{"id":15128,"date":"2025-05-14T02:20:48","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T02:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=15128"},"modified":"2025-05-14T02:20:48","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T02:20:48","slug":"airbnb-is-in-midlife-crisis-mode","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=15128","title":{"rendered":"Airbnb Is in Midlife Crisis Mode"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Chesky explains that historically, people used Airbnb only once or twice a year, so its design had to be exceptionally simple. Now the company is retooling for more frequent access. Open the app, and you see a trio of icons that act as gateways to the expanded functions. Within minutes Chesky and his lieutenants are applauding the cheery, retro style of the icons\u2014a house for traditional rentals, a hotel bell for services, and a Jules Verne-ish hot-air balloon representing activities. \u201cWe really thought deeply about the metaphor\u2014what was the right visual to express an experience?\u201d says Connor. Once they decided on the balloon, they drilled into how much fire should belch from the basket. The icons were drawn by a former Apple designer whose name Chesky would not divulge. \u201cHe\u2019s a bit of a secret weapon,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

A less-secret weapon is Chesky\u2019s collaboration with the iconic, also ex-Apple, industrial designer Jony Ive. Chesky\u2019s north star, it should be said, is Apple. \u201cSteve Jobs, to me, is like Michelangelo or da Vinci,\u201d he says. Despite never meeting Jobs, \u201cI feel like I know him deeply, professionally, in a way that few people ever did, in a way that you only possibly could by starting a tech company as a creative person and going on a rocket ship,\u201d Chesky says. By hiring Ive\u2019s LoveFrom company and working with Jobs\u2019 key collaborator, Chesky gets a taste of the famous Jobs\/Ive dynamic. Ive himself doesn\u2019t make that comparison, but he does praise Chesky\u2019s design chops. \u201cThere are certain tactical things where I hope that sometimes I’m of use to Brian, just as as a fellow designer,\u201d Ive says. \u201cBut the majority of our work has been around ideas and the way we frame problems and understand opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another key part of the app is the profile page. \u201cYou need trust,\u201d Chesky says\u2014meaning a verifiable identity. Airbnb has been vetting the new vendors, which it calls \u201cservice hosts.\u201d For months, Chesky says, an army of background researchers has been scrutinizing the r\u00e9sum\u00e9s, licenses, and recommendations of chefs, photographers, manicurists, masseuses, hair stylists, makeup artists, personal trainers, and aestheticians who provide spa treatments such as facials and microdermabrasions. They\u2019re all being professionally photographed.<\/p>\n

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