Small Coins, Big Impact: The Airbnb Experience

From Air Mattresses To Magic

Airbnb, being an up-and-comer at the time, knew they couldn't compete just yet with the big players, so they focused on creating memories through experience design. The founders, when they started to rent out the spare room in their own place, would leave little care packages of coins by the side of the air mattresses so the guests could buy subway tickets.

The reason they did this was twofold. They knew their customers, and more importantly, they knew their customers' pain points. They knew focusing on the little details made a big difference. Back when Airbnb started out, contactless payment wasn't as widespread. People would travel to a new country with notes, but rarely with loose change. Given that subway payment at the time relied on change, a customer would then have to go out, break a note (often by buying something they didn't want), and then get the change to pay for the subway.

This was the clear signal of how Airbnb's founders realised they were an experience company first and it was their first masterstroke in crafting unforgettable stays. It’s also a great example of a Micro moment can level up to a Macro experience when using the 3M model (links going to my substack while I move provider)

Experience The Secret Sauce

When I think about Airbnb, I see it as one of the true experience-led companies. The attention to detail in the experience can be seen in nearly everything they do. The marketing and tone of voice are very different it's about getting the experience, it's about living in someone's house and experiencing life as a local.

An analysis of the keywords, would likely revel belonging, trust, experience, connection, and community or some variation of those terms. Their whole brand strategy of "belong anywhere" was another key indicator of their focus on experience.

Crisis Management With Heart

The values, behaviour, and focus on detail can even be seen in times of challenge. During the COVID pandemic, like many others, Airbnb was forced to make some layoffs due to being impacted by travel lockdowns. At this moment, they set a gold standard for how to do it right. There was a letter written by the CEO, Brian Chesky, explaining the why behind the layoffs in a very human, transparent, and empathetic way. The severance package was generous, offering 14 weeks' base pay plus a week extra for every year they worked with the business. They also continued with the health insurance for a full year and created a directory for employees who were leaving to showcase their skills and connect with other potential employers. This was supported by coaching.

In this moment, the CEO showed how the business's values, behaviours, and focus on experience were not just for external customers but also for internal customers their employees. When we talk about Macro experiences this is a great example of it application in the employee experience. They thought deeply about the emotional impact and designed a human, empathetic process. By doing so, they turned a difficult moment into an experience that reflected their values and left a lasting impression on their workforce.

Community, The Platform Play

Their platform it's heavily community-based. It's less about faceless giant hotels and more about hosts and guests. When you message someone on Airbnb, you’re dealing directly with the host.

This is a great example of the 3M model being brought to life at the micro level, focusing on situation and story.

As a customer of Airbnb and someone who has repeatedly stayed at the same location in Iceland, I don't actually see myself as dealing with them; my relationship is always with the hosts. Airbnb sits in the background like a big brother or sister and really only steps in if needed. They also make my experience feel safe, with both the host and the guest having profiles on the platform, each going through a vetting and check process at the start. The platform blends function and fostering relationships.

Mastering The Micro Experience

Another great touch with the relationship being between the host and guest is Airbnb empowering the hosts to elevate the experience with the little details. Hosts know reviews are critical. Rather than Airbnb having a lift-and-shift approach, they allow hosts to add quirks. I have arrived to letters, bottles of champagne, homemade cakes and bread. I have also had hosts save my life from an overturned car in -17°C snow but that's a story for another day. The reality is the hosts are empowered and often motivated to go that extra mile by adding details at a micro level of designing the experience.

Choose Your Own Adventure

When I think of Airbnb, I think of it as the place to go when I want novel, wow, quirky, or long stays. This, for me, is their uniqueness coming right out on top. Their landing page and search function are based on personalising your stay to your taste e.g., views, "OMG!" properties, cabins, castles, design, treehouses. Their whole search function is about experience. Who doesn't want to sleep in a windmill or a treehouse? It's special; it's something large hotels focused on mass markets can't compete with…yet it also empower you the customer to create how wild you want your experience to be.

We know generations from millennials down are more focused on experience over possession, so the target audience is very focused as well. However I do feel Airbnb are leaving a lot of opportunity on the table when it come the Meso level of the customer experience. To me, Airbnb is owning only a few key steps in the end to end process when they could be owning it all (which we will get to later)

Designing With Data

It's easy to see that Airbnb uses data to personalise my experience online. Having stayed in Iceland in the middle of nowhere, my landing page seems more specific to my preferences. My emails and offers feel very specific, and I tend to always open them as I feel they know me and there's something of value.

Building With Trust From The Ground Up

Looking at Airbnb from the outside in, trust is the biggest DNA block from the exchange of funds, the exchange in communication, and the reviews. As someone who built a review site because I was fed up with paid-for reviews, I love Airbnb's approach. Going onto that platform as a customer, I feel pretty safe in reading those reviews and taking them as truth. Unfortunately, I cannot say for other review sites.

Airbnb has mastered this with their review mechanism. Both guest and host have to leave a review after their stay. As a guest, you're reviewing the property you stayed at; as a host, you're reviewing the guest and how they left your property

Beyond The Bedroom, Expanding Experiences

Experience is the game. While accommodation and hospitality are still Airbnb's biggest moneymakers, Airbnb is much more than that. In 2021, during COVID , Airbnb created a new value stream in online experiences. From a community point of view, this allowed people to still be connected in lockdown, and from a host point of view, it allowed for some form of money to be made. I personally went on three: a coffee workshop, a virtual tour with a plague doctor, and one covering magic (This probably says more about me than anything). It’s community and authenticity, and "be a guest anywhere" still all aligned. A quick look on the platform now in 2024 when everything has returned to normal pre-COVID times, and experiences are still an offering that support local economies

Three cards that Airbnb may have used out of the People Product OS

Empathy Mapping: Feel what the customer feels

JTBD: helps find the customer goals, their functional, emotional, and social needs

Killer Kisbee: prioritise features and functionality during their platform development

Want to design better: for your customer or employee, want to move fast when it comes to designing product solutions that are human centric then The People Product OS digital deck is perfect for you. All my tips and tricks I’ve picked up when designing product and experiences for the likes of Dyson, HSBC, GSK and many more

The Road Ahead

Airbnb should continue evolving into a lifestyle platform that connects the entire customer journey encompassing transportation, cultural experiences, and concierge services. This would create a holistic travel ecosystem, something Booking.com hints at but fails to deliver in Airbnb’s uniquely experiential style. Booking.com still feels transactional, lacking the immersive quality that Airbnb has built its brand around I imagine this gaps wont exist for much longer.

With Airbnb's focus on experiences, integrating transportation and local activities into the customer journey could create a seamless, personalised experience for customers one that feels tailored from start to finish. Imagine booking a stay and easily adding curated local experiences or effortless airport transfers, all with Airbnb’s signature touch.

Airbnb could introduce a richer loyalty program, not a traditional points or stamp-based system, but one designed to reinforce its community driven identity. By leveraging data creatively, Airbnb could celebrate and surprise its guests with meaningful gestures like a unique experience for a big birthday or a free night’s stay as a thank-you for loyalty. Rather than feeling transactional, this approach could elevate customer relationships through thoughtful, experience driven design, offering something truly unique in the travel space.

Airbnb’s growth as a community hinges not only on delivering experiences but also on transforming lives both for customers and the communities it touches. A bold and wildcard move into the gig economy could strengthen this mission. By developing a market place platform Airbnb could create a dedicated marketplace tailored to its ecosystem. Services like cleaning, concierge support, landscaping, and property management could elevate customer satisfaction and set new standards for quality and convenience in travel and hospitality.

What could truly set Airbnb apart in this space is its approach to the employee experience. By offering gig workers benefits often missing in the gig economy such as healthcare, financial protections, and job stability Airbnb could redefine what it means to be a gig economy employer. This strategy would not only enhance its community first ethos but also position Airbnb as a responsible and compassionate leader as employee of choice. A move would foster loyalty, attract top talent, and align with Airbnb’s commitment to transformative, positive impact.

These steps could elevate Airbnb beyond a booking platform, transforming it into a comprehensive lifestyle ecosystem admired for both its customer and employee experiences. This vision would require some evolution in Airbnb’s business model, but with competitors starting to play in Airbnb lane and take its profits, now is the time to act boldly.

The Airbnb Effect: Transformative Yet Disruptive

The Airbnb effect is transformative and disruptive. While it creates opportunities for income generation and tourism growth, it also poses serious challenges for housing affordability, labour markets, and community identity. Cities will need to balance these challenges to protect local residents and preserve the cultural vibrancy of neighbourhoods. One thing is clear: the ripple effects of today’s short-term rental boom will shape cities for decades to come.

As long as Airbnb remain true to its values, continues to remain focused on experience and have a heart as a business am sure the positive impact it has will for now continue to outweigh any negative.

If you like this blog let me know, I wrote a speculative piece about the future of Airbnb along with the positive and negative consequences it could have. It was just to long to add into a already big post