Comfort, quality and design. Less than a year after launching Airbnb Plus, the new category of apartments and rooms with higher than average standards and physically certified by a team of designers from the parent company in San Francisco, it has hit the mark and it has done so above all in Italy, the country of style and interior design par excellence, which is literally driving the growth of this new selection of accommodations.
Launched last February, Airbnb Plus has recorded the most positive responses in Italy, where listings more than doubled (+120%) and bookings grew by 60% between the second and third quarters, despite the certified category accommodation Plus they are at the moment just over 450 and available only in three cities: Rome, which has the most numerous offer with over 300 homes, Milan which has grown by 86% in a few months and Florence. Next stops: Venice, Turin, Bologna, Naples, but also the Tuscan countryside and the Amalfi coast, much loved by US tourists who are the first to vacation in Italy through Airbnb, Sicily and the Cinque Terre.
“Italians love design, they choose it for their homes and they also look for it when they travel the world,” he commented Matthew Frigerio, country manager of Airbnb Italy. And evidently foreign travelers like to rediscover this attention to taste during their stays in Italy. “This is the secret of the success of Plus in our country, which was among those who were able to best seize the opportunity of a category guaranteed for quality and comfort but which finds its distinctive trait above all in the uniqueness of the design of each apartment,” added the manager.
The Airbnb Plus category, which also rewards hosts by offering them more visibility on the site and also a better presentation, with very high quality photos taken directly by the San Francisco team, in fact, it should not be confused with that of luxury apartments, for which the subsidiary Luxury Retreats exists: the value of the house has nothing to do with it, nor the area (the individual rooms can also be in the Plus category), nor the fact of being or not a Super Host, even if some necessary requirements are similar, including the minimum score of 4.8, zero cancellations and a response rate of at least 90%.
What makes the difference is the style of the accommodation, which must be personal and coherent: the quality of furniture and accessories does not even count but the "touch" given by the owner. In the dining room, for example, there must be at least a collection of books and magazines, a TV that offers the convenience of a series or film subscription (Sky or Netflix), a floral touch, the usual manual with useful numbers and advice for guests and, in countries at risk of heat like Italy, air conditioning is also a necessary condition.
The requirements to enter the Plus category exist for every room: in the bedroom there must be two pillows for each guest, a walk-in closet with clothes hangers and mirror, and some goodies such as the reading light for the evening, the collection of stories and the inevitable bottle of water on the bedside table. In the bathroom you need top quality towels, an assortment of personal hygiene products, an equipped shower, cleaning and sanitizing of all elements, and then – should it ever be missing – the mirror. In the kitchen, a coffee machine and kettle, plates and dishes, pots, pans, appliances in perfect condition and pantry cannot be missing.
All things apparently normal and present in any rental apartment, but the contemporary presence and style with which they are presented are now rewarded. The host benefits with more visibility and perhaps a price increase (although Airbnb advises against it), and Airbnb can thus capture an ever wider market segment, satisfying even the requests of the most demanding customers. The goal, as stated by the company that celebrated its 10th anniversary this summer, is to involve one billion travelers between now and 2028.
