A D E TA I L E D B R E A K D O W N O F

A I R B N B ’ S O N L I N E C O M M U N I T Y

By Richard Millington, www.feverbee.com

Airbnb’s online community for hosts has existed since at least 2011 and been through several iterations during that time.

The community is based upon the Lithium platform and uses translation (rather than separate sites) to cater to different languages. The community allows hosts to ask questions, share tips and tricks, connect with other hosts, suggest ideas, create and host meetup groups, and collaborate with each other in home sharing clubs.

The main challenges for a mature, highly active, community like Airbnb is handling high levels of activity, being responsive to member questions, and ensuring members are engaging in actions which drive real value to the brand.

There may also be questions about the value of an online community. The largest a community becomes, the bigger the team required. As the size of the team grows, so does the temptation to slash the project if it cannot clearly establish the value of the community.

C O M M U N I T Y C O N C E P T

Airbnb has an online community for hosts to share ideas, solve their problems and connect with other local hosts.

CONCEPT AND BACKGROUND

O V E R V I E W O F A I R B N B ’ S O N L I N E C O M M U N I T Y

Airbnb’s Community

CUSTOMERSUPPORT

MEETUPS

HOSTVOICE

CONNECT LOCALLY

HOME SHARING

CLUBS

NEWIDEAS Members can suggest ideas they

would like Airbnb to implement.

Host Voice

This is where hosts can share stories with one another

Home Sharing Clubs

�

Member can create and sign up to attend local meet ups.

Meetups

The primary goal of the community is to facilitate members sharing

ideas with one another

Tips and tricks to help hosts be better hosts

Connect with local hostsA second goal is to build sub-

groups for hosts to connect locally with one another

Customer SupportMuch of the community activity revolves

around hosts asking questions and getting support from one another

This list doesn’t include the host newsletter, toolkit, host stories, webinars, and toolkits which have lesser levels of activity. Nor does it include social or groups started on 3rd-party platforms (e.g. Facebook).

H O M E P A G E D E S I G N

5

T H E CO M M U N I T Y H O M E PAG E A BREAKDOWN OF Airbnb’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

6

T H E CO M M U N I T Y H O M E PAG E A BREAKDOWN OF Airbnb’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

Would love to see photos of some top members here instead of just hosts. The diversity within the photos selected is a smart balance of sexualities, age, and race

Two very clear calls to action. Suggests this isn’t just about resolving problems but genuinely facilitating ongoing conversations.

The language and copy here is telling. This should highlight the main goal of the community. A community where ‘anyone can belong’ suggests Airbnb is pursuing a movement rather than a function. This is a high-risk, high-reward approach. I’m not sure it’s the best way to motivate contributions.

I like this way of handling the multiple-language challenge.

Three clear categories here. Get inspired by new ideas, connect with others (validation), and get support. However these don’t clearly connect to the mission-statement opposite.

7

T H E CO M M U N I T Y H O M E PAG E - B E L OW T H E F O L D A BREAKDOWN OF AIRBNB’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

Great for catching up on recent discussions or seeing if any answers have been received. Would be good to show date or recency of last response.

Featured discussions are fantastic when they support a clear goal. I’d be interested in displaying them clearly.

This is an interesting longer-form way of displaying content. It works well when the goal of the community is to provide new ideas and get people to click on ‘blog style’ posts for inspiration. But it’s not great when it includes customer support posts that won’t be relevant to as many people

Showing top posts instead of latest posts by default is a good idea for idea/tip-driven communities

8

T H E CO M M U N I T Y H O M E PAG E - F OOT E R A BREAKDOWN OF AIRBNB'S ONLINE COMMUNITY

This looks like a good an interesting mix of content here, but it’s buried too far down for almost anyone to see it. I’d look to display this much higher up. Showing lengthy posts instead of just titles has reduced what can be shown on the page.

M O B I L E R E S P O N S I V E A BREAKDOWN OF AIRBNB’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

The site works well on mobile with the images dropping out to reveal a simple layout above the fold. Could possibly remove the copy below the headline here.

The full posts take up a lost of space and lead to a lot of scrolling on a mobile space. I’d reduce this to just the titles of the post to allow for easier scrolling

U S E R E X P E R I E N C E A N D P A R T I C I P A T I O N

AS K I N G A Q U E S T I O N / G E T T I N G H E L P A BREAKDOWN OF AIRBNB’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

Lithium’s autocomplete search works

well with the related discussions

appearing as the question is being

typed. The tick next to the questions

with resolutions is a useful touch.

AUTOCOMPLETE SEARCH

AS K I N G A Q U E S T I O N / G E T T I N G H E L P A BREAKDOWN OF Airbnb’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

This prompt when you first click on the

search box is also a nice touch. Small

nudges like these can be really effective

in online communities.

AUTOCOMPLETE SEARCH

A L L D I S C U S S I O N PAG E S A BREAKDOWN OF Airbnb’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

Once you select ‘start a discussion’ you’re

taken to the ‘all discussion rooms’ page which

then asks you to select from relevant ‘rooms’.

This feels clunky and the categories are

confused. This would work better within a

‘drop down’ menu to select while writing the

post itself.

Also, many questions could easily be in

hosting and help simultaneously.

UNNECESSARY CATEGORISATION OF TOPICS

T H E H E L P PAG E PRESENTATION TITLE COPY GOES ON HERE

Not sure this image has to be here, it pushes all the other content way down the page.

The ‘welcome to help’ area also feels like it could be shortened to something much simpler.

Showing the community guides at the top of the page works well, I think showing the guides themselves in box form would be better here.

Is this copy necessary? It duplicates the copy opposite and most people would naturally ‘start a discussion’ if they wanted help.

Second time we have had to click ‘start a discussion’ to start a discussion. This shouldn’t be happening.

Showing related tags works well, but would be best to organise these by priority or trending topics.

S TA R T I N G A CO N V E R SAT I O N PRESENTATION TITLE COPY GOES ON HERE

Very clean interface. Autosave feature is also appreciated. Drop-down list appears again to avoid duplicated questions

Tags don’t automatically appear (nor are there any suggested tags based upon the post) - this would be easier.

Offer images, links, and bullet points but no other HTML. this is probably a good idea for Airbnb

Do you really need a ‘cancel’ button? People will either post or not. Feels an odd place to encourage a cancellation

Would benefit from some Apple-style advice sharing simple tips to help people ask good questions (e.g. give context and details).

H OW Q U E S T I O N S A P P E A R A BREAKDOWN OF AIRBNB’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

Why not ‘reply’ or ‘help’, the focus on ‘join the conversation’ feels a bit redundant

Would benefit from some Airbnb-esque advice sharing simple tips to help people ask good questions (e.g. give context and details.

There are FAR too many things to do here. This is before we look at the two ‘options’ drop-down menus which show the same options. Would benefit from a like / me-too / reply and nothing else.

Move the # comments and views to the top of the page to show popularity

This options area both here and on the post are unnecessary (and some options don’t work)

R E S P O N S E S A N D E M P A T H Y

R E S P O N S E S A N D E M PAT H Y A BREAKDOWN OF Airbnb’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

Airbnb does a very good job of ensuring

almost all questions and tips shared receive

a quick response. In some areas, these

become sprawling discussions. In others,

they are simple customer support

questions which receive a good response.

MOST QUESTIONS RECEIVE A QUICK RESPONSE

R E S P O N S E S A N D L E V E L S O F PA R T I C I PAT I O N A BREAKDOWN OF AIRBNB’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

This is useful, but would benefit from an additional prod to select this.

It lists a ‘level 10’ here but there is no other information on the community about gamification, rewards, or what these levels mean. It seems level 10 is the highest a member can reach in the community.

E M PAT H Y I N R E S P O N S E S A BREAKDOWN OF AIRBNB’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

PERSONALISED AND SMARTMost responses come from community members at

a level 10 or above (level 10 appears to be the highest

achievable level).

The responses are generally factual, but not rich in

empathy and there isn’t much attempt at a follow up

to check if the problem was resolved or make a

solution as a featured answer. This is a missed

opportunity. The low-level of responses from staff

members suggests a relatively small team manages

this online community

R E G I S T R A T I O N A N D O N B O A R D I N G

R E G I S T E R I N G TO J O I N T H E CO M M U N I T Y A BREAKDOWN OF Airbnb’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

Accessing the Airbnb community

requires using an Airbnb account. There

isn’t a distinct community registration

pathway. You go through the same

process as you would to register for the

site itself.

This means there is no onboarding

pathway to engage or educate

members. The anti-discrimination policy

acceptance is a welcome touch.

NO SEPARATE COMMUNITY JOURNEY

B R E A K DOW N O F T H E A I R B N B CO M M U N I T Y A BREAKDOWN OF AIRBNB’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

Because there is no distinct community

participation track, there is no welcome

email that guides people into their

ongoing contributions to the

community. This feels like a missed

opportunity to convert people into

active participants and also hints at a

limited level of integration with other

areas of the organisation. This email

even guides people away from the

community.

AIRBNB WELCOME EMAIL

T H E T U TO R I A L PAG E S A BREAKDOWN OF AIRBNB’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

A curated list of tips and help guides is a great

addition, but it’s buried within the community

and would benefit from being listed in an

automated onboarding journey. The list is

strong and potentially very useful however. It is

also kept regularly updated.

I’d list by popularity rather than alphabetically

but it’s a minor tweak

COMMUNITY-CREATED HELP GUIDES

T H E T U TO R I A L PAG E S A BREAKDOWN OF AIRBNB’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

The community also has a list of centrally

created tutorials to do basic actions on the site.

I prefer these as one-time pop-up notifications,

but they can work well here if they are easy to

find. They appear above the fold, yet tend to

push down after discussions. It’s best to

showcase a tutorial next to the action where it

is needed.

COMMUNITY TUTORIALS

T I P S A N D T R I C K S

U S E R T I P S A BREAKDOWN OF AIRBNB’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

The tips and tricks area of the

community is structured similarly to

other areas. This needs a good display of

the top tips shared by hosts, ideally in

visual form.

This area would benefit from best tips

ever shared, top tips for new Airbnb

hosts, tips to get higher ratings, and

trending tips relevant right now.

POOR DISPLAY OF USER TIPS

Despite the best efforts of the community manager, many topics are filled with complaints about Airbnb or customer support questions. This brings the tone of discussions down from what it could be.

U S E R T I P S A BREAKDOWN OF AIRBNB’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

It’s impossible to upvote or rate a tip without clicking into it. Reddit-style upvoting works best when sharing new ideas.

L O C A L C O N N E C T I O N S

CO N N E C T L OCA L L Y A BREAKDOWN OF AIRBNB’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

Airbnb encourages members to ‘connect

locally’ and join groups for their city. Very few

of these groups are active and many share the

same kinds of discussions as appear

elsewhere. Ironically it’s not possible to send

a direct message or ‘connect/befriend’ with

other members.

This section could easily be abolished or

control handed over to regional community

members who could lead these groups either

on Airbnb or, much better, on Facebook

groups where they may already exist. At the

moment too many of these groups have very

low levels of activity and need to be pruned.

FEW ACTIVE LOCAL GROUPS

H O M E S H A R I N G C L U B S

CO N N E C T L OCA L L Y A BREAKDOWN OF AIRBNB’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

The goal of home sharing clubs is to educate

local hosts about local laws and benefits of

hosting.

Home sharing clubs overlap significantly with

local connection groups and should be

merged. These are led by community

members and generally have higher levels of

activity which suggests great potential in

letting community members lead areas of

the community.

HOME SHARING CLUBS

I D E A T I O N

A BREAKDOWN OF AIRBNB’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

The ideation area is hidden and not very active (or clear under the name of ‘host voice’)

Translation of ideas is very smart.

Anger is boiling up from a lack of participation from Airbnb. This does not bode well for the community at all.

Features like this are best displayed as headlines only along with their current status. The design of this area is not well suited for ideation.

This explanation would benefit from explaining the process of how an idea goes from ideation to participation

This should be near the top. 6 ideas under consideration isn’t a great statistic. Showing the list of ideas previously implemented would be useful.

I D E AT I O N

I N T E R N A L S U P P O R T

36

T H E CO M M U N I T Y H O M E PAG E A BREAKDOWN OF Airbnb’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

The online community is hard to find. It appears at the very bottom right below several rows of invisible scroll posts. This indicates the community has low levels of internal support.. The easiest way to booth traffic would be to increase the community’s visibility.

The community is interestingly not hosted on airbnb.com but has been moved to a ‘withairbnb.com' domain. It’s not clear why this has changed in the past year.

C O N C L U S I O N

38

A BREAKDOWN OF AIRBNB’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

Airbnb’s online community has huge potential but feels like a smorgasbord of different initiatives which have grown under the banner of community. This is leads to a confused strategy which has led to a sprawling use of Lithium’s modules and overlapping areas of participation.

The community would benefit from focusing on solving host’s problems, sharing the best ideas between hosts, and removing all other features from the website.

Local connections and meetups can be best facilitated by people submitted groups hosted on third parties (e.g. facebook.com or meetup.com) for approval to be listed. These can then be led by a committed advocated in collaboration with Airbnb.

Airbnb would benefit from customising the design for each purpose (customer support, best ideas) and making it easier to find and scroll through the trending questions or ideas and the best ideas ever shared.

The community mission of building a planet where everyone can belong is noble, but would be far less effective than focusing on the immediate needs of the hosts (e.g. booking their properties solid and solving host’s problems).

Ideation would be useful when Airbnb can communicate what ideas it needs and when it needs these ideas. There is also potential in better nurturing superusers and building a more advanced gamification system.

CO N C L U S I O N

CONFUSED STRATEGY, TOO MUCH SPRAWL

39

A BREAKDOWN OF AIRBNB’S ONLINE COMMUNITY

Richard Millington is the Founder of FeverBee, an online community consultancy, and the author of Buzzing Communities.

Richard works to help organisations understand the technology and psychology behind the web’s most successful online communities.

In the past decade, Richard has helped 250+ organisations develop successful online communities for their employees, customers and fans. His client roster includes Facebook, Google, Oracle, Lego and many more.

FeverBee’s community management academy has also trained 1200+ of the world’s top online community professionals from around the globe.

To learn more, please visit: www.feverbee.com

A B O U T T H E AU T H O R

R I C H A R D M I L L I N G TO N , F E V E R B E E

richard@feverbee.com

@RichMillington