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Updated 13 days ago on . Most recent reply
Airbnb's CEO says he wants to make the app the Amazon of travel.
Airbnb just dropped their Q4 numbers, and something caught my eye that hosts need to pay attention to: while they're raking in $2.5B in revenue (up 12%), they're dumping massive resources into platform "improvements" - 535 of them to be exact.
As someone who follows the hosting space closely, here's what's interesting: they're clearly betting big on AI and tech upgrades, but what does this mean for hosts' bottom lines? Are these changes going to help you get more bookings, or are they just making the platform more complex?
Veteran hosts - have you noticed any impact from these updates on your booking rates or revenue? And for those thinking about jumping into hosting in 2025, with Airbnb's stock jumping 14% pre-market, is this the signal you've been waiting for, or does all this platform tinkering make you nervous?
The growth numbers are impressive, but I'm more interested in hearing from the people actually powering this platform. How are these changes playing out in your day-to-day hosting operations? 🏠
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Most Popular Reply
Quote from @Jon Martin:
Quote from @John Underwood:
I hope they can make the app more like Vrbo's. Airbnb 's app is clunky and more difficult to use than Vrbo's.
From my own experience and what I hear from most others you are in the minority with this opinion. Maybe because you use VRBO more?
I started using both at the same time and found AirBnb to be far more user friendly with less clicks/swipes needed for any task. Whereas with VRBO I've had several tech issues that were unfixable, such as photos that never load no matter how much I manipulate them, and a catch 22 with the dynamic pricing that never worked that locked me out of my calendar. With AirBnb I've never had anything remotely as frustrating.
I found the same thing as a guest as well.
Agreed. This is the first time I have ever heard anyone prefer the VRBO app over Airbnb. I prefer VRBO guests hands down and that they don't interfere with hosts as much as Airbnb, but the app and website are incredibly frustrating, slow, and outdated.