Hello everyone,
I hope you are having a great day.
I just wanted to let you know that Brian Chesky, Airbnb's CEO and Head of Community, has sent out an email to hosts outlining some exciting updates on what the team is working on.
In his message, shown below, Brian has provided a lot of information, nearly all of which is directly related to what we talk about on a daily basis here in the Community Center and so I also wanted to share this here with you. I do hope you will find it an interesting read.
"Dear Hosts,
From the very first days of Airbnb, hosts have been the heart of this community. You’ve welcomed strangers into your homes, and made deep, meaningful connections. You’ve housed victims of natural disasters—and refugees from war-torn nations. And in doing so, you’ve transformed what it means to travel and have enabled tens of millions of people to find a sense of belonging in places they’ve never visited before.
Without you, Airbnb would still be a couple of guys renting out air mattresses in our living rooms.
That’s why every step we have taken as a company has been informed by the experiences—and opinions—of our host community. Listening to you has always been, and will always be, one of our top priorities.
To that end, earlier this year, I met with hosts in eight cities across the world—from New York City to Cape Town; London to Delhi. At the beginning of the trip, I made a series of commitments to the host community: we pledged to create 1,000 Host Clubs worldwide; announced the expansion of the Host Advisory Council; committed to quarterly live chats with hosts; pledged to invite several hosts to a portion of one board meeting a year to make sure they have a seat at the table; and changed my title to CEO and Head of Community.
Each and every one of these changes was meant to increase the voice of our host community—and in just a short time, I have already seen some of the positive impact it is having.
Even so, as I made my way from country to country, I continued hearing feedback from you all. And I knew there was more we could do to make the hosting experience with Airbnb as seamless and hassle-free as possible. Based on your feedback, we made some changes:
- You can make your listing stand out by being able to more clearly describe your home with new categories and a more detailed amenities list.
- Our new dashboard makes it easier to track your earnings, ratings, reviews, and more in one place.
- We redesigned the Airbnb website to make it easier to navigate. Learn how your feedback helped lead the way.
Of course, there’s more to do and going forward, we’re making even more improvements. In the year ahead we are:
- Launching upwards of a dozen feedback panels with community members from around the world. This way, we’ll get more of the type of invaluable feedback I received during my world tour on a regular basis—and ensure that hosts from every corner of the globe will have their voices heard. We’ll keep doing these panels each year.
- Improving calendars so you can update your calendar availability and custom minimum night limits in the same place and designate which days of the week guests can and can’t check-in to your listing.
- Enhancing accessibility. We’re currently building systems that will ensure that hosts and guests can easily reach our Customer Experience team. Those efforts include making our phone number, other contact information and messaging easier for everyone to find.
Every single one of these changes were inspired by you—and, as always, we are nowhere near done yet. So keep sending us your ideas, sharing your feedback, and helping us figure out how to make Airbnb work even better.
When I was on my tour, the hosts I met made me feel at home wherever I was in the world. So it’s the least I can do to make you feel at home in the Airbnb community.
Talk soon,
Brian"
If you have any thoughts on this, please feel free to share these here.
Thank you for your time.
Lizzie
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Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.
Looking to contact our Support Team, for details...take a look at the Community Help Guides.