The small feature that could double Airbnb's booking rate

---

Don't get me wrong: I love Airbnb.

Airbnb has created a sense of belonging all over the world. It's given everyone the opportunity to travel like a local. It's a fantastic product.

Through initiatives and features like #onelessstranger, Airbnb Open, and the Airbnb Groups feature, Airbnb has empowered hundreds of thousands of people to become hosts, entrepreneurs, and friends.

That all said, there's one feature in particular that is missing that could make a big impact. Airbnb has done an incredible job building resources and features for hosts, but...

What features have strengthened the other side of Airbnb: the travelers?

Yes, the connection between a Airbnb host and guest is often special - but many users still don't feel that it replaces the experience of meeting up with other travelers. Hostels do this really well.

While the hotel industry has lost marketshare due to Airbnb, Hostels still have a strong competitive advantage: meeting fellow travelers that they can explore with and fulfill their sense of wunderlust.

---

"I'm worried that if I do airbnb I won't be able to meet people." - Reddit

"In my experience, airbnb doesn't really provide you with these kinds of social opportunities, and if you want to meet people or make friends, you're kind of on your own." - Quora

"AirBnB can leave you a bit isolated." - Abroaders

---

Other companies are picking up on this advantage, too. Airbnb already provides travelers with a local, unique expeierence, but doesn't excel in this (crucial) area.

Luckily the solution here is straighforward, but, like anything, is sensitive on the execution.

It could help create a much higher lifetime value for airbnb customers. It could even double the booking rate for users that are longing for something like this (and there are plenty).

There's a lot of value in building a strong culture.

---

The solution:

Give Airbnb guests the same great network to travel with as hosts have recieved, while still making it feel like a natural part of the user exeperience.

A solution to let the travelers better explore together, using Airbnb.

Like a travel Caravan, or an Airbnb group for travelers, that activates when a user makes a booking for a particular area and connects them with others traveling there too. It's a hostel lobby, in your pocket.

Airbnb Caravans would function similiar to the Airbnb "groups" tool, but, again, like anything, is sensitive on the execution, and needs someone to help champion the implementation.

---

My name is Mitch Robinson, and I'm a cereal entreprenuer who's obsessed with learning new things, an adventure junkie who just got back from exploring in Iceland, and aspring product manager that has experience shipping products.

I can copywrite, hustle, storytell, design, dabble in programming, and have sharp intuition.

I want to help solve this problem at Airbnb this summer as a product intern - so that travelers can explore together.

I've been working hard to develop my skillset to help pull this off.

---

Here's how I'd help tackle this as an intern:

1. Work alongside Airbnb PM's to immediatly get a team of engineers, designers, and everyone in-between out of the office and talking to users.


2. Articlate and evangalize how this aligns with our values, mission, and how we're going to specifically measure the impact (change in LTV, for example).


3. Work with our team to develop a feature roadmap based on the user feedback that has a strong vision, but broken up into trackable & digestable, goals.


4. Test and launch several iterations, execute on the little things, work with other teams on feature integration, and continue to share the product vision.


5. Champion the process all the way through. Put in hard work, have a ton of fun, and learn alot :)