Airbnb's summer release will likely be an enormous affair with tons of updates for guests and just a few for hosts. This time, nevertheless, the corporate is introducing just just a few updates for group bookings, in addition to a brand new category called Icons, that are experiences hosted by famous names in music, film, television and sports.
Group booking features, that are probably the one update to achieve all users, allow people to create shared wish lists and there are group travel invitations with accommodation details.
Users can now invite friends or family via contacts on their phone or a wishlist link. Group members can add properties to a listing, leave notes a couple of property, or vote on the property to choose on the booking.
Photo credit: Airbnb
After the principal member has booked the accommodation, she or he must invite people to the trip again with a postcard. The invitation card also comprises details corresponding to address, check-in instructions and WiFi passwords.
Airbnb can be introducing a brand new messaging tab where all travelers can chat with the host and reply to messages. Hosts can reply to questions using AI-powered suggestions, including sending guests the property's checkout guide.
Photo credit: Airbnb
Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Airbnb, said the corporate developed group features because greater than 80% of trips on the platform involve a couple of person. Additionally, there’s a number of forwards and backwards between group members when making decisions.
Aside from group features, Airbnb is releasing a brand new revenue dashboard for hosts with higher insights and an experience category called “Icons,” which incorporates properties just like the X-Men Mansion, Ferrari Museum, Prince's Purple Rain House, and Living Room Sessions with Doja Cat. These experiences will only be available for a short while and users must apply for them. Airbnb plans to host 4,000 people across 11 Experiences.
Use of AI on Airbnb
Last November, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky mentioned in a conversation with TechCrunch that the corporate was testing generative, AI-powered review summaries. While Airbnb has not made any public announcements on this area, Blecharczyk told TechCrunch that the platform plans to make use of AI in several areas, including customer support.
“We are increasingly using AI to optimize our customer support, to make sure customers are routed to the appropriate agents or to robotically resolve tickets with AI-generated responses,” he said.
Airbnb's co-founder noted that AI-powered responses are only applicable to certain scenarios and the corporate has tested them in limited production.
“I feel there’s a number of potential for the applying of AI in firms. We think rather a lot about how AI will change the consumer-level experience over time,” Blecharczyk said, without providing details on the corporate’s roadmap.
“We have a number of reviews and a number of customer support data. That’s why we’re fascinated with how we are able to use AI to supply a greater picture of a list and its information.”
In November 2023, Airbnb acquired a stealth startup called GamePlanner, founded by Siri co-founder Adam Cheyer. Earlier this 12 months, Chesky mentioned that the GamePlanner acquisition was a part of the travel platform's plan to create an “ultimate concierge.” Using AI-powered responses to resolve customer queries is probably going step one towards this.
