Airbnb Unveils An Application That Learns Humans

Airbnb is a company that is dedicated to providing outstanding service to its customers. And with more than a million lodging listings in more than 190 countries, it is easy for customers to get lost when searching for their ideal accommodation. Because of this, Airbnb has come up with an ingenious solution.

Dubbed the Airbnb Aerosolve, it undertakes the process by learning each individual’s lodging tastes and preferences. Airbnb said this about the application through its blog.

“We have been operating on the belief that enabling humans to partner with a machine in a symbiotic way exceeds the capabilities of humans or machines alone.”

That said, Airbnb’s new development is not the first of its kind, with tech giants such as Google utilizing search preference intelligence to offer surfers the most relevant results. Microsoft also has Cortana, a virtual personal assistant that can learn your voice.

On the parameters it uses, the Aerosolve by Airbnb helps customers find their ideal lodging based on the location, reviews, and how good the pictures are. However, about how it judges the quality of accommodation by pictures, Airbnb says the following,

“The definition of ‘good picture’ changes depending on whom you ask: Professional photographers ‘tend to prefer pictures of ornate, brightly lit living rooms,’ but real-life Airbnb customers “seem to prefer warm colors and cozy bedrooms.”

Airbnb has made the application open source so software developers can use it to create their own recommendation platforms based on it.

Interestingly, Airbnb has also factored in lodging hosts in its new project. It is an Airbnb tool called Price Tips. The new Airbnb creation will offer pricing suggestions to hosts, enabling their listings to be more competitive and consequently increasing their probability of being booked.

According to the Verge, Mike Curtis, Airbnb’s Vice President of Engineering, had this to say about how Airbnb’s Price Tips, which is yet to be fully rolled out, will work.

“If you have it priced just right, those dates will show up green on the calendar — but if the price is too high, Airbnb Price Tips will show the price as red. From there, you can use a slider to adjust the price and get it right in the sweet spot — low enough that it’ll be likely to be rented, but high enough that you’re not leaving money on the table. It’s like surge pricing for Airbnb rentals.”

Price Tips is apparently based on Airbnb’s Aerosolve.

In other news, Airbnb has been blamed for the rising cost of rentals in cities such as San Francisco.

[Image from Chris Week/Getty Images]