Ch. 6 Consumer Decision Making

Airbnb users go through certain factors before they make a purchase decision.

Recognizing Airbnb

Airbnb's product need recognition is based on two concepts: to have a nice travel experience in an more affordable place and also to make money out of it.  Airbnb's product is stimulated externally through advertising to consumers by creating these desirable ideas of travelling.  

Researching

Once users recognize the amenities of Airbnb they go to an information search. Like other online based companies such as Amazon and Yelp,  Airbnb relies on a external information source such as reviews of consumers who tried the company's services and want to recommend it to other consumers based on their experiences. Airbnb has a non-marketing-controlled information source because it needs an online review system to attract more hosts and guests.

• 

  Denise

  beautiful apartement and big room! especial position closed to the sea ;) very nice person!!!!!

  August 2012

Evaluating and booking through Airbnb 

Users make an evoked set regarding the advantages of the service. Once they decide to use Airbnb, they choose when they want to rent a space. Some people find it convenient when a trip approches or when they have the need to rent their place in order to pay the rent. Airbnb has various alternatives to choose from. From single bedrooms to entire islands, users can select what they want depending on how much they are willing to pay. Finally they are ready to make the purchase decision. 

User experience 

Airbnb has a large amount of satisfied users. Sometimes consumers' great experiences go over their expectations. They are not only booking rooms but they are also making friends. However there are some unhappy users. The possibility of getting dangerous guests and hosts are disconcerting but consumers try to avoid such thoughts and try to focus on the positive expectations.   

Getting highly involved

Airbnb users have high involvement in the decisions regarding whether or not they should be part of this experience. It is not usual for them to welcome strangers to their homes or to go to a strangers house. Even though they expect positive results, they are aware of the possible negative consequences.

Cultural Friendly 

The travel network emphasizes its costumer friendly approach with cultural and and social factors. It is of their best interest to attract as many tourists as they can and to promote a friendly atmosphere to ensure good reviews and positive blogs.  

  

Ch. 5 Developing a Global Vision

 

Global Marketing

One of the biggest advantages that online companies have is the ability to reach all the world with just a "click."  Yes, there are limits. For example Facebook is limited in communist countries like China, where the government tries to avoid mobs as much as they can in order to avoid its overthrow. But luckily for Airbnb there are not geographical boundaries to target different markets. Actually, the possibility of expand globally is in the company's best interest. The company is now in 192 countries in more than 19,000 cities all over the world. Airbnb is a global network of people interested in renting other places rather than just hotels, and these travelers are the tool to expand the company's market. It creates a cycle that starts with guests who become hosts that receive new guests and keeps going, on and on. 

                         

 Global vision 

Recently, Airbnb was all over the news due to its report of 5 millionth nightly booking. In 2011, the travel network raised $112 million and generated $1.3 billion in revenue. The company is just 4 years old and is already changing the way that people travel. Certainly behind Airbnb's success is it's Global Vision with various strategies. 

After a marketing team was formed, the founders focused on the development of the business in the Unites States. Once the managers knew the functionality of the market in the U.S, they introduced it to the rest of the world.
Airbnb learned its lesson due to past issues like cases of users homes been vandalized. The strategy to avoid this problems was to focus on the costumer service part of the company. With a call center and a $50,000 insurance policy, Airbnb believes that they will be able to avoid bad ratings and improve its reputation. 

In order to expand globally they opened new offices in new locations all over the world. They got more investors like the popular actor Ashton Kutcher and advisors like LinkedIn (a professional network) to work in the company's behalf.
Airbnb also tried to create a way to inspire users to travel. They came out with "Wish Lists", a strategy that refers new users to explore Airbnb when current users post their dream places on Facebook. 

The management team realized that Airbnb was been used for more than just renting rooms. Users started to rent out cars, parking lots and more unexpected things. This factor helped them to envision the possibility of a new market. Basically they want to become the new Ebay in a concept where users can rent all kind of physical assets through their service. 

Airbnb goals are on the right path. Hopefully very soon we will be able to appreciate a new 

concept. It is just a matter of time. 

Ch 4 The Marketing Enviroment

 
                                                                     Airbnb

Airbnb contribuiting to Americas Recession.

“Every little thing counts in a crisis.” 
Jawaharlal Nehru

For some people, Airbnb was just a business that claimed to solve the economic crisis but it created more problems than solutions. Opponents cited the cases of vandalism to user's homes and the porcentage of rental contract demands.
But after ''Fortunes Magazine'' showed up with real case studies of people that used Airbnb to deal with mortgages and avoid foreclosure from the banks. The travel network was more like a ''life saver'' for thousands of hosts like Debra Gutsi who abandoned her job to take care of her ill grandmother and that saved her house from foreclosure, or like Michael Board who currently is paying his house mortgage in a 30 % rate monthly.
Recession hit hard between 2007 and 2010, millions were victims of this economic recession. However, in 2008 Airbnb lunched in the market early enough to help others hold on to their homes.

                                         Users that saved their homes with Airbnb in the recession


Airbnb and Amazon- Technological factors.

Airbnb uses tech tools like iPhone and Android applications to track its users activities and forward them to their main website. They have signficant technology demands and use Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing to increase productivity and to scale quickly with low capital requirements. AWS allows Airbnb to rent 200 computers and charges them only for the time of the usage. In this way, companies like Airbnb can reduce their capital expenses by paying the rental server expense over time instead of paying up front. Amazons also offers Relational Database Services (RDS) which Airbnb chose because it reduces the database administrative overhead. Cloud computing servers like AWS made Social-Tech companies like Airbnb become more efficient at a low cost by adjusting to companies' needs.

Airbnb Legal Factors

Legislators debate Airbnb legibility on issues regarding the violation of rental closures and laws. Subletting apartments violates most rental agreements. Most tenants do not get in trouble, but many are fearful that any moment they can get involved in law suits from their landlords. However, Airbnb makes it clear that they do not take responsibility regarding these actions.

Ch. 3 Ethics and Social Responsibility

''A man does what he must.. in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers, and pressures.. and that is the basis of all human morality.''John F. Kennedy

The guiding principles of Airbnb are trust and honesty. With a social marketing oriented business, Airbnb must show its costumers that its morals and ethics are a major priority. The travel network's most important objective is to build up relationships between "hosts" and "guests." The company encourages members to preserve a commitment of honesty and trust with each other. The reason is simple: when people rent their place, they are taking a risk by welcoming strangers, and they are expecting someone who was raised with respect, honesty and trust. It is important because they are sharing their home. Without ethical behavior Airbnb could go out of business very easily.

Taking Responsibility  

In spite of its impressive statistics, such as $112 million of founding, Airbnb experienced a series of ups and downs that almost ruined the company's reputation. In 2011 EJ, a host, blogged about an incident with a guest who ransacked her apartment. This attracted the attention of TechCrunch, a popular technology blog, which spread the news to everyone in the community.
Unfortunately, the company did not see coming the potential magnitude of these consequences. The ethical decision was to take action after this incident by investigating the claims and reimbursing her for any damages.  EJ's case among others made Airbnb extend their guideline in the code of ethics. On July 1st, the corporate board took social responsibility by offering $50,000 of insurance policy,in order to prevent unfortunate incidents like these and to regain the user's trust.

Ch. 2 - Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage 
Airbnb's objective plan was very standard: get the right costumers for their market place, enroll users, inspire others besides tourists, and raise their popularity into different locations.Airbnb has no chicken and the egg problem!Their competitive advantage is based on their network effects to buyers and sellers, both of them make the traveling network a unique way to make money from both sides. With a good brand, they can count on a strong community of people who trust them. How did their marketing team figure out how to do it?They started by launching ads, using platforms and channels to stream videos in Youtube and Google by using online services like True View. Their objective was focused on the geographic location of their costumers and by using these tools they got about 750,000 clicks on their True View Videos.“Google has been tremendously cost-efficient because of the scale. When we see something is working, we scale it up, and when something is not, we optimize it, or we turn it off. The tools are definitely the most powerful,” Blecharczyk ( founder) said.After all  Airbnb does not pay for every played video -- they pay just the ones that have been on for a certain period of time. Thumbs up! Airbnb, I hope you can be pet friendly as well.

Ch. 1 Overviw of Marketing (Brief History and Mission Statement)

HISTORY:

The great pioneer idea that changed the way of traveling, Airbnb was started in 2007 by Joe Gebbia, Brian Chesky and Nathan Blecher when they offered their place to frustrated visitors who could not find an hotel room in town. They saw the opportunity and realized how many people were aiming for a more affordable and enjoyable stay during their visits to new places. Later on the three pioneers embarked on their way to success!
What started in a small apartment in Chicago, now is in 192 countries, with houses,  mansions and even entire Islands all over the world. With the promising income for hosts and the desirable rates for guests, Airbnb shows a new spot on the horizon.

MISSION:

Airbnb connects hosts that are willing to rent their space with guests that want to give it a try. Besides building up friendships, they get to choose their place based on their preferences, by exploring their destination and culture choice, with the nice help of their special tourists guides and chefs as a hosts, all including in the package. This additional money entrance for users make of this site a really interest option of business that can also save some money to our pockets.

(Source: http://www.airbnb.com/home/goldenrules)