On May 3, Brian asked the Airbnb community what improvements they wanted to see, and based on nearly 3,300 responses, these were their top suggestions:
- Lower cleaning fees
- Better search & filters
- Verified listings
- Better customer service
- Guest loyalty program
- Total price with taxes
- Better review system
- Lower prices
We spent the summer working on these, alongside other improvements aimed at making the end-to-end experience on Airbnb even better, and today we’re sharing an update on how we are addressing five of the top suggestions:
Lower prices and lower cleaning fees
We know affordability is important, especially during economically uncertain times. Over the past year, we introduced several initiatives aimed at fostering affordability on Airbnb, from new pricing tools for Hosts, to making pricing even more transparent for guests.
- Today, four out of every five Hosts use one of our pricing tools. Almost 680,000 Hosts have used our new tool to compare their prices with similar listings nearby, while almost two thirds of Hosts offer weekly or monthly discounts.
- Against the backdrop of increasing prices industry-wide, and with an average nightly rate of $127 in July 2023, the average nightly price of a one-bedroom listing on Airbnb is 1 percent lower than it was in July 2022 – while hotel prices have gone up 10 percent to $163 over the same period .[1]
- Since we launched it, over 8 million guests have booked travel on Airbnb using total price display, which made fees even more transparent.
- This year over 260,000 listings lowered or removed their cleaning fees[2] – on top of nearly 3 million listings that currently don’t charge one.
Improvements to search and filters
We know how important it is to find the perfect stay in just one search. One of the top suggestions from our community was to expand our search capabilities.
- Starting today, if search results are limited, we’ll automatically display a carousel at the bottom of search results so guests can review more great homes available over similar dates.
- We’ve also added two new search filters by popular demand: pet-friendly homes and king-size beds. This should come as no surprise as there have been over 6 million pet arrivals on Airbnb in the past year[3]. The top ten most popular countries for pets in the past year include the USA, France, UK, Canada, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Australia, Mexico and Germany.[4] With over a quarter of listings across the platform welcoming pets, it’s now even easier for guests to narrow their search by those that welcome furry friends.
- And with king-size beds featured in over a million listings, the new king-size bed filter will help guests easily find the homes that offer them.
Listing verification in our top five countries
We firmly believe guests shouldn’t have to worry about whether a listing is fake or isn’t located where it says it is.
- Later this year, we’ll begin verifying every listing in the US, Canada, Australia, UK and France with verified icons appearing on listings from February. Starting next fall, we’ll begin verifying listings in 30 more countries.
- This complements our ongoing work to implement tools to help prevent fraud, remove bad actors, and increase trust in our community. This year, we blocked 157,000 fake listings from ever joining the platform, and removed an additional 59,000.
Customer service improvements
We want all of our guests to have a great experience on Airbnb, which includes providing timely and seamless support when they need it.
- This summer, we answered 94% of calls in English within 2 minutes. We also extended this 2-minute response time to 9 more languages.
- From November, we’ll start making additional improvements to customer service so that when guests call, they’re going to be matched with the best agents to resolve their specific issue, faster.
Coming soon
We’ll have even more exciting updates to share during our 2023 Winter Release.
[1] Average global price (USD) of a hotel room compared to a stay in a 1-bedroom home on Airbnb. Sources: CoStar, Airbnb
[2] Between 1 January 2023 and 31 August 2023
[3] Stays with at least one pet between Sept 1, 2022 to Aug 31, 2023
[4] Top ten destinations for guests booking with at least one pet between Sept 1, 2022 to Aug 31, 2023
