Why Airbnb Solves Some Of The Problem, But Not All Of It
Written by Sarah Norris
While airbnb excels in some areas, they’re falling short on the most important one.
Whether you like it or not, Airbnb has become a staple platform in our lives. We probably don’t think too much about its impact on how we travel, but it plays a big part. If you’re part of the Gen X or Millennial generation, you probably can’t remember a time before airbnb. It has the same whiff to it as ‘How did we get around before Uber?’ Airbnb have swooped in on what was a once booming hotel industry and buried their over priced buffet noses in it.
Starting out with three roommates putting their San Fransisco loft up for ‘air mattress rent’, Airbnb founder’s offered their guests a luxury experience of sleeping on air mattresses (yes.. air mattresses) on their floor. It was a way for them to make a few extra bucks while there was a large conference in town. Little did they know 10 years later this idea would be worth $31 billion.
Thus Airbnb was born. After years of redesigns and mishaps they’d finally tweaked it enough that its become one of the most user friendly interfaces on the web. Along with its minimalistic design, they’ve made booking your holiday as easy as three clicks. (Ive tried it, you can literally book a home with three clicks from the main page) and all by creating a platform that’s peer-to-peer.
A question Ive heard come up through-out the years is ‘how DO airbnb make their money? Whats the catch? Well, its simple and its not. Airbnb make their money from that niggle service fee. You know, that un-seemingly discrete charge that gets added to your total after you’ve selected all your dates and nights. Its their trick. Their ruse. Their card up the sleeve. We all end up paying for it, because what’s an extra $20 in the end.
Photo Supplied: Crunchbase
This article isn’t about their business venture, nor about their lack of client care when it comes to scam listings. You can read about that here. My issue runs deeper than that. But i’m laying it out in a sh*t sandwich.
The Bread: They have unintentionally created a new way of holiday-ing. Booking homes instead of over priced hotel rooms. Booking rooms inside homes in communities! The regenerative cycle of staying in an already built home is a concept of circular efficiency. They’ve helped move us towards building less and staying within local communities more. Its a commendable effort for a company that could easily have sold out to bigger hotel corporations who could have advertised through this now Silicon Valley giant.
The Sh*t: Airbnb’s booking system is my annoying gnawing gnat. They offer a large and diverse range of easily recognised iconography for your preferred idealistic stay. These things include ‘wifi, tv, hot tub, hairdryer’ - a curated list of amenities impossible to live without. Seems great right? Well, we think there should be more to it than that. What we’d like to see is the offer of eco preferences. We came up with a few (which we feature on our site) like ‘up-cycled furniture, off-grid, solar panels, compostable toilet’. Being a giant in the industry, it should be imperative that they begin to look at making it easier to find eco-accomodation. Not luxury escapes.
The simple, effective, yet somewhat un-inspiring selection airbnb offer. Glad to see smoking is there.