Monday, 16 May 2022 02:13

Airbnb announces changes to its platform based on the new way to travel

Written by Evelyn Alas

Airbnb is ready for a new way to travel. The platform reported that in 2022 people will travel differently than they have before and so it has: domestic travel accounted for more than half of the nights booked in first quarter 2022 for summer stays and exceeded first quarter 2019 levels, with trending destinations in Mexico such as Mazatlan, Crucecita, Leon, San Carlos Nuevo Guaymas and Puerto Escondido.

Meanwhile, international travel has recovered to pre-pandemic levels and continues to grow with more nights booked for international stays during the summer compared to the first quarter of 2021,[2] with Medellin, San Carlos de Bariloche, Positano, Malaga and Bogota as on-trend destinations for Mexicans.[3]

To continue its commitment to improving all aspects of its service, and taking into account that in a recent survey, in which 9 out of 10 active Airbnb guests are considering traveling this summer,[4] the platform is launching the biggest change to 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 in a search box. Most people can only think of a few cities, but there are shared spaces on Airbnb in 100,000 towns and cities around the world.

To make it easier for travelers to discover millions of unique stays they never knew existed, Airbnb is introducing a new way to search Airbnb categories. When they log into Airbnb, they are presented with 56 categories that organize spaces by style, location or proximity to a travel activity. When they search for a destination, their search results are also organized by categories that are relevant to that particular place.

The 56 Airbnb categories include more than 4 million unique stays made possible by hosts around the world. Airbnb categories organize stays by what makes them unique, which helps travelers discover places they might not otherwise have found. This can help alleviate over-tourism by redistributing travel to new locations beyond the same popular destinations.

Unique travel experiences are increasingly attracting guests: nights booked in first quarter 2022 for summer travel to unique homes are up 80% compared to 2019. Tiny houses (+173%), barns (+160%), domes (+134%) and treehouses (+116%) have experienced particularly strong growth in interest.

Connected Stays; In 2022, more people will take more long-term trips than ever before. Long-term stays are at their highest point in first quarter 2022, more than double that of first quarter 2019, and continue to account for about one in five nights booked. In addition, more than one-third of bookings on Airbnb in first quarter 2022 were for a week or more and, according to a survey, 17% of guests traveling to Mexico in 2021 reported staying in stays booked through Airbnb while traveling.[5]

For this reason, Airbnb created Connected Stays, an innovative feature that splits a trip between two stays. With Connected Stays, guests will see about 40% more stays when searching for longer trips. When searching for a specific destination, Connected Stays automatically appear 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, the most comprehensive travel protection. AirCover is always included and always free, and represents the biggest upgrade to Airbnb's guest service in a decade. With AirCover, guests are covered by four protections every time they stay through Airbnb:

Reservation Protection Guarantee: in the unlikely event that a host needs to cancel their reservation within 30 days prior to check-in, Airbnb will find the guest a similar or better home, or refund their money.

Rebooking guarantee: if the guest is unable to make confirmed arrival to their stay and the host is unable to resolve the problem, Airbnb will find them a similar or better stay for the duration of their original stay, or refund their money.

Ad Fidelity Guarantee: if at any time during your stay the guest discovers that your accommodation is not as advertised, for example, the refrigerator stops working and your host cannot easily repair it, or there are fewer rooms than listed, you will have three days to report it and Airbnb will find you a similar or better stay, or refund your money.

24-hour protection line: if the guest ever feels unsafe, they will have priority access to specially trained security agents, no matter if it's day or night.

AirCover is designed directly into the Airbnb app and website, making it easy for guests to contact an agent and resolve issues quickly. Airbnb created a team of specially trained agents to provide last-minute rebooking assistance. Airbnb 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, Airbnb CEO and co-founder. "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 are taking longer trips, so we created Connected Stays to give you more options by splitting your trip between two homes. And third, we're introducing AirCover for guests, giving them the confidence to book knowing Airbnb has their back".

Airbnb's redesigned app and website with more than 50 unique stay categories, the innovative Connected Stays feature and AirCover for guests will be available worldwide this week.

On-trend domestic destinations for summer: by search by country of guest origin during the first quarter of 2022.

Unless otherwise specified, data in this document is from january 1 to march 31, 2022 globally (compared to the same period in 2019). "Summer" is defined as travel occurring between june 1 and august 31.

Trending international destinations for summer: by search by country of guest origin during the first quarter of 2022 (minimum of 5,000 searches).

Airbnb survey of 2800 active guests in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Japan and South Korea, april 2022.

Airbnb survey of 102,000 active guests in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Spain, France, UK and Italy, march 2022.