Hello everyone,
Hopefully by now, you have all heard we have a new Global Head of Hosting at Airbnb.
@Catherine-Powell will be regularly posting updates in the Community Center and sharing more about what her and the team are up to. I know she will be keen to hear from you on those updates, so do keep an eye out for them! Outside of the updates, Catherine has also asked us Community Managers to help gather any additional questions or feedback you have.
To get the ball rolling and in true Community Center spotlight style, (plus many of you wanted to know more about her in our recent announcement), we asked her a few questions:
Can you tell us a little more about yourself?
I joined Airbnb six months ago to head our Experiences business. Prior to Airbnb I spent 15 years at Disney with the last three years in the Parks business, where I managed Walt Disney World, Disneyland and Disneyland Paris. I oversaw the theme parks, restaurants, retail boutiques and hotels. I’m a mother of three boys and a 14 month old, 90 pound “puppy” called Ozzy. I grew up in England, but have lived in Hong Kong, France, Germany, Australia, and now the USA. As a family we love to travel and explore new cultures. Which is just as well - my youngest son has been educated in four different school systems! I seem to spend my time on Zoom at the moment, but when I am free, I love to hike (with Ozzy), do yoga and have Airbnb experiences with friends and family I can’t see.
Why did you join Airbnb and why did this role attract you?
I’ve always had a deep appreciation for the Airbnb brand, and its mission to connect people and create a sense of belonging. Something that is more needed than ever at the moment. I was so excited to head Airbnb Experiences and help real people share their passions, personal perspectives, culture and histories. Now, as head of Hosting, it’s an honour to be able to amplify this responsibility and champion work that will empower all of our hosts, who are the engine of our brand. I’m humbled by the incredible teams of people who work day and night to build solutions in a very challenging landscape. This is a momentous time for the world; the travel and tourism industry, which represented about 10% of world GDP, has been shaken to its core. Our host community is also suffering. My job is to focus on repairing, rebuilding and coming out stronger on the other side.
Do you stay in Airbnbs or host? What are your biggest learnings using the product?
I don’t host yet, but I am excited to start when I don’t have a full house, with my boys at home. I love staying in Airbnbs. Once you have stayed somewhere where you feel noticed and cared for, it is difficult to imagine wanting to travel any other way. I had a particularly enjoyable stay with Linda in San Francisco. I was there on business, and coming home in the evenings and chatting to Linda about her travel stories, and love of film (I even gate-crashed her book club one night) was a truly unique and memorable experience.
I firmly believe that what makes Airbnb different is the personal touch: leaving fresh flowers, a welcome beverage, local recommendations. These things connect the host and their guest, many times without even having to meet in person.
I also love our experiences. My favourite in-person include fire-eating and discovering the speak-easies in LA. And since our launch of Online Experiences I have become an avid guest and traveled the world: meeting the dogs of Chernobyl; making Ricotta with a host in Sonoma; learning about Sake with ‘Wasabi’ in Tokyo; and preparing Sangria with Pedro in Lisbon.
What do you think is amazing about our hosts?
I’m amazed by the entrepreneurial spirit of our hosts and their commitment to offer the best level of hospitality in all its forms: from sharing a room in their primary homes, to teaching skill or sharing a passion; to setting up a small business venture like a bed and breakfast or boutique hotel. The care and personal attention that they put into making each guest experience so special is inspiring. And the fact that we are a community of individuals is what makes Airbnb, and what we can offer the world, so unique. No two hosts are the same.
I have also been struck by the resilience and resourcefulness of our hosts, especially now. When travel disruption was most acute, and guests uncertain, our hosts were already asking what they could do to help create safe and healthy environments when travel recovered. And as quickly as we could roll out the Enhanced Cleaning Protocol, hosts rushed to this resource. We already have over 1 million listings on Airbnb where hosts have attested to this rigorous upgraded cleaning routine.
I’m humbled and honored to be working with such a committed host community, especially at such a critical time for the world and for our company.
Can you share one of your most meaningful moments so far at Airbnb?
I’ve been here six months, and have only been in the Global Hosting role for a couple of weeks. There have been a great number of inspiring and positive moments, but a significant one that comes to mind was the incredibly difficult decision to temporarily suspend our Experiences globally, for health and safety reasons. I had joined Airbnb to run this business, and two months in I had to tell our hosts they had to stop hosting. Following this, we set up global listening sessions. Our founders, Brian and Joe, participated in these sessions as well. There is something profound about a crisis that brings people together. We were all frustrated, and many people were very upset and angry which was understandable. But the sessions became constructive discussions exploring options together. It was here that I heard from hosts that they wanted to offer online experiences. I loved their creative thinking and determination to continue to offer their experiences to our guests. We mobilized and built that product in 14 business days. It is now the fastest growing Airbnb product.
This will always be a milestone for me, because it proves the value of directly connecting with our hosts and power of building things together. I know Homes hosts are struggling, some are seeing a spike in demand, but most are still hurting and facing uncertainty. I am committed to making meaningful connections and bringing about positive changes for the entire host community.
What are you focusing on this year?
My first priority this year is to recenter the Airbnb business around hosts and hosting. We have a clear mandate from Brian Chesky to go back to our roots, and put hosts at the heart of Airbnb in the same way we did in the early days. We have been reflecting on the fact that Airbnb was born during a crisis in 2008, and we have come full circle to a new global crisis. The path we need and choose is to refocus on our hosts. Travel is changing, home sharing is changing, and our commitment is to help hosts succeed in this new world of travel. I’m focused on delivering tools and communicating information that will help our hosts rebuild their business and drive more bookings. Hosts are our partners, the true source of what makes Airbnb special, unique and amazing. This is my focus.
It wouldn’t be a community spotlight without a fun fact. What’s yours?
When I ran Disneyland Paris I had to give a speech, in French, in front of the President of France (President Hollande) and the world’s media. As I stepped up on stage my heels got caught in my skirt and I was stuck in a squat with my back to a thousand people, and the media. I considered pretending to faint. But then I sat down, took my shoes off, and walked barefoot to the lectern and gave my speech. When I was finished and went to walk down the steps the President and his accompanying Guards rushed to help me. And Disneyland Castmembers still call me Cinderella…..
Thank you so much for sharing more about yourself.
As always, please do share your comments and thoughts here, I’m sure @Catherine-Powell would love to hear from you.
Lizzie
