Airbnb announced its revamped roadmap with new property types, tiers, collections and recognition program. This puts Airbnb on a path to having more than one billion annual guests by 2028, said Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO on 23 February.
It’s hard to believe that about a decade ago, Airbnb Chesky and co-founder Joe Gebbia were inflating airbeds in their San Francisco apartment. Little did they know, this will be the start of a global phenomenon in travel.
Today, Airbnb is one of the world’s largest accommodation platforms with 4.5 million places to stay in 81,000 cities. And over the past decade, Airbnb hosts earned more than USD $41bn, and guests have checked into an Airbnb more than 300 million times.
Looking into the future, Airbnb unveils a new roadmap for its core Homes business. It’s designed to bring the transformative benefits of local, personal and authentic travel to every type of traveller.
The roadmap includes:
- Four new property types – Vacation Home, Unique, B&B and Boutiques (in addition to existing Entire Home, Private Room and Shared Space)
- New tiers – Airbnb Plus and Beyond by Airbnb
- Airbnb Collections – homes perfectly suited to every occasion
- Investing back in its community with a revamped Superhost program and a new guest membership program launching later this year
Airbnb co-founder, CEO and head of community, Brian Chesky said: “10 years ago we never dreamed of what Airbnb could become. In fact, people thought the idea that strangers would stay in each other’s homes was crazy. Today, millions of people every night do just that. But we want to go further by supporting and expanding our community so that in 10 years’ time, more than one billion people per year will experience the benefits of magical travel on Airbnb.”
4 new property types
Over the years, the types of properties on the platform have become increasingly diverse from treehouses to boutique hotels. But it’s still only possible to navigate through 3 property types – Shared Space, Private Room and Entire Home. This makes it hard for hosts to stand out and guests can’t always find what they’re looking for.
To address this, Airbnb will add 4 new property types to its platform – Vacation Home, Unique Space, B&B and Boutique. This will give greater options to guests and provide greater transparency over the types of accommodation available. Furthermore, this will also help hosts better showcase what’s unique about them.
All 7 property types will launch to guests this summer.
Airbnb Collections
Airbnb was initially designed mainly for solo travel. But over the years, millions of people have found the platform suited to a range of different types of travel. To meet the needs of such a diverse range of travellers, Airbnb is introducing Collections.
Launching today are Airbnb for Family and Airbnb for Work with Collections for Social stays, Weddings, Honeymoons, Group getaways and Dinner parties coming later this year.
The new categories and collections will make it easier to discover the perfect home for travellers.
Airbnb Plus
Airbnb aims to broaden the appeal of Airbnb to even more guests and recognize hosts who go above and beyond to provide outstanding hospitality. For this reason, Airbnb is launching a new tier of homes that have been personally verified for quality and comfort.
Starting with 2000 homes in 13 cities available to book right now, Airbnb Plus is intended for guests looking for beautiful homes, exceptional hosts and added peace of mind. Airbnb Plus homes have been inspected and verified in person against a 100+ point checklist covering cleanliness, comfort and design.
Airbnb Plus hosts benefit from top placement, in-home services such as design consultation and expert photography, and premium support.
Beyond by Airbnb
Following last year’s acquisition of Luxury Retreats, Airbnb today previews a new standard in travel – Beyond by Airbnb.
Launching this spring, Beyond by Airbnb will offer custom designed trips of a lifetime. This will include the world’s finest homes, custom experiences and world-class hospitality.
Superhost recognition program
Hosts and guests are the heart of Airbnb. And through its Superhost program, which includes 400,000 hosts globally, Airbnb recognizes its most loved hosts.
Today, it announces an expansion of the program to offer 14 new and updated benefits. These include better exposure, custom URLs and exclusive benefits on smart home products.
See the full range of benefits at airbnb.com/superhost.
Later this year, Airbnb will also recognize its best guests with a new guest membership program offering benefits across the entire trip. Superguest will launch initially to 10,000 guests as a trial this summer before being rolled out to Airbnb’s wider guest community before the end of the year.
Today’s announcement is driven by Airbnb’s commitment to being a 21st-century company that operates in the interests of all its stakeholders, including hosts, guests and communities.
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