Airbnb 2021 Release: 100+ upgrades for our Filipino Hosts and guests

• Airbnb announces a whole new way for guests to search on Airbnb, a new 10-step process to become a Host, better support for Hosts and guests, and much more to meet a new era in travel 
• Filipinos are turning to Airbnb for affordable and family-friendly domestic travel, as well as hosting to support themselves and their local communities during the pandemic
• In the Philippines, Airbnb has launched seven Host clubs across the country to empower Hosts to connect, collaborate and support each other as well as their local communities

Inspired by the major shift in how people are traveling within the Philippines and around the world, Airbnb is introducing more than 100 upgrades to refine and improve every aspect of its service, from the platform’s website and app to community support and policies. The Airbnb 2021 Release adds features to give Pinoy guests even more flexibility when planning their travel and to make it simple for anyone in the Philippines to become a Host. 

These key updates come as Airbnb data reveals that Filipinos are turning to Airbnb for affordable and family-friendly domestic travel, as well as hosting to support themselves and their local communities during the pandemic. 

• A recent YouGov survey* shows that travel with immediate family is the #1 reason for domestic travel amongst Filipinos, with family vacations being the primary reason to travel this year for 6 out of 10 Filipinos. 
• Notably, a survey** conducted by Airbnb of Filipino guests and Hosts reveals approximately 62% of guests stayed in an Airbnb listing with their family in 2020. Over 58% of guests also said an Airbnb Stay was a more affordable choice. 
• In the same survey, 57% of Airbnb Hosts said the income they’ve earned through hosting has helped them to stay in their homes, and over half said they want to find more ways to host with Airbnb. Over a third of Filipino Hosts said they share recommendations with guests on their favourite local restaurants and businesses within their community. 

“We are seeing three fundamental shifts in travel as people become less tethered and more flexible.”

^{Brian Chesky, Co-Founder and CEO of Airbnb}

“We are seeing three fundamental shifts in travel as people become less tethered and more flexible,” said Brian Chesky, Co-Founder and CEO of Airbnb. “People can travel anytime, they are traveling to more places and they are staying longer. The lines between travel, living and working are blurring and we are upgrading our service to make it easier for people to integrate travel into their lives, and for more people to become Hosts.”

100+ Upgrades across the Entire Airbnb Experience for Guests and Hosts

Making it Easier for Guests 

With flexibility at the heart of a new, improved browsing and booking experience, Airbnb is introducing today three new ways to search on the platform – Flexible Dates, Flexible Matching and Flexible Destinations.

• Flexible Dates, which Airbnb started rolling out in February, makes it easy to find the best places to stay if you are flexible on when you go. Rather than searching with fixed dates, you can search for a weekend getaway, a week-long vacation or even a month-long stay. Since launching the tool, the platform has already seen over 100 million searches using it.
• Flexible Matching offers a wider selection of listing results when you search for a place to stay by surfacing homes just outside of your search parameters. This way, you never miss out on a great stay that falls just outside what was specified in a search—for example, that farm stay in Tagaytay that costs PHP3,200 per night, rather than the PHP3,000 max setting in your search. 
• Flexible Destinations is a new way to plan trips when finding a unique place to stay is more important to you than traveling to a specific destination. It helps you discover incredible properties in places you might not have thought to search for and adapts to your location. For instance, it surfaces family villas in the Philippines, ryokans in Japan, or castles in Spain. From treehouses to boats, there are over 170,000 unique homes to choose from on Airbnb and the number of searches for unique listings has grown 94% so far in 2021 compared to the same period in 2019. 

Airbnb is also significantly improving its search capabilities to help people find their ideal place to stay, from our  extensive database. New filters will adapt to the season or location and allow people to search for homes near points of interest, such as national parks, or with very specific attributes such as whether the property has an ocean view. 

Additional upgrades for guests include: 

• Faster checkout process – Reduced number of steps for new guests to confirm their first reservation.
• Arrival guide – Easy access to all the helpful information a guest needs (directions, door codes, Wifi, etc.) before check-in.
• Updated reviews – Guests now have a fuller spectrum, from critiques to compliments, to rate their stay.
• Clearer Cancellations – Refreshed cancellation policies increase clarity for both guests and Hosts.

Making it Easier to Host

Today, Airbnb is making it even easier to become a Host with a brand new onboarding process that has been simplified from dozens of steps to just 10, supported by the latest technologies. Computer vision deep-learning models automatically arrange photos based on their guest appeal, while smart text suggestions help Hosts craft the best title and description for their listing. Streamlining and simplifying the process will help anyone who wants to host and take advantage of the coming travel surge onboard quickly to get their first booking. In fact, in Q1 2021, for new listings that were activated and booked, 50% received a reservation request within four days of activation. 

World-Class Service

Airbnb is also improving its community support by doubling the number of support agents and expanding its support coverage from 11 to 42 languages. A completely redesigned Help Center will be easier to navigate by offering more personalized support to Hosts and guests.

Supporting our Philippine Airbnb Community

In the Philippines, Airbnb has also launched seven Host Clubs across the country, based in Cebu, Baguio, Metro Manila, Rizal, Western Visayas, Lapu Lapu and Quezon. Host Clubs are Host-led networks of Airbnb Hosts, guests, small business owners and local community leaders who are passionate about home sharing. These clubs will support Filipino Hosts as they connect, collaborate and support each other as well as their local communities during the pandemic, by sharing advice and best practices on hosting. 

“Hosting with Airbnb has helped me grow, not only as a hospitality provider but more importantly as an individual. It has broadened my horizons and taught me to embrace different cultures and beliefs. I am grateful to be hosting with a company that continually promotes diversity and belonging, and am honoured to be a voice of our Metro Manila Host community where we have been working hand-in-hand to improve our hosting standards through specially curated workshops,” shared Bernadette Ann Balgomera, Airbnb Host Club Leader in Metro Manila.

The Blurring of Traveling and Living

Many of these upgrades were inspired by a comprehensive analysis of Airbnb booking data and consumer research which reveals the extent to which the pandemic has fundamentally changed travel. With 4 million Hosts across more than 220 countries and regions and close to 1 billion guest arrivals, Airbnb is in a unique position to see how travel is changing. The analysis reveals three key trends:

1. In part due to remote work trends, people are less tethered and more flexible on when they can travel. Since the start of this year, Airbnb has seen more than 200 million date-flexible searches, 100 million of which used our new Flexible Dates tool. 
2. Travel is being distributed to a much wider range of destinations. In the 12 months ending April 30 2021, Airbnb had bookings in 94,000 cities. 
3. People are staying longer on trips. The share of stays 28 days or longer on Airbnb has increased from 14% of nights booked in 2019 to 24% in Q1 2021***.