Airbnb Plus Is All But Abandoned as a Grand Dream That Never Met Expectations
Skift Take
The Airbnb Plus vision to have a portion of its listings meet hotel-like standards was sound. But the execution was lousy, and the exclusivity requirement was a big barrier.
Airbnb Plus, the company's vision for homes that are certified for quality standards and design acumen, has been all but abandoned two years after launching as support and product teams have been reassigned or laid off, Skift has learned.
The company gave itself a goal of having 75,000 Airbnb Plus listings in the program's launch year, 2018, and the internal goal was well over 10 times that number within a few years, according to a source. But analytics firms AirDNA estimated that there were only 26,000 active Airbnb Plus listings globally in January 2020, and Transparent pegged that figure at 21,159 in April.
Leading markets included the United States, China, Italy, Australia, and the UK.
But the estimates are only a tiny fraction of Airbnb's seven million listings, and well below even the first-year goal.
The mass exodus of Airbnb employees assigned to Airbnb Plus began months ago — even before the pandemic — as many began staffing the company's listing verification program following various house-party debacles, and more recently some were dispatched to work on the new coronavirus-driven cleaning regimens. Airbnb's recent layoffs likewise wiped out remaining personnel assigned to Airbnb Plus.
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