Airbnb adds three new features amid increasing demand from guests

The move is part of its business strategy to continue investing in its platform in order to meet demands from both guests and hosts.

The Nation spoke to Tara Bunch, global head of Operations of Airbnb, a leading online marketplace for short and long-term homestays, earlier this week before the official launch. She said that global tourism was in recovery mode, with good signs of gradual growth in the Asia Pacific region, particularly Thailand, one of the world's most visited countries.

"We have seen 23% growth this year compared to 2019 as a whole," she said.

She pointed out that the company had observed some changes in traveller behaviour and that Airbnb could fill this gap.

She said that people tended to stay longer on vacation and in their own small groups.

"Our opportunity in this situation is to continue building experiences on our platform to be the most competitive and best in terms of travel. We will continue to improve our core services," she said, explaining why the company was introducing three new features to help guests understand exactly what to expect before they book.

She said the new features were the result of how Airbnb responds to feedback from guests and hosts.

"They tell us what they want to see improved, and all of that feeds into the improvements that we're driving. That is what guests and hosts want, and we want to constantly improve in order to grow the business," she added.

The company’s statement said that three upgrades were:

• Guest favourites - a collection of the 2 million most-loved Airbnb homes based on ratings, reviews, and dependability.
• Revamped ratings and reviews - a redesigned ratings page with new features to help guests understand the quality of each home.
• Listings tab - a set of new tools for hosts to manage their listing and highlight the details that guests care about the most, including an AI-powered photo tour.

Bunch explained that "Guest Favourites" is a new category on the platform. The feature may overlap with "Super Hosts", but Airbnb is developing a new badge that can be easily identified when a guest is looking for a place to stay.

"Those locations are the highest quality rating and reviews as well as low cancellation rate," she said.

The next area in which Airbnb is making improvements is reading ratings and reviews. The goal is to make it easier for guests to find the right property.

"When you have 7 million listings on the site, you have hundreds of millions of reviews left by guests on all of the different listings. And you're looking for that one special property that you know will be ideal for your vacation or trip," she noted, adding that the upgraded version would allow people to sort reviews based on a number of different criteria.

"Listing Labs" is the third area where the platform has announced some improvements. Bunch said that it was primarily focused on new tools for hosts to manage their properties.

There are tools, for example, to assist hosts in describing what amenities they provide for guests by categorising them based on theme, such as bedroom, kitchen, outdoor, and bathroom amenities.

The move by Airbnb comes at a time when there is increased competition in the travel platform.

Bunch was confident that the company could become one of the top options for both guests and hosts worldwide.

She pointed out the crucial role of Airbnb in promoting and disseminating tourism across the host country while adhering to local laws and regulations.

"We think Airbnb is uniquely positioned to drive tourism to not just the big metro areas but also rural areas and offer those really authentic experiences for guests," she said.

Besides, she mentioned that Airbnb is becoming a great platform for home owners to earn extra money from their own properties while also giving them the opportunity to meet new people in a safe environment.

"It's never been easier to host, but it'll be very easy with Airbnb. So I would encourage people to give it a try. It's a lot of fun," she added.

Founded in 2007, Airbnb has grown to over 4 million hosts who have welcomed 1.4 billion guest arrivals in almost every country worldwide.