Airbnb is encouraging more individuals to offer their houses on its marketplace. To convince them, it will depend on a brand effort that has gained traction over the previous two years.
This week, the business created an internal “co-host” market to let hosts renting out their houses on its platform get access to services such as property management and cleaning. The company hopes that as hosting on the platform grows simpler, more individuals will offer their houses, increasing supply in key destination markets such as the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia.
“Sometimes it just feels like a little bit too much work, and if you’re new to the whole idea, it may seem a little overwhelming,” said Hiroki Asai, Airbnb’s global chief marketing officer.
Airbnb, which had previously relied on performance marketing approaches, reverted to larger, brand-focused campaigns after hiring Asai in 2020. In the first half of this year, the firm spent $1.08 billion on sales and marketing, increasing 13.9% over the same time in 2023.
Airbnb’s appeal to prospective hosts is summed up in the marketing campaign “Airbnb It,” which has been running since 2022. To announce the entrance of the internal market, its in-house creative team created the campaign’s most recent commercial, “Rodeo”m.
Though Asai refused to provide financial figures or a precise media mix for the campaign, he did say it will mostly rely on paid social platforms such as YouTube and Instagram. “There is a little bit of paid TV in some markets, but it is predominantly a social campaign,” she said.
Airbnb has also improved its on-site search by adding location suggestions based on prior reservations and “suggested” search criteria. Asai said that the goal is to provide a “simpler, more intuitive” and more customized experience for customers booking holidays using the app.
The modifications are Airbnb’s latest attempts to stave off competition from hotel chains and middleman platforms like Booking.com and Expedia-owned Vrbo, which started its own campaign in April to attract prospective home owners.
“They’re getting pressure from both sides,” said Stefan Siedentopf, group director of planning at VCCP, an agency that works with travel operator and airline EasyJet.
“Many huge hotels have improved their amenities and begun to promote more local experiences. We’ve also seen a lot of boutique hotels, especially in Europe, that provide a more autonomous, tailored experience. That is becoming an increasingly serious danger to Airbnb,” he warned.
As the pricing disparity between hotels and home-sharing experiences like Airbnb has narrowed, hotel brands such as Premier Inn have changed to highlight the convenience and consistency of their offerings. Tui, a travel provider, attributed its surprisingly strong start to 2024 to increasing demand for package trips, for example.
“There’s definitely been a sort of swing away from the kind of traditional Airbnb and back towards hotels,” Katie Mulligan, a strategy director at creative firm Brave Spark, told Digiday.
In light of these challenges, Siedentopf believes Airbnb’s brand emphasis makes sense.
“There is a lot of direct and indirect rivalry. “If that happens, you have to feed the top of the funnel,” Siedentopf said. “Consistency is really crucial. Consistency has a compounding impact on creativity.
According to Asai, Airbnb’s concentration on regular marketing initiatives not only benefits the company financially, but it also helps insulate the brand from public criticism in recent years.
For example, Airbnb has clashed with municipal governments in the United Kingdom and Europe, who have moved to restrict the short-term rental sector. Barcelona, a popular tourist destination, plans to restrict short-term rentals beginning in 2028.
According to Asai, brand initiatives serve as “a moat” between Airbnb and such criticisms. “Without us saying what we want to say and creating the message that we want … there’s a universe [on] social and [in] the press that’s going to create that message for us,” added the comedian. “We just want to make sure that they’re understanding what we’re about and what’s important to us.”
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