Hosting on Airbnb is a very complex business. From setting up the listings and managing a property, to understanding price dynamics, communicating with customers, and tracking earnings, everything is complex. The problem is that the more properties they have to manage, the harder it will be to juggle all these things. To solve this issue, Airbnb unveils Co-Host Network, a place where top-rated local co-hosts can be found to help manage properties in its winter release.

The travel company is launching a LinkedIn- or Fiverr-like "hosts for hire" network composed of highly rated local hosts. Currently, Airbnb has onboarded hosts rated at least 4.8 and a minimum of 10 hosted stays. The company has onboarded 10,000 hosts onto the network in 10 countries-Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, UK, and the U.S.

Such hosts can be of help in listing setup, setting up prices and availability, booking request management, guest management, onsite guest support, and cleaning and maintenance. The co-hosts may set up their very own prices to offer the services. On the profile page, the host seeking these services can learn about the co-hosts, their skills related to co-hosting services, and their service rates.

Airbnb's Summer 2023 product release introduced a set of features that allowed hosts to add co-hosts who would manage some tasks. The release also included provisions to pay a portion of the booking to those co-hosts. It is building a new network on top of those features.

"One of the asks that we had from hosts is that they really would love to find professional, high-quality cohost with a great track record in their area whom they could trust. And they can really be completely hands-off," Judson Coplan, VP of Product Marketing at Airbnb, told TechCrunch.

For the longest time, this platform was marketed as an easy source of passive income. With growing travelers using other services, though, it shot up the earnings through the platform. Thus, with increasing travelers and other services, the host became professionals while experiencing an income erosion in property booking. This network rollout is allowing Airbnb to facilitate earning by hosts when they are not managing their properties.

The company said that its hosts currently assist in managing seven properties on average.
The company is also announcing a co-host network, along with some other features: Hosts will be able to see pricing for similar properties in the area. Customizable templates are available for quick replies to guests. An improved earnings dashboard is available.

The company will also have some updates for the guests. Some of them include a welcome tour for the first-time guests in the app, suggested destinations along with filters on search, simpler checkout pages, and local payment options as well, including Vipps in Norway, Mobile Pay in Denmark, and MoMo in Vietnam.

In addition to these, Judson added that the company is considering how it can utilize AI for community support when talking about the company's AI strategy.

"When guests or hosts have questions about how to use the app, cancellations, policies, reservations, and bookings, I think AI can be a really valuable tool in getting answers quickly right in the app," he said.

The company is already trying out to use AI to sum up reviews and perhaps create an "ultimate concierge" for customers.