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Airbnb is moving to avoid a shortage of rental properties as a global travel bounce. It expands some new tools, including AI-driven listings, to allow more hosts to advertise their properties on their site.
The short-term rental platform said it had about 4 million active hosts on Monday, but the list of six-month assets on the site was flat as many continued to live and work in homes they could rent. .
Now, by easing blockade measures and vaccinating passengers, Airbnb is facing a supply crisis at popular destinations, as the influx of guests tends to outnumber the hosts.
The company said it has moved to reduce the shortage by simplifying the process of adding properties to its website. Among the new features, hosts allow the use of public record data to automatically fill in their lists with relevant information and measure the appropriate prices in the area.
AI tools like image recognition are also being introduced to organize photos in ways that are appealing to potential guests.
The move comes as analysts predict relative demand as the pandemic loosens. On Monday, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said he expected the company to be “the biggest” [travel] bounce in the century ”. In April, he told CNBC that his company needed “millions more hosts.”
“It simply came to our notice then [Airbnb] they are focusing on host purchases, “Steven Jankowski told AllTheRooms from short-term rental analysts.” Even before Covid-19 hit, host growth was slowing, and it still looks pretty flat as we go back and reopen the virus. “
Richard Clarke, a travel analyst at Bernstein, said Airbnb has more competition from both online travel agencies such as Expedia and Booking.com, as well as regional players and those who have invested in self-catering holidays in the wake of the coronavirus emergency. hotel companies.
He also noted that at the beginning of the pandemic, Airbnb had forced hosts to return customers affected by travel bans, and as a result, it was an “element of anxiety” among property owners. “People are afraid that they risk crashing more than other platforms [Airbnb] it has very flexible terms, ”Clarke said.
The average rate of stay by Airbnb in the first quarter of this year rose to $ 160, 35 percent more than the same period in 2020, according to data presented by the company.
Since the pandemic began, many of Airbnb’s reserves have migrated to destinations outside dense urban areas, previously the basis of its business. For example, the company said that in 2021 there have been more searches on Airbnb so far to stay in Cornwall than in London.
The nature of Airbnb’s stays has also changed, the company said. The number of long stays (28 days or more) rose to 24 percent of all stays in the first quarter of this year, up from 14 percent in 2019. As of April 30, 2021, Airbnb said 62% of all bookings were for long-term stays in New York City.
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