Continuing its commitment to improving all aspects of its service, and considering that in a recent survey, 9 out of 10 active Airbnb guests are considering traveling this mid-year vacation, Airbnb is launching the largest change in its platform in a decade.
A new way to search. Millions of people are now more flexible about where they live and work, but travel search has been the same for 25 years: Travelers enter a location and dates into a search box. Most travelers can only think of a few cities, but there are shared Airbnb spaces in 100,000 towns and cities around the world.
To make it easier for travelers to discover millions of unique spaces they never knew existed, Airbnb is introducing a new way to search Airbnb categories. When they enter the platform, they are presented with 56 categories that organize the spaces according to their style, location or proximity to a travel activity. When you search for a destination, your results are also organized by categories that are relevant to that particular site.
The 56 Airbnb categories they include more than 4 million unique spaces made possible by hosts around the world. Airbnb categories organize spaces based on what makes them unique, helping travelers discover places they might not otherwise have found. This can help alleviate overtourism by redistributing travel to new locations beyond the same popular destinations.
Unique travel experiences are increasingly attracting guests: Nights booked in the first quarter of 2022 for travel during the holiday season to unique spaces are growing 80% compared to 2019. Reservations in different places have experienced a growth, in the interest of guests, particularly strong: small houses have reached an increase of 173%, barns, 160%, domes, 134% and tree houses 116%.
combined stays. Long-term stays are at their highest in the first quarter of 2022, reaching twice as many bookings compared to the first quarter of 2019, and continue to account for around one in five nights booked. Additionally, almost half of bookings through Airbnb in the first quarter of 2022 were for a week or more. For this reason, the platform created Combined staysan innovative feature that divides a trip between two spaces.
With this new tool, guests will see about 40% more spaces when searching for longer stays. When searching for a specific destination, Estancias Combinadas automatically appears in the search results. They also appear within 14 categories, including Camping, National Parks, Skiing and Surfing, to inspire guests to stay in two destinations as part of a longer trip.
AirCover for guests. This season millions of people will travel for the first time since the start of the pandemic. That’s why Airbnb created AirCover, with extensive travel protection. This upgrade will be included when you select a space on the platform, free of charge, and represents the biggest upgrade to Airbnb’s customer service in a decade. With AirCover, guests will be covered by four protections every time they book a space through Airbnb:
- Reservation Protection Guarantee: In the unlikely event that a Host needs to cancel their reservation within 30 days of check-in, Airbnb will find the guest a similar or better space, or refund their money.
- Alternative Arrival Guarantee: If the guest is unable to check into their stay and the host cannot resolve the issue, Airbnb will find them a similar or better space for the length of their original stay, or refund their money.
- Ad fidelity guarantee: If at any time during their stay the guest discovers that their accommodation is not as advertised, for example, the refrigerator stops working and cannot be easily repaired by their Host, or there are fewer rooms than listed, they will have three days to report it and Airbnb will find you a similar or better space, or give you your money back.
- 24-hour protection line: If the guest ever feels unsafe, they will have priority access to specially trained security agents, day or night.
AirCover It’s built right into the Airbnb app and website, making it easy for guests to contact an agent and resolve issues quickly. The digital platform created a team of specially trained agents to provide last-minute rebooking assistance. It also significantly expanded its 24-hour security line to cover 16 languages.
“The way people travel has changed forever. That’s why we’re introducing the biggest change to Airbnb in a decade.”said Brian Chesky, CEO and co-founder of Airbnb. “First, people are more flexible about where they live and work, so we’ve designed a new way to search with Airbnb categories. Second, people take longer trips, so we created Combined Stays to give you more options by splitting your trip between two spaces. And third, we’re introducing AirCover to guests, giving them the confidence to book knowing Airbnb has their back.”
Airbnb’s redesigned app and website with these new updates will be available worldwide this week.
Source: Ambito
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