U.S. Airline Industry Analysis - Addressing Social Responsibilities Issues on Airbnb and Providing Recommendations

Letter to CEO

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

11 Yuk Choi Road,

Hung Hom,

Hong Kong

18 November, 2015

Addressing Social Responsibilities issues on Airbnb and Providing Recommendations

Dear Brian Chesky,

Group 3 is writing to you to discuss a few issues regarding Airbnb’s social responsibilities. We would also like to state our recommendations in hopes that it could possibly help the future of the company especially for your future plans of expansion to China.

Firstly, we would like to address about the safety issue regarding Airbnb rentals. According to a recent news, a father died when he was struck by a tree branch and suffered brain damage while trying out a rope swing at an Airbnb property in Texas. The incident raises public awareness of the safety issue under Airbnb rentals and some of the liability issues.

It is clear that your company should do more to ensure the properties are safe enough for guests. As Airbnb does not specify whether the properties require certification to be listed, we suggest that Airbnb should actually urge the hosts to follow local rules and regulations, including any applicable safety requirements. Moreover, it is suggested that Airbnb should demand more from hosts, such as submitting a detailed application, passing a safety quiz and undergoing a home inspection, rather than just a one-minute sign up process.

The next issue that we would like to address is about the trust issue involving the authenticity of the pictures of the rentals posted on the website. According to some customers who have tried Airbnb’s service, the actual rooms were not the same as the photo shown in the website. This caused disappointment on Airbnb services and thus damage the brand reputation.

As Airbnb is an online communication platform for transaction of two parties, trust is the key foundation. Therefore, to increase the level of trust and reliability, we suggest Airbnb to set a standardized requirement on photos as well as the description on it, and let the hosts update the photo if there are any changes. By doing so, the customers will complain less and become more loyal to Airbnb.

By addressing the social responsibility issues associated with the company, we believe that it could attract investors and customers, as they can be assured that Airbnb is trustworthy and acknowledges its responsibilities in the society. Moreover, if Airbnb does well on this aspect, it will surely become a strong competitive advantage when expanding to new markets like China.

Thank you for your patience and we sincerely hope that the above suggestions are helpful for improvement. If you would like to further discuss or have any questions, you may contact us at group3@gmail.com or 2233 3322.