Airbnb expands investments and initiatives to enhance trust in its community

Airbnb announced recently the most significant steps in designing trust in its platform since its original design in 2008.

This work includes: 

• 100% Verified Homes – A newly established team is building the technological and human review protocols to review all Airbnb listings and hosts to verify for accuracy and quality standards. Those that meet its high expectations will be clearly labeled. 
• Airbnb Neighbor Hotline – The platform is more than doubling the size of the team responding to incidents and launching a new 24/7 Neighbor Hotline.
• High-Risk Human Review – Airbnb is tripling its technological and operational investment in screening of high-risk reservations to cover the United States, Canada, and Mexico by the end of 2019 and all reservations globally by the end of 2020. This effort will be informed by its anti-discrimination and law enforcement partnerships to make them as fair and effective as possible.  
• Guest Guarantee – Beginning on December 15, 2019, if upon checking into a listing that does not meet our accuracy standards, Airbnb will rebook the guest a new listing of equal or greater value, or they will get 100% of their money back. Most hosts do a great job, but guests need to feel like Airbnb has their back, and the platform believes this commitment is a necessary step in giving guests peace of mind. 
• Party House Ban – Airbnb has finalized its policies and is implementing its enforcement protocols before December 15 to combat unauthorized parties and remove hosts and guests engaged in abusive conduct. 

The work extended beyond the homes available on Airbnb. The platform is also making significant investments to build trust in Airbnb Experiences, including: 

• 100% Verified Experiences – Every Airbnb Experience is already reviewed for quality, and Experiences involving certain technically-specialized activities are subject to heightened review before being offered to guests. This can include verifying hosts have licenses or certifications for the activity. Now, as an extension of our homes and hosts verification, it will introduce new tools that verify the quality and accuracy of Experiences using a series of signals, including information from guests. 
• Expand List of Technically-Specialized Experiences – Airbnb differentiates between activities like walking tours or pottery classes and technically-specialized activities like flying a helicopter or whitewater rafting. For certain technically-specialized activities, the platform requires hosts to provide proof of licenses, permits and/or certifications. Airbnb will expand the list of technically-specialized activities for which we require proof of permits to include outdoor activities near bodies of water (like surfing and hikes), high-altitude trekking, backcountry skiing, and others. It will expand its partnership with the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) to operationalize guidelines around these additional activities. 
• New Requirements for Technically Specialized Activities – As part of this expansion, Airbnb is investing in additional layers of screening and adding new requirements for technically-specialized Experiences. For example, while the platform has always required hosts to have all necessary licenses, it will now begin requiring hosts to submit proof of permits and licenses for Experiences taking place on National Park and USDA Forest Service lands, starting within the United States. Airbnb already provides $1M liability insurance to the majority of its hosts and will expand the list of technically-specialized activities for which it will require the host to provide additional third-party insurance.
• Double Down on Prohibition of Dangerous Activities – Airbnb already prohibits a number of high-risk activities on the platform, including activities like bungee jumping, ice climbing, and outdoor skydiving. It will work with its partner, the ATTA, to continue to refine this list and ensure that as outdoor recreation standards evolve, its policies and standards do, too. 

Airbnb is also making significant foundational investments this year that will support its community over the next decade and beyond. These  investments include: 

• Improvements to its technology platforms
• Offerings such as Airbnb Experiences, Airbnb Luxe, and Airbnb Plus
• Acquisitions like HotelTonight
• Airbnb China
• Marketing, in part, to help educate consumers about its new offerings

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