15 ms·

Introducing Airbnb Plus

133 points by catercowchris 9y ago

jasonjei 9y ago
I’m just writing with respect to personal experience, but I would rather book a hotel even over an Airbnb Plus. The reasons? Rewards are harmonized, reliable rooms, cleaning, 24-hour person on site should there be a problem. With an Airbnb, I might get a few of the qualities listed above, but never all of them. And Airbnb pricing often is the same as comparable (if not better) hotels.
- calbear81 9y ago
  Airbnb employee here: That's a perfectly fine personal preference especially if those are the attributes you care about the most. There are tons of B&B's and boutique hotels that also satisfy those requirements that list on Airbnb. If you're looking for places with kitchens, a backyard, more interaction with a local host, larger space for a family gathering or a group event etc. then an Airbnb could do the trick. I personally also sometimes find that we have listings in places that hotels are not present in. For example, in San Francisco, all the hotels are pretty much concentrated either in downtown near the super commercial Union Square area or along Lombard St. in the Marina district. If you want to stay in the other 95% of the city, you're going to have very limited options.
atomical 9y ago
I use Airbnb a lot. When the location is bad the reviews are often bullshit. People are afraid to leave a negative review. I would be willing to pay more to know the history of complaints that Airbnb receives directly through their support line. In the past I've discovered that Airbnb knew that there was a problem with a location but gave the owner another chance and did not follow up.
- dawnerd 9y ago
  They should just show the complaints as a stat like "10 complains last 12 months"
- ultraflux 9y ago
  Thanks for posting something that actually makes sense today. Win - additional revenue stream for Airbnb Win - guests find quality hosting Win - good hosts increase occupancy
dazc 9y ago
'with hosts known for great reviews..' Thus far, for me anyway, not a reliable method of finding great hosts.
grapehut 9y ago
I travel a lot and have stayed at 50+ airbnb places all around the world -- but the biggest problem is that the reviews are always so artificial you honestly have zero idea of what you're getting into. Worst of all is the amenities, which are more often incorrect than not. I generally filter for places with washer + drier, as I'd rather not be looking for laundromats. Probably over 80% of listings that say they have a washer and drier do not. Most of the time the "drier" is a drying rack or a hair drier. Other times the host explains that I can visit his house or a laundromat, so that counts. Or the last place there was a shared washing machine between 30+ places. And because you can't leave anonymous tips, I just add the problem by leaving positive reviews even when I'm unhappy with the place. Currently my airbnb profile shows me an an exceptional guest (I have nothing but positive reviews for me, and have given nothing but positive reviews) so have never had a problem getting any place I want. I don't really want to pollute my profile with candid feedback. When I'm staying somewhere for 1 or 2 nights, I tend to just get a hotel. There's too much friction and problems in airbnb for it to be worth it.
- pjungwir 9y ago
  Hosts (or anyone) can look at your profile to see the reviews about you, but not the reviews you've written. They would have to know the places you've stayed and then search through those reviews to find yours. So I don't think you should be worried about leaving honest reviews.
  - kelnos 9y ago
    Does a host (where you've stayed) get to see your review of their place before they post their review of you? If so, I think the fear would be a traveler leaving a negative review, the host seeing it, and then leaving a negative review of the traveler in retaliation.
    - SOLAR_FIELDS 9y ago
      No. You get something like 10 days to complete the review and the host does not see it and you don’t see their review until either the time period expires or you both leave reviews. After the time period expires you can no longer leave a review
ithinkinstereo 9y ago
How much of AirBnB's current valuation is predicated on the assumption that they'll eventually capture a hearty share of the business and high-end/luxury traveller segments (i.e., the high-margin profit drivers)? I see moves like Plus as AirBnB trying to "professionalize" aspects of their product, but they'll never be able to provide the "guarantee (or recourse)" of an established hotel chain. Outside of those who are cost-conscious, or those with unique accommodation needs (large groups, etc.), it's hard to imagine why any discerning traveller would opt for an AirBnB over a traditional hotel, all things being equal.
lotsofpulp 9y ago
Inching closer to a mainstream hotel brand. Can't complain about more competition, assuming it's zoned properly.
- Consultant32452 9y ago
  I usually check AirBnB but lately the best prices after fees are higher than mainstream hotel brands. To a certain extent this is controlled by property owners more than AirBnB itself, they've figured out they can charge more. The result is that while I used to go to AirBnB for the discounts, it's now becoming a premium brand with a premium price. It may be worth noting that I always opt for "whole place." It may be different if you're willing to get just a room.
  - dawnerd 9y ago
    Same, Always search for superhost, whole place, free onsite parking (rules out a lot of condo highrises), two bedrooms (Filters out basement apartments, granny flats, rooms being listed as whole houses). Recently scored a whole house for ~60/day using this and you know what, it wasn't that bad.
tenryuu 9y ago
A nice way for people to filter out, or even limit themselves to a more luxury option on the service. You could see yourself never using it, or using it a lot, granted your circumstances or needs
w-m 9y ago
To me the homes, people and their experiences in the video feel artificial. Thus the whole video makes me strangely uncomfortable, even though I am probably in the target audience.
- matte_black 9y ago
  I believe this is an uncanny valley.
- shafyy 9y ago
  Agree. I think a good counterexample is what Lyft did at the end of last year: https://blog.lyft.com/posts/thank-you https://blog.lyft.com/posts/thank-you It feels really authentic (and it probably is).
Gys 9y ago
Airbnb is trying to make more money by offering experiences (events that generally seem very expensive to me) and moving to a more high-end branding. If I open the website I mostly see the more exclusive places first. I think this opens opportunities at the bottom. A website that focusses on functionality and cheaper rooms. The public is now familiar with the concept. Some people do not want to pay above hotel prices to stay somewhere for the night only. They are looking for a simple, clean and cheap bed. I am one of those.
- halfteatree 9y ago
  If you look at the list of homes listed, I wouldn't say they are above hotel price at all.
- m-watson 9y ago
  That is definitely an interesting perspective and I would agree there are a lot of people who just want the lower cost and clean bed for a night. However, is this move to add functionality really moving Airbnb out of the low cost market? You can still find very inexpensive options (as long as there are hosts) on the website. Airbnb, I would say, is just expanding their market pool not limiting it.
- KyleGalvin 9y ago
  The extreme of the bottom end is couchsurfing.com which might chew into the niche you describe. There is still some room in the middle, but success isn't guaranteed in that sort of market.
  - akhunt1002 9y ago
    I think transaction is important because it's explicit, and people are far likelier to respond. Couchsurfing is free, so the incentive is low, but the community is the most important part of it. I think combining community and transaction is a huge opportunity (I'm also biased :))
- volkk 9y ago
  i don't see how a whole new company can exist to fill in the gap of what airbnb's price slider filter can fix in 2 seconds
jzamora 9y ago
The main part I like about this is Airbnb actually verifying things in properties. It's always annoying when a listing has tiny lies in it about wifi and other small things. I really want that Airbnb rewards program though
- ultraflux 9y ago
  How much of a premium are you willing to pay for this verification? Secondly, it is going to be even more annoying when you expect it to be verified and your WIFI and small things are still missing or non-functional.
southphillyman 9y ago
Can't users already grep these type of homes by using price and rating filters? So the premium is based on a "verified" distinction due to an official inspection? I guess that's useful but it may make these kinds of gems harder to book (and more expensive) if they are easier to distinguish.
- ghaff 9y ago
  One would certainly expect that certification or other sorts of quality/service guarantees would allow properties to set higher prices relative to those that don't have them. There are reasons why many people (generally including myself) are more likely to buy used camera gear, for example, from reputable dealers rather than eBay even though the prices are usually higher.
whymsicalburito 9y ago
This offering looks nice, but half the bullet items listed as benefits were things that I already thought were guaranteed by AirBnB... This seems like an excuse to lower their standards on non-Plus listings.
- matte_black 9y ago
  Agreed, don’t know why we should suddenly pay more for something we once expected for free.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - mrgordon 9y ago
    A lot of people stay in hotels because there is a certain consistency even if they are more expensive and less nice usually. Airbnb Plus is a way to make sure Airbnb is as consistent as possible to compete. If you want the cheapest possible room, you can just get a normal Airbnb and not pay slightly more for someone to check that there is an extra toothbrush and a bottle of wine when you check in
    - ghaff 9y ago
      I have no idea if this new tier will actually result in a consistent curated list of places to stay. However, to the degree it does, I would absolutely consider using it to a greater degree than Airbnb today.
- mjburgess 9y ago
  It's what you expect, but it costs them money to verify these expectations. I'd guess this is about saying "we've verified this" .
  - JorgeGT 9y ago
    But then again, they don't seem to make any hard commitment as a result of said inspection, something like "everything is verified in person so if something is missing/wrong we book you in the nearest five star hotel for free", only a vague promise about a more trained customer support agent if something goes wrong. Does not seem very reassuring honestly.
iooi 9y ago
Why do they never link to the listings when they advertise these beautiful homes? It's such a simple thing to do, I wonder if they purposefully leave the links out. I'm curious how much that LA home is to rent.
get 9y ago
Interesting. I wonder what those "checked for 100+ things that guests told us they love" are. Shouldn't the general quality of the listing already be apparent from the ratings? I'm always looking for apartments with a view. That is why I am starting a startup that will help locate these: https://nothingless.github.io/ https://nothingless.github.io/ I will also list if an apartment has a table. Because I need one to work with my laptop on it. What are other HNers looking for in an apartment that is not easy to find via the standard filters?
- mrgordon 9y ago
  No the general rating isn't specific enough as you say. You may want a table, a hairdryer, working wifi, etc. which may not alter the overall rating much.
- dawnerd 9y ago
  I hope their check includes people listing "whole homes" as actually being an entire house and not just someones basement or granny flat. Also a room with an attached bathroom isn't an "apartment". Seen quite a few of those being listed as whole rooms too. I don't really get it, if they fool me do they expect me to be happy when I show up and find out Im basically sleeping like harry potter?
  - thinkythought 9y ago
    How is a granny flat with it's own entrance, kitchen, etc not a "whole home"? those are often rented as apartments anyways
    - dawnerd 9y ago
      Because a lot of the amenities listed are actually in the main house. If Im renting a "whole home" I dont really want to be in the owners back yard, ya know?
- Kagerjay 9y ago
  I'm confused what you are trying to build here. Every startup can be summarized in one sentence or company can be summarized in one sentence. For instance, linkedin is facebook for business users. Uber is peer to peer ride sharing. News.Ycombinator is reddit for tech oriented users. Ratings are always going to be biased to some extent. If companies can game any marketing in general, it will be done. Tags are also biased as well, not everyone has the same definition and need for what a "table" is. A dining table, a standing desk, a computer table? 30"x30" or larger? Round or square? Real estate / renting /airBnB is going to be always driven by short summarized text / tabular data (square footage, cost/square foot,location) and interior/exterior images so the potential tenant can make their own decision.
pradn 9y ago
AirBnb sells feelings of authenticity, but it comes across in an uncanny-valley sort of way. I did an AirBnB cooking class experience in the suburbs of Mexico City. It was really fun, I got to meet a few great people, and it was in a lovely house. But how genuine are the host's laughs at my jokes when I'm paying him for the class? It doesn't feel real. Staying at an AirBnB is a less homogenous than staying at the Hilton. There's a bit more risk involved (not necessarily safety, but cleanliness, noise, etc). Hotels, on the plus side, are run like businesses and feel more impersonal. It's more honest than an AirBnB experience in a way. More to the point, I'm surprised the company keeps improving their product like this. It's not Dropbox or Yelp, which don't feel too different after 10 years.
- ghaff 9y ago
  I semi-regularly stay at Bed & Breakfasts when I travel. I've never booked through Airbnb but I observe that a fair number now list there. I expect this also fuels the perception that Airbnb is more expensive than it used to be. B&Bs (in the small inn sense) aren't typically all that inexpensive. It really depends what I'm looking for. With a lot of business travel in particular, I'm looking for a consistent experience with a 24 hour desk in a convenient location. For a weekend getaway I often look for something that's a bit more "local."
  - pradn 9y ago
    AirBnB has also made it pretty easy to use their service for business travel. If you're under cap, you could possibly upgrade to a better plane seat. Personally, I prefer a cheap hotel and a good plane ride. A lot of the old-school business travel services like fax machines and gyms I don't ever use anyway.
    - ghaff 9y ago
      I have pretty good status on my regular airline so I typically book directly. With hotels, I often go for "serviced apartments" and long-term stay oriented suite hotels. I want a staffed desk but other than that I really don't use full-service hotel features all that much. And the alternatives are often at least a bit cheaper and can have larger rooms.
GuiA 9y ago
Reliable check-in With Airbnb Plus, you can always check in effortlessly. Every home is equipped with a lockbox, keypad, or a host who is on-call to greet you. Love the implication that the check in process for their regular listings is unreliable :^) Otherwise, as others are pointing out, interesting to see where their priorities lie - certainly these high touch experiences are bringing them more money than people renting out a spare bedroom. I do wonder how much of a pain this must all be for hosts - anyone who’s ever been in a slightly expensive place knows how entitled people spending money can get, and that must be a huge pain to deal with when it’s someone staying in your house making a fuss because you didn’t offer them organic orange juice in the morning. This happened to a friend of mine who hosted someone for a few nights, on regular Airbnb, with no promise of breakfast whatsoever in the first place. Again, people can get really entitled when they’re spending money. She stopped hosting as the result of that experience (they complained about more than the breakfast, but that’s one thing they were weirdly pushy about).
- Terretta 9y ago
  To be fair, “BnB” = Bed and Breakfast. It’s in the name, not the fine print.
  - GuiA 9y ago
    Should he have also complained because he slept on a real mattress and not an Air Bed, as advertised in the name?
aestetix 9y ago
So they are basically a fancy hotel that skirts regulations?
thisisit 9y ago
Wow. First I was confused and then on reading closer I can only say - what a load of bs. So, they take the same experience and re-package it to charge more money. And here I thought Uber's packaging on some of their ride categories was bs.
CptJamesCook 9y ago
How about a guarantee that the guests won't throw a party in my house and disturb my neighbors? This has been a constant problem for me.
qxzw 9y ago
Getting that much needed 4.8 rating, reminds me of certain dark reflective surface.
markcerqueira 9y ago
No subtitles on the Shanghai video... 不好！
annexrichmond 9y ago
This is strange marketing as it almost sounds like the non-Plus listings aren't what people already expect to some degree from an airbnb. > With Airbnb Plus, you can always check in effortlessly. Every home is equipped with a lockbox, keypad, or a host who is on-call to greet you. This is so weird. How would you otherwise check in to a home if it doesn't have self check in or a host? > When you book an Airbnb Plus home, you get the focused attention of our Airbnb Plus customer support team–a highly-trained team committed to great service and faster responses Okay, so if there is no self check in and no host to greet me at a non Plus home, I'm stuck with a poorly trained unresponsive agent. I realize that they want to differentiate the hotel-like quality airbnbs from the others, so they can give it a badge and therefore justify a higher price for it, but the delivery is odd, as other commenters have pointed out. An alternative approach could be to describe such listings as "Guaranteed X, Y, Z". I think with that language it wouldn't undermine the quality of the non Plus listings as much.
- bsimpson 9y ago
  Perhaps "on-call" is the operative bit, as in "your international flight lands at 3AM? No sweat, you'll be able to get in anyway."
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- spaceflunky 9y ago
  New slogan: "Airbnb Plus: Everything else is a dump"
  - ultraflux 9y ago
    Except that most standard listings are a step up on plus. Which just goes to show how bad they messed up here. In some ways it has an Apple feel to it, charge more for less.
- seatonist 9y ago
  Many Airbnbs I've stayed in will just have a key under a house plant or doormat. The key can be a little tricky to find that way but for a lower cost listing it's totally fine (by me). I suspect that's the sort of practice they're trying to parse out for this Plus offering.
m1117 9y ago
I rented a place with Airbnb. A lot of the reviews said it's 13th floor with a gorgeous view. The actual place was on the 2nd floor. I called airbnb and the angry lady said that they are not responsible for the reviews and advised me not to trust them. She said I'll get no refund.
- get 9y ago
  Can you provide a link to that listing? I am always looking for apartments with a view so I would like to see how booking one can go so wrong.
nmeofthestate 9y ago
Makes sense - a subset that's had a bit more oversight from AirBnB, to filter out the ghost hotels and places with one fork, no coffee machine, and furniture that's all basic IKEA stuff.
jVinc 9y ago
So they basically just used user feedback to sort their existing catalog into two catagories letting the upper one increase their prices. Makes sense. You were able to find some killer deals with extremely nice places that where waay underpriced because the hosts were decent human beings. They'll likely get contacted by AirBnB with "You could join airBnB plus... and you can price it 40% higher than current with us only taking twice our usual cut" or similar
fpgaminer 9y ago
My one and only experience with AirBnB was horrible. I booked a place so I could take some family and friends on a nice little vacation. Fast forward to three days before check-in. The host messages me asking me to email them a copy of my photo ID. Obviously, I told them no. 1) You should never let anyone have a copy of your photo ID (identity theft). 2) You certainly shouldn't _email_ your ID. 3) Communication outside AirBnB is against their rules. 4) A copy of your photo ID is not required, again according to AirBnB's rules. Anyway, I told the host it would be too dangerous to comply with their request and that I would be happy to _show_ the ID in-person at check-in. They ignored me and just re-iterated their request. At this point I was already ID verified by AirBnB, so there's really no reason for the host to personally verify me except at check-in. So I contact AirBnB support. Well the host stonewalls me and support for the 3 days leading up to check-in. AirBnB support is friendly, but their messages are often confusing and contain broken english making them difficult to understand. Their helpfulness only extends as much as to say "yes, this is against our rules, but the host won't budge." So I had to cancel the trip last minute and break the news to my family and friends who had already made plans around this vacation. Everything was ruined. The best AirBnB offered was to give us extra "credit" to book someplace different. Oh, great. Let me just go book another AirBnB, who might _also_ break your rules, last minute. No thanks. I was too stressed by having to deal with all this garbage to work up the energy to try and book someplace last minute. The thought that I would have to cancel the trip and disappoint my friends and family who were so excited to go ... that ate away at me the _whole_ time I was dealing with that horrible host and the limp AirBnB support. We were lucky in that our destination was a road-trip away, rather than a flight. Imagine if we had booked flights depending on this AirBnB booking? I don't see how anyone could entrust their trips to the whims of AirBnB given this behavior. They clearly can't enforce their own rules and don't go out of their way to help their customers. On top of all this, I had the misfortune of visiting the AirBnB subreddit. Wow. The AirBnB host culture is rife with self-entitled control freaks who are ready to throw guests under the bus under the guise of "well this is my personal home, so you have to obey my rules." No, this is a business. We're _paying_ to stay at your _business_ property. Not your home. It stopped being your home when you offered it for sale. Of course I would always treat people's property with respect, home or not. But the attitude that they somehow are above the rules of a business because they're renting their "home" is toxic. Other commenters frequently point out how the rating system is also completely broken. Guests won't rate their stays low, even when there are problems. Which means you can't trust the ratings. And if you can't trust the ratings, how can you choose a place to stay? And how is AirBnB Plus supposed to work if every place has 5/5? Since my stay was cancelled, I had no way to leave a review. I have serious doubts AirBnB themselves will take any action against the host. So I can only imagine all those poor naive souls out there just emailing copies of their IDs to strangers on the internet.
yairhaimo 9y ago
Listen to Masters of Scale episode 1 (https://mastersofscale.com/brian-chesky-handcrafted/ https://mastersofscale.com/brian-chesky-handcrafted/) to understand what is (seemingly) behind AirBnB's strategy for AirBnB Plus. Highly recommended!
joelrunyon 9y ago
Waiting for serviced apartments to show up in the US like they do in Australia & Asia. When I travel over there, I always do it. The amenities of the Airbnb, plus a front desk and a consistency + cleanliness. AirBnbs are great, but they're still very hit/miss.
apetresc 9y ago
They don't explicitly state this, but I really hope one of the things they guarantee with Plus is that the host isn't expecting you to cover up the fact that you're in an AirBNB. I love the service overall, but I absolutely hate getting the morning-of-checkin email saying "Hey can't wait to host you, by the way, tell the receptionist you're my cousin and if any of the neighbors are in the hallway please just pace around the elevator until they leave." This seems to happen 90% of the time in New York places.
- sf_rob 9y ago
  This happened to me in Toronto (my local coworkers said it was a common thing) and the doorman threatened to not let me in and to not return my bags that the airline temporarily lost and delivered there.
  - ultraflux 9y ago
    This often only happens in Cities where Airbnb is either illegal or is fighting with local cities.
    - apetresc 9y ago
      Exactly - in which case, I don't understand why AirBNB allows listings in those places, or at least warn you. It's a terrible user experience to find out you're an unwitting co-conspirator in someone else's crime.
      - CaptainZapp 9y ago
        Because they don't give a shit. They make money on the rental anyway and as long it doesn't threaten to wind up with terrible PR or cost them tangible money why would they care? I used AirBnB twice in Japan and booked a couple experiences (which I thought were really expensive for what they were) and I always cringed at their email sig : From AirBnb with Love It's not about spreading love. It's about a pretty ruthless business. Externalities be damned.
philfrasty 9y ago
Honestly a little disappointed. Thought the „Plus“ would be more like an offering like Amazon Prime in the sense that you wouldn't have to pay these „AirBnB fees“ every single time you make a booking and instead pay a membership fee. (hate these fees displayed separately - why not display a single price to the customer - I don't care what it consists of - edit: and while we are at it, please get rid of these absurd „cleaning fees“ that get misused by dozens of hosts)
akhunt1002 9y ago
Way to level up! I actually think this combined with the new superhost incentives are a very well-considered, combination to elevate the overall quality of the platform overall. The down side is: it seems like this may alienate new hosts by creating an (overwhelmingly) high bar for a listing. Not everyone is a semi-professional hotelier. How will that be balanced out? Be careful not make would-be hosts feel too self-conscious to list their space. It's a fine line between building community and alienating it when curation bias turns into a core pillar of a company's identity. I think discouraging new hosts by setting the bar (and company identity) so high is a net-negative for long-term community building. It makes total sense short-term, and it makes sense for an OTA like Booking. Long-term: it shoots the notion of home-sharing in the foot and without new hosts feeling welcome, a growing market can't sustain the demand. Personally (I'm obviously biased lol), I'm obsessed with the notion that everyone is a host. Everyone would host someone, and it's a platforms job to help match those people to public listings, homes privately listed (networked via communities / friends), homes that have professional photos, homes that even have no photos (because if you're booking a friend's home, who cares). I'm not saying lower the standards, I'm saying change the frame; it's as a matching game threaded by community.
wugie 9y ago
New revenue stream for the company growing its presence in the premium segment.
- ultraflux 9y ago
  Seems they may have missed the mark here. I would not classify hotel-like quality as the premium segment. Many of the standard Airbnb's I've stayed at beat hotel-like quality in every way.
megy 9y ago
Why not? I have not found airbnb to be cheaper than a hotel, and a lot less convenient. So why not go the full hotel route. However, there is that rare chance you get someone who is interesting to stay with.
dgudkov 9y ago
It's hard to get a predictable service quality from AirBnb hosts and locations, so the Plus program could be a step in the right direction. Maybe, AirBnb should just become a platform on which a branded/franchised networks should appear that stick to certain standards. Verified by "Philton". Quality controlled by "Karriott". Otherwise, AirBnb is always a lottery.
romaster 9y ago
This seems like a smart and natural step for AirBnB. Step 1) enable existing hosts who are great hosts to 'step up' to a prestige status which creates visibility and pushes more hosts towards wanting to get there too, thereby improving the overall quality on AirBnB. Step 2) (I'm skipping a few steps) - eventually fill the void with AirBnB property/amenity management as a service for hosts. Hosts who don't want to manage or deal with the pain of trying to get to Plus status will simply pay AirBnB for the cleaning, the linens, the supplies etc, no worries, no problems, and let AirBnB manage it all for you. Also gets more people wanting to host who are aloof to finding or trusting a manager they don't know. It will take time but it's well worth it, even if it is only partially successful. Good job.

133 points by catercowchris 9y ago

I’m just writing with respect to personal experience, but I would rather book a hotel even over an Airbnb Plus. The reasons? Rewards are harmonized, reliable rooms, cleaning, 24-hour person on site should there be a problem. With an Airbnb, I might get a few of the qualities listed above, but never all of them. And Airbnb pricing often is the same as comparable (if not better) hotels.

calbear81 9y ago
Airbnb employee here: That's a perfectly fine personal preference especially if those are the attributes you care about the most. There are tons of B&B's and boutique hotels that also satisfy those requirements that list on Airbnb. If you're looking for places with kitchens, a backyard, more interaction with a local host, larger space for a family gathering or a group event etc. then an Airbnb could do the trick. I personally also sometimes find that we have listings in places that hotels are not present in. For example, in San Francisco, all the hotels are pretty much concentrated either in downtown near the super commercial Union Square area or along Lombard St. in the Marina district. If you want to stay in the other 95% of the city, you're going to have very limited options.

atomical 9y ago

I use Airbnb a lot. When the location is bad the reviews are often bullshit. People are afraid to leave a negative review. I would be willing to pay more to know the history of complaints that Airbnb receives directly through their support line. In the past I've discovered that Airbnb knew that there was a problem with a location but gave the owner another chance and did not follow up.

dawnerd 9y ago
They should just show the complaints as a stat like "10 complains last 12 months"
ultraflux 9y ago
Thanks for posting something that actually makes sense today. Win - additional revenue stream for Airbnb Win - guests find quality hosting Win - good hosts increase occupancy

dazc 9y ago

'with hosts known for great reviews..' Thus far, for me anyway, not a reliable method of finding great hosts.

grapehut 9y ago

I travel a lot and have stayed at 50+ airbnb places all around the world -- but the biggest problem is that the reviews are always so artificial you honestly have zero idea of what you're getting into. Worst of all is the amenities, which are more often incorrect than not. I generally filter for places with washer + drier, as I'd rather not be looking for laundromats. Probably over 80% of listings that say they have a washer and drier do not. Most of the time the "drier" is a drying rack or a hair drier. Other times the host explains that I can visit his house or a laundromat, so that counts. Or the last place there was a shared washing machine between 30+ places. And because you can't leave anonymous tips, I just add the problem by leaving positive reviews even when I'm unhappy with the place. Currently my airbnb profile shows me an an exceptional guest (I have nothing but positive reviews for me, and have given nothing but positive reviews) so have never had a problem getting any place I want. I don't really want to pollute my profile with candid feedback. When I'm staying somewhere for 1 or 2 nights, I tend to just get a hotel. There's too much friction and problems in airbnb for it to be worth it.

pjungwir 9y ago
Hosts (or anyone) can look at your profile to see the reviews about you, but not the reviews you've written. They would have to know the places you've stayed and then search through those reviews to find yours. So I don't think you should be worried about leaving honest reviews.
- kelnos 9y ago
  Does a host (where you've stayed) get to see your review of their place before they post their review of you? If so, I think the fear would be a traveler leaving a negative review, the host seeing it, and then leaving a negative review of the traveler in retaliation.
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 9y ago
    No. You get something like 10 days to complete the review and the host does not see it and you don’t see their review until either the time period expires or you both leave reviews. After the time period expires you can no longer leave a review

ithinkinstereo 9y ago

How much of AirBnB's current valuation is predicated on the assumption that they'll eventually capture a hearty share of the business and high-end/luxury traveller segments (i.e., the high-margin profit drivers)? I see moves like Plus as AirBnB trying to "professionalize" aspects of their product, but they'll never be able to provide the "guarantee (or recourse)" of an established hotel chain. Outside of those who are cost-conscious, or those with unique accommodation needs (large groups, etc.), it's hard to imagine why any discerning traveller would opt for an AirBnB over a traditional hotel, all things being equal.

lotsofpulp 9y ago

Inching closer to a mainstream hotel brand. Can't complain about more competition, assuming it's zoned properly.

Consultant32452 9y ago
I usually check AirBnB but lately the best prices after fees are higher than mainstream hotel brands. To a certain extent this is controlled by property owners more than AirBnB itself, they've figured out they can charge more. The result is that while I used to go to AirBnB for the discounts, it's now becoming a premium brand with a premium price. It may be worth noting that I always opt for "whole place." It may be different if you're willing to get just a room.
- dawnerd 9y ago
  Same, Always search for superhost, whole place, free onsite parking (rules out a lot of condo highrises), two bedrooms (Filters out basement apartments, granny flats, rooms being listed as whole houses). Recently scored a whole house for ~60/day using this and you know what, it wasn't that bad.

tenryuu 9y ago

A nice way for people to filter out, or even limit themselves to a more luxury option on the service. You could see yourself never using it, or using it a lot, granted your circumstances or needs

w-m 9y ago

To me the homes, people and their experiences in the video feel artificial. Thus the whole video makes me strangely uncomfortable, even though I am probably in the target audience.

matte_black 9y ago
I believe this is an uncanny valley.
shafyy 9y ago
Agree. I think a good counterexample is what Lyft did at the end of last year: https://blog.lyft.com/posts/thank-you https://blog.lyft.com/posts/thank-you It feels really authentic (and it probably is).

Gys 9y ago

Airbnb is trying to make more money by offering experiences (events that generally seem very expensive to me) and moving to a more high-end branding. If I open the website I mostly see the more exclusive places first. I think this opens opportunities at the bottom. A website that focusses on functionality and cheaper rooms. The public is now familiar with the concept. Some people do not want to pay above hotel prices to stay somewhere for the night only. They are looking for a simple, clean and cheap bed. I am one of those.

halfteatree 9y ago
If you look at the list of homes listed, I wouldn't say they are above hotel price at all.
m-watson 9y ago
That is definitely an interesting perspective and I would agree there are a lot of people who just want the lower cost and clean bed for a night. However, is this move to add functionality really moving Airbnb out of the low cost market? You can still find very inexpensive options (as long as there are hosts) on the website. Airbnb, I would say, is just expanding their market pool not limiting it.
KyleGalvin 9y ago
The extreme of the bottom end is couchsurfing.com which might chew into the niche you describe. There is still some room in the middle, but success isn't guaranteed in that sort of market.
- akhunt1002 9y ago
  I think transaction is important because it's explicit, and people are far likelier to respond. Couchsurfing is free, so the incentive is low, but the community is the most important part of it. I think combining community and transaction is a huge opportunity (I'm also biased :))
volkk 9y ago
i don't see how a whole new company can exist to fill in the gap of what airbnb's price slider filter can fix in 2 seconds

jzamora 9y ago

The main part I like about this is Airbnb actually verifying things in properties. It's always annoying when a listing has tiny lies in it about wifi and other small things. I really want that Airbnb rewards program though

ultraflux 9y ago
How much of a premium are you willing to pay for this verification? Secondly, it is going to be even more annoying when you expect it to be verified and your WIFI and small things are still missing or non-functional.

southphillyman 9y ago

Can't users already grep these type of homes by using price and rating filters? So the premium is based on a "verified" distinction due to an official inspection? I guess that's useful but it may make these kinds of gems harder to book (and more expensive) if they are easier to distinguish.

ghaff 9y ago
One would certainly expect that certification or other sorts of quality/service guarantees would allow properties to set higher prices relative to those that don't have them. There are reasons why many people (generally including myself) are more likely to buy used camera gear, for example, from reputable dealers rather than eBay even though the prices are usually higher.

whymsicalburito 9y ago

This offering looks nice, but half the bullet items listed as benefits were things that I already thought were guaranteed by AirBnB... This seems like an excuse to lower their standards on non-Plus listings.

matte_black 9y ago
Agreed, don’t know why we should suddenly pay more for something we once expected for free.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- mrgordon 9y ago
  A lot of people stay in hotels because there is a certain consistency even if they are more expensive and less nice usually. Airbnb Plus is a way to make sure Airbnb is as consistent as possible to compete. If you want the cheapest possible room, you can just get a normal Airbnb and not pay slightly more for someone to check that there is an extra toothbrush and a bottle of wine when you check in
  - ghaff 9y ago
    I have no idea if this new tier will actually result in a consistent curated list of places to stay. However, to the degree it does, I would absolutely consider using it to a greater degree than Airbnb today.
mjburgess 9y ago
It's what you expect, but it costs them money to verify these expectations. I'd guess this is about saying "we've verified this" .
- JorgeGT 9y ago
  But then again, they don't seem to make any hard commitment as a result of said inspection, something like "everything is verified in person so if something is missing/wrong we book you in the nearest five star hotel for free", only a vague promise about a more trained customer support agent if something goes wrong. Does not seem very reassuring honestly.

iooi 9y ago

Why do they never link to the listings when they advertise these beautiful homes? It's such a simple thing to do, I wonder if they purposefully leave the links out. I'm curious how much that LA home is to rent.

get 9y ago

Interesting. I wonder what those "checked for 100+ things that guests told us they love" are. Shouldn't the general quality of the listing already be apparent from the ratings? I'm always looking for apartments with a view. That is why I am starting a startup that will help locate these: https://nothingless.github.io/ https://nothingless.github.io/ I will also list if an apartment has a table. Because I need one to work with my laptop on it. What are other HNers looking for in an apartment that is not easy to find via the standard filters?

mrgordon 9y ago
No the general rating isn't specific enough as you say. You may want a table, a hairdryer, working wifi, etc. which may not alter the overall rating much.
dawnerd 9y ago
I hope their check includes people listing "whole homes" as actually being an entire house and not just someones basement or granny flat. Also a room with an attached bathroom isn't an "apartment". Seen quite a few of those being listed as whole rooms too. I don't really get it, if they fool me do they expect me to be happy when I show up and find out Im basically sleeping like harry potter?
- thinkythought 9y ago
  How is a granny flat with it's own entrance, kitchen, etc not a "whole home"? those are often rented as apartments anyways
  - dawnerd 9y ago
    Because a lot of the amenities listed are actually in the main house. If Im renting a "whole home" I dont really want to be in the owners back yard, ya know?
Kagerjay 9y ago
I'm confused what you are trying to build here. Every startup can be summarized in one sentence or company can be summarized in one sentence. For instance, linkedin is facebook for business users. Uber is peer to peer ride sharing. News.Ycombinator is reddit for tech oriented users. Ratings are always going to be biased to some extent. If companies can game any marketing in general, it will be done. Tags are also biased as well, not everyone has the same definition and need for what a "table" is. A dining table, a standing desk, a computer table? 30"x30" or larger? Round or square? Real estate / renting /airBnB is going to be always driven by short summarized text / tabular data (square footage, cost/square foot,location) and interior/exterior images so the potential tenant can make their own decision.

pradn 9y ago

AirBnb sells feelings of authenticity, but it comes across in an uncanny-valley sort of way. I did an AirBnB cooking class experience in the suburbs of Mexico City. It was really fun, I got to meet a few great people, and it was in a lovely house. But how genuine are the host's laughs at my jokes when I'm paying him for the class? It doesn't feel real. Staying at an AirBnB is a less homogenous than staying at the Hilton. There's a bit more risk involved (not necessarily safety, but cleanliness, noise, etc). Hotels, on the plus side, are run like businesses and feel more impersonal. It's more honest than an AirBnB experience in a way. More to the point, I'm surprised the company keeps improving their product like this. It's not Dropbox or Yelp, which don't feel too different after 10 years.

ghaff 9y ago
I semi-regularly stay at Bed & Breakfasts when I travel. I've never booked through Airbnb but I observe that a fair number now list there. I expect this also fuels the perception that Airbnb is more expensive than it used to be. B&Bs (in the small inn sense) aren't typically all that inexpensive. It really depends what I'm looking for. With a lot of business travel in particular, I'm looking for a consistent experience with a 24 hour desk in a convenient location. For a weekend getaway I often look for something that's a bit more "local."
- pradn 9y ago
  AirBnB has also made it pretty easy to use their service for business travel. If you're under cap, you could possibly upgrade to a better plane seat. Personally, I prefer a cheap hotel and a good plane ride. A lot of the old-school business travel services like fax machines and gyms I don't ever use anyway.
  - ghaff 9y ago
    I have pretty good status on my regular airline so I typically book directly. With hotels, I often go for "serviced apartments" and long-term stay oriented suite hotels. I want a staffed desk but other than that I really don't use full-service hotel features all that much. And the alternatives are often at least a bit cheaper and can have larger rooms.

GuiA 9y ago

Reliable check-in With Airbnb Plus, you can always check in effortlessly. Every home is equipped with a lockbox, keypad, or a host who is on-call to greet you. Love the implication that the check in process for their regular listings is unreliable :^) Otherwise, as others are pointing out, interesting to see where their priorities lie - certainly these high touch experiences are bringing them more money than people renting out a spare bedroom. I do wonder how much of a pain this must all be for hosts - anyone who’s ever been in a slightly expensive place knows how entitled people spending money can get, and that must be a huge pain to deal with when it’s someone staying in your house making a fuss because you didn’t offer them organic orange juice in the morning. This happened to a friend of mine who hosted someone for a few nights, on regular Airbnb, with no promise of breakfast whatsoever in the first place. Again, people can get really entitled when they’re spending money. She stopped hosting as the result of that experience (they complained about more than the breakfast, but that’s one thing they were weirdly pushy about).

Terretta 9y ago
To be fair, “BnB” = Bed and Breakfast. It’s in the name, not the fine print.
- GuiA 9y ago
  Should he have also complained because he slept on a real mattress and not an Air Bed, as advertised in the name?

aestetix 9y ago

So they are basically a fancy hotel that skirts regulations?

thisisit 9y ago

Wow. First I was confused and then on reading closer I can only say - what a load of bs. So, they take the same experience and re-package it to charge more money. And here I thought Uber's packaging on some of their ride categories was bs.

CptJamesCook 9y ago

How about a guarantee that the guests won't throw a party in my house and disturb my neighbors? This has been a constant problem for me.

qxzw 9y ago

Getting that much needed 4.8 rating, reminds me of certain dark reflective surface.

markcerqueira 9y ago

No subtitles on the Shanghai video... 不好！

annexrichmond 9y ago

This is strange marketing as it almost sounds like the non-Plus listings aren't what people already expect to some degree from an airbnb. > With Airbnb Plus, you can always check in effortlessly. Every home is equipped with a lockbox, keypad, or a host who is on-call to greet you. This is so weird. How would you otherwise check in to a home if it doesn't have self check in or a host? > When you book an Airbnb Plus home, you get the focused attention of our Airbnb Plus customer support team–a highly-trained team committed to great service and faster responses Okay, so if there is no self check in and no host to greet me at a non Plus home, I'm stuck with a poorly trained unresponsive agent. I realize that they want to differentiate the hotel-like quality airbnbs from the others, so they can give it a badge and therefore justify a higher price for it, but the delivery is odd, as other commenters have pointed out. An alternative approach could be to describe such listings as "Guaranteed X, Y, Z". I think with that language it wouldn't undermine the quality of the non Plus listings as much.

bsimpson 9y ago
Perhaps "on-call" is the operative bit, as in "your international flight lands at 3AM? No sweat, you'll be able to get in anyway."
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
spaceflunky 9y ago
New slogan: "Airbnb Plus: Everything else is a dump"
- ultraflux 9y ago
  Except that most standard listings are a step up on plus. Which just goes to show how bad they messed up here. In some ways it has an Apple feel to it, charge more for less.
seatonist 9y ago
Many Airbnbs I've stayed in will just have a key under a house plant or doormat. The key can be a little tricky to find that way but for a lower cost listing it's totally fine (by me). I suspect that's the sort of practice they're trying to parse out for this Plus offering.

m1117 9y ago

I rented a place with Airbnb. A lot of the reviews said it's 13th floor with a gorgeous view. The actual place was on the 2nd floor. I called airbnb and the angry lady said that they are not responsible for the reviews and advised me not to trust them. She said I'll get no refund.

get 9y ago
Can you provide a link to that listing? I am always looking for apartments with a view so I would like to see how booking one can go so wrong.

nmeofthestate 9y ago

Makes sense - a subset that's had a bit more oversight from AirBnB, to filter out the ghost hotels and places with one fork, no coffee machine, and furniture that's all basic IKEA stuff.

jVinc 9y ago

So they basically just used user feedback to sort their existing catalog into two catagories letting the upper one increase their prices. Makes sense. You were able to find some killer deals with extremely nice places that where waay underpriced because the hosts were decent human beings. They'll likely get contacted by AirBnB with "You could join airBnB plus... and you can price it 40% higher than current with us only taking twice our usual cut" or similar

fpgaminer 9y ago

My one and only experience with AirBnB was horrible. I booked a place so I could take some family and friends on a nice little vacation. Fast forward to three days before check-in. The host messages me asking me to email them a copy of my photo ID. Obviously, I told them no. 1) You should never let anyone have a copy of your photo ID (identity theft). 2) You certainly shouldn't _email_ your ID. 3) Communication outside AirBnB is against their rules. 4) A copy of your photo ID is not required, again according to AirBnB's rules. Anyway, I told the host it would be too dangerous to comply with their request and that I would be happy to _show_ the ID in-person at check-in. They ignored me and just re-iterated their request. At this point I was already ID verified by AirBnB, so there's really no reason for the host to personally verify me except at check-in. So I contact AirBnB support. Well the host stonewalls me and support for the 3 days leading up to check-in. AirBnB support is friendly, but their messages are often confusing and contain broken english making them difficult to understand. Their helpfulness only extends as much as to say "yes, this is against our rules, but the host won't budge." So I had to cancel the trip last minute and break the news to my family and friends who had already made plans around this vacation. Everything was ruined. The best AirBnB offered was to give us extra "credit" to book someplace different. Oh, great. Let me just go book another AirBnB, who might _also_ break your rules, last minute. No thanks. I was too stressed by having to deal with all this garbage to work up the energy to try and book someplace last minute. The thought that I would have to cancel the trip and disappoint my friends and family who were so excited to go ... that ate away at me the _whole_ time I was dealing with that horrible host and the limp AirBnB support. We were lucky in that our destination was a road-trip away, rather than a flight. Imagine if we had booked flights depending on this AirBnB booking? I don't see how anyone could entrust their trips to the whims of AirBnB given this behavior. They clearly can't enforce their own rules and don't go out of their way to help their customers. On top of all this, I had the misfortune of visiting the AirBnB subreddit. Wow. The AirBnB host culture is rife with self-entitled control freaks who are ready to throw guests under the bus under the guise of "well this is my personal home, so you have to obey my rules." No, this is a business. We're _paying_ to stay at your _business_ property. Not your home. It stopped being your home when you offered it for sale. Of course I would always treat people's property with respect, home or not. But the attitude that they somehow are above the rules of a business because they're renting their "home" is toxic. Other commenters frequently point out how the rating system is also completely broken. Guests won't rate their stays low, even when there are problems. Which means you can't trust the ratings. And if you can't trust the ratings, how can you choose a place to stay? And how is AirBnB Plus supposed to work if every place has 5/5? Since my stay was cancelled, I had no way to leave a review. I have serious doubts AirBnB themselves will take any action against the host. So I can only imagine all those poor naive souls out there just emailing copies of their IDs to strangers on the internet.

yairhaimo 9y ago

Listen to Masters of Scale episode 1 (https://mastersofscale.com/brian-chesky-handcrafted/ https://mastersofscale.com/brian-chesky-handcrafted/) to understand what is (seemingly) behind AirBnB's strategy for AirBnB Plus. Highly recommended!

joelrunyon 9y ago

Waiting for serviced apartments to show up in the US like they do in Australia & Asia. When I travel over there, I always do it. The amenities of the Airbnb, plus a front desk and a consistency + cleanliness. AirBnbs are great, but they're still very hit/miss.

apetresc 9y ago

They don't explicitly state this, but I really hope one of the things they guarantee with Plus is that the host isn't expecting you to cover up the fact that you're in an AirBNB. I love the service overall, but I absolutely hate getting the morning-of-checkin email saying "Hey can't wait to host you, by the way, tell the receptionist you're my cousin and if any of the neighbors are in the hallway please just pace around the elevator until they leave." This seems to happen 90% of the time in New York places.

sf_rob 9y ago
This happened to me in Toronto (my local coworkers said it was a common thing) and the doorman threatened to not let me in and to not return my bags that the airline temporarily lost and delivered there.
- ultraflux 9y ago
  This often only happens in Cities where Airbnb is either illegal or is fighting with local cities.
  - apetresc 9y ago
    Exactly - in which case, I don't understand why AirBNB allows listings in those places, or at least warn you. It's a terrible user experience to find out you're an unwitting co-conspirator in someone else's crime.
    - CaptainZapp 9y ago
      Because they don't give a shit. They make money on the rental anyway and as long it doesn't threaten to wind up with terrible PR or cost them tangible money why would they care? I used AirBnB twice in Japan and booked a couple experiences (which I thought were really expensive for what they were) and I always cringed at their email sig : From AirBnb with Love It's not about spreading love. It's about a pretty ruthless business. Externalities be damned.

philfrasty 9y ago

Honestly a little disappointed. Thought the „Plus“ would be more like an offering like Amazon Prime in the sense that you wouldn't have to pay these „AirBnB fees“ every single time you make a booking and instead pay a membership fee. (hate these fees displayed separately - why not display a single price to the customer - I don't care what it consists of - edit: and while we are at it, please get rid of these absurd „cleaning fees“ that get misused by dozens of hosts)

akhunt1002 9y ago

Way to level up! I actually think this combined with the new superhost incentives are a very well-considered, combination to elevate the overall quality of the platform overall. The down side is: it seems like this may alienate new hosts by creating an (overwhelmingly) high bar for a listing. Not everyone is a semi-professional hotelier. How will that be balanced out? Be careful not make would-be hosts feel too self-conscious to list their space. It's a fine line between building community and alienating it when curation bias turns into a core pillar of a company's identity. I think discouraging new hosts by setting the bar (and company identity) so high is a net-negative for long-term community building. It makes total sense short-term, and it makes sense for an OTA like Booking. Long-term: it shoots the notion of home-sharing in the foot and without new hosts feeling welcome, a growing market can't sustain the demand. Personally (I'm obviously biased lol), I'm obsessed with the notion that everyone is a host. Everyone would host someone, and it's a platforms job to help match those people to public listings, homes privately listed (networked via communities / friends), homes that have professional photos, homes that even have no photos (because if you're booking a friend's home, who cares). I'm not saying lower the standards, I'm saying change the frame; it's as a matching game threaded by community.

wugie 9y ago

New revenue stream for the company growing its presence in the premium segment.

ultraflux 9y ago
Seems they may have missed the mark here. I would not classify hotel-like quality as the premium segment. Many of the standard Airbnb's I've stayed at beat hotel-like quality in every way.

megy 9y ago

Why not? I have not found airbnb to be cheaper than a hotel, and a lot less convenient. So why not go the full hotel route. However, there is that rare chance you get someone who is interesting to stay with.

dgudkov 9y ago

It's hard to get a predictable service quality from AirBnb hosts and locations, so the Plus program could be a step in the right direction. Maybe, AirBnb should just become a platform on which a branded/franchised networks should appear that stick to certain standards. Verified by "Philton". Quality controlled by "Karriott". Otherwise, AirBnb is always a lottery.

romaster 9y ago

This seems like a smart and natural step for AirBnB. Step 1) enable existing hosts who are great hosts to 'step up' to a prestige status which creates visibility and pushes more hosts towards wanting to get there too, thereby improving the overall quality on AirBnB. Step 2) (I'm skipping a few steps) - eventually fill the void with AirBnB property/amenity management as a service for hosts. Hosts who don't want to manage or deal with the pain of trying to get to Plus status will simply pay AirBnB for the cleaning, the linens, the supplies etc, no worries, no problems, and let AirBnB manage it all for you. Also gets more people wanting to host who are aloof to finding or trusting a manager they don't know. It will take time but it's well worth it, even if it is only partially successful. Good job.