Airbnb has just announced the introduction of Airbnb Air Cover, Airbnb categories and other significant changes to its platform. For Digital Nomads, these will have pretty huge (and positive!) changes on how Airbnb will cater for those looking at longer-term rentals.
We are pretty excited about the changes and we think you will be too!
Here, I have taken a look at these key changes and what they will mean for future bookings.
We think these can have a big impact on our lives on the road as digital nomads. Whether you are a digital nomad or looking to book a holiday, these Airbnb improvements will only make things better.
Airbnb Air Cover
This one could be huge!
Airbnb Air Cover has been around since the beginning but until now it was only available for Airbnb hosts. It was a form of insurance policy offered by Airbnb to its hosts.
Originally, it provided host damage protection. So it compensated hosts for things like property damage or pet damage by guests which couldn’t be recovered.
It also provided host liability insurance cover to hosts. This covered things like claims against guests who suffered injuries whilst at the host’s property.
All of that is not very interesting to us, as guests. But now Airbnb has announced that Airbnb Air Cover is being extended to guests. At no extra cost! The Airbnb Aircover cost is included in the fees you pay to Airbnb.
Airbnb Air Cover: What is Covered
Now, Airbnb Aircover insurance has extended its Airbnb protection for guests.
Airbnb Air Cover is intended to cover three main risks for a guest when booking with a host through Airbnb. It will provide a booking guarantee, a check-in guarantee and a ‘get what you booked’ guarantee’.
This will all be backed up by 24-hour online support through a new Resolution Center (or centre to us Brits!).
Airbnb Air Cover – Booking Guarantee
The first element of the new Airbnb Aircover for guests is the booking guarantee. This means that if your Airbnb host cancels your booking within 30 days of check-in, Airbnb Air Cover will provide a full refund. They will also provide assistance in finding an alternative property of similar or better quality.
This is huge. Our biggest issue with Airbnb to date has been that it has been heavily in favour of hosts. If a guest cancels a week before a stay, they lose the total cost of the trip. Presumably, this refund goes to the host, who can re-list their property as well.
If the host cancels your vacation rental, you may get 10-30% of the original booking as a credit from Airbnb. Otherwise, good luck finding somewhere at short notice. Inevitably, it will cost more than the credit offered and will be less desirable.
Now the balance is back in the middle. Importantly, Airbnb will actively take responsibility for resolving the issue for the guest. This seems to be a huge change in the Airbnb support system. One which should offer so much more protection to the guests.
Airbnb Air Cover – Check-In Guarantee
The Check-in Guarantee ensures you can access the property you had booked. If you arrive and you cannot get into the property then Airbnb Air Cover will assist. So whether the host isn’t contactable or a key safe doesn’t work, Airbnb Air Cover should step in.
Airbnb will either take steps to obtain access via the host. If that is not possible, Airbnb will provide you with temporary or alternative accommodation.
The Airbnb Resolution Center is available 24 hours a day. So, this will provide assurance to guests especially if you are arriving late at night. It is surely every guest’s worst nightmare to arrive late at night only to find that you cannot get in.
Fortunately, we have not had issues with check-in so far but we can see how easily they can occur. This is just one more layer of protection for guests which can only be a good thing!
Airbnb Air Cover – Get What You Booked Guarantee
Finally, the catchily named “get what you booked” guarantee from Airbnb! This is another (welcome) example of Airbnb taking more control through Airbnb Air Cover.
No longer is this an issue between the host and the guest. If the property does not match the description on the Airbnb site, Airbnb Air Cover will resolve the issues.
This is ideal if you arrive to find that you will be sharing with the host, another guest or a pet!
Equally, if a lack of promised amenities is an issue, then again it is Airbnb Air Cover to the rescue.
If say the listing promised a fridge, washing machine or Wi-Fi and it is missing, then Airbnb will step in. If the property is dirty/uninhabitable or otherwise not as described then again, Airbnb is on hand to resolve the issue.
Airbnb Air Cover, through 24-hour online support, will resolve the issue. Either by finding you temporary accommodation until the issue is resolved or by providing alternative accommodation if required.
So if the property requires deep cleaning, Airbnb will provide you with temporary accommodation until the has been carried out. If the host fails to do so, Airbnb will find you somewhere for the duration of your stay.
Life before Airbnb Air Cover
You may feel as though Airbnb should have had all of this covered anyway. And I would agree with you! To their credit, they have always sought to assist guests with these issues. But now they are ‘enshrined’ in an Airbnb Air Cover policy. So Airbnb has to offer this protection and they have to act if called upon.
Fingers crossed you will never have to use this service! However, it is reassuring that it is there if you do. This is particularly helpful for digital nomads. We have had several occasions where we have booked monthly stays in advance only to have them cancelled last minute.
To date, Airbnb has provided credit by way of compensation but that was always insufficient. It is fine to offer a percentage of the original booking fee as a credit. But what about accommodation? Having your place cancelled 2 weeks before you fly means you are looking for a monthly stay with little notice. Inevitably that means you will not have the choice you did originally.
Airbnb Air Cover – Resolution Centre
The Airbnb Resolution Centre has been revamped. This is in order to provide sufficient resources to the Airbnb Air Cover guarantees.
The Resolution Centre will be available 24 hours a day. It will be available in 16 languages to start with.
With Airbnb Air Cover, the promise is that Airbnb will actively assist you in finding alternative suitable accommodation. And if that is more expensive than your original booking then Airbnb will cover the extra. That is how the service should be and we are delighted that Airbnb Air Cover has now been extended to guests as well as hosts.
To deliver this, Airbnb has apparently “created a team of specially trained agents for last-minute rebooking assistance”.
The only requirement is that you need to contact Airbnb during the first 72 hours of the issue arising. So make sure you get onto Airbnb as soon as something happens and let them resolve the issue for you.
Airbnb Split Stays
The other part of the latest Airbnb announcement that we are excited about is the Airbnb Split Stays functionality being added.
As digital nomads, we generally look for rentals for 1-3 months in any particular city or country. This means that we only see accommodation that doesn’t have a single booking for the whole 1-3 month period (obviously!). That isn’t such a problem if we book 6 months or so in advance. However, the choice is much less the closer we get to the departure date.
So we either have to be super organised or take a risk and be left with whatever hasn’t been booked!
Split stays were always a manual option and something we have done previously. The downside is that it requires a lot of manual searching on Airbnb to make it all work. We have booked 3 Airbnbs back to back in Albania and after hours of searching, found 3 places we liked. We booked, all confirmed our reservations and we celebrated hours of work with a beer. Only to wake up the next morning to the middle host cancelling the booking. Apparently, their price was wrong and they want to increase the price by 2.5x! No deal but that means we had to cancel and then find another place. But now, in that location, for those exact dates. Again this limited our choice somewhat!
So Airbnb Split Stays could be a game changer! The ability to choose a date range and have Airbnb work out our options should make life much easier.
Airbnb Split Stays – How it Works
The Airbnb Split Stays will not be limited to one town or city either. So if you pick your destinations within a country then Airbnb will work out where and when you can stay. From that, it should curate an itinerary for you.
The Airbnb Split Stays will appear at the end of your search results and will only appear for stays of more than 1 week.
We will see how effective the algorithm for Airbnb Split Stays is and how good the suggestions are. We are excited to try this out for our next trip!
Airbnb Categories
The third major introduction this summer is Airbnb Categories. This one, to us, feels a bit more like a gimmick than the two above but interesting all the same.
When you search for listings on Airbnb, you will be presented with up to 56 categories of properties. These categories range from earth homes to amazing views and can help tailor a special trip.
One of the great things about Airbnb is the huge variety of properties, in crazy locations or uniquely designed. If you are looking for something a bit different then Airbnb Categories will definitely help.
We are excited to try it. We imagine it will throw up lots of alternative options we had not considered. For example, if we are considering staying in a big city, Airbnb Categories should suggest unique stays outside the city. We’re thinking vineyards, mountain retreats and ranches! These may not have come up on our original search but could give food for thought.
Let’s Get Booking!
To us, these updates are huge! We have become very reliant on Airbnb for our bookings. We often look to stay for at least a month in any one place. As a result, we find that other booking sites can’t compete with the flexibility and quantity of options.
Previously, our biggest issue with Airbnb was the balance in favour of the hosts. The host protection was always in place – and we understand this. For a lot of hosts, Airbnb has become an additional source of income on which they rely.
They need to have confidence in Airbnb and ensure that any income loss or damages caused is compensated if it is outside of their control. The existing Airbnb Air Cover insurance program has rightly acted to cover hosts.
But as a guest, if things didn’t work out then Airbnb would be apologetic and may offer a small amount of credit, but no resolution. Now, the balance seems to be coming back to the middle. Guests have more confidence that if they are let down then Airbnb will look after them. Airbnb, through Airbnb Air Cover, will take an active role in finding a solution which is most welcome.
Equally, the functionality improvements will make searching for new destinations easier and may throw up some unique stays that wouldn’t otherwise have appeared. That can only be a good thing!
We are excited to book our next trip with Airbnb with these additions. If you want to read more about our adventures, head over to our Nomad Life page.
What do you think about these changes? Let us know in the comments below!
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