Airbnb, as the leader of shared accommodation, owns the most house information, most users, and also relatively good reputations. What Airbnb does is to provide an easy way for users to find houses and reserve online. So here is my critique of Airbnb.
In a word, Airbnb is an online marketplace that lets people rent out their properties or spare rooms to guests. Also, Airbnb is an online reservation service that offers customers home to stay, instead of a hotel. Therefore, back to the app design of Airbnb. The objective of Airbnb is to provide travelers with easy access to renting private homes and owners to list their space and earn rental money.
1. Great interaction effect. (From users’ perspectives)
On the main page, we can see different parts- one is the searching function (at the top of the page), the second part is introducing different types of houses. Customers will be so engaged and satisfied when they watch the main page. At first, Airbnb welcome every user and call their user names- “What can we help you find, Gu?” Such a sentence instantly brings warmth to users and attracts customers to stay in this app, especially when people try to look for a house. Also, there is a list of recommendations of homes, includes ‘Stays, Experiences, Adventures, Restaurants.’ I think such categories are decided based on research data. If you need a house to stay for several days, you can click on ‘Stays’ immediately; such recommendations save a lot of time for users.
Therefore, it is effective to provide ‘searching function’, ‘personalization welcome’ and ‘recommendations’ on the main page of the application. In this way, Airbnb can retain customers at first, and then it’s easy for users to find the house they want.
2. Profile-comprehensive functions
We can see that there are a lot of functions shown in the profile part, including ‘Account Settings’, ‘Hosting’, ‘Referrals&Credits’, ‘Refer a Host’, ‘Get Help’, ‘Give us feedback’. The profile part is very entirely. Especially the coupons part, this part can not only let customers get coupons, but also promote the Airbnb.
Therefore, I think the whole profile part is beneficial for making the user experience more smoothly. As a customer, you don’t have to waste time figuring out where to find some necessary information, where to check notifications, or where to write feedback — all you need in on the list.
I have to say; this is my favorite design of this app. The ‘Trips’ part is the ‘Orders’ part. I believe we all are familiar with online shopping, and you must realize that ‘orders’ usually shown in the profile area. On this app, the part of the ‘orders’ is separate, and you can find your upcoming trips and history of orders immediately.
Therefore, it is useful to separate the ‘orders’ part. Because checking orders is the most important thing for customers compared with other functions shown in the ‘user profile part’.
Airbnb can provide the most suitable house for you based on your customization. Customers can choose dates and number of guests generally. And Airbnb delivers a very detailed filter to help you find the best house. The filter part includes price range, types of places, rooms, and beds… By continually reducing the scope, users can find the house they want most in a short time.
Therefore, I think such customization is very effective for getting the objective of Airbnb. Users can easily find a house.
Weaknesses(From users’ and designers’ perspectives)
I said the design of filters is one of the strengths of the app because users can narrow their search scope and find their favorite houses as soon as possible. However, the sequencing of filters is not so effective for helping customers. Even though it shows the sequencing of filters based on the frequency of user’s use, some less important filters, and promos are higher in the fold.
I think such sequencing of filters may confuse customers and they have to check the fold several times to find the filters they need.
If you decide to reserve a house online, you need several steps. At first, you have to check availability. And there is where I feel confused. At first, I don’t know the differences between the underlined dark grey number nine and dark grey number eight. And I also puzzled about why there are no prices under some grey number, such as number eight.
Therefore, I think the check availability part needs to be improved slightly.
Overall, I think the design of the Airbnb app is successful and I would likely use this app in the future.