Airbnb will push rooms as low-cost option to house rentals

DALLAS –

Airbnb is making a renewed push into renting single rooms in a nod to its beginnings and a realization that renting a complete home is simply too costly for a lot of travellers, particularly youthful ones.

The short-term rental firm rolled out a brand new providing Wednesday that it calls Airbnb Rooms. Guests can lease a room in the identical home or condo as their host at costs that Airbnb says will common US$67 an evening.

“It is an admission that travellers care more about affordability than they did a year ago,” stated CEO Brian Chesky.

Airbnb has at all times listed single rooms in homes and flats. The firm stated the brand new providing will give extra biographical details about hosts, and shoppers can type listings to be taught particulars together with whether or not their bed room door locks and the toilet is non-public or shared.

It’s a throwback to the unique idea that Chesky and Joe Gebbia — now chairman of Airbnb — had in 2007, after they took company of their San Francisco condo to assist pay the lease. Since then, Airbnb listings have shifted towards complete homes, and costs have soared, to a mean each day price of US$153 late final 12 months.

“This is going to be especially popular for the next generation of travellers,” Chesky stated of the brand new providing. “The average Gen Z traveller wants to pay less than US$100 a night.” (Generation Z is normally outlined as individuals born between roughly the mid-Nineties and 2010.)

It’s an fascinating gambit. During the pandemic, Airbnb took business from lodges as a result of travellers wished leases the place they may keep away from contact with strangers. Rival Vrbo, owned by Expedia, remains to be operating ads bragging that it solely rents complete homes.

Airbnb made US$1.9 billion final 12 months — the primary full-year revenue in its historical past — on larger bookings and income. Analysts anticipate the San Francisco firm to be much more worthwhile this 12 months.

Airbnb has had its stumbles too. Resistance to excessive cleansing charges led the corporate to vary the best way costs are displayed in November, which it says will rein in runaway charges. Airbnb declined to offer figures when requested if charges have dropped.

And social media posts about lengthy checkout directions went viral. Some hosts requested company to carry out duties resembling taking out the trash and laundering the sheets — despite the fact that the company had been paying a hefty cleansing charge.

Airbnb stated it should let shoppers see checkout lists earlier than they ebook. It can also be tweaking the internet hosting aspect of the appliance to nudge homeowners in opposition to including chores that would result in poor evaluations and get them booted off the platform.

“In six months to a year, there should be a material reduction in onerous checkout tasks,” Chesky stated. “This should hopefully not be a meme anymore.”