This article is from the public account Tencent Technology (ID: qqtech).

Key points

1. Airbnb plans to go public in 2020. There are already more than 7 million homes on the platform and its business covers approximately 100,000 towns in almost every country around the world.

2. Lax supervision has caused a series of problems such as housing fraud and frequent bad behavior of tenants, which have affected the trust of investors and users on the platform.

3.Airbnb announces the most thorough rules changes since its establishment in 2008, including “100% certification” of Airbnb home and experience providers, 7 * 24-hour hotline service for neighbors with complaint needs, etc. .

4. At the same time, Airbnb is also constantly expanding its business and wants to build itself into a company that provides comprehensive travel services. In the past two years, it has carried out about 40,000 experience activities in 1,000 towns and cities, allowing customers to “live like locals.”

5. Airbnb says that landlords or guests have reported security issues in 0.05% of services in the past year, and how to resolve these issues is still Airbnb ’s “number one priority.”

This article is about 7000 words and it takes about 8 minutes to read the full text.

[Editor’s note] Since its establishment, the development of housing rental platform Airbnb has been smooth, and has continued to expand into new businesses, even close to profitability. But new censorship has forced the startup to face fraud and security issues in home rental services, and it has also affected investor and customer trust in the platform. Airbnb, which is about to go public, is addressing development issues and trust crises by continuously expanding its business, conducting more experience activities, and adopting stricter security measures.

The following is the body of the article:

To Airbnb, Halloween was festive at first, but it quickly turned into a haze.

At the Airbnb headquarters in San Francisco on the morning of October 31, employees were wearing Halloween costumes and smiling. Brian Chesky, the company’s co-founder and CEO, wore a chef’s white outfit and distributed the employee a “Chesky potato chip”The importance of this precaution. On October 11, a young couple from the United States was killed by a sudden flood while hiking in El Yunque National Forest Park. This is believed to be the first death involving an Airbnb experience. Although there is no evidence of Airbnb’s negligence in this incident, it highlights Airbnb’s legal and regulatory responsibilities exposed during the expansion process. Airbnb said in a statement, “We are heartbroken for those affected by this tragic accident, and we will provide full support to these families.” But the company declined to answer questions about campaign sponsors being reviewed or licensed.

Tougher security measures

11 years ago, Chesky and partners Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk founded Airbedandbreakfast.com. Since then, the platform has helped more than 500 million “visitors” and brought homeowners more than $ 80 billion in revenue. Now, six guests check in every second through the Airbnb platform, and short-term home rental is still Airbnb’s biggest business and the most important issue to solve.

Airbnb says that in the 12 months ending July 31, landlords or guests reported safety issues on 0.05% of trips. This percentage is small, but considering that Airbnb receives at least 80 million guests a year, it means at least 40,000 guests report security issues. If you extend the definition of “problematic accommodation” to false or misleading accommodation information, and guests cancel bookings, this percentage may rise even higher.

Chesky says addressing these issues is Airbnb’s “first priority.” He quickly listed the steps the company has taken, but acknowledged that “a lot of things require … more investment, more training.” For example, Airbnb now sometimes conducts background checks on event sponsors and guests, but only Limited to US users. Airbnb usually does not have enough data to perform such checks on users worldwide.

Some new Airbnb regulations come into effect in mid-December. The upcoming challenge is to “100% verify” homeowner and listing information, and the company aims to achieve this by the end of 2020. This will include a review of the property’s photos, address, cleanliness, basic facilities and identity of the owner. Airbnb says it will use human review, technology and “community feedback” to do this. The last point indicates that complaints from guests will receive more attention. Sometimes it’s impossible to fully verify the authenticity of the information, especially for new homeownersWhen posting information. In this case, Chesky said, the company would explicitly tell the guests that they didn’t know: if there was not enough data, it would indicate that this was a new listing.

Other initiatives can also help address the problem of “bad tenants.” Airbnb has opened neighborhood complaint hotlines in some cities: these hotlines will soon be available worldwide, providing 7 * 24 hours service, and the staff answering are real people. Airbnb says these hotlines are now available in the United States and will be rolled out globally in 2020. The new policy will also explicitly prohibit large gatherings in the house.

Another important change is the guarantee for guests. If the host cancels the booking within 24 hours after check-in, or offers another listing without the guest’s consent, Airbnb can provide the guest with a room equal to or higher than the booked reservation, or a full refund for the guest paragraph. Airbnb said that it also applies when the room being booked looks structurally unsafe, unclean or in need of major repairs.

Are these changes sufficient? Critics say it is too early to draw conclusions. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman asked for more details. She says these plans are the first step in the right direction, but need to keep an eye on Airbnb’s progress.

Other observers find these changes useful, but they come late. Matthew Kepnes is a travel writer and runs a blog called Nomadic Matt. “They were very passive for a time, I think they were trying to be more active when they went public,” Capnes said. “If they don’t go public so fast, I’m not sure if they will take these steps so soon. What ’s so good about operating in countries and cities around the world?

The corridors of Airbnb’s headquarters are full of colorful posters depicting various experiences, such as making cheese, making coffee or skateboarding. There are pictures of the promoters of the event next to the posters, as well as museum-like information descriptions. Pablo from Salamanca, Spain, said, “I love hospitality.”

Regulating all these widely distributed activities will come at a cost and may erode future profits. Chesky said the new security commitment will require an investment of $ 150 million next year, a figure that does not include the revenue impact of some listings being taken off the shelves. But he insisted that this would not weaken long-term growth. He said, “(If) there is a standard that we can support more deeply, I think more people will use Airbnb.”

Chesky has introduced stricter security rules that will allow Airbnb to move forward with the concepts of security, governance, and growth. He asserted that with 100% verification, Airbnb willBeing able to “ensure that the listings on the shelves are integrated into the sense of ownership.”

Back on October 23, before the problem broke out, Chesky was asked what it felt like to be in a company large enough to affect the lives of so many people. “Do you know that you brush your teeth in front of the mirror every day and don’t feel any different?” He replied. “Then someone shows you an old photo, and you say,” Wow, I really changed. “

So does Airbnb. If you want to continue, you have to keep changing. (Gaoyu)