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Airbnb has ambitious plans to host a billion annual guests by 2028. The group had roughly 80 million guests in 2016.
On Friday, the company unveiled future plans, including officially verifying homes; collections of properties suited to different types of travel; a superhost programme and a new guest membership programme; as well as categorising properties.
Airbnb will unveil Airbnb Plus and Beyond by Airbnb. Airbnb Plus will consist of homes that have been personally verified against a 100+ point checklist covering cleanliness, comfort and design. Initially this tier will comprise 2 000 homes in 13 cities. Beyond by Airbnb follows the company’s acquisition of Luxury Retreats and will offer ‘custom designed trips of a lifetime’.
The 13 cities included in the initial Airbnb Plus launch are: Los Angeles, Shanghai, Cape Town, London, Sydney, Melbourne, Rome, Milan, Toronto, Barcelona, Chicago, Austin, and San Francisco. An additional 13 cities will launch mid-year, including Athens, Auckland, Bali, Beijing, Chengdu, Crete, Lisbon, Mexico City, Montreal, Phoenix, Prague, Riviera Maya, and Seattle.
Collections will comprise offerings suited to different types of travel, including weddings, honeymoons and families – for example, families who want extra space and a place to cook, to adventurers who are looking for somewhere to stay off the beaten track.
The Superhost programme, which includes 400 000 hosts globally, recognises ‘most-loved hosts’ and ‘best guests’. The programme will be expanded to offer new benefits to hosts, including custom URLs, and a new guest membership programme that will be piloted on 10 000 guests before being rolled out.
The category initiative will categorise properties into searchable, ranging from treehouses to boutique hotels.
Source: tourismupdate.co.za