Airbnb knows how you like to travel — and it’s using that data to help you book the perfect stay

16.10.2024 - 12:11 / thepointsguy.com

A few times a year, Airbnb releases a series of updates that change how we interact with the home-sharing app.

Sometimes, those changes are huge, such as the introduction of categories that made finding the kind of place you want to book easier than ever (hello, castles!). Other times, the modifications are geared toward Airbnb hosts on the back end and affect travelers indirectly, like by requiring clearer checkout instructions or integrating smart locks into the app.

This year's winter Airbnb release includes a mix of updates for both travelers and hosts, providing 50 new upgrades that'll make the experience more personalized than ever. There are now ways for hosts to get help from experts to both list and manage their properties, and Airbnb will now provide tips on where people should book stays.

"We're really trying to make the app much more personal," Tara Bunch, Airbnb's global head of operations, told TPG ahead of the winter release. She added that the company has a serious amount of data from users' past stays and searches and wants to use that information to make finding the perfect Airbnb easier than ever.

Alongside the updates, Airbnb is also celebrating the platform's 2 billionth stay (yes, billionth ... with a b). And while that's a huge accomplishment for the brand, it's also a reminder of just how big the platform is, how many people use it and just how many listings there are for guests to comb through when planning a trip. For Bunch, this update peels back some of the layers of Airbnb and helps people get to the good part — the stay itself — more efficiently.

"The site has gotten big, you know, we've got an enormous amount of listings now, and it can be overwhelming," she said. "So, we really want to make it less around planning the trip and more about enjoying the trip, and we want to make it easier."

Here's how Airbnb is doing exactly that.

Airbnb frequently changes the ways people interact with the platform, from making it easier to search its millions of listings to ensuring you only see properties that fit your specific needs. In its most current update, it's zooming in on ways to make the app more personalized to you, your preferences and the places you travel.

"The idea is to get much more personal, sort of create some shortcuts for you because we know a lot about you," Bunch explained. "While you might want to do something you've never done before, most people kind of tend to have some patterns that they tend to repeat."

Here are the highlights, according to Airbnb:

For folks who host on Airbnb or have been looking to, Airbnb is introducing a new network of more than 10,000 vetted co-hosts with expert ratings who can help manage bookings, offer insight into how to make homes