New things that may, or not, arrive on Airbnb

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Hello crowd!

Last days have been super busy, but while poking with Airbnb’s API I found a two hints towards what may become new features in a few weeks, months, or will be killed and will never see the light of day. Those are not suggestions or feature requests: this is what Airbnb seems to be building now.

  • Paid amenities

How much for laundry? How much for a hot-tub? How much for a full breakfast?

Some of us offer access to amenities or services that have a cost and require extras in one form or another. I used to provide a full Belgian beer-tasting, for example.

Now, it seems Airbnb may consider working towards that as they have released a new field “has_paid_amenities” (which can be true or false). This is the only hard fact that I have.

Curiously enough, the only listing I have seen with “paid amenities” doesn’t seem to have anything of the sort I have given, but it seems to be deployed.

  • Instant Book depending on the check-in time:

As some (lucky) hosts may have seen, a guest can now tell Airbnb at what time they plan to check-in and check-out.

It seems Airbnb wants to go further by offering hosts the ability to select which check-in and check-out time they can be booked instantly without discussion and checks. So, you want to check-in at 8am, you are going to have to send a request to book, but if you want to check-in later in the day, you can book immediately.

One can see a few hurdles on the way (the guest has to understand and comply), but I think that goes in the right direction. If you are not willing to consider IB as a matter of principle, that probably will not change your mind, though.

That is all for now, will keep you updated if I find something else!

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This is overdoing it. More so since no guest will be able to guarantee the time they check in. They are usually strangers to a city (that’s why they need to book on Airbnb in the first place) and thus don’t know very well how long it will take them to reach a host’s place from the airport or railway station.

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I don’t think of allowing pets as a paid amenity but I sure wish they would put it as a line item. I have to send change requests and when those don’t get accepted, requests through the resolution center.

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Very fair point, probably one of the points being discussed. I believe some guests would still be perfectly okay with it and be able to commit to a check-in time.

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Smart, you are so helpful!!! So wonderful!

So about the check in… You don’t mean that IB guests actually get to choose their own check in time? I am not exactly following…

Is there anything in the data to suggest that they are planning to do the Italy thing to all of us? So worried about that. :dizzy_face:

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No, there is nothing and there won’t be anything on Airbnb’s change of policy re terms in the API. I will learn about it the same way you would do: either via an email, a web page, or a blog post.

Okay, I probably took a few shortcuts there.

Yes, there are already steps by Airbnb to request the check-in and check-out time from the guest, when they are paying, at the time of booking. I expect (but have no evidence) there is some degree of validation from Airbnb’s code (so that if you have a check-in window from 14:00 to 20:00, you cannot request a check-in at 08:00).

Some hosts have already seen that (I believe @KenH mentioned it some time ago, but I cannot point to the message). So I guess you have the usual email from Airbnb to let you know you have an accepted reservation, with something to the effect of “Congratulations, XYZ is staying with you, and they will be arriving at 9am”.

That is something currently being tested so you should start seeing it anytime soon with your new reservations.

The news (to me at least) is that they would like to leverage that to offer more granularity with Instant Book. I expect the current system would prevent a booking for a guest checking-in at a different time, which is not a desirable outcome for anyone.

So, Airbnb is probably considering another solution to allow Instant Booking within your check-in time window (or all the time if you are flexible), and would send a request to book if it is outside of these hours.

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