Airbnb Adding 50 New Features Including Verified WiFi, Accessibility Reviews

Airbnb is getting a bunch of useful upgrades in the coming months.

Airbnb is rolling out new features, including verified internet speeds at hosts’ homes and options to search for listings up to a year in advance, as the vacation-rental company bets that remote work and flexible travel is here to stay.

The more than 50 new features, announced a day after US borders reopened to foreign tourists, are part of Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky’s vision of a new golden age of travel that was born in the Covid-era, where work and leisure blend together as companies move away from an office-centric lifestyle.

“We are seeing three fundamental shifts in travel as people become less tethered and more flexible,” said Chesky. “People can travel anytime, they are traveling to more places and they are staying longer. The lines between travel, living and working are blurring and we are upgrading our service to make it easier for people to integrate travel into their lives, and for more people to become Hosts.”

Among some of the new upgrades is Verified WiFi, a tool allowing all hosts to test their listing’s internet connection directly on the Airbnb app. They can then have their WiFi speed verified and displayed on the listing page.

Additionally, the short-term rental platform is introducing a translation engine that will automatically translate reviews and listing descriptions in over 60 languages.

Other upgrades include Accessibility Review — an industry-led feature to ensure that Airbnb homes are more accessible for disabled communities — and AirCover, which provides each and every host with $1 million USD damage protection, $1 million liability insurance, and income loss protection, amongst others.