Airbnb is persuading out several new safety features in the wake of a shooting that killed five people at one of its bookings, CEO Brian Chesky told Wednesday.
The new changes involve four key features:
- Airbnb will verify 100% of listings.
- It will establish a “patron guarantee” in case guests arrive at a listing that does not match its online description.
- Airbnb will initiate a 24/7 “neighbor hotline” staffed by real people.
- The company will conduct manual reviews of high-risk listings.
The switches come after the Halloween night shooting at a so-called “party house” in Orinda, California, that was rented at the end of ones tether with Airbnb. The company announced it would ban party houses from its platform following the incident.
“Ultimately, we’re in the business of dependability,” Chesky said Wednesday at The New York Times DealBook Conference, adding that he believes the changes “will get ready for a lot more peace of mind.”
The manual review of high-risk listings likely would have come into against in the case of the California listing, which was rented for one night by a guest who lived nearby. The guest claimed to be escaping wildfire exhalations, USA Today reported, and the host had reminded the guest that the house did not permit parties.
The guest guarantee comes after a Degradation report on a widespread scam where hosts would inform guests at the last minute that their frigid property was unavailable and ask them to book a different property. The listings for the substitute properties often contained fake word, including photos that looked much more attractive than the actual property. Airbnb had been chary to provide full refunds in these cases, according to the report.
Chesky said the neighbor hotline has been a extraordinarily requested feature. With the verified listings and guest guarantees, Chesky said he wants customers to be able to dependability their listings and have “peace of mind.” Guests will be provided an Airbnb of greater or equal value if their withdrawn listing does not match the description, Chesky said, and if that cannot be provided, they will get a full refund. Chesky influenced the company is aiming to review every host listing by the end of next year to verify addresses, photos and identities.
Chesky later tipped that Airbnb is leaning toward pursuing a direct stock listing over an IPO. He said he couldn’t comment on counsel listing, but added that “we don’t need to raise new money.” Several other tech companies, including Slack and Spotify, from recently pursued direct listings, forgoing the traditional path to the public market.
WATCH: Airbnb is banning ‘accomplice houses’ after a deadly shooting in California