Airbnb releases 3 new features to “bring magical travel to everyone”

With its 2022 summer update, Airbnb, an online marketplace for vacation, tourists, and homestay rentals, has announced several interesting features on its website that aim to provide consumers with a more comfortable and stress-free stay.

This announcement was made by Brian Chesky, Airbnb Co-founder, on his official Twitter account, where he wrote, “Today, we’re introducing the biggest change to Airbnb in a decade.”

Despite Airbnb’s rapid expansion over the last decade, the pandemic provided the company with even more motivation to make life better and more pleasant for people everywhere. Since then, Airbnb has launched hundreds of features. 

However, today Airbnb has announced additional features. A new category-based search, the possibility to split between properties in one depending on how long the holiday will stay, and Airbnb travel insurance for guests are among the most recent feature releases.

Here’s what new at Airbnb

Search Category Feature: Airbnb is introducing a new search function. There are 56 categories in this search function, including home types (cabins, castles. tree homes, tiny homes), style, location (artic, beach farm, countryside, national park, vineyard), activity (golfing, camping, skiing) and proximity.

According to the CEO, this is in response to consumers’ suggestions for sites they would have liked to visit but were unaware of. This search result might also assist you in selecting a rental space appropriate for your trip or vacation. 

This can help alleviate over-tourism by redistributing travel to new locations beyond the same popular destinations.

The company said in a release.

Split Stays: Airbnb considered a lot of factors before launching this option, including the development of remote work. Many people have stayed in one location for prolonged periods of time with no exposure to other locations, hence the idea of the split stays feature, to spice users’ trips. People can now split their trips between two different properties with automatic pairing by the site.

Customers who want a lengthier vacation will see the feature as a pop-up in search results. Other unique features include the ability to calculate the distance between two homes. Once a person has made their decision, an interface will walk them through the booking process.

Air Cover: Airbnb has finally introduced its free travel insurance program called AirCover. This is accessible to all guests and in all bookings, but it solely protects the hosts and covers damages and liabilities.

There is a booking protection and check-in guarantee with this new function, in which if a host can cancel a booking within 30 days of check-in, the company is required to find a more comfortable place for the customer or issue a full refund. In addition, if a customer is unable to check in due to personal reasons, the company will either find a more suitable house or issue a full refund.

In some other circumstances, such as when the property listings do not meet the user’s needs, the user has only three days to file a report. Customers will also have access to a 24-hour safety line in 16 languages.

Airbnb mission goal

Airbnb’s goal is to bring tourism back into the mainstream.

There is the possibility for a new era of travel with this new feature. The ideal travel location and the appropriate rental space to accompany the journey are provided to customers. Additionally, customers may now enjoy their vacation in safer environments.