Airbnb conducted a consultation among its community to find out what other improvements it could implement for the benefit of its users, in addition to those it has implemented in recent times to reinforce guest safety and other initiatives to strengthen this short-term rental tool.
Lower cleaning fees, improved search and filters, verified listings, improved customer service, guest loyalty program, total price including taxes, improved review system, and lower prices were the responses obtained through the information gathering.
"We spent several months working on this and other improvements aimed at further optimizing the overall Airbnb experience, and today we can share an update on how we are addressing five of the top suggestions, with more to come soon," a statement emphasizes.
Here are some of the recommendations the company is implementing, following consultation with the community:
Lower cleaning prices and rates
«Currently, four out of five hosts use one of our pricing tools. Nearly 680,000 hosts have used our new tool to compare their prices with similar listings nearby, while almost two-thirds of hosts offer weekly or monthly discounts«.
In the context of rising prices across the industry, and with an average nightly rate of $127 in July 2023, the average nightly price of a room listing on Airbnb is 1 percent lower than in July 2022, while hotel prices have risen 10 percent to $163 during the same period , the platform explains.
It notes that since its launch, more than 8 million guests have booked trips on Airbnb using the total price display, making fees even more transparent. "This year, more than 260,000 listings lowered or eliminated their cleaning fees, adding to the nearly 3 million listings that currently don't charge any.".
Improvements to search and filters
«From now on, if search results are limited, we'll automatically display a carousel at the bottom of the search results so guests can see other available spaces for similar dates. We've also added two new search filters requested by our guests: pet-friendly spaces and king beds. This shouldn't surprise you, as there have been over 6 million pet-friendly stays on Airbnb in the past year.
The ten countries with the highest demand for pet-friendly accommodations in the past year include the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Australia, Mexico, and Germany. With more than a quarter of the listings on the platform now accepting pets, it's even easier for guests to narrow their search to those that welcome their furry friends.
And with over a million listings offering king beds, the new king bed filter will help guests easily find places that have them.
Ad verification in the platform's top five countries
Airbnb states that by the end of 2023, it will begin verifying all listings in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and France. Verified icons will appear on listings starting in February. “Starting next fall, we will begin verifying listings in 30 more countries.”«.
"This complements our ongoing work to implement tools that help prevent fraud, eliminate malicious sources, and increase trust in our community. This year, we blocked 157,000 fake ads from entering the platform and removed another 59,000.".
Improvements to the help service
This holiday season, Airbnb says it answered 94% of calls in English within two minutes. It also extended this two-minute response time to calls in nine additional languages.
"Starting in November, we will begin making additional improvements to customer service so that when guests call, they are assigned the best agents to resolve their specific issue more quickly," the company said.
