Airbnb’s executives also walk the walk
Company chief of hospitality checks into hotel alternatives while on road
Chip Conley, Airbnb’s chief of hospitality, is checking in to see how the company’s Canadian head is doing at growing listings, improving relationships with regulators — and keeping his towels clean.
In addition to being responsible for Airbnb’s Canadian office, Aaron Zifkin is also a host, listing the guest bedroom of his duplex in Toronto’s tony Rosedale neighbourhood on the online home sharing service for $99 a night.
This week, his guest is Conley, who is sitting on a couch in a living room full of charming details like antique oak floors, built-in bookcases and a green marble fireplace.
In addition to sleeping over and sharing a bathroom with Zifkin, Conley has also been holding meetings with the four-member Canada team at the house. It’s the type of boundary blurring the company is famous for.
“It’s traditional and sentimental on some weird level,” Conley said. “It creates a collegial relationship with people that feels a little more emotionally comfortable.”
Airbnb co-founder and chief executive Brian Chesky hired the 54-year-old from Long Beach, Calif. two years ago in the hopes of strengthening that collegial relationship between hosts and guests. Chesky was attracted by Conley’s success with his Joie de Vivre chain of boutique hotels, which was based on the idea that some travellers are looking for more than just consistency and reliability when choosing a place to say.
Under Conley’s direction, Airbnb has been focusing on uniqueness, authenticity and immersive local experiences as the selling points of its service, as opposed to the simple fact the listings tend to be cheaper alternatives to hotels. The company has also created standards for hosts — like clean towels — in a bid to win over people who are nervous about what they might be getting into at a stranger’s home.
The strategy seems to be working. Airbnb would not confirm growth numbers, but Conley said the company currently has 1.1 million global listings in 190 countries — more than triple the 300,000 estimated by Barclays Research a year ago.
“We’ll never be as consistent as hotels,” Conley said — and as far as he’s concerned, that’s a good thing. “We don’t ever want to become that predictable because we can’t be.”
There’s the unpredictability of discovering a delightful coffee shop down the street from your Paris flat — and then there’s the not-so-delightful unpredictability of coming home to discover you’ve unwittingly rented your apartment out as the site of an orgy, which happened to a Manhattan host last year.
New York State and Airbnb have a famously rocky relationship, with an October Attorney General’s report finding almost three-quarters of New York City’s listings are breaking the law by operating as unlicensed hotels.
In Canada, regulators have mostly left Airbnb alone. The exception is Quebec, where the province has cracked down on Airbnb hosts who haven’t registered their residences as short-term rentals in accordance with the law.
Airbnb’s Canada office opened about a year ago and Conley said the company has made great progress in the province. Airbnb is in talks with Quebec’s municipal and provincial governments about developing new legislation, he said.
Conley said regulatory issues are part of being a pioneer in a new, disruptive industry. He said he doesn’t have a preference for whether governments amend regulations to accommodate Airbnb or just leave the space unregulated, because different solutions will be appropriate for different places.
“Orville Wright and his brother, the first people to fly a plane, they didn’t have a flying licence,” Conley said.
“Neither did Henry Ford have a driver’s licence. We’re in an era where some of the history is being written right now.”
In the meantime, if you’re the host of one of Airbnb’s 1.1 million listings, be on the lookout for a tall, slim man with close-cropped facial hair on his chin. When Conley travels — which is often — he likes to stay at listings around the world and the hosts don’t always know who he is.
Conley remembers one host in Spain who eventually caught on to his guest’s identity.
“He got really nervous,” Conley said. “After the first day he realized, OK, he needed to step up his game a little bit.”
We’re in an era where some of the history is being written right now.