Airbnb’s New Co-Hosting Marketplace: An Introduction to the Co-hosting Marketplace, and What Property Managers Need to Know

Airbnb's New Co-Hosting Marketplace: An Introduction to the Co-hosting Marketplace, and What Property Managers Need to Know

Introduction to the Co-hosting Marketplace

It was being predicted that 2024 would be the year Airbnb finally rolled out its co-hosting marketplace on a grand scale. Just a couple of days before, Brian Chesky, Airbnb CEO, confirmed that this marketplace is launching this October. Now, I call it Airbnb’s co-hosting marketplace, but the official name is the Airbnb Experienced Co-hosting Platform.

What is the Experienced Co-hosting Platform?

Experienced co-hosting—a spoiler alert—is already active in some markets, so this isn’t just speculation. This is an actual page. Here’s why property managers should pay attention: competition from upstart co-hosts may soon increase in your area and drive property management fees down. You need to have an eye on this.

How the Platform Works

So, what exactly is this Experienced Co-hosting Platform? Well, this is the actual homepage for an Airbnb host who may be looking for such an experienced co-host. Picture a platform where hosts, whether they’re new or just need some help, can connect with experienced co-hosts. It’s a smart move by Airbnb to attract or retain property owners who may otherwise leave the platform. Plus, it’s a promise to boost the quality of service provided to guests.

Opportunities and Challenges for Property Managers

It fits right into Airbnb’s strategy to improve the hosting experience, to make the hosts the best they can be. For established property managers, this could be an opportunity to find leads within the Airbnb system. But there’s a flip side: with this platform, smaller local hosts can easily enter the market, potentially undercutting established property managers by offering similar services at lower rates.

Exploring the Co-hosting Experience: A Case Study in Paris

Here’s how it works: hosts can search for co-hosts by location and browse profiles detailing services, experience, and guest ratings. Co-hosts can operate in up to nine service categories, including creating your listing, taking photos, getting your space ready, cleaning, maintaining your property, adding personal touches, communicating with guests, pricing tools, and calendar settings. They can do all of it or just some of it.

Let’s explore an example in Paris. So, let’s imagine I’m looking for some help for my place close to Champs-Élysées in Paris. Again, that’s the actual interface that is up and running in some markets. So, let’s imagine I want help with this listing. Now I’m shown a series of co-hosts, and quite frankly, what’s interesting is that some of them look like individuals and some are clearly companies—property managers.

Joining the Co-hosting Platform

As I said, it could be a source of leads for you. For example, there’s this person who helps 89 hosts, so clearly, they have at least 89 listings, if not more. You can see that profile, what they do, and the fee they’re taking. So, that’s interesting data.

How do you join this platform as an experienced co-host? Well, the platform is already available in countries like the United States, Canada, Mexico, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Australia, and the UK. To qualify, you need to be an existing host or co-host with at least 10 stays in the past 12 months, a guest rating of 4.8 or higher, and a low cancellation rate. Meeting this criteria lets you list your services on the platform and start building your co-host business.

The Tools and Payment Structure

Airbnb’s co-hosting tools are key. They help manage everything from listing details to guest communication and payouts. Depending on permissions set by the host, co-hosts can have full access to manage the entire listing or focus on just specific tasks. This flexibility allows hosts and co-hosts to divide responsibilities effectively, ensuring smooth operations.

Let’s quickly talk about payments. Co-hosts get paid in several ways. They can receive a share of the cleaning fee, a percentage of the booking amount, or a fixed amount for each payment. Hosts set up these payouts, and co-hosts start getting paid after guest check-in. Payouts are sent about 24 hours later, and both parties can track earnings through Airbnb’s dashboard.

The Evolution of Co-hosting at Airbnb

But wait, co-hosting is not new to Airbnb. Right now, you can set someone up as a co-host and get some payout. Even before that, the sole-purpose marketplace on Airbnb allowed finding people to help you, but the tools were not that consistent. There were issues with payouts, so it was kind of tricky and not really working out.

So this time, what Airbnb did is use the technology of a French company they acquired a few years ago, a company called Lucky. They’ve basically rolled out this platform and services first in France and across a few markets. They’ve been testing this for several years. In fact, it’s one of the few projects that Airbnb didn’t kill during COVID when they were trying to focus on their core jobs. They kept that project alive, and I think it’s one of the few projects on Airbnb that is not all entirely made in the US; it’s developed from subsidiaries in different countries.

Conclusion: What Property Managers Need to Know

Co-hosts here are vetted, services are standardized, and the tools are better, offering smaller co-hosts the tools they need to compete with established managers. That’s what’s different. There’s really a whole project behind it, and it’s going global now. There have been many ways to improve it because they know it’s crucial for the Airbnb system to succeed with co-hosting.

This is why it’s so relevant to managers. Airbnb isn’t just connecting hosts and co-hosts; it’s facilitating the entire process. They provide the leads, handle payments, split earnings, and even manage some tax payments. This streamlines property management, making it accessible to new entrepreneurs. It also ramps up competition for basic property management services.

And here’s the catch: this integration makes these new property managers more dependent on Airbnb, creating stickiness that makes it harder to leave or diversify to other platforms. Airbnb has effectively built a moat around its services, ensuring small businesses stay within the ecosystem. That is so smart. There’s always been a system of entrepreneurs around Airbnb, and they’ve just tried to let it grow but also support it better. It’s a platform play. Airbnb has been very busy over the years being a platform, not just a website.

So, kudos to them, and let’s see how it works out. Let me know in the comments whether you also want to be part of  Co-hosting Marketplace, or if you’re already part of it, because it’s active in some market

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