Millions of people around the world book accommodation on Airbnb, but Germans are reluctant. According to the new head of strategy Dave Stephenson, Tüv should help to change that.
Dave Stephenson sits on a bench with colorful cushions in a small wooden house. There’s a picture of a boat on the wall, there’s apple spritzer and cookies – everything is very homely, apart from the loud roar of hundreds of voices. Because the house is not on a lake, but on the exhibition grounds at the Berlin radio tower. Stephenson is the new head of strategy for the booking portal Airbnb, which operates a stand at the International Tourism Exchange ITB.
Stephenson has attached a small pin of the red and pink Airbnb logo to the lapel of his jacket. For five years he was CFO of the booking platform with exceptional accommodations, and for a few days now he has been the company’s first CBO, the Chief Business Officer. He is supposed to ensure that “the new chapter” that Airbnb has announced for this year will be a good one. Airbnb wants to “expand”, become active in more countries, acquire more hosts and offer guests more service. So big goals.
Germany is one of the “focus markets” for the platform. After all, the Federal Republic is one of the strongest travel markets in the world with 53 million travelers in 2022 and a turnover of almost 60 billion euros. But gaining Germans’ trust in Airbnb is a challenge. More and more major German cities are now taking action against illegal rentals via the platform. Tüv certification should now also help with reputation.
Germans want trust and reliability
“Germans want to know that they are having a great experience with what they have booked,” says Stephenson in an interview with Capital. Trust and reliability are more important criteria in the German market than elsewhere. “When someone tries Airbnb for the first time, they tend to come back. So really, we just need people to try us for the first time.”
Anyone can book and rent accommodation on the Airbnb platform. Hotels are also on offer, but Airbnb’s business model is primarily based on the fact that private individuals can offer individual rooms, entire apartments or houses for booking. There are currently seven million offers on the portal worldwide. Airbnb mediates between guests and the so-called hosts, takes care of the booking process for both sides and earns money from fees.
Despite Germans’ love of traveling, the market for Airbnb in this country is still comparatively small. If you want to go on holiday to Sweden or Italy, you’re more likely to look elsewhere for classic holiday apartments and hotels. Airbnb wants to change that – and has therefore recently sought Tüv certification in Germany. It has been completed since the beginning of February.
“We also want to present ourselves appropriately locally in Germany,” says Stephenson. The Tüv certification is an important step for marketing in order to “validate” Airbnb’s performance as trustworthy. Specifically, it was about online security. For example, data protection, transparency, user-friendliness and the security of IT processes were checked. Stephenson reports on the lengthy process with a lot of paperwork. For months, various teams have provided information about the certification process.
“So far we haven’t had to do something like this in other countries, but it could be a good start,” says Stephenson. There is a map of the world on the face of his watch. “If we find it helpful, we might consider it for other places as well.”
More services should make Airbnb more attractive
Airbnb’s new strategy is basically about making booking on the platform even more attractive than with a hotel. In the future, Airbnb wants to offer additional services such as cleaning, help with check-in and check-out or a fully equipped kitchen.
Last year, the platform, founded in San Francisco in 2008, recorded the most initial bookings ever. Among the listed hosts, it also broke the five million mark for the first time; overall, hosts earned more than 57 billion euros from Airbnb rentals in 2023.
Millions more hosts are expected to be added in the future. The vision is: Anyone with a home can be a host and use Airbnb. The company repeatedly rejects criticism that Airbnb is causing a shortage of living space and causing rents to rise, especially in large cities. On the contrary, the company argues, many hosts can only afford their rent through income from Airbnb.
Stephenson himself also lives in an Airbnb in the hip Prenzlauer Berg district during his stay in Berlin. “My host left me a few German beers in the fridge,” says Stephenson. “Yesterday I was able to relax on the sofa after a long day, drink a beer and look out the window before going to bed. I wouldn’t have had this opportunity in the hotel.”
We can only hope that the Airbnb landlord also pays the income from Airbnb rentals through tax, otherwise he could face trouble with the local tax authorities.
Source: Stern
