My individual final paper for the MBA Marketing Strategy course (Fall 2025). I took apart Airbnb's brand from the top: what the brand is for, where each product sits in its portfolio, who it serves and how it wins. I then used that analysis to propose where Airbnb should grow next without diluting what makes it Airbnb.
1. What is the problem statement?
Airbnb has grown from one idea, renting a room, into a portfolio: Stays, Experiences, the new in-home Services, the Plus and Luxe tiers, and offerings for business travel and long stays. Everything carries one master brand and one promise: Belong Anywhere. The question was how that brand should keep growing without losing what makes it different.
- Consistency pressure. Guests increasingly expect hotel-like reliability, but homes run by individual hosts vary. That gap puts ratings and trust at risk.
- Competitors copying the story. Booking.com, Vrbo and hotels can undercut fees, show all-in prices and use loyalty programmes. They're also borrowing Airbnb's "live like a local" storytelling.
- Pricing perception. Dynamic prices plus cleaning and service fees feel complex, and rivals use "hidden fees" against Airbnb.
- Community backlash. Growing concern about housing affordability and over-tourism is bringing regulation. "Ethical" alternatives like Fairbnb are also chasing conscious travellers.
Airbnb doesn't really sell nights. It sells a trust network, and every new product has to strengthen that network, not spend it.
2. What are the tradeoffs considered?
- Authenticity vs consistency. Professional property managers and boutique hotels raise reliability. Lean on them too much, though, and you lose the ordinary-host authenticity that sets Airbnb apart. I recommended partnering, but deliberately, while keeping a diverse range of hosts.
- Brand building vs performance marketing. Airbnb has deliberately moved away from relying on paid performance marketing and towards emotional storytelling. The trade-off is less directly measurable spend in exchange for a brand people seek out.
- One master brand vs separate brands. Putting everything under "Airbnb" means every launch benefits from existing trust. But a weak launch also hurts that same trust, so new ideas should be tiers under the master brand, not separate brands.
- Growth vs community impact. More listings mean more housing pressure and political pushback. Any new idea has to show it benefits local communities, not just grow volume.
- Immersion vs privacy and safety. The more a guest lives with locals, the more trust, screening and clear expectations both sides need.
- Short stays vs long stays. Short stays drive volume. Stays of 28 or more nights mean fewer turnovers, steadier income for hosts and much lower regulatory risk.
3. What is the solution proposed?
I first worked through the full picture: Airbnb's strategic goals, including trust, safety, net zero by 2030 and local economic benefit. I set out its portfolio as one master brand with extensions, and its value proposition: authentic local stays, trust at scale, choice, and value for both hosts and guests. I defined the core target market as millennials and Gen Z, and looked at the growing segments too: digital nomads, families, and business-plus-leisure travellers. I then ran the 5 Cs (customers, company, collaborators, competitors, context) and the 4 Ps (product, price, promotion, place). From that analysis, I proposed two concepts.
- Airbnb Live: "Don't just stay in the neighbourhood. Live with it." A dedicated category where guests stay in an occupied local home, share part of daily life with the host household, and join simple local activities such as meals, walks and traditions. Every stay guarantees at least one hosted meal or activity, with clear privacy levels.
- It sits between classic homestays and modern co-living: more immersive than a private rental, safer than informal couch-surfing.
- It targets solo travellers, students, gap-year travellers and impact-minded "slow" travellers.
- It would work with NGOs and community-tourism networks to find and train host families, with "Super Live Hosts" as ambassadors.
- It would be priced slightly above a standard room, with part of the revenue set aside for local projects, which answers Fairbnb at scale.
- Airbnb LongStay Pro: "Work from anywhere, live like a local." A curated category for stays of 28 nights or more, for remote workers, people relocating and slow-moving nomads.
- Verified work-ready listings: fast Wi-Fi, a proper workspace, a full kitchen and laundry, and clear rules on utilities and cleaning.
- In-app contract templates, an "extend one month" button, and information on nearby coworking spaces, gyms and transport.
- Monthly prices shown by default, with tiered discounts (10% for 1–2 months, 20% for 3–5, 30% for 6+), all-in pricing that includes utilities, and monthly billing instead of paying everything upfront.
- A dedicated tab with city cards for nomad hubs such as Lisbon, Mexico City, Chiang Mai and Medellín. It would also be promoted through remote-job boards, nomad communities and B2B campaigns offering it as a relocation perk for employees.
Both concepts fit the existing brand instead of stretching it. Airbnb Live makes "belong anywhere" literal and gives Airbnb a social-impact story regulators can see. LongStay Pro builds on a segment Airbnb is already growing into, with longer stays and less regulatory exposure.
4. Any other improvements I could have done?
- Size the opportunity. The paper argues why each concept fits, but it doesn't estimate the market, the share Airbnb could win, or the unit economics. A rough revenue model for each would make the recommendation sharper.
- Talk to users directly. The analysis relies on published sources. Interviews or a quick survey of hosts and nomads, or a test of what features and prices people value most, would show real demand and willingness to pay.
- Check the host side of Airbnb Live. The concept needs families willing to share their home. I'd test host appetite, earnings expectations and liability concerns before the guest pitch.
- Pick one and plan a pilot. I'd score both concepts on reach, fit, cost and risk, recommend which to launch first, and define pilot metrics such as booking conversion, repeat stays, reviews and effect on hosts.
- Think through cannibalisation and competitor response. LongStay Pro could pull guests from existing tiers, and Booking.com or Vrbo could copy the long-stay features. I'd plan for both.