Airbnb does not have a loyalty program, however which may quickly change, in response to the corporate’s founder and CEO, Brian Chesky. In an unique roundtable interview in Los Angeles, Chesky advised TPG that “one thing huge is coming.”
Simply do not anticipate a standard loyalty program.
“I do not know if we’ll ever do a standard factors program as a result of a traditional-approach program is form of like a subsidy,” he stated, including that he likes to joke that “a loyalty program is what you create when you do not have loyalty; in different phrases, you need to pay for folks to come back again.”
Chesky emphasised how issues may look totally different for his firm. “There is a option to reward folks [who] have used Airbnb, however with out being like a ‘get 10 nights, get one free’ form of factor,” he stated. “I believe there’s one thing perhaps just a little extra fascinating and just a little extra novel than that.”
What may work for Airbnb?
As an alternative of a points-based system, Airbnb is wanting into totally different fashions, together with paid membership packages.
“I am unsure precisely [if] Amazon Prime’s the best analogy, however I do suppose there may be perhaps a paid subscription that we may have a look at that is an elevated degree of service that could possibly be actually fascinating,” Chesky stated.
Whereas conventional resort loyalty packages require members to work laborious for his or her earnings (by staying a minimal variety of nights to work their means up the loyalty ladder, for instance), paid subscription providers supply extra speedy rewards or prompt gratification.
Amazon Prime members, for instance, normally get some type of free expedited transport. On the hospitality entrance, Chesky is perhaps leaning extra towards examples like Dis-loyalty, the paid membership program from Ennismore, the life-style division of Accor that is behind manufacturers like Hoxton, Mondrian and SLS. Dis-loyalty, which begins at $18 a month, affords members a slew of perks like reductions on new resort openings, first-time stays and return visits; financial savings on meals and drinks; and even a free espresso each single day of the yr.
A paid membership program would additionally make sense based mostly on the character of Airbnb’s enterprise mannequin.
Day by day Publication
Reward your inbox with the TPG Day by day publication
Be part of over 700,000 readers for breaking information, in-depth guides and unique offers from TPG’s specialists
Enterprise vacationers and highway warriors who spend dozens and dozens of nights a yr on the highway can simply work their means up by the ranks of a loyalty program with one model and earn top-tier standing, like Hyatt’s coveted Globalist standing. However for the common household simply seeking to save just a little cash on just a few stays a yr or have a enjoyable perk right here and there, a standard loyalty program in all probability will not supply an excessive amount of worth.
An all-new Airbnb
TPG’s interview with Chesky got here following the announcement that Airbnb is now providing on-demand, hotel-like providers, merely referred to as “Airbnb Companies,” by the newly redesigned Airbnb app. Company can now e-book a non-public chef, order a therapeutic massage or a facial, or have a non-public bodily coaching session, proper at their Airbnb property — and even at their very own dwelling.
The corporate additionally doubled down on Airbnb Experiences, that are actions that may be booked by Airbnb, starting from pictures workshops to cooking classes and past.
If Airbnb does supply some type of membership program, be it a standard loyalty program or a paid subscription service, each Airbnb Companies and Airbnb Experiences may simply be an element within the model’s bigger method to loyalty programming. Perhaps a premium month-to-month membership would come with a reduction on leases or a yearly credit score to e-book an in-property Service or an Expertise out in town.
Or, Airbnb may go a totally totally different route. Earlier this yr, Airbnb-owned HotelTonight launched a brand new perk: 10% again on bookings within the type of Airbnb credit, proving that Airbnb and its associates know that prompt gratification retains folks coming again for extra.
No matter program Airbnb is constructing, it isn’t coming too quickly.
“I believe within the coming years we’ll do one thing actually, actually cool … one thing huge is coming,” Chesky stated. “I am not going to say what it’s ‘trigger I wish to shock you. We’re figuring it out and, you understand, it is like a journey … [and] we’re form of in the midst of growth proper now.”
Associated studying:
