Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, during a conversation with media representatives, said that artificial intelligence can help the company he heads to find the best deals.
Mr. Chesky said that the mentioned brand uses machine intelligence as part of the implementation of a large-scale strategy to improve the quality of functioning of its vacation rental platform. He noted that it is important for the company to make sure that the listings that are offered to consumers are excellent, customer service is characterized as one of the best and prices are affordable. Brian Chesky told the staff that the creation of new and exciting products can only be carried out after the mentioned conceptual foundation is fixed.
In May, more than 50 updates to the brand’s main service were made. In the first half of autumn, five more important improvements were implemented. Another series of updates is expected in November.
Artificial intelligence can become an auxiliary tool in the implementation of Airbnb’s current aspirations. The company asks the owners of the housing offered for operation under lease agreements to provide photos of the interior and exterior of the object. These images are then placed in a system that reads the photos and compares them with other databases.
Also, advanced technology helps to identify problematic guests, including those who tend to have house parties, which is a practice defined by the rules of Airbnb as unacceptable behavior.
Brian Chesky said that the company used machine learning methods to analyze the arrival of the last one and a half billion guests and see which of them held parties. He noted that a person in the framework of this work may not notice certain patterns, but artificial intelligence is able to view more than a billion data points, find many similarities, and create a set of rules.
Brian Chesky says that if a booking attempt causes concerns, user actions will either be stopped or additional information will be requested.
The head of the company also admitted the possibility that information on pricing dynamics will be provided to homeowners in the future since the company focuses on accessibility and strives to compete with hotels. Brian Chesky says that Airbnb currently provides hosts with tools to compare prices for their listings compared to other hotels in the neighborhood. He noted that the company gives access to data on other offers in the region to form an understanding of what customers can get from competitors.
Airbnb is currently facing certain difficulties, including, for example, new rules for short-term rentals in New York. This regulatory framework requires hosts to register in the city. Also, the new rules provide for the fulfillment of the obligation not to rent out the entire apartment or the whole house. Another requirement is that hosts must remain present during their guests’ short-term stay.
Airbnb described the new rules in force in New York as a de facto ban on short-term rentals. Brian Chesky said that his company is currently studying other tactics of activity in this city. According to him, Airbnb offers impressions. This means that hosts can provide services such as guided tours instead of rooms.
As we have reported earlier, Airbnb to Requiring Guests to Verify Their IDs.
