The intricacies of group travel can be quite a hassle, and according to Tara Bunch, head of global operations at Airbnb, it’s also been a big problem for Airbnb users and hosts.
“The majority of our trips are group trips,” Bunch said entrepreneur, Keep in mind that over 80% of all Airbnb bookings are for group travel. “With every launch we do, we spend a lot of time reviewing feedback from customers and hosts.”
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On Wednesday, Airbnb revealed changes to group travel at its 2024 summer event in Los Angeles and how some seemingly small changes will be game-changing for both customers and the people they willingly host.
Travel invitations
If you’ve ever stayed in an Airbnb, you’re probably familiar with the burden placed on the main person booking the trip. In the past, she has been the only person who has all the information about the stay, including check-in and check-out instructions, WiFi passwords and other general information.
Now users who book an Airbnb stay can invite other guests to the trip and gain access to all reservation details, including the address of the booked stay. This way the host can also see all upcoming guests.
“I’m a host and I like knowing who’s coming,” Bunch said. “It’s a big help for the host to know how many people are coming and to see in advance who those people are and what they’re interested in or what questions they have.”
Additionally, guests can only accept a travel invitation if they have an Airbnb account. This will encourage travelers who are not yet registered on the platform to create an account and drive user growth for Airbnb.
“I think it’s just a win-win across the board for the guests, for the hosts, for us,” Bunch said.
Shared wish lists
As part of forming a group for a trip, guests can create a shared wish list of potential Airbnb places.
Before the new update, guests had to send links to Airbnb listings and create their wish lists of potential properties to book.
via Airbnb
Now the Wishlist feature will be interactive, so anyone invited to the trip will have the opportunity to add a property they would like to suggest to a shared list for all other participants to see.
Guests have the opportunity to upvote or downvote their favorite or least favorite items and add comments under potential items, sparking conversation and helping make planning a collaborative effort.
“It opens up the opportunity for people to have a much more interactive journey that is more fun,” Bunch said. “The idea of voting for a property is fun, a bit playful and gets people excited.”
Group messages
One of the biggest changes for hosts is the new group messaging feature.
Historically, only the person who made the Airbnb reservation had access to the host and was typically the person who had to answer any questions guests had in person with the host.
via Airbnb
Now all users added to the trip can communicate with the host in a group chat setting and respond to various messages, like iMessage does.
“Now that we have group messaging, the host can see who’s coming and it gives them a little more information about the group,” Bunch said. “If they maybe have specific questions or needs, you’ll get more of that type of interaction before they get there.”
Members will also have the option to mute chat if they don’t want to be disturbed, but Bunch says the features actively offer travelers “the benefit of improving communication with the host” and vice versa.
Another feature of the group message includes multiple automated AI responses from the host to travelers to frequently asked questions, such as WiFi or door code instructions.
via Airbnb
Instead of having to respond to every single query or query, simple questions are answered on the messaging platform without hosts having to type a response.
“It will help you react faster and be more productive. It will be a big win for the hosts,” said Bunch.
What’s next for Airbnb?
While this week’s launches should help hosts with group travel, Bunch says the platform still has a lot of progress to make to make it a truly host-friendly place.
“The focus is very much on perfecting the core service – the product, the app, the messaging,” explains Bunch. “We want to make hosting mainstream and give hosts tools to feel more confident and more willing to host.”
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Bunch also says international expansion is a long-term goal for Airbnb, with hopes of tapping into markets where hosting may be more of a foreign concept.
“Building brand awareness in some markets that may not have been as well-known is a big focus of our international growth,” says Bunch. “Markets where people maybe haven’t thought about hosting yet, but once they see it’s easy, we help them find a co-host, give them tools, give them the financial dashboards and all that Things we’re working on right now.” Background to make hosting easier and less scary. That’s a big focus.