Airbnb’s Jesse Stein on Creating Opportunities for Hosts and Buy-In from Landlords

In this episode of Buildings 2.0, Jose speaks with Jesse Stein, Global Head of Real Estate at Airbnb. They discuss how Airbnb is increasing opportunities for hosting by expanding their business model to renters, and the ways in which they're getting landlord and property manager buy-in by offering benefits like free marketing and revenue sharing. They also talk about emerging technology impacting the housing industry today, if there's a future in converting empty offices to apartments, and how Airbnb is using real-time data to help hosts make better decisions.

Topics discussed:

• How Airbnb is expanding into the untapped rental market by partnering with property owners and landlords to offer more host opportunities.
• What benefits they're offering to landlords in order to increase buy-in, like free marketing and revenue sharing.
• Why scaling faster will require more education and experience to increase landlord confidence in the new product offering.
• If converting empty office space to apartments will help with the housing market or won’t work at all.
• What emerging technology is impacting the housing and real estate market, from smart locks to property management software. 
• How Airbnb uses real-time data in their average daily rate calculator to help hosts make more informed decisions on when to rent.