Airbnb Cancelling MORE Hosts..
Summary
TLDRAirbnb has aggressively removed thousands of hosts from its platform, signaling a strategic shift towards prioritizing quality and unique experiences over quantity. The company's focus on AI-driven policy enforcement and the launch of 'icons' experiences suggests a move away from traditional listings to differentiate from competitors like hotels. The 2024 summer update lacks host-centric features, indicating Airbnb's pivot to experiential offerings that provide guests with memorable stays, aiming to overshadow negative press and solidify its position in the market.
Takeaways
- 🏠 Airbnb has removed 5,000 hosts from its platform, possibly due to a new AI feature that identifies and deactivates listings violating circumvention policies.
- 🤖 The AI deployment is likely linked to Airbnb's acquisition of Game Planner AI, which helps in identifying duplicate listings or those with negative reviews.
- 🎯 The cancellations are not just of listings, but also of Airbnb Experiences, indicating a strategic shift in Airbnb's offerings.
- 🆕 Airbnb introduced 'Icons,' a new type of experience, suggesting a focus on unique and memorable activities for guests.
- 🛠️ The 2024 summer release from Airbnb lacks significant updates for hosts, signaling a change in the company's relationship with its host community.
- 📈 Airbnb is prioritizing listings that offer experiential elements and are likely to attract guests over traditional hotel stays.
- 🏨 The company is shifting its competition from other OTAs (Online Travel Agencies) to the hotel industry, aiming to provide unique experiences that hotels cannot.
- 🎉 Airbnb is focusing on large group accommodations that offer a communal and memorable experience, differentiating from individual bookings.
- 📊 The cancellation of 5,000 hosts, including those with high ratings, may be due to a misalignment with Airbnb's long-term goals of providing magical experiences.
- 🔗 The introduction of group wish lists and the expansion of experiences indicate Airbnb's strategy to engage guests in a more interactive way, potentially leading to larger accommodation bookings.
- 💡 The overall message is that Airbnb is redefining its platform to offer unique, experience-driven stays that hotels cannot replicate, in an attempt to solidify its market position.
Q & A
Why did Airbnb remove 5,000 hosts from the platform?
-Airbnb removed 5,000 hosts due to a new AI feature that identifies and deactivates listings related to previous negative reviews or suspended accounts. This is part of their updated circumvention policy.
What is the significance of Airbnb's purchase of Game Planner AI?
-The purchase of Game Planner AI likely provided Airbnb with the technology to develop the AI feature used to identify and deactivate problematic listings.
What changes did Airbnb make to its terms of service in March?
-In March, Airbnb updated its terms of service to include a new circumvention policy that forbids hosts or guests from creating new listings or accounts if they have negative reviews or if any of their listings have been suspended or deactivated.
What parameters does Airbnb's AI use to find and deactivate listings?
-Airbnb's AI uses parameters such as addresses, photo matching, and descriptions to find and deactivate related listings.
What major change in Airbnb's strategy was highlighted in the 2024 summer release?
-The 2024 summer release highlighted that Airbnb is shifting its focus away from host-level features and widgets, and towards enhancing guest experiences and launching new experiences like 'Icons'.
How does Airbnb's new 'Icons' experience align with their strategy?
-'Icons' aligns with Airbnb's strategy by focusing on unique guest experiences that distinguish Airbnb from traditional hotels and other platforms like Verbo and Booking.com.
What key features were removed or not included in the latest Airbnb release?
-The latest Airbnb release did not include any new widgets or host-level features that were previously common, such as multi-calendar scheduling and rule sets.
Why does Airbnb believe they cannot keep hosts exclusively on their platform?
-Airbnb believes they cannot keep hosts exclusively on their platform despite their features because hosts also use other platforms like Verbo and Booking.com for better management and revenue strategies.
What realization has Airbnb made about their competition?
-Airbnb has realized that their main competition is not other rental platforms like Verbo and Booking.com, but traditional hotels, especially in terms of guest experience and consistency.
How does Airbnb intend to enhance guest experience with group wish lists?
-Airbnb introduced group wish lists, allowing multiple people to vote on and select listings, enhancing the planning experience for group trips and making the booking process more collaborative.
Outlines
🏠 Airbnb's Host Purge and Strategy Shift
Airbnb has aggressively removed 5,000 hosts from its platform, signaling a significant shift in strategy. This action is part of a broader policy change that began with a March update to their terms of service, which now includes the use of AI to identify and remove listings that violate their circumvention policy. The AI scans for duplicate listings or those with negative reviews, using parameters like addresses, photos, and descriptions. This move is concurrent with the launch of Airbnb's new experience called 'icons,' indicating a pivot towards unique and memorable experiences rather than focusing on host tools and services. The 2024 summer release from Airbnb is notably lacking in host-oriented features, suggesting a reduced emphasis on retaining hosts through innovative tools and a realignment towards guest experiences.
🎪 The Evolution of Airbnb's Business Model
The script discusses Airbnb's realization that it is not in direct competition with other OTAs like Verbo or Booking.com, but rather with traditional hotels. This understanding has led to a strategic decision to focus on unique, experiential listings that hotels cannot easily replicate. Airbnb is prioritizing large properties suitable for group bookings, which are often fully booked due to their appeal for shared experiences. The company is also leveraging smaller properties with unique features or locations that offer experiences not found in hotels. The script mentions the addition of group wish lists and the continuation of group payments, features that enhance the group booking experience on Airbnb. The underlying message is that Airbnb aims to offer an inventory of properties that provide guests with memorable experiences, setting itself apart from traditional hotel stays.
🚀 Airbnb's Focus on Experiences Over Consistency
The final paragraph delves into Airbnb's decision to focus on providing exceptional experiences rather than striving for consistency across all listings. The company is moving away from dealing with the challenges associated with average properties and is instead concentrating on high-quality, unique listings that offer guests an unforgettable stay. The cancellation of 5,000 hosts, some of whom had high ratings, is part of this strategy, as Airbnb believes that experiences, rather than being a significant revenue generator, serve as a gateway to attract users to book accommodations. The introduction of 'icons' and the emphasis on experiential elements in listings are part of Airbnb's attempt to create a 'halo effect,' positioning itself as the go-to platform for memorable vacations and experiences, and differentiating itself from competitors by offering more than just accommodation.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Airbnb
💡AI feature
💡Circumvention policy
💡Game planner AI
💡Airbnb Experiences
💡Icons
💡Channel managers
💡Str Nation
💡Group wish lists
💡Inconsistency
💡Experiential element
Highlights
Airbnb has removed 5,000 hosts from its platform, likely due to new AI features related to their acquisition of Game Planner AI.
The AI hunts for listings that appear related to those that received negative reviews or were previously unlisted or duplicates.
Airbnb's new policy forbids hosts from circumventing policies by creating new listings or accounts after receiving bad reviews or suspensions.
The cancellation of 5,000 hosts includes Airbnb Experiences, coinciding with the launch of Airbnb's own new experience called 'Icons'.
Airbnb's 2024 summer release lacks updates for hosts, indicating a shift in strategy and relationship with hosts.
Previous summer releases by Airbnb included innovations and services to retain hosts and prevent them from using competitors like Verbo or Booking.com.
Airbnb now understands that providing software to hosts isn't enough to keep them exclusive to their platform.
The summer release saw no significant changes to host-level features, suggesting Airbnb's focus is shifting away from host tools.
Airbnb is focusing on inventory that guests are more likely to choose, even with potential drawbacks like cleaning fees or long checkout instructions.
Airbnb is competing against hotels by providing unique, experiential stays that hotels cannot offer.
Airbnb's strategy includes pushing listings with an experiential element, aligning with the reasons why guests visit certain areas.
Smaller properties can also provide full bookings due to a combination of location, design, and price point.
Airbnb is aiming to create a 'halo effect' with their product, enticing users with experiences that lead to larger accommodation bookings.
The cancellation of 5,000 hosts may be due to their delivery of experiences not aligning with Airbnb's long-term goals.
Airbnb is trying to build confidence for future bookings by offering experiences that make time off worthwhile.
Airbnb's approach is to make the first purchase easy, with the expectation of larger purchases later, following a common sales strategy.
Transcripts
Airbnb has doubled down and removed
another 5,000 hosts from the platform in
what will likely be known the year that
Airbnb killed the average Airbnb host
this is more than just an extension of
airbnb's mass wiping out of hosts
listings and accounts using this new AI
feature that is likely related to their
purchase of a company called game
planner AI this first wave of
cancellations came starting in March
where Airbnb secretly updated their
terms of service to reflect this new
circumvention policy polic which forbids
hosts or guests from circumventing
airbnb's policies I.E creating a new
listing or creating a new account if you
have bad reviews or if Airbnb suspended
or deactivated any of your listings
Airbnb then deployed an AI to go hunt
and find listings that looked related to
listings that were unlisted or
duplicates after they received negative
reviews they can do this with addresses
Andor photo matching there might be more
parameters but as of today photos
descriptions and addresses seem to be
the main ways Airbnb is finding and
deactivating these listings but what's
even more telling about these 5,000
hosts that have been cancelled is it's
not listings that's getting canceled
it's Airbnb experiences and at the same
time Airbnb announces the launch of a
new experience of their own called icons
and this is where my wheels started
turning Airbnb is telling us exactly
where they're going and where their
priorities are and when we look at
airbnb's 2024 summer release alongside
of this including what's missing from
that summer release it all starts to
make sense air BNB has completely
changed their strategy and what they
believe their relationship with hosts to
be moving forward in order to tell you
what's missing I need to tell you what
used to be there in these summer
releases over the last 5 to 7 years
Airbnb has been heavy on updates heavy
on Innovations heavy on Services heavy
on widgets Airbnb much like any other
software understands that in order to
keep you from leaving them and going to
another provider they need to give you
sticky products much like apple would
say they would give you things like the
multi calendar scheduled messages they'd
allow you to put in rule sets and have
private names for your listings and all
these cool host level like Enterprise
widgets all of these widgets were
designed to keep you from going to
places like verbo or booking.com
naturally if you loved airbnb's features
you wouldn't use verbo if they could
solve all of your problems and provide
all of your Solutions in one go but
Airbnb understands now that people are
using Channel managers which are widget
heavy that have all these extra features
and benefits not including things like
rule sets and 3-day discount which
Airbnb was very smart to create verbo
not having three or 4day discounts and
booking.com not having three or 4 Day
discounts allows hosts to have a much
more granular Revenue management
strategy on Airbnb which can provide
completely different results at the end
of the day they are still features that
I believe make Airbnb Head and Shoulders
above any other otaa that level of
responsiveness is appreciated but Airbnb
sees the truth even with those features
that we all love Airbnb can't keep us
from verbo they can't keep us from
booking.com and they can't keep
customers from going to verbo or
booking.com because they gave hosts some
software Airbnb has made a lot of
Innovations for hosts to be greedy with
that host inventory but they've still
lost that war so with that said that is
precisely what is missing from Airbnb
summer release any widgets for hosts at
all they've made a comical attempt to
sell a couple of features like a better
way to view your earning results and
group messages which actually always
existed but now at the top they show you
who's in the group message Airbnb really
made no significant changes to their
host level features none at all and if
you can be anywhere near San Diego July
8th and 9th I'm speaking at an event
called Str Nation there's a boat party
on the 7th so get there early I will be
speaking about market research and
revenue management two huge topics for
Airbnb hosts and if you use the link
down below this video that code will
give you special access to two breakout
sessions that I'm doing one for hosts
and one for absolute newbies this gives
you a chance to meet me directly ask
your questions and get valuable insights
on topic matter that will make you a
better host I guarantee it use the link
down below to learn more about Str
nation and I'll see you there when I get
back from Italy thanks guys but Airbnb
made two big changes on the guest side
not only did Airbnb add icons which says
everything about why Airbnb created
experiences in the first place what they
were hoping they would get from the host
community and what they weren't getting
we're going to talk about that but also
they added the ability to have group
wish lists where multiple people could
vote on a listing whether or not they
like the listing this is an extension of
a key feature that guests got a couple
years ago group payments if you guys
remember when Airbnb created split
payments it was made so groups of people
could all pitch in and get a bigger
property where not one person had to
come up with $7,000 eight or 10 Airbnb
accounts could split those payments and
you can find out when people do this
because on reviews for listings if you
go down to the review it'll say group
trip on that review meaning that the
person who left the review isn't the
only person that paid for the listing
get it sometimes Airbnb makes a feature
that sucks and they take it back like
Airbnb teams sometimes Airbnb makes a
feature and it speaks volumes for where
they should go like group payments now
they have group wish lists so when
people are planning group trips overseas
like to Italy where I am now they can
create a whole wish list full of their
favorite Italian listings and people
will up vote and downvote every listing
so that way they can choose the one
that's right for the group because
booking is no longer an individual
decision on airbnb's most important
listings yes airbnb's most important
listings are the massive listings that
multiple people need to come together
and purchase airbnb's had a realization
they're not competing with verbo they're
not competing with booking.com that's
why Airbnb gave us hosts no reason to
stay in the summer release they gave us
no widgets to keep us on the Airbnb
platform they realize that they are
competing against hotels and over the
last year airbnb's presence in the media
says this loud and clear people are mad
about inconsistency bad hosts cleaning
fees long checkout instructions lists
all sorts of stuff that makes hotels
attractive compared to Airbnb and Airbnb
realizes something they can't get rid of
some of these things because hosts we
have rules you want to stay at our place
it has to be worth it for us we're not
just some corporate inventory where we
have no say you staying at our property
has to make sense for us too so Airbnb
cannot tell hosts what to do and so
Airbnb instead is doubling down on
inventory that guests are going to pick
even though they may not like cleaning
fees even though they may not like
checkout instructions there's going to
be properties that hotels will never
have so even if Airbnb can't solve these
problems there's absolutely inventory
that people will go to Airbnb 4 always
even if they're unhappy about a couple
features because all of those features
aside this massive house that everybody
can book together and make memories is
absolutely still worth it now it does
sound like I'm saying that the only
listings that are going to survive on
Airbnb or these massive five or seven
bedroom houses with pools and a view
overlooking the Grand Canyon or
something crazy like that but that's not
the case Airbnb does have categories and
many of those categories are for smaller
properties sure tents tree houses bubble
domes stuff like that but they also have
categories like Chef's kitchen or grand
piano or amazing view and some some of
these properties can be small they don't
have to be five-bedroom houses and I
have verified this with my students
doing one-on-one coaching in cities like
Boston or Chicago or South Florida or
Dallas Southern California Utah Portland
everywhere even internationally there
are Studios and one and two-bedroom
properties that because of the
combination of location and design style
and price point they're completely full
some months in advance and Airbnb is
still dedicated to pushing the listings
that make them money what is in common
with these listings and these Mega
houses that Airbnb is pushing is that
there is always an experiential element
to these listings they're not just some
simple stay Alfred or saer listing that
has basic Furniture basic art basic
paint and a keyless entry on the front
door there are hosts choosing eclectic
and brave design Styles and creating
accommodations that are in line with why
people are in the areas that they're in
much like this property here in Mata
this is built into the caves of the
landscape much like people who have
lived here for the last 10,000 years
have done and because the fact that Mata
is one of the oldest cities in the world
and people lived in caves for 10,000
years that's why people are coming here
to hike these hillsides experience these
Scenic views see the city in all of its
age and its wonder and to soak in as
much of that culture as they can and
what better way than to soak in a
bathtub in the middle of a cave this
place gets it they're providing an
additive experience to the reason why
someone is coming you and this is hard
to get your hands on sometimes hotels
will beat hosts to the punch sometimes
hotels won't be able to create something
at scale that is costeffective much like
in Philadelphia when I first got there
in 2018 there were no hotels in an area
called Fishtown or Northern Liberties
Oldtown Northern Liberties and Fishtown
are all in a highly sought after tourist
area where the food the culture and arts
are all super Progressive and picture
worthy and people wanted to go there but
there's no hotels to accommodate so
hosts could rush to the area and provide
even a basic accommodation at a high
price because of sheer supply and demand
and then in other areas like Park City
Utah or t New Mexico or Los Angeles near
Disney there are places that just take
up so much square feet to give a family
what they want when they travel that a
hotel would have to unload massive
amounts of money to acquire the
properties necessary to deliver that
product at scale and for hotels 10 years
ago this didn't make sense on paper but
it's starting to make sense now and you
will see hotels try to scoop up as much
housing as they can in areas that they
can get away with this because the money
is there at scale and if they could buy
out every small host they probably would
so be on the lookout for that here soon
this all circles back to the big point
that average is not performing well on
Airbnb and Airbnb doesn't want to deal
with the problems of shoddy inconsistent
experiences in average properties they
can't get rid of the inconsistency of
working with one host and then another
and then another but the only way to
make it worth their time is to focus on
the listings that have the highest
likelihood of providing great
experiences and provide something that
hotels can't give they're hoping to
create a world where people forget about
all of the negative things that have
happened on Airbnb in order to get a
fresh start again by getting rid of a
lot of the cheap inconsistent value
price listings where the management
really isn't focused on experience and
quality they can then get rid of the
negative media and as far as the 5,000
hosts that got cancelled there were a
lot of good high valued hosts people
with great ratings that got cut because
Airbnb knows something that maybe we
don't all know which is that experiences
isn't a big Revenue generator for them
it was another way for people to
interact with the app to have another
reason to download the app so that way
people would eventually funnel into
properties to book their main bread
winner which is accommodations and any
time that a company has a secondary
product one that's not core to their
business model if trying to deliver that
product leads to somebody being less
likely to do business with you in the
future that was a bad product to deliver
now it could be that some of these tours
were using Airbnb just as a way to
transact dollars getting people on the
platform only to use it and then people
were making no meaningful exchanges with
Airbnb outside of that use it could be
that these hosts were actually violating
terms of service by getting people to
spend money offline there could be a lot
of reasons that we don't know that could
be the reason why these high reviewed
high- rated hosts are gone but if we
look at it for what we believe to be the
simplest answer Airbnb cut 5,000 hosts
where the delivery of that product was
out of alignment with their long-term
goal which is to funnel people in to
magical experiences and accommodations
when we put this and Airbnb icons
together it makes a clear statement
about what Airbnb is trying to do Airbnb
wants to create this halo effect with
their product where people who aren't
ready to book a $10,000 accommodation
can still do cool stuff on the airia go
see a property from their favorite Pixar
or Marvel movie and that keeps air Bean
be first in mind when people stop and
ask themselves what can I do to have an
amazing spring break or summer vacation
where can I go that's going to make my
time off worth it Airbnb wants everybody
to think about them over hotels and
verbo and booking.com because not only
do they have the products that hotels
can acquire but they also have these
experiences that booking.com and verbo
would never touch telling people that we
understand what you want and what you
need with your valuable time off we're
going to make your one week off the best
week of your life they're trying to use
experiences as a way to build confidence
for booking accommodations in the future
there's a phrase that is commonly used
in sales second money is easier to get
than first money get someone to fall in
love with a $50 purchase on banb and
they will make a $5,000 purchase later
I've left links for the research on this
video down in the description check them
out and if you think that I missed
anything or you have a different opinion
about what you think is going on put it
down in the comments I'd like to check
out your perspective and maybe it'll
become a video in the future thank you
so much for watching this one my friends
and as always I will see you on the
other side
[Music]
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