Vacation rental company Airbnb has announced that it has enhanced its hosting quality system to ensure that listings that fail to meet the community's expectations are removed from the platform.
The targeted and holistic approach to quality enforcement has resulted in over 12,000 listing removals globally since April 2023. This follows the removal of more than 81,000 listings globally in 2022 for not meeting the company's host reliability and quality standards.
These enhancements to Airbnb's system aim to improve overall hosting quality and boost host success. It also helps travellers have added confidence and peace of mind.
Airbnb claimed it is continually finding new ways to help hosts deliver comfortable stays to travellers. In fact, in India, almost 80 per cent of the reviewed stays on Airbnb in 2022 ended with a five-star review for the host. This demonstrates the dedication of hosts in the country who provide high-quality stays to their guests.
"As part of our efforts to empower hosts to deliver world-class stays, our hosting quality system identifies listings that may have failed to meet the expectations of our community. When repeated or severe violations of our ground rules for Hosts are reported, listings may be removed from the platform," the company claimed.
The system, built with feedback from Airbnb's host and guest community, takes a targeted and holistic approach when addressing the issue of listing and stay quality. It also helps provide hosts with more specific and actionable guidance about how they can improve.
In addition to guest feedback, the enhanced system looks at a wide range of considerations, including host cancellations and customer service-related issues, to get a holistic picture of the quality and reliability of listings on the platform.
"Our team is always looking for new ways to help ensure each stay is a wonderful experience for both guests and Hosts," said Catherine Powell, Airbnb's global head of hosting. "We're continuing to evolve our system to provide added peace of mind for guests while also enabling us to provide more targeted feedback that can help Hosts improve the quality of their listings. Our enhanced system uses constructive feedback from our community to provide an even better experience for guests and hosts."
An essential mechanism for delivering this feedback is the company's review system, which remains core to building trust within the global Airbnb community. Reviews are necessary for hosts and guests to give each other feedback, help the community understand what to expect and make informed decisions, and support Airbnb in upholding its platform policies and community standards. Guests can use its private feedback feature to help hosts adjust for future stays.
Airbnb was founded in 2008 by Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk after the trio rented out air mattresses in their San Francisco apartment during a design conference. That's when they saw the opportunity to create a platform that allows people to rent out their rooms or homes to travellers.
In 2009, they raised $600,000 in seed funding at a $20 million valuation from investors like Sequoia Capital and Y Combinator.
Airbnb disrupted the hospitality industry within a decade by expanding its operations globally. It raised over $6 billion in funding and went public in 2020, skyrocketing the company's valuation skyrocketed from $20 million to $47 billion.
