This is a sort of an open letter to AirBnb – a great idea and website and one which could be much better and even bigger.
AirBnb has a great UI.
And the way you search for places to stay, the filters, the results on a map – is all also great.
The one major problem with the platform, however, is the UX – user experience of the end to end flow you go through when booking a place.
The key issue is with the hosts.
As it is not a core business for (most) hosts on AirBnb, they fit in managing the properties and the booking in between their day jobs, holidays and other activities.
As a result responses are slow. I’ve been on the sharp end of this many times.
Many properties are still listed but are in fact unavailable, because many hosts forget to update the calendar when their circumstances change.
The problem gets bigger when you add the fact that most people booking a place to stay on AirBnb do it last minute. So they need instant confirmation if their request to book has been accepted or not.
What then makes the perfect storm is the inability to put out multiple requests when booking on AirBnb.
As a result you end up requesting a place – even a few days in advance, then 2 days later being told it’s not available, then going through the same process again a few time until you’re about to get on a flight still without a place to stay.
A simple change could fix all this.
What if you could pick 2, 3, 5, 10 places you like the look of, put out a booking request for all – and then whoever replies first is the place you end up staying – with other requests simply getting cancelled automatically.
Let’s hope AirBnb makes this simple change soon – I’m sure it would actually significantly increase its revenue since more people would book through the platform instead of giving up and going to a hotel instead.
Mind Iterations 