Airbnb hosting is a complex business, from setting up listings and managing properties to understanding price trends, communicating with customers, and tracking revenue. The challenge is that the more properties a host manages, the harder it becomes to juggle everything. To solve this problem, as part of its winter release, Airbnb is introducing a co-host network feature that allows hosts to find top-rated local co-hosts to help manage their properties.
The travel company has built a network of “rental hosts” like LinkedIn and Fiverr made up of highly rated local hosts. Airbnb currently accepts hosts with a rating of 4.8 or higher and a minimum of 10 stays. The company has 10,000 hosts on its network in 10 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
These hosts help set up listings, set prices and availability, manage reservation requests, guest management, on-site guest support, cleaning and maintenance, and more. You can set your own prices for providing these services. Hosts seeking these services can learn more about co-hosts, co-host service skills, and service fees on their profile page.
Image credit: Airbnb
During Airbnb's summer 2023 product launch, the company introduced the ability for hosts to add co-hosts and manage certain tasks. The release also included a provision to pay these co-hosts a percentage of their bookings. The company is building a new network based on these capabilities.
“One of the requests we get from hosts is that they want to find reliable, professional, high-quality co-hosts who have a great track record in their field, and they actually want to be completely hands-off. ,” Judson Coplan, Airbnb's vice president of product marketing, told TechCrunch.
Airbnb has long been touted as a means of passive income. However, as more travelers use a variety of services, their booking expectations have also increased. As a result, hosts have had to become professionals and their income from real estate bookings has also declined. By rolling out this network, Airbnb is giving hosts the opportunity to earn money when they're not managing properties.
The company says hosts on its network currently help manage an average of seven properties.
In addition to introducing the co-host network, the company is rolling out features that allow hosts to see prices for similar properties in their area, customizable templates to quickly respond to guests, improvements to the revenue dashboard, and more.
The company is also introducing new features for guests, including an in-app welcome tour for first-time guests, suggested destination and search filters, a simpler checkout page, and local payment options such as Vipps in Norway and Mobile Pay in Denmark. We have also released a number of updates. , MoMo in Vietnam.
Image credit: Airbnb
In addition to these features, when discussing the company's AI strategy, Judson also emphasized that the company is considering leveraging AI for community support.
“When guests and hosts have questions about how to use the app, cancellations, policies, reservations, and reservations, I think AI will be an invaluable tool to get answers right within the app,” he said. Ta.
The company is already experimenting with using AI to summarize reviews and create the “ultimate concierge” for customers.