Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky tweeted A poll on Monday asked his nearly 400,000 followers what they want from the rental platform in 2022.
Chesky revealed today that most respondents want to be able to pay with bitcoin (BTC) or other popular digital currencies when renting out their next home or apartment on Airbnb. Other requests include clear price displays, a loyalty program for visitors, up-to-date cleaning fees, and improved customer service.
4,000 suggestions received. Here are the top 6:
1 – Crypto Payments (Top Tips)
2 – Clear pricing displays
3 – Guest loyalty program
4 – Update cleaning fee
5 – longer stays and discounts
6 – Better Customer ServiceAlready working on most, will look into others now! https://t.co/rxEM4BXZci
— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) 5 January 2022
Chesky also said that he has seen several tokenization ideas, which means that Airbnb’s potential cryptocurrency payment selection will not be limited to one or two digital assets. Airbnb currently accepts Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal as payment methods. The CEO also noted that the housing company has processed $336 billion in transactions since 2013.
Chesky has been vocal about the potential of the new technologies. In September, he told Fox Business that the company had received a lot of inquiries regarding crypto payments:
“We get so many requests, I’ve been getting this for years, I don’t have anything to announce on this today.”
During an interview with The Verge’s Nilay Patel in November, he was asked about his thoughts on the future of crypto and the metaverse:
“We are definitely looking into it. Absolutely. Like the revolution in travel, there is clearly a revolution happening in crypto. Airbnb and crypto both have interesting relationships with trust.”
related: Crypto Exchange Lists Airbnb Derivatives Contract Ahead of IPO
They noted that Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong was a former Airbnb employee. The crypto buzz surrounding Airbnb comes amid increasing competition from decentralized blockchain-based alternatives such as Travala.com’s Dtravel, which offers a vacation rental service.
