Airbnb is trying to lower the barriers for anyone considering renting their place by rolling out a new approach that gives landlords advice from experienced hosts and allows them to choose trusted Airbnb users as their first guests.
While announcing a new batch of Airbnb features recently, co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk said he hopes the combination of experienced guests, expert support and guidance from veteran hosts will help “ensure that the first stays go smoothly”.
Property damage protection is meanwhile increased from US$1 million (RM4.57 million) to US$3 million (RM13.72 million), and verification of all guests will be offered in the worldwide by spring 2023, says the hosting platform.
Some pandemic trends have continued, Blecharczyk said, pointing to long-term stays, which now account for 20% of nights booked globally. The Airbnb manager sees this as clearly linked to more people working outside the office.
However, he says demand has also changed since this summer, when Airbnb introduced the ability to search not just by location but by category, such as proximity to national parks or beaches.
It’s now 35% more common for customers to book outside of the top 400 destinations, Blecharczyk said. And on average, city dwellers book 8 km further than they otherwise would have.
This feature helps spread customers and therefore bring the benefits of tourism to more destinations beyond the hotspots – “which is of great interest to governments”. – dpa
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