What is Airbnb - Case Study Example

Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code & Name: Date of Submission: WHO ARE Airbnb? Airbnb was founded six years ago on August 2008, its head quarters is in California. Airbnb is company which has got respect and trusts in the tourist sector of business. Their main activity is to take order from people having rooms to rent and rent them to strangers mostly tourist all over the world, they also guide tourist in choosing major destination to visit and book them hotels by use of either of Pc or mobile phone by use of internet or phone call. It offers variety of accommodation packages across the globe either fast class hotel accommodation like Hilton or intercontinental hotel, second class hotels and lower class hotels. The class depends on the customer preference and budget (Airbnb, 2014). The booking and accommodation depends with the schedule of the customer since one can stay for a long as he/she wants given condition that one pays for exact period he/she wants to stay in the hotel booked for him/her, unlike other companies Airbnb is a trusted a company all over the world due to its excellent services to customers. Service delivery process of the company takes three major steps i.e. discovering a place to visit, booking for accommodation and lastly enjoying the place. The service delivery process is illustrated by the figure below; WHAT ARE OUR MILESTONES AND STRENGTHS? Airbnb has achieved incredible support and awards for being the most trusted company in booking accommodation all over the world due to the fact that it is always in collaboration with international hotels like Hilton and intercontinental hotel. Recent achievement of Airbnb is its rating of being 6th innovative company worldwide giving it an extra advantage over its competitors (Airbnb, 2014). When the winter season commence Airbnb will have reached hotels of more than 192 countries worldwide and offering best and trusted services to its customers, despite Airbnb not having any hotel, it works effectively since the setup allows millions of people to get accommodation at hotels, castles, homes and other places to be rented to customers who are totally new to the area. There are lot strengths that the company holds as per last year it was able to accommodate 10 million users which is quiet praiseworthy. ACCOMODATION MARKETPLACE DISCOVERY CONCEPT IDEA GENERATION Airbnb conceptualize the idea on August 2008 after spotting the need to provide accommodation agency services for that tourist who wish to visit a strange place and have no links on how to get accommodation. The idea was generated and conceptualized by Brian Chesky- CEO, Nathan Blecharczyk- CTO & Co and Joe Gebbia- CPO & Co-Founder. They launched their idea into practices having taken extensive research on SWOT analysis since it is the core part before launching any business (Airbnb, 2014). MARKET OPPORTUNITY This is a demand in the market which has not been identified or fully exhausted by the competitors in field of market. Booking companies have got very poor booking service in which users surfer a lot when it comes to booking, the space are not allocated on time also the communication barriers in the host countries the users visits hence receiving poor services, but for Airbnb it has excellent services where the company is using a system which is up to date and maintained always thus there is no instance of system failure or hacking. The company has gone ahead to encourage users by accommodating large populations and booking space conveniently and best in the market hence Airbnb has embraced the market opportunity in a different way from other companies offering the same services (Airbnb, 2014). COMPELLING SOLUTION Airbnb aims at introducing more efficient and secure accommodation services to its customers across the world. The only gap Airbnb wish to bridge is the inefficiencies caused due to the fact that the company does not own any hotel therefore, hotel inefficiencies affects Airbnb reputation thus to overcome this challenge, Airbnb wish to do more research on host accommodating its customers in order to gauge the reliability and quality of services (Airbnb, 2014). PERSONAL EXPERIENCE The company has received positive response from its users worldwide since it is most trusted and secure accommodation agency service provider and its esteem customers received nothing less than what they expect. Airbnb Company encourages users all over the world to to visit strange places and mingle with people from different cultures and background this gives it a good reputation all over the world. Airbnb has become a major platform whereby people meet, Airbnb aims at reaching more people across the globe its now aiming 192 countries across the globe (Carr, 2014). MARKET ANALYSIS TARGET AUDIENCE Airbnb has got wide users all over the globe. It targets majorly tourist and business people who wish to travel to a new place where they wish to spend more than one day or carry out business meeting. It targets international accommodation market since it operates worldwide. Currently, the company has penetrated into 192 countries having served more than 10 million users (Carr, 2014). ESTIMATED REVENUE PROJECTION The aim of the company is to reach 192 countries and its aiming to double its users which will increase the revenue to $250million. Company always is in two scenarios that optimistic and organic scenarios of its estimated revenue. Years 0 1 2 3 4 Optimistic scenario (Increasing market penetration) Organic scenario CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT PRODUCTS INNOVATION The company aims at to introduce a system in which the company will locate and assign tasks of accommodation to the users without physical having in touch with the customers by providing booking of the hotel and other facilities which are necessary. WEBSITE SUBSCRIBERS The company as created a baseline of nine standards of care for Airbnb hosts to follow as part of a bigger revamp of its mobile tools this helps the users to access to the services of the company online hence making booking easier for users all over the world. FEEDBACK The company is ranked 6th according to world most innovative companies in the world as at 2014 analysis (Carr, 2014). This is based on positive feedback from customers due to its innovative and exceptional service provided. COMPETITORS Airbnb is a market leader both in domestic and global market. Despite its large market share, the company has continuously studied the market and carries continuous SWOT analysis in order to determine its strength, weakness, opportunity and threats to the company prosperity (Blythe, Jim. 2006). Its major competitors include HotelTonight (http://www.hotels.com) which is a global competitor. The hotel themselves gives Airbnb company competition since they may provide platform for the customers to book for their services directly. The market is huge therefore, giving Airbnb opportunity to grasp considerably large market share compared to its competitor BUSINESS MODEL The Company wants to expand its boundaries in order to reach more users and solicit large market share. The company operates three business models basing from the class of accommodation required by the customer. This includes; PREMIUM CLASS MODEL This is a first class services booking for the customers who are willing to pay large sum of cash in order secure accommodation in classy hotels, castles or homes. SECOND CLASS MODEL It mostly targets middle income earners who wish to seek accommodation in strange places both locally and internationally without spending more than their budget constrain. LOWER CLASS MODEL It mostly targets lower income earners who wish to seek accommodation in new places without having spend more than what they have budgeted. IDEA IMPROVEMENT PROCESS AND TIMELINE The major steps already in place is to; Improvement of the previous idea through adoption of new technology on customer platform. Focus on major feedback from questionnaires received. Correct on the prototype of the company. REFERENCE: Airbnb. (2014). Vacation Rentals, Homes, Apartments & Rooms for Rent - Airbnb. Retrieved 9 October 2014, from https://www.airbnb.com/ Blythe, Jim. 2006. Marketing. London: SAGE Publications. Carr, A. (2014). Airbnb. Fast Company. Retrieved 9 October 2014, from http://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2014/airbnb Read More