Community feedback inspired these Airbnb updates
Since our May 2023 release, we’ve made several updates based on top suggestions from guests and Hosts. CEO Brian Chesky shared the highlights on social media today. Here’s what the announcement means for Hosts.
Search and filters
Guests have said it can be hard to find homes available on popular dates. A new carousel at the bottom of search results automatically shows guests more listings that meet their criteria if their trip is flexible. The results appear under the heading “Available for similar dates.” The expanded options could lead to more bookings for Hosts with availability during those times.
We’ve added two of the most-requested search filters to help guests find pet-friendly homes and listings with king-size beds. Over a quarter of listings on Airbnb allow pets, and over 1 million offer king-size beds. Update your house rules to allow pets or add a king-size bed to your amenities to help your listing show up in searches for these features.
Price transparency
Over 8 million guests have booked travel using total price display since we launched it in December 2022. Total prices include the nightly price and all fees before taxes for the trip dates selected. (Taxes are included where required by local regulations.) This helps guests understand how much they’ll pay for their trip.
Some Hosts are adjusting their total prices to meet demand. Listings with prices that were updated four times in 2022 had over 30% more nights booked last year than listings with prices that did not change.*
The latest Airbnb data also shows that:
The price of a one-bedroom place on Airbnb in July 2023 was 1% lower than in July 2022. Over the same time period, hotel room prices worldwide went up 10%, according to CoStar, a leading provider of commercial real estate information.
The Hosts of over 260,000 listings have removed or reduced their cleaning fees since January 1, 2023. This is on top of nearly 3 million listings on Airbnb that currently don’t have a cleaning fee.
The pricing tools in your calendar can help you track trends in your area. You can compare the average prices of similar listings nearby and update your price, discounts, or cleaning fee anytime you’d like.
Get tips for developing your pricing strategy in our learning series.
Customer service
Hosts and guests want shorter wait times and faster resolutions when calling Community Support. Our goal is to consistently offer great customer service without delay, the first time you call.
This summer, we answered 94% of calls within two minutes, in English and nine other languages.** In November, we’ll start matching you with the best agent to resolve your specific issue faster. Anyone who’s brought in for extra support will have access to your full case history, so you won’t need to repeat yourself.
Verified listings
Guests don’t want to worry whether the beachfront bungalow they booked is actually on the beach. Inaccurate and fake listings erode trust in Airbnb and hurt our whole community.
We’ll begin verifying the location of every listing in the U.S., Canada, Australia, the U.K., and France later this year, followed by 30 more countries next fall. Badges will start appearing on the pages of verified listings in February 2024.
Most listings will be automatically verified. Hosts don’t need to take any action at this time. We’ll reach out if we need additional information.
Stay tuned for more new features, coming in November.
*Based on listings worldwide (except China, Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine) that had one or more nights available from January to December 2022 and did not have Smart Pricing turned on. Additional factors affect nights booked.
**The other languages are Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Mandarin, Korean, and Japanese.
Information contained in this article may have changed since publication.