Airbnb’s Flexible Work is Both Policy and Marketing Strategy

As airlines around the world struggle to keep up with travel demand, Airbnb is looking to continue a successful run that began after the earliest period of the pandemic. This spring, the lodging-share company made its “work from anywhere” staffing policy official. The move reflects Airbnb CEO and founder Brian Chesky’s view that “travel as we know it” is over. The anti-back-to-office message to employees is designed to resonate with Airbnb users as well. One aspect of the change in travel habits among its fairly younger, affluent, tech-focused customer base is the shift toward long-term rentals. The weekend getaways are still there. But Airbnb believes its primary business is in driving stays beyond one-week vacations. But will aiming its stakeholder values at “digital nomads” complement or complicate its marketing messages, while quelling occasional social media flare-ups over guest/host tensions and charges that Airbnb is one force (among many) driving higher rents and gentrification? Long-term outlook Long-term stays were at an “all-time high in Q1 2022,” an Airbnb representative said. Defined as a booking lasting 28 days or more, the company said these stays more than doubled in size from Q1 2019. Long-term experiences continue to represent around one-in-every-five nights booked. In addition, nearly half of nights booked on Airbnb in Q1 2022 were for one week or more. To help Airbnb users navigate these extended bookings, the company has refined its “Split Stays and Flexible Search” tools. Split Stays give users the option to divide their time between two different homes. Under the terms of the program, an Airbnb user can book a stay for up to six months. But the real appeal is that the offering has potential as a fairly uncomplicated logistics management tool. “When presented with a pair of homes, Split Stays will automatically take into account your trip start and end dates, the distance between listings and any filters added,” said Hiroki Asai, Airbnb’s global head of marketing. “Our sophisticated algorithm also factors in the desirability of the two locations—and the overall quality and value of each home.” According to Asai, this results in around 40% more homes to choose from every time someone searches for an extended stay. “That way guests can book some of our most highly rated listings, that might not otherwise have been available for the whole duration of their trip,” he added. The message seems tailored for this moment in the pandemic. Thanks to vaccinations, the world continues to open up more “normally.” Promoting a sense of exploring the world, not being chained to a desk is ultimately a world that is friendly to Airbnb’s bottom line. When Travel Stalled, Airbnb Rewound, Leaned Local and Remained Relevant Against All Odds Airbnb brand values Making it a brand value and shaping a marketing message around it isn’t easy, but it’s not the hardest concept for a publicly traded travel company that still wants to be viewed as a startup. “Like everyone, we were forced into this ‘work-from-home’ world,” Asai said. “Coming out of it, we feel like that is the future. We do think that's where the world is going. And we do think that's what employees—especially our employees—want.” That feelgood stance gives Airbnb greater flexibility as well, Asai noted. There’s the ability to recruit the best talent in the world, no matter where they are. It could also attract a more diverse workforce too. They basically created a whole new category during the pandemicSol Marketing CEO Deb Gabor “That insight, around flexibility and this changing world, is what's behind our products and all of our recent announcements,” Asai said, such as June’s news that Airbnb’s created a $10 million fund to support the design proposals of 10 people to build the craziest, most creative rental spaces. From a brand marketing perspective, Sol Marketing CEO Deb Gabor agreed that Airbnb’s capitalizing on a huge advantage with “work from anywhere.” “They basically created a whole new category during the pandemic, which was kind of the work from anywhere category,” said Gabor, a branding consultant who is also an Airbnb host. “People renting Airbnbs in different parts of the world and just working from there remotely. It seems like a natural fit that they would allow the same for their own employees.” Advancing an ethos of work and life flexibility reflects Airbnb’s successful ability to ride the wave of travel demand. After all, if it were struggling, the focus would likely be on driving short-term, lower cost trips. Nevertheless, all brands always face headwinds. For Airbnb, the challenges tend to be new wrinkles from old problems. Riding the waves Airbnb’s experience is in stark contrast to airlines. The tensions between travelers and major carriers seemed to hit a fever pitch the July 4 weekend. On the plus side, the Transportation Security Administration estimated 6 million flyers checking in between Friday and Sunday. That’s also where the problems began. The holiday weekend, airline trip tracker FlightAware reported roughly 17,000 flights delayed and with more than 1,400 canceled. Between the turmoil associated with inflation and higher gas prices, travelers are apt to take their frustrations out on brands too overextended to offer clear responses and immediate fixes. Airbnb’s focus on longer-term travelers can be seen as a smart marketing insurance policy. These Split Stay bookings are made by affluent people who can work anywhere. There’s a bit more margin of error for these travelers. Compare Split Stay guests’ likely expectations to the ones of a family of four finally taking that big holiday getaway. Or imagine the stress on a young single individual racing to the airport to head across the country for a college friend’s wedding. The marketing difficulties that Airbnb faces are the ones that predated the pandemic: battles between hosts and guests. The party’s over Airbnb released two initiatives designed to lower hostilities between its guests, hosts and aggrieved neighbors. The company instituted a temporary ban on listing “party houses and events” in Aug. 2020. The prohibition of hosting stays with more than 16 people as a social distancing measure was designed to limit the spread of Covid-19. At the end of June 2022, Airbnb decided to make that policy permanent. However, the reason is different this time around. Now, Airbnb appears to have acknowledged that parties tended to stoke the ire of neighbors peeved about noise. And for years, housing activists have charged that Airbnb was a cause of gentrification, as landlords started amassing “mini-empires” in hot areas around the country. “We believe there is a direct correlation between our implementation of the policy in August 2020 and a 44% year-over-year drop in the rate of party reports,” Airbnb said in a statement. “The ban has been well received by our host community and we’ve received positive feedback from community leaders and elected officials. As we build on this momentum, we believe the time is right to codify this policy.” Then there’s the issue of safety. Social media is rife with stories about intimidation between hosts and guests over reviews that may be just slightly less than positive. Incidents are rare, but when they do occur, “we obviously take them seriously,” an Airbnb rep told Adweek. With guests exploring more and staying longer, the company said it’s making a concerted effort to let both sides know that if anything goes wrong, it has their backs. That promise is being delivered through the addition of what Airbnb calls “AirCover for guests,” which is billed as “comprehensive travel protection. The service is included on all bookings and is always free. Delta Offers a MasterClass in In-Flight Entertainment For Gabor, Airbnb’s solution to confronting whatever controversies and outcries await it lay in the brand’s treatment and trust in its workforce. That’s why she said that the work flexibility policy can pay so many dividends, even if they’re indirect. “When you focus, first, on the employee experience, it creates a world where the entire customer's experience is just that much more elevated,” she said. “If you take your employees and you create an environment where they can work where they want and how they want on their terms, that's going to put them in a space where they feel they can reach their highest potential. Potentially, they're going to serve customers in a more effective and happier way, contributing positively to the customer experience.”

Branding

Airbnb’s ‘Work From Anywhere’ Policy Is Both an Internal and External Marketing Strategy

The home-sharing platform is also permanently banning ‘party houses’ as revenue continues to rise amid wider travel challenges

David Kaplan

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David Kaplan