One: Include information relevant to long-term stays

THE CONTEXT / PAIN POINT

I care about different things when choosing a place for a weekend vacation vs. a long-term stay. For instance, the availability of small appliances matters less (if there’s no coffee machine, I can just buy one if I’m staying for 3-6 months), but the WiFi speed matters infinitely more. This is why I’ve found myself messaging hosts in the past to do a speed test and send me the screenshot. In particular, here are some things that might matter to long-term guests/tenants:

• WiFi (speed and reliability)

• Closet space (It gets old living out of bags on the floor)

• Flow of apartment/house (What rooms lead into other rooms? Is it south/north facing?)

• Outside space (e.g. patio/balcony, particularly during COVID)

• Building details (Is there a receptionist in the lobby, so someone can receive my Amazon packages if I’m out, as well as provide an extra layer of security?)

• Optional furniture removal (If I hate the bed/table/whatever, can I ask you to remove it and put it in storage, while I order my own?)

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS (for WIFI ONLY)

• Make “internet” a sub-header in the “About this space” description area (where you find “The space”, “Guest access,” etc.). Although not all hosts will fill it out, you can make it an Airbnb Plus or Superhost requirement, and its existence as a subheader will signal to new hosts that this is an important detail to fill out. You can even give instructions to hosts on how to check their speed, e.g. by visiting speedtest.net

• Ask guests to rate the WiFi. The same way guests rate the cleanliness of a place or the accuracy of the listing to help hosts and future guests, they can be asked to rate the WiFi speed and reliability.

• Make it a filter. Instead of just filtering by the amenity “WiFi” (as a checkbox), allow users to search for specific speeds (in MB), or if that’s too technical, put it in term of fitness for certain internet actions, like Browsing and emails (lower speed), Streaming audio & video (medium speed), and Video calls (high speed). This could be displayed as a slider or additional checkboxes, like so:

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS FOR OTHER MISSING DETAILS

For some of the other (non-WiFi) details, the following changes/feature additions may be helpful:

• Video tours: Instead of just photos, encourage hosts to add video tours to show the full flow/layout of the space. This will also give a better idea of how the light flows into the space, etc.

• More amenity filters: This last year, we spent hours looking for places with private balconies or patio space. Adding a simple amenities filter for this would have been infinitely more valuable for long stays than “iron” or “hair dryer”.

• Separate filters for the building: For apartments, include a separate set of filters about the building (not the apartment itself). This might include filters like security guard, number of floors, shared gym/pool, or shared patio/balcony. This has the added benefit of making it clear which amenities are for communal use vs. private to the apartment.

• Documentation (for hosts) on what long-term tenants care about: You could make this resource generically available, but particularly surface this information if a host sets a discount for monthly rate (as this might indicate they’re interested in long-term lets). We find that many hosts are eager to host long term tenants, but that they might not know the pain points (and solutions) to remote work, nor have any experience in hosting longer stays.

TWO: Flexible cancellation within the first X days

THE CONTEXT / PAIN POINT

When you sign a year-long lease for an apartment (not on Airbnb), you would normally visit the place first, so that you can see in person what it looks like, check out the building it’s in, and walk around the surrounding neighborhood. In contrast, when booking long-term on Airbnb, I’m mostly doing it blind, by just looking at photos — which makes me nervous. That’s why I’m a lot more likely to book a place just for a month and then try to extend it if I like the place. However, that also makes me nervous because someone might make a conflicting booking during what would be my planned second month, so that I can’t extend. (It also means the host might negotiate with me off-platform after the first month, resulting in lost revenue for Airbnb and lost protection for me).

POTENTIAL SOLUTION

Usually, I know within 2-3 days if I like a place. At that point, I know what the neighborhood and building are like, I’ve experienced the water pressure in the shower, and I’ve checked out the comfort level of the mattress, etc.

So here’s the potential product feature: For all long-term bookings — those for 3+ months— allow guests to cancel (or shorten the stay to 1 month only) for free within the first 3 days of their stay. This can be the guest cancellation “grace period.” This means:

• Guests are more likely to book for the full period that they actually want to stay, with peace of mind that, at worst, they’ll only need to stay one month at a place they dislike. Once guests book, they are unlikely to cancel their long booking unless the place is truly terrible (due to the status quo bias and the power of defaults), so likely Airbnb would make more revenue.

• Longer upfront bookings mean both hosts and guests are less likely to negotiate off-platform for subsequent months. (It’s just more effort to do that.)

• Even if guests cancel during the grace period, hosts still have time (over 3 weeks) to get bookings for the cancelled period (month 2 and beyond), and they still receive their first month’s rental revenue.

THREE: Allow me to make offers for others’ cancellations

THE CONTEXT / PAIN POINT

Often, I see places that look amazing for long-term stay (e.g. a three-month booking)—and it’s available for the whole period, except for one random weekend in the middle. Since it seems like a hassle to move out just for that one weekend, I don’t book it. I instead choose my next-best option, which I might be much less excited about, or choose something not on Airbnb. And as a result, the host loses out on what would be a much more valuable booking.

POTENTIAL SOLUTION

It seems like there could be a “win-win” situation for all four parties involved: the potential long-stay tenant, the host, the short-term guest, and Airbnb. 

For example, Airbnb could introduce a feature where I could offer the short-term guest a bonus for agreeing to cancel their booking. Let’s say they paid $200 to stay the weekend. They could be offered $250 or $300 (in Airbnb credit) to cancel, and use the additional money to upgrade their planned stay. The cost of that bonus could be shared by all three other parties, which all benefit from this cancellation:

• I (as the long-term tenant) get to stay in my Airbnb of choice

• The host earns more money, because my 3-month stay is worth more than that one weekend

• Airbnb earns more revenue, because their 20% cut of my 3-month reservation is worth more (especially if the alternative is me choosing a place listed on a different platform)

💬 Let’s chat!

These are just some initial ideas, but given a full 10 months to think about Airbnb long-term living, I’m sure we would be able to provide much more detailed feedback along these lines.

Feel free to look a bit more into us (and our writing styles).

Werner: www.wernervanrooyen.com // IG @wernervous // LI @werneravr
Charlie: www.charlotteslau.com // IG @circleintheair or @chippercharliehorse // LI @charlotteslau