings located in Italy. After the rollout, Airbnb has started showing the following banner on many listings with flexible and moderate cancellation policy.

It has also been confirmed by Airbnb representatives that the company will use the feedback gathered from Italian hosts before further roll out the new cancellation policies worldwide.

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Airbnb gets into the Property Management Business by letting Superhosts Look After Your Place for You 🔑

The incredible growth rate experienced by Airbnb and by the whole short term rental economy is attracting more and more people to join the platform and rent out their places.

In order to keep pushing the acquisition of new listings worldwide, Airbnb has been undergoing many different activities, including the launch of a host specific referral program and a renewed an ambassadors community.

Additionally, we recently discovered a brand new section of the Airbnb website incentivizing real estate owners to list their spaces and let them be managed by experienced Airbnb Superhosts.

This move de facto positions Airbnb against the many Property Management companies - like Airsorted, Hostmaker or BNBsitter - that have recently been surfacing in different cities, and opens new monetization perspectives for both Airbnb and its host community.

A new opportunity to recruit new hosts

Until today, Airbnb has basically been offering a single product: a platform that puts in contact hosts with an accommodation with people that need a place to sleep.

Who works in the hospitality business will perfectly know that the job of a host doesn’t end with a guest sending a booking through the Airbnb platform. The actual stay is what will require most of the efforts and care to ensure the possible best experience for every guest, leading to a virtuous circle that will bring more customers in the future.

The tasks of a host can be summarized in 3 main categories:

Marketing: publishing a listing on Airbnb is the first step, but successful hosts know that they will have to do more to be sure to receive bookings. Standing out from other listings, maintaining an always updated calendar and continuously optimizing prices are all activities needed to maximize the chances that guests will book a stay.

Management: hosts need to dedicate a good amount of time to answering questions and communicating with guests before, during and after their stay... plus, they also have to manage reservations, do check-ins and welcome guests in person!

Turnover: maintaining a clean, well presented and fully supplied accommodation is one of the most important factors affecting guests’ satisfaction (and reviews!). Guests are often not aware of this, but hosts with a busy calendar sometimes don’t have an easy life to ensure that their place in perfect conditions for their stay.

If you are thinking that these are a lot of things to do... well, you’re right! Hosts needs to dedicate a good amount of their time if they want to offer a great stay to their guests.

In the past Airbnb tested a few activities to help hosts complete time consuming tasks (like cleaning or key delivery for example), and in 2015 launched Host Assist, a curated selection of partner companies offering services that can facilitate the life of a host.

However, even if not every property owner has the time, the resources or the willingness to be a full time hospitality professional, many of them are still interested in the potentially higher financial rewards offered by Airbnb (compared to traditional housing rentals).

How does the new service work?

To cater the needs of this category of potential users, Airbnb will soon allow property owners to become Airbnb hosts while letting to someone else to fulfil the hospitality duties on their behalf in exchange of a mutually agreed fee.

In the new section of the website (that for now seems to be available only for Japan hosts), property owners can discover the advantages of the platform and get in contact with experienced Airbnb users that - thanks to their experience as Superhosts - know well how to run a successful business on Airbnb.

After telling Airbnb where your property is located, you will see a list of all the Superhosts that are available to help with their host services in the area.

On this page you’ll be presented with an overview of the profiles of each host, including:

their average review score (always between 4.5 and 5 stars)

their reviews count

the distance from your place

their service fee (usually ranging between 10% and 20%)

knowing the hosted stays, you will be able to calculate also the review rate (e.g. what’s the % of guests leaving a review after their stay)

If you want to receive more detailed information you can navigate to the Additional Host profile, where you will be able to learn more about the host, see their Airbnb stats, the verification status, and read about their hosting style.

If the information provided is enough to convince you that a specific host could be the right fit to support and manage your Airbnb business, you can send a non-binding enquiry with the details of your property (exact location, type of accommodation, size) and any specific need you might have.

You will be able to specify if you want to list a new space on Airbnb, but you will also be able to request help to manage an existing listing.

And just like when you want to book an accommodation for your stay, Airbnb suggests to start the conversation with multiple hosts, in order to find the best fit for your needs.

As soon as a host replies, you will receive an email to which you will be able to answer, just as for every other Airbnb conversation.

Given that the functionality is still in testing phase (for now only a few selected Japanese hosts have been added to the platform), it will require need some fine tuning before being rolled more globally... but having talked with quite a few Superhosts about it, we expect many of them to be willing to give it a try.

Superhosts can be the Property Managers of the future

During the 2015 Airbnb Open held in Paris, the company announced the introduction of Host Mentors, a scheme that had similar goals, but that failed to gain adoption.

Airbnb has been working on the additional hosts project for a while, and it’s safe to assume it might have been one of the big news set aside for the next Airbnb Open, coming up this November in Los Angeles.

With the release of this new program, Airbnb seems to have better understood how to make use of the host community to acquire and train new hosts.

While a good part of the user base is nowadays using Airbnb to generate a side income, thanks to the upcoming changes and product launches, we can expect more and more hosts to become all-rounded hospitality professionals, offering not only their own accommodation for rent, but also managing other properties and facilitating the discovery of local experiences.

Airbnb never showed love for property managers (be them individuals or companies), since their goal to maximise their clients’ bookings and revenues inevitably brought them to work also with other platforms.

It’s important to note that by adding further monetization possibilities for its most loyal users this might change, as Airbnb will be able to generate a much stronger lock-in effect, decreasing the need to rely on competing websites.

At the same time, by introducing a more direct and human point of contact in the figure of an experienced Superhost, it will be possible for Airbnb to reduce the level of anonymity that often characterizes the many properties offered by owners that have to rely on third parties to rent out their accommodation.

However, if on one hand going after real estate owners with the support of Superhosts might help Airbnb to grow the quantity and increase the quality of its supply, on the other hand it might lead to further clashes with cities like Berlin or Barcelona, where the activity of professional hosts offering short term rentals has been strongly limited, due to the claimed negative effects on the housing price market.

Would you make use of the support of an experience Superhost? Or would you be ready to offer your services to help other hosts if you could earn extra money? Tell us in the comments below!

We are building a platform to help companies offering Airbnb Property Management to be discovered by thousands of hosts... If you want to be among the first to be included at launch, get in contact with us!

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Add Co-Hosts to Your Airbnb Listings 👫 

Back in March, Airbnb announced the development of “Additional Hosts” a new feature to facilitate those hosts that have a trusted person that sometime helps them to manage their listing.

Airbnb began to roll out the new functionality just to a small percentage of hosts, using it also for some internal tests. Now, it seems the company has started rolling out Additional Hosts (now called “Co-Hosts”) to more listings around the world.

Let’s see together how this feature works and how to make the best use of it.

What are Co-Hosts?

This new functionality will be useful if you are often relying on a trusted person, a friend or a family member to help you manage your Airbnb listing.

Adding a Co-Host to your listing will allow you to simplify the process through which you share your hosting duties, without having to give other people access to your Airbnb account or password.

What can a Co-Host do?

Users added as Co-Hosts to your listing will have access to a limited set of functionalities, including:

Accept, decline, cancel, or modify reservations

See and respond to guest messages

Edit the listing description (including photos, house rules, amenities and guidebook)

Edit pricing, cancellation policy and calendar availability

Interact with Airbnb customer support on your behalf

It’s important to remember that your privacy is protected, as Co-Hosts will never have access to your payout information or personal details and you will be able to remove access to your listing at any time.

How to add a Co-Host to your listing

If you want to add a Co-Host to your listing, follow these simple steps:

Go to Manage listings

Choose the listing for which you want to add an additional host

Open the left listing menu by clicking on the 4 bars icon on the top right

Scroll down the menu until you reach the bottom

Under Management, select Co-Hosts (www.airbnb.com/manage-listing/[YOUR_LISTING_ID]/co-hosts)

Here you will be able to invite one or more trusted person to join your listing as Co-Host. Simply insert their email to send them an invitation.

You will be prompted a message reminding you that Co-Hosts act on your behalf, and that you’re therefore responsible for any action taken by them (as stated in the terms and conditions for Co-Hosts).

Once you’ve sent out an invitation, you will see a new box in the page, informing you about the status of the Co-Host invite.

When you invite someone, they will receive an email with your request and will have 7 days to accept, after which the invitation will expire.

Keep in mind, that any person invited as Co-Host will have to be the owner of an Airbnb account, as they will use that to access your listing.

As the listing admin, you can cancel any invitation sent before it gets accepted, and you can remove the status of Co-Host at any time.

Are you are you going to add any Co-Host to your listing? Tell us why you need their help in the comment sections below!

What to expect in the future?

While this functionality was launched to simplify the life of existing hosts that are already sharing with someone their host duties, we expect it to evolve into something bigger than that.

Until now, Airbnb has mainly been offering a great platform that matches hosts and guests. In doing so, it also created a whole new ecosystem of additional services.

The market created by Airbnb is so big that many other companies entered it offering their services... and it seems unlikely that Airbnb will leave such a huge business opportunity behind without trying to get a slice of it.

The company tried a few times to offer some of these services directly (for example, trialling a cleaning service in San Francisco), but never managed to globally roll out new product lines.

Now, with the launch of the new Co-Hosts functionality, Airbnb can more easily try to also tap directly into the profitable Property Management business.

However, the Co-Hosts Terms & Conditions state that

As an Additional Host, you may only act in an individual capacity and not on behalf of a company or other organization, unless expressly authorized by Airbnb.

Thus if Airbnb chooses to go down this path, it remains still unclear if it will choose to cooperate with the many external property management companies, or if it will decide to offer this service on its own.

Either way, Airbnb would open up a new (direct or indirect) revenue stream, something that would increase the attractiveness of the company for new investors and facilitate the road to an IPO.

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Airbnb Wants You to Take Over its Snapchat Stories 📱👻 

Following the increasing wave of popularity and momentum obtained by Snapchat, also Airbnb opened a brand account to engage with an increasing audience of users.

And in order to create content more often and increase the engagement with its Snapchat followers, Airbnb is now looking for members of its community to take over its account on a more regular basis...

A new Social Media Channel for Airbnb

Airbnb has always been a very active brand on social media, having millions of followers shared across multiple local Facebook pages and Twitter accounts (used both to engage and support customers), but also on very well curated Instagram and Pinterest accounts.

However, Snapchat is a different beast if compared to “traditional” social media channels.

It’s a platform that was born on mobile, fully embracing the different ways (young) people engage with their devices to connect and communicate with their friends in a more relaxed and genuine way, in contraposition with the highly polished reality usually shown on Instagram.

Airbnb has wisely embraced this new communication channel, updating its Snapchat Stories with tips about the most interesting travel destinations and local insights, following the #LiveThere narrative at the center of its most recent marketing campaigns and brand identity.

Airbnb Snapchat Account Takeovers

On Snapchat there are no “public pages” and no easy way to discover new and interesting Snapchat users: the only way is to already have them as personal connections or to have their Snapchat username/snapcode...

Snapchat is all about connections between the content creators and their audiences.

This is obviously a big blocker for marketers and brands, that despite the increasing popularity of Snapchat, are still trying to figure out how to get the word out about their presence (without having to pay to get their stories promoted) to a pool of over 150 million daily active users.

A few brands successfully managed to get around this limitation by giving people outside their organization temporary permission (usually a few hours or a day) to access to their Snapchat account and generate content for the brand’s story.

The so called “account takeover”, is becoming a common practice, through which online influencers with an existing engaged audience are helping brands to increase their audience and build new connections on Snapchat.

And if you are already following Airbnb’s on Snapchat, you might have noticed that the company recently cooperated with a few of Instagram influencers, letting them snap on behalf of the company, to narrate their days spent around Paris, Portland, Hong Kong, Nashville or Toronto living the city as a local.

With this spirit in mind, Airbnb recently invited its followers to share their interest in contributing to the company’s Snapchat Stories.

By visiting abnb.co/snaps, you will be redirected to questionnaire, whose introduction reads the following:

We are looking for the most creative individuals in our community to takeover our Snapchat. The perfect candidate is familiar with Snapchat, an avid Airbnb traveler or Host, and available to commit to creating content on a regular basis. Your concepts should be built upon on a consistent template, that allows you to "host" on our Snapchat account regularly. 

[...]

A great Snapchat story has these things:

- A charismatic Host - A consistent, repeatable template - The things that make Airbnb unique and special: neighborhoods, Hosts, and homes - Provides value to the viewer: tips, local insights, entertainment - Takes full advantage of the snapchat platform. Filters, stickers, rhythm, etc. - Publishing consistency: every 1st & 3rd Tuesday of the month, for example - Vulnerability: exploring a new place or culture, stepping out of your comfort zone, embracing the adventure - Audience participation. How can the audience DM, screenshot, or signal to you to direct the narrative?

By looking at this set of requirements, we can understand how Airbnb is not looking for casual snapchatters, but for someone that can commit to create a constant stream of content, following a clear storytelling template in line with the brand’s identity and guidelines.

The ideal candidates to perform this “job” are obviously those that are already making a living as social media influencers, as they can easily adapt their existing content creation activities to work together with Airbnb, obtaining in exchange more exposure thanks to the cooperation with a well known brand.

However, given the vast amount of loyal guests and hosts (and soon local guides), it will be interesting also to see the more “genuine” side of the Airbnb community in the Snapchat stories.

Do you think you have what it takes to take over Airbnb’s Snapchat account?

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Add a Floor Plan to your Airbnb to Get More Bookings & Better Reviews 🏠✏️ 

Airbnb’s massive growth started after realizing the true value of professional photographs. Now we know it’s obvious, a listing can’t succeed without high quality of high quality visuals, written content and everyone’s personal touch. All homes and hosts are different and unique, and they are not afraid to show it. Otherwise potential guests may sense that something might not be okay.

Great photographies help guests to see how a given place looks like, but it’s not always easy to get the overall picture and understand how much space is actually available. Luckily, there is a solution to this...

A more complete way to display your home

People value visual information, and process it faster and deeper than written content. This means the visuals will turn your potential guests on or off.

Photos are able to capture and display the style and interior of your home, but it’s their quality that will make the difference. Airbnb knows this pretty well: the turning point for the company was when it started offering free professional photographic services to dramatically increase the quality of its listings.

However, photos  alone can’t answer to all possible questions. Think about the following questions a guest might have:

“I value privacy. Is it certain no one walks by my bed at night?”

“We are travelling with our newborn baby. Does the apartment really have all arrangements?”

“I’m travelling with a friend. Is the kitchen large enough to make meals and do we all have separate bedrooms?”

Your listing may need something you haven’t ever even thought. A new visual. The floor plan.

The floor plan is both a simple and accurate way to show the whole layout in one picture... One visual that adds up all information, trust and clarity to your listing.

With it, you will help your guests to clear many doubts that might otherwise result in extra questions or abandoned bookings.

What’s the added value of a floor plan?

“Does a floor plan really bring me more bookings? If that’s the case, why haven’t I seen floor plans in any listings!?” Well, that’s for the same reason you may haven’t thought about floor plans before. Most other hosts haven’t either.

When guests book an accommodation for a short period of time, they do that remotely and must base their decisions only on the description and photos that you provide.

However, research from CubiCasa - a company specialized in the creation of professional floor plans - shows that guests are more likely to reserve an accommodation when a floor plan is available.

Your listing may include non-intuitive caveats, and it’s your responsibility to be as transparent and trustworthy as possible in describing your accommodation.. This is something best real estate agents have always known, and should be equally seriously understood with short-term rentals.

Airbnb has been testing 360° virtual tours for a very limited selection of premium listings. With a virtual tour, guests can get a much better understanding of how the place really look like. 

While unfortunately this functionality will likely not be available to every host in the near future, you can still offer your guests a better way to understand how the different spaces are disposed by including a floor plan in your listing.

And since guests get to review the accuracy of a listing, by making clearer how your place really looks like, you can not only expect more bookings, but also better reviews, as proven by the feedback given by many hosts.

How can I add a floor plan to my listing?

Having read this post, you will be among one of the few hosts to have understood the added value of a floor plan. So the question now is, how do you get one for your listing?

This is extremely easy: if you already have a floor plan, you can scan it or take a photo with your smartphone.

Once you have done that, you just need to add it as extra picture to the gallery of your listing.

And if you want a great looking floor plan, just like professional real estate companies do, you can use the tool offered by CubiCasa.

Simply upload your sketch (also hand-drawn will work) or a scan and they will transform it for you, within a few hours!

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Time to register for the Airbnb Open 2016 in Los Angeles 📮 

After the 2015 in Paris, the Airbnb Open comes back for a third edition, this time again back to the US!

You can now buy your pass to attend the event and meet thousands of other hosts and guests from all over the world coming to Los Angeles this November.

Airbnb Open 2016 - more than just a convention

Don’t miss out the opportunity: the Airbnb Open is a 3-days festival gathering people from over 100 countries ready to inspire each other, while discovering a local side of the City of Angels and reimagine the way people travel!

You will not only be among the first ones to know about the most recent product changes and announcements (such as the much anticipated local guides), but also to attend inspirational talks from prominent speakers, performances and choreographies, and a variety of keynotes & panels to learn how to improve your hosting style.

On top of that, you'll have the chance to explore the unique neighborhoods of Los Angeles, guides by local city hosts.

Where and when?

The event will be held on the 17-19 November 2016, so mark the date! 

Keynotes, panels, and conversation events will be hosted at four different locations in downtown LA: the Orpheum, the Los Angeles Theatre, the Downtown Palace Theatre, and the Theatre at Ace Hotel.

How to attend?

In order to attend the 3 days of Airbnb Open, you will need to have an Airbnb account and buy a pass.

The early bird price of $275 will be available only until the July 31st, after which it will increase to $345... thus, if you want to save $70, you’d better buy your ticket now!

This year the Belo™ awards - a gala event in which the best hosts of the Airbnb community will be celebrated - will be hosted as a separate event and will require a dedicated pass, at the cost of $60.

If you are a host and are enthusiastic about sharing your expertise with other hosts, you can apply to be a Host Educator at the Airbnb Open.

Don’t miss Airbnb Open LA: it’s a one-of-a-kind moment to reimagine hospitality’s future with Airbnb community members from around the world.

We’ll be covering the event and the announcements as they happen… if you are you also going to be in Los Angeles, let us know in the comments and start connecting with others fellow hosts joining the event!

Remember to sign up to our newsletter to always stay up to date with the most recent news about Airbnb!

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How to Use Airbnb Message Templates to Save Time & Improve Communication with Guests 📬 

Communication is one of the key hosting standards used by Airbnb to measure the quality of its hosts.

Successful Airbnb hosts know how important it is to manage every interaction with their guests in a helpful and timely manner... even if sometimes that means writing the same message to many different guest.

In order to let hosts answer in a faster and more efficient way to commonly asked questions, Airbnb introduced a “Saved Messages” functionality.

Keep reading and you’ll find out how to save precious time when communicating with your guests!

How to create a boilerplate message on Airbnb

Thanks to the “Saved messages” functionality, hosts can spend less time typing the same messages over and over, forgetting also about the annoying practice of copying and pasting from an external notebook.

In order to create and save a message, just follow these steps:

Visit a conversation you had with a guest (doesn’t matter which one).

Click on “Use a Saved Message”.

A popup will open, showing you the list of previously saved messages.

You can either pick a an existing saved message (including the House Rules and the House Manual of your listing) or you can save a new template.

When you create a new message, you will be able to choose:

the title - this is visible only to you, and should help you to quickly identify each single template. If you plan to have multiple saved messages, it might be a good idea to add a prefix (e.g. “Enquiry - XXX” or “During stay - YYY” or “After stay - ZZZ”) to identify different categories of messages.

the content of the message - this is the text what will be copied into the conversation with your guest. After copying the text in a conversation you will still be able to modify the text, but you should write the template in a way that can answer minimize the need to change.

Once you’ve saved a message, click on it to copy into the message thread. There you can modify the text if you need to adapt it to the current conversation with the guest.

If you want to add new saved messages, edit or delete existing templates, just click again on “Use a Saved Message” to bring up the modal where you’ll find the list of all previously saved templates.

Keep in mind that even if the House Rules and the House Manual are shown among the saved messages, they are part of the listing description and they need to be modified in the listing details. If you want to use them as saved messages, but have a different content from the one that will appear in your listing, you will have to manually copy them into a new saved message.

Useful Templates Examples (coming soon!)

In the next days we’ll add a few examples of message templates to help hosts setup a great communication flow with their guests.

In the meanwhile, feel free to share your experience in the comments below!

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Airbnb Increased Hospitality Services & Direct Listing Management 🍷 

In the quest to expand the range of its services, Airbnb recently launched a new pilot experience - labelled “Sonoma SELECT” - to offer guests something that goes beyond a simple accommodation rental.

As part of the test, during July and August, Airbnb guests visiting the renewed Californian wine valley will be able to pick an accommodation among 100 highly-rated homes and experience a local’s view of Sonoma.

To allow travellers to experience Sonoma with the eyes of a local, Airbnb selected top quality listings, managed by super hosts with numerous 5 star reviews, with Instant Book and 24/7 check-in available, and extra treats such as local wine, snacks and high-end bath products.

By providing a higher level of service and hospitality with still maintaining a peer to peer twist, Airbnb can offer an experience much closer to the one of boutique hotels, and be more appealing to a segment of the market that doesn’t just care about renting a place to stay, but is also looking to live a premium life experience.

Offering higher quality at a premium price (Sonoma SELECT listings are on average 46% more expensive than other places in the same area), might allow Airbnb to target a smaller, but more profitable niche of customers, similarly to what companies like One Fine Stay do.

3D tours - A new way to discover Airbnb listings

Additionally to an increased quality of the stay, Airbnb is also testing an improved discovery experience, offering 3D virtual tours for all the listings included in the Sonoma SELECT pilot.

As in this example, instead of the pictures that normally are displayed at the top of each listing, Sonoma SELECT’s listings feature an interactive tour of the accommodation, allowing guests to discover the place without actually being there.

The functionality - powered by Matterport’s proprietary technology - is for now just a preliminary test that still needs to prove its potential, and it’s unsure if Airbnb will start offering it to more hosts (maybe at an extra cost?).

However, knowing how important professional photography was in allowing Airbnb to win customers’ trust when the brand was still not widely known, we expect 3D virtual tours to be an extremely valuable resource that could allow guests to engage more with the site and make better choices when choosing an accommodation.

Furthermore, given how much resources companies like Facebook and Google are investing in 360° videos and virtual reality, it’s just a matter of time before new technologies (like the one developed by Occipital) will become available to a wider audience at a much lower cost, allowing spatial 3D representation to become a commodity on every smartphone.

Is Airbnb going to manage listings directly?

Another aspect of the Sonoma SELECT pilot is the use of a recently launched functionality: Additional Host.

This feature (that has been rolled out to only a small fraction of users) has been thought to allows hosts to add a spouse, trusted friend or family member to help manage their listing and help out with things like messaging, check-in, and overseeing a guest’s stay, thus allowing more flexibility in the management of a listing.

However, in this case the additional host is... Airbnb itself, showing that the company is actively working to ensure that the communication with guests and their experience on site will be flawless.

This is an interesting approach taken by Airbnb: if extended to more listings, it would make the company not only an intermediary between guests and hosts, but also a part directly involved in the transaction and in the experience of the guest.

The unveiling of Sonoma SELECT happened contextually to Airbnb’s renewed focus on local experiences and the launch of new Guidebook functionalities.

Will this approach show good results? If so, which aspects of it would you expect to be rolled out more globally? Let us know in the comments below!

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