Within a short span of time, the amount of growth that AirBnB has shown is highly appreciable and an inspiration for thousands of entrepreneurs around the globe. The makers of Airbnb, Brian Chesky, and Joe Gebbia has shown to the world how effective it can be to make a service reach the consumer in an easy and convenient way. The success story of Airbnb is truly remarkable. The journey of their company from selling cereals to becoming a multi-dollar company is a sign of dedication and intelligence paying off in a big way.
Though the concept of Bread and Breakfast stays has been initiated in the world, but the scope of this amazing concept is still too wide. Some of the bigger cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, are full of bread and breakfast home stays and motels. But there are still many regions where a good income can be generated following this concept.
People who want to step into this business and make a profitable income must do steady research before investing their time and money into it. Here in this article, we will discuss the various factors such as the features, business model, cost of developing such apps, etc of traveling apps like Airbnb. It will help you to analyze the costs needed for developing such business and if stepping into this business is a good plan for you or not. So without further ado let’s jump to the very first question.
What is the Basic Concept of AirBnB?
Airbnb is a rental booking application and a website that allows people to book affordable and wonderful accommodations across the world. There are a variety of options for the users to book from a single room to a suite and even a castle for them. Airbnb acts as a broker between the homeowners and the customer who wish to book a room for them. The homeowners can list their place on the app and the user can view the listing of a place on his app and can book an Airbnb room.
This concept came into action when the founders of Airbnb were left with no money and they decided to rent a matrices at their place just to earn a little money. In some time, they saw the worth of this brilliant idea and bought the concept of Airbnb to real life. In 2008, they started this company and just in a matter of 10 years they spread their companies reach to more than 190 countries 65,000 cities across the world.
The success of this company can be comprehended by reading the below-given stats about the company.
- The application has more than 150 million active users worldwide.
- Airbnb hosts more than 600,000 people every day throughout the world.
- In the first year of their company, the company earned a revenue of a million dollars.
- The current revenue of the company is reported to be about $900 million.
Business Model of Airbnb
The business model of Airbnb is simple and is designed in a way to earn good profits without doing any investments. As mentioned earlier, Airbnb is a service provider that allows people to book rooms through their apps and on the other hand, it allows the homeowners who have spare room or house to rent to earn extra income by renting their place.
For every booking done through their app, Airbnb charges an amount of 6-12% as the booking fee from the user. Similarly, they charge a fee of 3% from the landlord for each booking done. The company itself does not even have one place purchased and are growing on the service of others and earning good commissions on the transactions made.
In the following way, the business model of Airbnb works:
- For Property Owners : The owners of the home registered on the app list out their place in the Airbnb app. They have to give their details of pricing, terms, and conditions, amenities provided, etc. However, listing out their property on the app is free of cost.
- Travelers : Travelers then browse their properties in any particular location and check the details of the property using their app.
- Travelers can then book the homestay for a day, week and even a month depending upon the terms and conditions of the homestay.
- The owner then gets a request via the Airbnb app and accepts the booking of the guests.
- Airbnb then deducts the commission of booking from the guest and the guest pays the remaining amount to the host.
- A transaction fee of 3% is charged to the host by Airbnb.
Required Features in an App Like Airbnb
For building a new app like Airbnb, it is essential to feature some unique and new options so that the customer can find some worth in using a new application. However, there are several features that are a must for such an app and their inclusion in the app is positively required.
When developing a BnB app, it is required to make different panels for the application as there are different requirements of users, admin, and the host. The essential features that should be in an app are:
User Panel
| User Panel |
Host Panel |
Admin panel |
- Registration Page
- Category for Booking
- Search Bar
- Amenities Section
- Filters for the Search
- Favorite Bookings
- Coupons and Gift Cards
- Option for Canceling
- Cancellation of Booking
- Reviews of the Homestay
- Notifications
- Feedback for the Host
- Reminders of Bookings
- In-App Chat
- Social Media Sharing
- Referrals for Others
- History
- Payment Portal
|
- Registration Page
- Listing of Homes
- Approvals for Booking
- Managing the Bookings
- Payment Portals
- Transaction History
|
- Login Page
- Dashboard
- User Management
- Booking Management
- Promotions and Gift Cards
- Booking Requests
- Payment History
- Real-Time Analytics
- Managing Invites and Referrals
- Push Notifications
|
These are some of the essential features that must be included in the app for smooth functions of the transaction between the user and the host. Also, it helps the admin to track the activities of both the host and the guest. But these features alone won’t be giving you a sure shot success. For making your app more appealing and better than the other competitors’ app, you will have to explore more options.
Host Panel
To attract more customers, the following features can be included in the app:
• Giving Choice of Freebies
Your app should include more discounts and freebies as a welcome gift to the guests coming to the host’s place to stay. Everybody enjoys getting free stuff and if they can choose from a range of products as a gift, they will be more than happy to use your app. Also, it is a good way to promote the business initially as techniques such as these attract more customers.
• Usage of Globally Supported Currency
If you are planning to make your business get global, then it is extremely important that you give the user the option to pay with the ease they want. Most applications right now, lack this feature and people get confused while paying the amount during their international travel.
If an app is having a reliable and easier option to pay for the booking they have made, it will get a good reputation. Getting a good reputation in the service industry is indeed the best thing to have for a company.
• Social Media API
Social media is a big platform in itself and there are millions of users linked to it. So, promoting your name on social media is always good for the growth of a company. Adding features like social media sharing helps in the promotion of the company. Guests everywhere today do share where they stay and if your service is good, definitely you will be able to pull up new customers for you.
• 360° Room View
No app has added this feature in their app until now. Making a 360 view of your room will help the user to check the details of the room prior to making a booking. A small feature can sometimes make a big difference in the popularity of the app. So, adding this feature is a good option to consider.
Admin Panel
There are certain skill tests that are added for the freelancer. Having a skill test can check the level of expertise that a freelancer has and if they are worth adding to the current database of the company. Skill tests are usually done because the company has a certain level of reputation to maintain and the competition to enter the platform is already too high.
Tech Stack
• Frontend
• Backend
Cost to Build an App like Airbnb
It takes a lot of effort and time to build an app like Airbnb. Before we jump to the cost of making the app, let us understand the development process first.
Development Process of Apps like Airbnb
• Researching and Building Charts for the Development Process
The foremost thing that is done is the overall setup and the requirements of the project are noted and charts are made for the same. A number of discussions are to be done for the implementation of the API and for selecting the database pattern. This process takes an approximate time of 60 hours.
• User Profile
For a developer, it is required to make two types of profiles in such apps. One is for the host while the other one is for the user. The profiles consist of the details of the user and host. This is an easier process and takes about a day for its development.
• Framework Settings
It helps the user to configure and customize their data on the app and lets you pick the preferences for your stay options. It takes about 24 hours to build this interface for the app.
• Filters
Apps like Airbnb need to have various filters so that a user can narrow down their research. Filters such as a number of guests staying, types of room required, prices of the rooms, etc. comes under this category. In a time period of 24 hours, this gets done.
• Room Descriptions
Once the room is chosen, the user can then view the available dates for the room, photos, and ratings of the room, etc. This step is quite complex and takes a large amount of time for its execution. It may take a time period of up to 150 hours.
• Integrating the Maps
Maps play an essential role in apps like Airbnb so that users can easily reach the booked place. Adding this feature to your app takes about 24 hours or less.
• Host Sign Up
This is again a time-consuming process. There are many functions that are to be assigned for making this function work which will help the host to make a booking, make communications, etc. It takes around 100 hours for getting this feature work.
• In-App Chat
Another feature that helps the user to communicate with the host and the company is in-app chat. Developing it takes at least 40 hours of work.
These steps are required to make the app work and in order to make all these functions work, you will have to spend a good amount on the development process. Developers from different regions have different rates. The cost can be calculated by the formula:STACK
Conclusion
The travel industry is one such thing that never outgrows. Building an app that helps the tourist find a place to live for themselves will never get out of demand. So it is a good niche for mobile app development, but before investing it is very important to do the right research so that the possibility of growth of the app is always high. However, if you are still struggling to decide on traveling app development, feel free to reach out to us. Good Luck!