Airbnb today announced a new product suite to empower hosts around the globe at its third-annual Airbnb Open host conference. The new tools and services are personalized to meet the individual needs of every host. The product suite was developed to reduce the complexities of hosting – whether a host joined yesterday or has been opening their home for years.
From pricing to easing the arrival of a guest, the personalized tools let hosts spend more time building connections with guests instead of managing their listings. Additionally, to attract a new type of traveler and expand the Airbnb for Business program, hosts can add a badge noting that their listings meets certain common expectations of business travelers.
“As a company founded by hosts and led by hosts, we wanted to ensure that our host community played a key role in developing the right tools to make them successful,” said Joe Zadeh, VP of Product, Airbnb. “Our team has spent countless hours working with hosts through feedback sessions, research and testing, to understand their needs, which led us to build a suite of tools that provide tailored insights to help our hosts meet their goals. This product suite simplifies many aspects of being a host and allows them to focus on what they do best – provide truly great hospitality.”
The new product suite includes personalized host tools, resources, and a new way for hosts to get involved in the Airbnb for Business program.
Airbnb for Business
Business Travel Ready – As an expansion of the successful Airbnb for Business program, hosts can now identify their listings as “Business Travel Ready,” allowing more hosts to tap into the rapidly growing universe of business travelers already staying on Airbnb. Listings that are Business Travel Ready will be identified by hosts as having business-friendly amenities, including Wi-Fi, a designated workspace, iron, hair dryer, hangers, as well as 24-hour check-in and a policy of no host cancellations within seven days.
Personalized Tools
Host Assist – Host Assist allows for easy key exchange and keyless entry without the need to manually schedule anything. Soon hosts can connect their Airbnb accounts with partners, including August, Keycafe, Kevo, Lockstate, Nest, Unikey, and Danalock, to easily coordinate guest entry without the need to wait for guests, hide keys, or manually schedule and send virtual keys.
Smart Pricing – Smart Pricing pulls insights from booking trends and similar listing information and allows hosts to set pricing controls that automatically adjust to demands in order to stay competitively priced. Smart Pricing is tailored to individual listings so hosts can offer a price that is most likely to attract bookings, day by day.
Host Home – The new dashboard is more personalized to an individual host’s needs, allowing them to do more with less. Hosts will see everything that is important to them in one view — pending requests, upcoming guests, alerts, and reviews.
Host Resources
Community Center – The Community Center is an improved forum where hosts can access the wisdom of the Airbnb community. They can find relevant information and advice, whether looking to better understand the basics to hosting or getting tips on hospitality. New features include search, direct messaging, and tagging users.
Hosting Toolkits – Hosting Toolkits is a resource center that captures the voices and stories of Airbnb’s most successful hosts to provide insights on best practices directly with other hosts. Through videos and narratives, the Host Toolkits will equip hosts with the fundamentals needed to be a great host from day one – from creating a listing to the checkout process.
Host Mentors – New hosts can become stronger by working one-on-one with experienced hosts matched in their same cities. Host Mentors will provide encouragement and guidance by sharing knowledge, success stories, and must-have tips. With the help of a Host Mentor, new hosts can provide excellent guest experiences from the get-go.
