2024 Airbnb Updates: The Lowdown on New Features and Star-Studded Icons

Key Takeaways

• Airbnb's new "Icons" feature offers unique experiences with celebrities and iconic venues to attract new users and increase app engagement.
• The platform introduced guest-focused tools for better planning and communication, including shared wishlists and group trip invitations.
• Host updates include deeper earnings insights, an AI-enhanced messaging platform, and improved listing capabilities for easier property management.

Buckle up, STR hosts and investors! Airbnb just dropped their 2024 summer release, which includes a slew of exciting new features. Topping the list is Airbnb’s all-new “Icons,” which offer lucky guests a chance to take part in larger-than-life experiences.

The spring and summer announcement also included new tools for both guests and hosts that will help to improve communication, simplify group trips, provide valuable earnings insights, and more. 

Let’s dive into some of the most notable details of these new Airbnb updates.

Airbnb Icons

The travel industry is abuzz with the news of Airbnb’s new Icons, which are unique properties where guests can book a stay or take part in an experience. 

On the table are remarkable experiences like:

• Overnight stays in Paris’s Musée d’Orsay
• A living room session with Doja Cat
• A stay in the Up balloon house
• A fitting for an Incredibles Supersuit
• A VIP tequila experience with comedian Kevin Hart

These listings serve to generate publicity and excitement about using Airbnb, showcasing some of the most extraordinary accommodations available on the platform. Space is extremely limited for Airbnb Icons, and those lucky enough to book one are issued a golden ticket. 

According to AirDNA VP of Marketing, Scott Sage, user acquisition is Airbnb’s goal with Icons.

“My assumption is that this is part of a broader and long-term strategic play. This is one lever [Airbnb] has for user acquisition,” Sage says. “This is a great play by them to get eyeballs, to get people into the app by requiring users to request to book icons in the app, and to get more people utilizing Airbnb.”

AirDNA Chief Economist, Jamie Lane, expands on how Icons can help with new user acquisition. 

“If you try to book [an Icon], you can’t do it unless you’re in the app. So Airbnb pushes people into the app. Then, secondarily, you’re prompted to…create an Airbnb account,” he says. “So how many people might download the app and create a profile for the first time because of this?”

Listen to the entire conversation on Airbnb updates with Scott and Jamie in episode 79 of STR Data Lab podcast.

New Features for Guests

Beyond the buzzworthy Airbnb Icons, the booking platform also released a handful of helpful new tools and features for guests as part of their Airbnb updates.

New guest features include: 

• Shared wishlists: Invite others to vote, add notes, and edit trip details—together in the same wishlist.
• Group trip invitations: Guests can send their travel partners trip details with digital postcards.
• Redesigned messaging platform: Upgrades to the Messaging tool allows multiple guests to join a group chat with the host, and react to messages with emojis.

New Features for Hosts

Airbnb’s new host features may not have the same fanfare as Icons, but they are worth celebrating for the ease they add to everyday short-term rental management.

• Deeper earnings insights with interactive charts. Hosts can review their earnings by month or by year, filter earnings by listing, and get insights into past earnings and future projections. 
• New reporting hub: Earnings reports publish automatically on both a monthly and annual basis. Reports are provided in a simple PDF format and include breakdowns by listing and payout method.
• Redesigned Messaging platform: Finally, all your Host, guest, and support messages will appear in one place, making it easy to search through them.
• AI Messaging tools: Save time and respond to your guests faster with AI-suggested quick replies.
• New listing capabilities. Hosts can now enjoy an AI-powered photo tour wizard to incorporate new listing photos into existing tours, as well as an updated tool to showcase amenities on listings.

Spring 2024 Airbnb Updates

Released in March 2024, these updates may have flew under your radar:

• Verified listings: Nearly 1.5 million listings across the US, Canada, Australia, UK, and France were verified and will receive ‘verified’ badges.
• Top Homes highlight: Airbnb rolled out a new highlight to help the best of the best stand out as a complement to its recent “Guest Favorites” badge. The new highlight showcases eligible listings that are in the top 1%, 5%, or 10% ranking compared to others based on ratings, reviews, and reliability. Listings with at least five reviews in the past two years qualify for a highlight.
• Changes to deter host cancellations: Over the course of the last several months, Airbnb has implemented some minor changes—like stricter host cancellation policies and new pricing tools—designed to prevent hosts from avoidable cancellations.  
• Schlage smart lock integration: Hosts using Schlage smart locks as a key exchange solution can integrate them directly with Airbnb to automatically create unique entry codes for every reservation. Integrations with August and Yale smart locks are reportedly to come. 

Why No Loyalty Program?

Without a doubt, one of the most asked-about and requested features on Airbnb is a rewards program. In light of Expedia launching its One Key Rewards program—which includes Airbnb competitor, Vrbo—many are asking if Airbnb will follow suit.

Though Airbnb didn’t address the elephant in the room in its release notes, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky did comment in a Skift.com article. 

The answer: Probably not.

According to Jamie Lane, it’s for a good reason.

“34% of Airbnb users are Super Users, booking four or more trips throughout the year. So Airbnb has a strong, loyal base already,” Lane explains. “If you create a loyalty program, you’re rewarding your best customers with discounts or free stays and you’re not getting much back for it. It would be a financial negative for them.”

Takeaways from Recent Airbnb Updates

Airbnb’s announcement of Icons signals a shift from focusing on rentals toward delivering memorable experiences.

“My takeaway from this release is, strategically, the direction Airbnb is trying to move is around broadening their verticals into new experiences, with an emphasis on community,” Sage says. “With these unique experiences, it emphasizes and amplifies the need for community and maybe even trying to build a community within their app.”

For more information about Airbnb's summer release and the latest updates, visit Airbnb's release page.