Twilio Case Studies Airbnb Streamlines Rental Experience for Global Travelers Through Automated SMS

	Airbnb Streamlines Rental Experience for Global Travelers Through Automated SMS Twilio

Airbnb Streamlines Rental Experience for Global Travelers Through Automated SMS

Twilio

Technology Category	Networks & Connectivity - Cellular Robots - Wheeled Robots
Applicable Industries	Cities & Municipalities Telecommunications
Challenge	Airbnb, a global community marketplace for booking accommodations, faced a challenge in facilitating secure, automated mobile communication between rental hosts and potential guests. The platform allows hosts to post listings of available rooms or properties, which guests can then filter and search according to their needs. However, once guests found a suitable place and communicated with the host to finalize the reservation details, the hosts had a 32-hour window to accept or decline the booking request. Often, hosts were not near their computers and couldn't respond promptly, even if they wished to confirm the booking. This delay in response time was affecting the user experience negatively, as potential guests had to wait longer to hear back on a reservation. Read More
About Customer	Airbnb is a community marketplace founded in 2008, based in San Francisco, CA. It allows people to list, discover, and book accommodations around the world, online or from a mobile phone or tablet. Airbnb empowers private residents and commercial properties to rent out extra space to travelers looking for a hotel alternative. With listings in 191 countries and 34K cities worldwide, Airbnb offers travelers affordable, creative, or unconventional lodgings. The platform allows hosts with an available room or property to post listings that potential guests can filter and search according to their needs. Read More
Solution	To overcome this challenge, Airbnb partnered with Twilio to automate mobile communication between rental hosts and potential guests using text messaging. If a host did not respond to a booking request within a certain timeframe, they would receive an automated SMS message from Airbnb. This message would contain information about the guests, the dates of the requested stay, and the price for the stay. Hosts could then quickly respond with a text, even if they were away from their computers. This solution not only improved the user experience but also increased the number of successful bookings. Airbnb understood that a positive user experience could translate into more bookings for hosts, and this solution enabled hosts to confirm a reservation with their mobile phones, thereby improving the experience for potential guests. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Networks & Connectivity - Cellular

Robots - Wheeled Robots

Applicable Industries

Cities & Municipalities

Telecommunications

Challenge

Airbnb, a global community marketplace for booking accommodations, faced a challenge in facilitating secure, automated mobile communication between rental hosts and potential guests. The platform allows hosts to post listings of available rooms or properties, which guests can then filter and search according to their needs. However, once guests found a suitable place and communicated with the host to finalize the reservation details, the hosts had a 32-hour window to accept or decline the booking request. Often, hosts were not near their computers and couldn't respond promptly, even if they wished to confirm the booking. This delay in response time was affecting the user experience negatively, as potential guests had to wait longer to hear back on a reservation.

About Customer

Airbnb is a community marketplace founded in 2008, based in San Francisco, CA. It allows people to list, discover, and book accommodations around the world, online or from a mobile phone or tablet. Airbnb empowers private residents and commercial properties to rent out extra space to travelers looking for a hotel alternative. With listings in 191 countries and 34K cities worldwide, Airbnb offers travelers affordable, creative, or unconventional lodgings. The platform allows hosts with an available room or property to post listings that potential guests can filter and search according to their needs.

Solution

To overcome this challenge, Airbnb partnered with Twilio to automate mobile communication between rental hosts and potential guests using text messaging. If a host did not respond to a booking request within a certain timeframe, they would receive an automated SMS message from Airbnb. This message would contain information about the guests, the dates of the requested stay, and the price for the stay. Hosts could then quickly respond with a text, even if they were away from their computers. This solution not only improved the user experience but also increased the number of successful bookings. Airbnb understood that a positive user experience could translate into more bookings for hosts, and this solution enabled hosts to confirm a reservation with their mobile phones, thereby improving the experience for potential guests.

Impact #1	The implementation of automated SMS communication significantly improved Airbnb's operational efficiency and user experience. The solution allowed hosts to respond promptly to booking requests, even when away from their computers. This quick response time not only improved the experience for potential guests, who no longer had to wait as long to hear back on a reservation, but also increased the number of successful bookings. By leveraging technology to streamline communication, Airbnb was able to enhance its service offering and strengthen its position in the global accommodation marketplace.

Impact #1

The implementation of automated SMS communication significantly improved Airbnb's operational efficiency and user experience. The solution allowed hosts to respond promptly to booking requests, even when away from their computers. This quick response time not only improved the experience for potential guests, who no longer had to wait as long to hear back on a reservation, but also increased the number of successful bookings. By leveraging technology to streamline communication, Airbnb was able to enhance its service offering and strengthen its position in the global accommodation marketplace.

Benefit #1	Listings available in 191 countries
Benefit #2	Accommodations can be booked in 34K cities
Benefit #3	Over 2M listings worldwide

Benefit #1

Listings available in 191 countries

Benefit #2

Accommodations can be booked in 34K cities

Benefit #3

Over 2M listings worldwide

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Overview

Airbnb Streamlines Rental Experience for Global Travelers Through Automated SMS

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit