Airbnb Announces New Upgrades

Airbnb announced new upgrades to its booking platform to highlight homes and properties with near-perfect ratings, dubbed Guest Favorites.

Airbnb officials said the decision to revamp ratings and reviews pages was made to become more competitive with hotels and create a more reliable experience for travelers.

The company’s Guest Favorites collection consists of over two million homes that have been categorized as "most loved" based on reviews and reliability, as well as boasting ratings above 4.9 stars on average.

“Airbnb is pretty big,” Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky told Reuters. “For as big as we are, almost 10 times as many people stay in hotels.”

Chesky also revealed the company booked 113.2 million nights and experiences during the third quarter, a 14 percent increase from last year. In addition, he said about 23 percent of first-time Airbnb guests book a low-rated home.

Airbnb also updated its rating system to allow travelers to sort through reviews and introduced a new set of tools for hosts to share more details about their listings.

The new tools include an artificial intelligence-powered photo tour that organizes images by room to help guests understand each rental property’s layout. The company also plans to announce improvements to its customer service next summer.

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