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Airbnb and WeWork team up to find desks for business travelers
There's one thing a hotel can offer that most Airbnbs can't: easy access to a conference room and various office amenities. In an effort to make up for that and to entice young professionals to book a rental rather than a hotel room, Airbnb has teamed up with WeWork. According to Bloomberg, corporate customers will be able to save a slot at the nearest WeWork office workspace when they rent a room on Airbnb's website. As the publication said, the partners will likely have a tough time luring wealthy execs away from their hotels. But the new feature sounds useful for those who simply want access to a desk, printer, WiFi and other common office facilities while traveling.
Airbnb reportedly wants to offer apartment rentals in Florida
For a service that began as a simple house-sharing service, Airbnb has definitely expanded to include some interesting, if off-target, promotional initiatives. The company recently stepped into the restaurant reservation space, and has even offered up Sarah Jessica Parker as a shoe shopping partner. According to a new report at The Information, Airbnb is looking to take a step even further with company-branded apartments in Florida.
Airbnb offers Sarah Jessica Parker as your shoe shopping partner
Tomorrow morning, Sex and the City fans will have the opportunity to grab one of four Airbnb Experiences that will take them on a shopping trip with Sarah Jessica Parker. Airbnb is expanding its offerings of Experiences in New York City, which will include Parker's listing among a number of others. The proceeds of the Airbnb booking will go to the New York City Ballet. Parker, a NYC Ballet board member, told the Associated Press that the ballet is "one of the great cultural experiences anybody can have."
Airbnb wants to help you book a restaurant reservation, too
Airbnb just added a new feature that allows users to book restaurant reservations directly through its app and website. It's powered by Resy and is currently available in 16 US cities. Airbnb now has a dedicated restaurants tab that lets you search by cuisine, whether you want breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner as well as other options like prix fixe meals and prime seating. The latter lets you pay a little extra to snag a seat at a fully booked spot. You can also search for a place to eat using a map view in order to find a place in a particular location.
Airbnb helps hosts in San Francisco get city approval online
Airbnb has had a bumpy ride in San Francisco. After the city passed a law that required all short-term rental hosts to register with the city, only a small percentage did (thanks largely to the onerous process involved), and many of those who didn't were hit with fines totalling $1 million. Differences were set aside in January though, when the parties agreed on a way to automatically register all hosts in the city. That service rolls out today, with hosts now able to apply directly through the Airbnb site for their Short-Term Residential Rental Certificate and Business Registration Certificate, instead of schlepping down to City Hall. New hosts will only be able to list their properties once they're registered, while existing hosts will have to input their registration number to keep their listings active.
Tech CEOs sign letter urging Trump to keep immigrant protections
Hundreds of CEOs have signed an open letter urging President Trump not to dissolve the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Started in 2012 under the Obama administration, DACA allows undocumented immigrants who arrived to the US before they were 16 years old to obtain work permits and protection from deportation. Those with DACA permits have to renew them every two years and nearly 800,000 immigrants have benefited from the program.
Danny Glover is advising Airbnb's diversity efforts
When he isn't busy raising awareness for pseudobulbar affect (PBA) and generally being too old for shit, actor Danny Glover will be advising Airbnb. It's part of the push the short-term rental company is making to promote staying in communities of color. He'll be joining the NAACP in Airbnb's work to educate, train and "take advantage of the economic opportunity of hosting" on the service, according to a statement.
Smart locks rendered dumb by automatic update fail
Making dumb things smart can have its benefits, but adding complexity to once-simple devices can also lead to unforeseen problems. It's a lesson smart lock maker LockState is all too aware of, after a clumsily delivered automatic update bricked hundreds of the gizmos, rendering their fancier features like remote locking and unlocking unusable.
Plans Matter offers Airbnb-like listings for architecture nerds
Google is working on adding vacation rentals to its hotel search results and Airbnb is going to help you find national park-adjacent rentals, mansions and penthouses. But if those options are quite special enough for you, a website called Plans Matter might be up your alley. Started by architects Lindor and Scott Mueller, Plans Matter only lists modern houses designed by respected architects. Writing on the website, the couple says, "When we plan our travel, we search for places to stay that are well designed and authentic. Places that will elevate our experience beyond keeping us warm and dry. Places that have architectural intention and a story to tell. Our goal is to make these places easily available for people to experience on their own."
Airbnb helps you tell everyone why you left that dive early
Airbnb is changing its online reviews system so it's easier to leave feedback for a property you vacate before your stay is complete. Previously, the only way to do this was through Airbnb's customer service department, which is something most people probably can't be bothered to do. Now, if you leave the property early, you'll be able to leave a review as you normally would with a completed stay. This means you can give other Airbnb users a heads up if the property turns out to be a dump or the host is unnervingly creepy.
Airbnb and NAACP partner to boost minority-hosted rentals
Airbnb is doing everything it can to repair its image after a racist host cancelled a reservation earlier this month. The next step of that is to help people of color rent out their homes or spare rooms. "Under the new partnership, Airbnb and the NAACP will conduct targeted outreach to communities of color to help more people use their homes to earn extra income," the NAACP writes.
Google tests vacation rental filter alongside hotel search results
Last year, Google issued some updates that made it easier to track down flight and hotel deals and it has recently been testing an option that would bring up vacation rentals when users search for hotels. The new feature shows up under the "Accommodation Type" category alongside other filter options like price, amenities and rating. According to Skift, which counted around 7,000 such listings in its searches, Google is testing the feature out in multiple markets.
Racist Airbnb host ordered to take Asian American studies class
An Airbnb host who cancelled a reservation based on a guest's race has been ordered to pay $5,000 and take a college-level course in Asian American studies. Earlier this year, Dyne Suh booked a cabin in Big Bear, California and as she and three others were on their way to it, the host cancelled the booking. In a text, Tami Barker, the host, said, "I wouldn't rent it to u if u were the last person on earth. One word says it all. Asian." After Suh said she was going to notify Airbnb of Barker's actions, Barker said, "It's why we have Trump," and, "I will not allow this country to be told what to do by foreigners."
Airbnb gives business travelers the option to book with Concur
Business travel can seriously suck, with soulless, inexpensive hotel rooms the norm for many of us. Airbnb offers a unique alternative, with personal homes and rental units that business travelers can stay in while on a work trip. To make it even easier to book business trips through the company, Airbnb is expanding its partnership with Concur, a business travel portal that Airbnb first partnered with in 2014.
Airbnb plans to rent out mansions and penthouses this year
Not content to simply point people in the direction of national parks, it sounds like Airbnb will now offer the well-heeled even more luxurious places to stay. Codenamed Airbnb Lux, the short-term rental service will soon offer penthouses and mansions if its tests are successful, according to Bloomberg's sources. Supposedly, the housing stock comes from Airbnb's purchase of Luxury Retreats earlier this year.
Airbnb helps you find a place to stay near remote national parks
If you haven't planned your summer vacation yet, have you thought about visiting one of the US's national parks? Airbnb hopes you will; it's partnering with the National Parks Foundation in an effort to encourage tourism in rural areas.
Airbnb tests payment-splitting feature so you don't get stiffed
Airbnb is testing out a feature that would allow reservations to be split among multiple people. So, if you're booking with rude friends who never pay you back or if you want to book an expensive reservation that may be too much for one credit card to handle, this new feature would help you out. The option allows a reservation to be split with up to 16 people and is being tested with just a few listings as of now.
Airbnb to target wealthy customers who prefer luxury hotels
Airbnb keeps expanding its core disruption with new features to help increase its audience. The company has made it easier for business travelers to find a room with the Airbnb app and has tried its hand at tour guiding with a new activity suggestion feature. Now the room-sharing company is reportedly looking at ways to attract customers who would rather book at high-end luxury hotels.
Airbnb is buying a scam-fighting background check technology
Airbnb is getting more serious when it comes to keeping fraudulent listings and shady renters off the website. According to Bloomberg, the short-term rental platform is buying Trooly Inc., a startup specializing in background checks to fight off scammers. Airbnb has been using Trooly's service to authenticate user identities since 2015, but now the company is making its tech an integral part of the platform by purchasing its intellectual property and its engineering team.
Airbnb rentals are now legal in Japan
After some legal tussling between home owners, building owners, Japanese government and, well, Airbnb the country has decided to legalise sharing economy home rentals. The law was passed earlier today, allowing home-owners to let properties to guests for up to 180 days a year. Owners do, however, have to register with local authorities in the country. These authorities will also be able to add their own restrictions and rules to those that choose to rent their property.
