Popular accommodation booking platform Airbnb has introduced three new features to improve travellers’ experience. Booking an Airbnb no longer means just taking what you can get and hoping for the best. There are loads of options suited to different budgets, interests and needs so that the accommodation is anything but just a place to lay your head, it’s a whole destination.
READ: South African Airbnb hosts earned over R2 billion in 2021
Take a look at what’s on offer.
Split Stays
In the last three months, nearly half of the nights booked on Airbnb were for trips of a week or more. Split Stays will allow you to split your trip between two homes.
When searching for a specific destination, Split Stays automatically appears in your search results. The feature is available within 14 categories — including Camping, National Parks, Skiing, and Surfing — to inspire you to stay in two destinations as part of a longer trip.
When viewing Split Stays on a map, an animated line visually connects the two homes to show you the distance between them and the sequence of the stays. Once you select a Split Stay, you’re guided through an easy-to-use interface to book each stay, one home at a time.
AirCover
AirCover, comprehensive protection in travel is always included and always free, and it represents the biggest upgrade to Airbnb customer service in a decade.
With AirCover, you’re covered by four protections every time you stay on Airbnb:
- Booking Protection Guarantee – In the unlikely event a Host needs to cancel your booking within 30 days of check-in, we’ll find you a similar or better home, or we’ll refund you.
- Check-In Guarantee – If you can’t check into your home and the Host cannot resolve the issue, we’ll find you a similar or better home for the length of your original stay, or we’ll refund you.
- Get-What-You-Booked Guarantee – If at any time during your stay you find your listing isn’t as advertised — for example, the refrigerator stops working and your Host can’t easily fix it, or there are fewer bedrooms than listed — you’ll have three days to report it and we’ll find you a similar or better home, or we’ll refund you.
- 24-hour Safety Line – If you ever feel unsafe, you’ll get priority access to specially-trained safety agents, day or night.
AirCover has been designed directly into the Airbnb app and website, making it easy for you to contact an agent and resolve issues quickly.
Airbnb Categories
Millions of people are now more flexible about where they live and work. Why not make your office an unusual or really special spot? Airbnb Categories presents you with 56 categories that organise homes based on their style, location, or proximity to a travel activity. As you view different categories, the map intelligently zooms in to show you where the homes are located.
Picture: Airbnb/ Treehouse in the Eastern Cape hosted by Philippa
The 56 Airbnb Categories include more than 4 million homes, each with something exciting to offer. You can choose between categories like Treehouses, Earth Homes, Amazing Pools and others.
Picture: Unsplash
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