Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky on Cleaning Fees, Apple vs. Amazon, Building Products, and New York
Sep 20, 2023
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Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, dives into the complexities of cleaning fees and how transparency can enhance guest experiences. He discusses innovative product improvements, including verified listings and strategies to address host cancellations. Chesky also explores the balance between community impact and travel, stressing the need for local regulations. Additionally, he reveals how Airbnb's advertising model compares to giants like Apple and Amazon, emphasizing the synergy between product development and marketing for effective storytelling.
Airbnb is moving towards all-inclusive pricing to provide transparency and avoid surprises during checkout.
Airbnb is implementing a verification process for properties to ensure authenticity and build trust with guests.
Airbnb's product development approach focuses on collecting data and feedback to address common pain points and create a seamless service for hosts and guests.
Deep dives
All-Inclusive Pricing and Total Price Display
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky discusses the company's move towards all-inclusive pricing and total price display. The goal is to have fixed costs like cleaning fees baked into the nightly rate, providing clarity to guests and avoiding any surprises during the checkout process. This shift aligns with how hotels typically price their services and aims to create a more transparent and fair pricing model for Airbnb guests.
Verifying Listings and Enhancing Trust
To address concerns about fake listings and ensure authenticity, Airbnb is implementing a verification process for properties. Using advanced AI technology, hosts are required to go to their physical property, take live photos, and submit them for cross-referencing with uploaded photos on the platform. This verification system, initially rolling out in the US, France, UK, Australia, and Canada, aims to provide a high level of confidence and trust for guests when booking accommodations.
Balancing Community Needs and Product Development
Airbnb's product development approach focuses on maintaining a balance between the needs of millions of hosts and hundreds of millions of guests worldwide. By continually collecting data and feedback from the community, Airbnb aims to prioritize and address common pain points, such as cleaning fees, property filters (e.g., king bed, pet-friendly), and flexibility in date searches for better user experience. The goal is to create a seamless, reliable, and valuable service for both hosts and guests.
The Importance of Being a Functional Organization
The CEO of Airbnb, Brian Chesky, discusses how Airbnb is structured as a functional organization similar to Apple. This means that the company focuses on having experts in each function, leading to a highly integrated and data-informed approach. Chesky emphasizes the need for a single vision and direction in order to make significant changes to the service. He believes that a functional organization allows for a more cohesive product story and ensures that software developments align with hardware constraints, creating a marriage of art and science.
The Role of Airbnb in Redistributing Travel and Combating Loneliness
Chesky highlights Airbnb's mission to redistribute travel and combat loneliness. He talks about the erosion of physical communities in modern society and the need for people to spend time in the physical world. Chesky believes that social media and platforms like Airbnb can be part of the solution, encouraging real-world interactions and connections. He encourages people to travel with their friends and family, using Airbnb as a way to facilitate these experiences and connect travelers to local communities and activities. Chesky also addresses concerns about the impact of platforms like Airbnb on housing markets, acknowledging the need for sensible regulation and working with cities to find solutions that benefit both hosts and the local community.
Brian Chesky is the CEO of Airbnb. He joins Big Technology Podcast for an in-depth discussion covering Airbnb's product, business, culture, and roadmap. In the first half, we cover a series of product improvements the company is rolling out, breaking news on the state of cleaning fees, verified listings. and more. In the second half we go deep into how Airbnb builds its products, how it impacts neighborhoods, and the fallout of New York's new restrictions on the company. Tune in for a deep, unique, and compelling interview with one of tech's most well known CEOs.
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