Apple designer joins forces with Airbnb

Let’s get to the bottom of this. Airbnb after having all the issues in the past years is taking a big step into the future by bringing the mind behind the iconic designs of Apple. Jonny Ive which for many is the second half of Apple after Steve jobs now will be working close with Airbnb team to create the new series of products.

Let’s understand what impact could bring Jonny Ive.

Why Jonny Ive?

Well, Brian Chesky(CEO of Airbnb) is known for being a good friend of Jonny Ive for years. I one instance Brian mentioned that Jonny has been a mentor for him and the leaders of Airbnb for his designer approach to solving problems. So is not surprising that he will think about him to solve the biggest issue Airbnb is facing. TRUST…

For many years guests and hosts lost trust in the platform. A few years ago they faced a problem with guests using the platform for hosting parties. One of them ended up with people dying. Then COVID-19 hit hard and the reaction of Airbnb against the cancellations due to travel restrictions imposed by governments was not received well by some guests and hosts in the platform.

What is the future of Airbnb?

Something that Airbnb has shown over the years is their quick response when something happens. Some can argue about right or wrong decisions made but nobody can argue that they are not doing the best they can and sometimes more than other competitors are doing.

It’s clear that Brian Chesky’s decision is to focus on improving the platform to mitigate the problems and build a platform that everybody can trust (guests & Hosts). And what better to bring the guy that worked next to Steve Jobs and responsible for creating the iconic designs that we all love from Apple.

This is going to make a new chapter for Airbnb and the home-sharing economy and probably also will impact the hotel industry.

Even though there is no official statement about what Jonny Ive is going to work on. we can get a good idea about what we think is going to be the future of Airbnb

1. Improve Rating System: Creating an experience that ensures that properties offered are what they say and that guests can trust the properties listed on the platform is going to be key to remove the uncertainties existing.
2. Integrate the different products to work beautifully together: Airbnb launched “Experiences” that allow the guest to book classes, tours, and other cultural experiences. We are sure that Airbnb is betting that this feature is going to be a key differentiator from their competitor and making it the hero of the platform.
3. New types of accommodations to the platform: Once people can trust the listing then is a perfect time to bring other types of accommodation that are not so popular on the platform for example(Hotels, Luxury homes, and rentals).

These are just some of the things that we can see Aribnb working on but we have to wait and see how everything turns out and how the industry recovers after COVID-19. What we are sure of is that Airbnb is taking the approach of focusing on making a better experience.

We hope that pays off in the future.