Airbnb is launching a new strategy to bring more properties to the platform. “Airbnb Setup” connects owners with experienced, highly-rated hosts – what it calls “Superhosts” – who provide live, personalized assistance throughout the registration process via text, voice and or video.
The system matches new and existing hosts based on location and property type. Once a stay is completed at the new host’s property, the Superhost receives a cash reward. Airbnb says the amount may vary but did not provide a range.
The Airbnb setup is launching today with 1,500 Superhosts in over 80 countries with more to be added in the future.
In an announcement about the new service, co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky said, “Today, just like during the Great Recession of 2008, people are especially interested in earning extra income through hosting. That’s why we’re launching an easy way for millions of Airbnb people to call home.
Airbnb’s global operations manager, Tara Bunch, says the idea was also born out of the realization that people considering signing up for the first time may assume the process is harder than it looks. ballast.
“Their anticipation of the difficulty of the situation compared to the reality is very different. They think that can be hard to do, and this new process of pairing with an experienced Superhost is really about demystifying that,” she says.
Host protection and reinsurance
Also today, Airbnb is updating the protections it offers to hosts.
Identity verification will now be provided to all guests booking stays in the top 35 countries and regions on Airbnb, which the company says account for 90% of all bookings. By spring, customer identity verification will be available worldwide.
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The verification system compares proof of identity such as a guest’s driver’s license, passport or national ID card with the information provided by the guest and with a selfie for photo matching. The system may also use information such as address, date of birth, telephone number and, in the United States, social security number, to compare against third-party databases.
Bunch says the company takes several steps to ensure that disclosures and confidentiality are handled appropriately.
“We store this information so that no one else can access it. And then we destroy data that we no longer have
need,” she said.
“We have a very disciplined data management approach to this.”
Airbnb is also rolling out new booking filtering technology in the United States, Canada and Australia, where it has been testing it since last year. The company says the system “evaluates hundreds of factors” about each reservation to identify customers who have potential for hosting unauthorized parties – with the aim of preventing those reservations from being made. The screening technology will be rolled out globally in the spring.
AirCover insurance coverage extends to include a host’s cars and boats stored on the property as well as artwork, jewelry and valuables inside the home at their full value estimated. Damage protection is increased from $1 million to $3 million for the home and its contents, and Airbnb says it is simplifying the claims process.
Since AirCover launched a year agothe company says only 0.02% of rides resulted in damage reimbursement over $1,000.
“Most complaints are unintentional. That’s what that number tells you. This is someone who accidentally knocks over a lamp or their child knocks over a lamp. They are relatively minor in nature and in fact most are worked out between guest and host,” says Bunch.
“Again, this is another one of those things where I think the concern of hosts, especially new hosts, is vastly out of proportion to the reality of the situation. That’s why we can afford to do, because we’ve gotten so much better at screening guests and hosts and holding our guests and hosts accountable for their behavior.
Airbnb is launching a new marketing campaign to promote the new setup and AirCover. The campaign uses short films to “speak directly to homeowners with messages about the ease and safety of hosting their primary residence, highlighting our new product features, Setup and AirCover, which were created specifically with these considerations in mind”.
New categories
Airbnb is also adding six new categories to filter properties and hotels on its platform. Airbnb categories launched in May with 56 types.
New additions include “suitable” to highlight properties that can accommodate wheelchairs, with images of the property scanned and verified by Matterport to show details such as door widths.
Other new categories are “new” – for homes added to the platform in the last 10 weeks – and “play” for homes with basketball courts, game rooms, etc.
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