Airbnb launches hospitality
The peer-to-peer home rental company introduces new apps designed around the experiences of its hosts.
(Credit: Donna Tam/CNET)
SAN FRANCISCO -- Airbnb now has 350,000 rental hosts and it wants to make it clear that they are a major part of the company, so it invited them into its new headquarters on Tuesday for the launch of new features and apps.
CEO Brian Chesky spoke at length about the company's history and thanked hosts for renting out their properties through Airbnb's site. He reassured hosts that the company was working with local governments to ensure they can continue to rent their properties without worrying about retaliation from officials.
'There are laws for people and there are laws for business, but you are a new category, a third category -- people as business. As hosts, you are micro-entrepreneurs and there are no laws written for micro-entrepreneurs,' Chesky said, using one of his preferred terms for hosts.
He also emphasized hospitality which Airbnb vowed to standardize across the site by recently hiring hotelier Chip Conley. Conley and other executives took turns talking about different initiatives, including group forums for hosts where they can share tips, and a place to share host stories.
The company's new hospitality-centric apps that cater to its hosts.
This includes Host Home, a host dashboard that lets hosts respond to messages, accept bookings, update calendars and requests photos. There are also prompts to give hosts advice about how to prepare for their guests, and join host communities.
More to come.
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