Skift Take
To be honest, we weren't very surprised by Thursday's launches. In fact, we wondered why they haven't been launched sooner. But for the most part, all of them certainly seem in step with Airbnb's plans for being much more than just about any other travel brand or company out there.
As Skift reported last week and Airbnb confirmed Thursday, the company's newest product is Airbnb Plus. This program, which ran under the pilot name of Airbnb Select, identifies more than 2,000 Airbnb home listings in 13 cities worldwide as having particular amenities and meeting a lengthy checklist of standards for both quality and safety.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky announced the debut of that program, along with a number of new tools and initiatives that feed into his concept of "building a 21st century company" that is also "host-led," as well as making it easier and simpler for people to find what they are looking for on the Airbnb platform.
Among the new developments: a long-awaited loyalty program, which is set to launch this summer with perks including discounts, last-minute booking, and access to exclusive listings.
Chesky made the announcements at a press event internally dubbed "Tomorrowland" — a nod to the co-founder's penchant for all things Disney. (At one point, the Disney song "Bare Necessities" provided the soundtrack to a video that showed what the Airbnb app will look like this summer.) This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the company, which is valued at more than $31 billion.
The CEO delivered his presentation to hundreds of journalists and Airbnb hosts in San Francisco at the Masonic Theatre, and set out his vision for the company, saying he hopes that within the next 10 years, it will host 1 billion guests annually.
Airbnb Plus
Beginning Thursday, when someone searches for a place to stay on Airbnb, they'll find a curated section called Airbnb Plus, which features listings that have met a 100-point quality checklist for participating, such as having a clean, clutter-free space and fast Wi-Fi, for example. That qualifications process was first reported in detail by Skift last week.
The homes aren't necessarily considered luxury, but do generally charge higher nightly rates than most Airbnb listings. The average cost of an Airbnb Plus home is under $250 per night, while the nightly rate for a non-Airbnb Plus home listing is around $100 a night. Chesky said during his keynote that Airbnb found that 73 percent of its guests would pay more to stay in a verified home, implying that hosts who qualify for Airbnb Plus can charge more for their homes.
Consumers can find more than 2,000 Ai
