More than 15 million visitors are expected this summer during the Olympics, among them, 500,000 are expected by Airbnb to be accommodated. The Airbnb platform will invest 27 million euros to strengthen its customer service during the Olympic Games and improve services such as ad verification, according to a press release on Wednesday. “This is the largest investment we have ever made for an event,” specifies the American platform, partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which expects more than 500,000 visitors to stay in rented accommodation on the platform during the period.
This sum will be used in particular to strengthen and train customer service, with “2,400 trained agents – including French and English speakers available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to provide support by telephone or via the application”. This represents a 40% increase in staff numbers during the Games, says Airbnb.
The platform is also deploying new tools to verify the authenticity of advertisements and limit scams, in particular by sending an email to rental companies asking them to send back photos and videos of the apartment they are offering for rental. Those who go through this procedure are then flagged with a “verified ad” badge, awarded to date to “nearly 1.5 million adverts in France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Australia”. The platform will also ask “all travelers booking accommodation” and “all first-time hosts” for identity verification in view of the Games.
Airbnb also ensures that it has implemented additional measures in France “to help hosts improve the quality of the accommodation they offer, through training and advice, and remove ads if necessary”. The investment announced Wednesday will also cover “greater flexibility” in Aircover protection, a type of insurance included in Airbnb rentals. In the event of a problem with accommodation, “if a host cancels the reservation, if the accommodation offered does not conform to the description of the ad, or if the traveler cannot access the property reserved for example” Airbnb commits to helping “the traveler find similar accommodation or we will reimburse them”.
