SAN FRANCISCO — Airbnb is dispatching inspectors to rate some of the properties listed on its home-rental service in an effort to reassure travelers they’re booking nice places to stay.
The Plus program, unveiled Thursday, is aimed at winning over travelers who aren’t sure they can trust the current, computer-driven analysis of reviews posted by past guests. The misleading pictures drawn by Airbnb’s rating system have become a big enough problem to spawn a website devoted to horror stories spanning from an overcrowded, dirty “hippy commune” in Pasadena, California, to a Paris vacation ruined in a moldy, bug-infested apartment.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says the company’s internal surveys have found travelers willing to pay more for inspector-certified properties, allowing homeowners and apartment dwellers to recoup a $149 fee to participate in Plus.
Human inspectors will review properties based on a 100-point checklist covering everything from the speed of the Wi-Fi to the bedding. Properties that fail can still be part of Airbnb’s regular listings; the company will also offer advice on improvements to qualify.
The program will initially cover about 2,000 properties in 13 cities — Austin, Texas; Barcelona, Spain; Cape Town, South Africa; Chicago; Los Angeles; London; Melbourne, Australia; Milan; Rome; San Francisco; Shanghai, Sydney; and Toronto. That’s a small fraction of the roughly 4.5 million properties listed on Airbnb in 81,000 cities worldwide. By the end of the year, Chesky foresees verifying 75,000 homes in 50 cities.
Airbnb is shaking things up at a time its growth has been slowing, a trend the company would like to reverse before it sells its stock in an initial public offering expected within the next two years. Despite its popularity, Airbnb remains unprofitable, with a loss of $75 million on revenue of nearly $2.6 billion last year, according to financial statements reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
At an event in San Francisco, Airbnb announced other steps to become more like a traditional hospitality company instead of an industry renegade that has siphoned business away from major hotels. Frequent travelers will quality for discounts and other perks. The company also is adding other rental categories, including bed-and-breakfast inns and boutique hotels.
A major hotel industry group slammed Airbnb’s expansion as a sham. “Airbnb’s latest scheme is just further proof the company is trying to play in the hoteling space while evading industry regulations,” said Troy Flanagan of the American Hotel & Lodging Association. “If Airbnb wants to enter the hoteling business, then it needs to be regulated, taxed and subject to the same safety compliances.”
Airbnb’s success has drawn fire from city officials upset about lost revenue from hotel taxes. It has also stirred protests from long-time renters of homes that are being converted into short-term places to stay instead. Airbnb’s critics contend the latter trend has been making it even more difficult to find a place to live in cities such as San Francisco, where housing is already scarce and expensive.
Airbnb argues it is enabling more people to stay in their current homes by helping them bring in more money whenever they want to rent some space.
