The platform now includes a category feature and a split house function
The American Company Airbnb recently made major updates to its platform. Now, every user who visits the official website, will find a six minutes film where Brian Chesky, Co-founder and CEO, explains the new features and shows travelers a new lifestyle.
On Wednesday, Chesky announced “the biggest change to Airbnb in a decade”, during the company’s virtual summer event, which includes a new search function called “categories”, a new feature called “split homes”, and new travel insurance for guests called “AirCover”. The website and app have been redesigned to showcase the company’s new strategy.
These recent updates allow travelers to expand experiences and discover new exotic locations adapted to their needs and lifestyles. According to the information shared in a press release, Airbnb is adapting to what travelers and remote workers currently need.
Chesky explained the reasons for the new features: “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 Split Stays to give you more options by splitting your trip between two homes. And third, we’re introducing AirCover for guests, giving you the confidence to book knowing that Airbnb’s got your back.”
Since last year, the company has been making updates and optimizing services— they made 150 upgrades in 2021— to adapt to the pandemic and satisfy customers. Despite its struggles, the changes have worked and Airbnb’s future is looking brighter. Their business model is currently being adopted by other companies in the travel industry: Marriott is now offering short-term rentals to reach similar audiences
More About Airbnb 2022 Summer Release
Airbnb reported an increase in bookings for summer 2022 of 80% compared to the summer of 2019. The company also noticed different behaviors: longer stays from travelers who work remote and interest in different travel experiences.
Airbnb considers that a new travel era has begun. “We think people are ready to dream again,” said Chesky. The CEO also added: “A lot of people have been sequestered at home for two years. Many people haven’t taken that big trip for the first time. And so we want to encourage people to get out of their house and venture into this big world.”
Here are more details about the new features:
- Airbnb Categories: the new redesign now shows 56 categories of unique homes—from tiny houses to a yellow submarine treehouse— to match users’ interests and help them discover new fascinating listings.
For this feature, the company selected 6 million homes across the world that offer guests special experiences. Travelers will be able to choose their preferred unique homes from categories like “castles”, “caves”, “farms”, homes with “amazing pools”, “mansions”, and even “OMG”.
- Split Homes: Considering that travelers are choosing longer stays, this new feature allows guests to split a trip between two different houses in the same area.
Split stays can be also combined with 14 categories so that travelers can have similar homes or preferred activities. For example, a guest can split stays and find two homes near the coast to surf in different locations in the same region.
- AirCover: This new insurance offers four different types of protection. A booking protection guarantee that finds a guest a similar home in case the host cancels a reservation within 30 days of check-in, a check-in guarantee that finds solutions in case a guest can’t check into the home, a get-what-you-booked guarantee that offers guests alternatives in case the home doesn’t look as advertised, and a 24 hours safety line if a guest doesn’t feel safe in one of the listings.
The new redesign and features of the Airbnb 2022 Summer Release are already live for users in the United States and will be visible from other countries throughout the week. The company created a page where travelers can learn more about the new updates.
