Airbnb now shows the best apartments – 11/08/2023 – Market

Airbnb launches this Wednesday (8) a series of features to improve the use of the platform by both guests and hosts.

The main new feature is the creation of a category that brings together the best accommodations, following its own criteria.

In recent months, the company has been focusing on incremental improvements, which improve the technology already known, instead of launching fancy features to attract new users.

“We’ve been doing this since the beginning of the pandemic, when we said we were going to focus on our core business, going back to basics. Since then, we’ve released more than 350 updates to the platform, all related to hosting,” he told Sheet Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder and chief strategy officer at Airbnb.

On the demand side, the biggest new feature is the category called Guest Favorites, which brings together accommodations considered to be well-rated and reliable.

Only ads with positive comments, an average rating above 4.9 stars, out of a total of 5 stars, and a 1% cancellation rate earn this label.

According to Blecharczyk, at least five reviews are required for an ad to be eligible. As more data is added to the platform all the time, the selection is updated in real time, so an offer can be promoted and downgraded just as quickly.

Of the approximately 7 million Airbnb listings, 2 million fall (28%) into this category. According to the company, Brazil is among the ten countries with the highest rate of Guest Preferred, with 34%, without mentioning the absolute number.

“Brazilians are very good at welcoming guests and are recognized for it,” said Blecharczyk.

“It may not be as mature a market as other countries, in terms of penetration, but the quality statistics, the indicators are quite positive, regardless of the scale. I think this will fuel our long-term growth.”

Another new feature, this one more aimed at hosts, is the creation of a tab in the application that, according to the company, will improve the management of ads.

The tab will bring together the offers created and allow you to edit them more easily. In addition, it will be possible to create a photo tour organized by artificial intelligence. Airbnb says more detailed listings can get up to 20% more bookings.

The strategy of adopting incremental improvements began to take shape following the impact caused by the pandemic, in 2020, but gained momentum this year, with updates of this type in May, September and now, in November.

“During the pandemic, we needed to rethink our work, and we decided that the most special thing about Airbnb is our hosts, that’s our core business,” said the Airbnb co-founder.

“I think a lot of our success has come from improvements in that regard, as it’s still a growing business. And we make those updates because we’re informed based on what guests and hosts tell us, their feedback.”

Brian Chesky, the company’s CEO, has reiterated in interviews that the company’s focus is on getting its house in order. “We’re about to turn the corner,” Chesky told Bloomberg in October.

If the last two updates were more focused on prices, this one’s main objective is to increase the quality and trust of the platform — this factor, according to Nathan, has been at the core of the company since its creation in 2008.

Since Airbnb is, after all, a technology company whose idea is to reduce friction between those who offer a service and those who want to hire them — like Uber, iFood and many others —, it also gained ground with artificial intelligence, main buzzword of the year for the sector.

The AI-created photo gallery allows the property manager to simply select the images they want to use. Their arrangement will be up to the algorithm, which specializes in ordering them so that the sequence gives a better idea of ​​what the place actually looks like.

This Airbnb AI was trained with around 100 million images and analyzes listing photos and assigns them to 19 rooms in a matter of seconds, but owners can still edit the gallery whenever they want.

The company is studying a way to implement generative AI, such as ChatGPT, in customer support.

There was also an improvement in the layout of reviews to make it easier for users to read. Guests can now sort reviews by most recent date or review rating.

A graph will also be displayed showing the distribution of accommodation ratings, from 1 to 5 stars. Finally, you can provide additional context for the comment, such as “Traveled with children.”

The news comes in the wake of increased regulation of companies like Airbnb in various parts of the world. While New York has created a series of obstacles to the creation of advertisements, European capitals are closing in on the company in the midst of a housing crisis.

In São Paulo, an excerpt from the new Zoning Law proposed by city hall could be the city’s first measure against short-term apartment rentals.

“Regulation is right, but any regulation needs to be balanced. It needs to be proportionate, so that you put guardrails in place but don’t cause collateral damage,” Blecharczyk said, citing New York as a bad example.

“There are a lot of people who really depend on Airbnb [para complementar a renda]. We have to make sure that, with regulation, we are not harming those who really benefit from it.”

In a report released last week, Airbnb announced that its revenues jumped 18% compared to the previous year, to US$3.4 billion, with Latin America being the region with the highest growth.

Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) was US$ 1.5 billion, an increase of 23.7%. The company was worth US$120 billion in 2021 and is now worth around US$76 billion.