The travel industry is booming more than ever before, and there are more and more people renting out their properties as vacation rentals, which means a unique app idea like Airbnb has a huge potential to become the next big thing. Making an app like Airbnb has captured the attention of customers and the market with exceptional success.
With 900 million stays booked on Airbnb to date, it is one of the biggest brands in vacation rentals. The Airbnb service allows people to rent out their homes or apartment to earn extra income. With the help of mobile phones and tablets, visitors can now find and book accommodations, compare them with other options, and pay with a single click in a variety of locations around the globe.
Many people have talked about the vacation rental niche being oversaturated. The popularity of build Airbnb clone app can be attributed to its peer-to-peer connection between hosts and guests.
If you’re planning to make an app like Airbnb, you need to consider various features in order to know the cost of travel application development.
How does Airbnb Work?
An online vacation rental marketplace like Airbnb connects people seeking accommodation with people interested in renting their properties. The online hospitality marketplace offers excellent options for customers as well as property owners. You should consider the working mechanism that involves both the client and host viewpoints if you want to build an Airbnb clone app.
If you are keen to learn about how Airbnb actually works, its business model, and revenue insights, then this guide is recommended for you.
How does Airbnb Works for Guests
- Registration requires guests to log in with a phone number/email address/Apple ID/Facebook account and confirm their registration by sending an email.
- Identify your target location (city or country) and find a place to stay for a short period of time or a monthly stay, depending on your requirements.
- Set your dates and budget when finding a stay at your preferred location.
- Fill in with the number of guests, rooms, and amenities you would like to get comfortable in.
- See the property images, contact number, address, and reviews of the previous guests to decide better.
- The last step is to book your stay and pay the required amount according to Airbnb regulations.
- The only thing you need to do is show up at the time agreed upon, enjoy the tour, and leave a review when the trip ends.
How does Airbnb Works for Hosts
- Log in with your phone number/Email address/Apple ID/Facebook and add your personal details.
- The host can now list their space to rent out.
- You need to provide all applicable information on Airbnb like rental space type (house, apartment, hotel), property address, number of rooms, beds, and bathrooms, amenities list, free wifi or breakfast, and all necessary items. You can easily upload the latest photos/videos.
- List your prices according to per night and month.
- Follow rules and regulations of Airbnb when listing your property by responding to messages and calls from guests.
- Payment will be received by the host within 24 hours after the guest checks in.
Airbnb Vacation Rental App Features
1. Sign Up
Apps like Airbnb must be secured to ensure user safety and ensure proper verification. The app allows users to sign up with their phone number, email address, or social media account. After verifying their details, the users can log in, host, or book accommodation any time they prefer to like.
2. Profile Management
User profiles can be managed and maintained by editing or updating personal details such as email address, alternate phone number, date of birth, permanent address, etc.
3. Search Feature
Airbnb recently upgraded its system to allow users to search for destinations based on listings and dates that are flexible. To build an Airbnb clone app, you must include this feature. You can search for destinations and available accommodations using the search option.
4. Property Listing
The feature allows hosts to update information like photos of the properties, amenities, rates, identifications, addresses, and documents associated with the property.
5. Push Notifications
This feature allows users to receive updates whenever they search for a place in a particular city. Suppose a guest has searched the room at a particular location, then he/she will be notified with a list of rental properties via push notifications.
6. In-App Chat
It is one of the best features needed for the best customer support & engagement. Guests can communicate with the host via chat and messages even before booking. Furthermore, hosts have the right to approve or reject the requests, and they may also create new ones instantly. Whenever the guest or host has a question, they can chat with each other to agree on a solution.
7. Geolocation Feature
Make an app like Airbnb that uses a geolocation feature to display the prices of all available apartments on the map. You can change the geolocation map by dragging, dropping, or zooming it according to the information about the apartments. On clicking the marker, detailed information about the property will appear so guests can find the exact location easily.
8. Cancellation Feature
Aside from creating easy-to-use features for booking accommodations, the users should be able to cancel their bookings without hassle when necessary. In this regard, your app platform needs to have a cancellation policy for both the guest and host panels. The most effective way to figure out is to research how to cancel is to look at successful travel apps.
9. Ratings and Reviews Feature
This feature allows guests to submit their reviews, ratings, and feedback without any hesitation. Also, property owners can rate guests and provide feedback about their behavior during their stay.
10. Booking History
Using this option, guests and hosts can view booking history, payments, and generated revenues for the past, present, and future.
11. Payment Management
A guest can select from multiple payment options, including currency, based on his or her convenience. The recipient will receive the receipt after the payment is made, which will include the payment details. There are many similar apps to Airbnb, and for the new ones, it is a must to survive in the market.
12. Coupons and Offers
Using the coupon code, the guest receives a discount or a coupon by referring other people.
Sounds like too many features to add to the app, which is going to add up more cost. You can simply avoid it by getting started with the prototype app development initially.
Steps on How to Make an App like Airbnb
If you jump into coding too quickly, your app may not be of the highest quality. Your chances of surviving an app are low when you start coding without proper planning. Your first step should be to conduct market research on the vacation rental app.
Research allows you to understand the market's needs so you can design your app to meet those needs. Make sure the app you develop solves the problem 10x better than anything else on the market.
- Writing your high-level app objectives is the first step how to create an app like Airbnb.
- In order to create an app that is both host and guest-friendly, you need to determine its core features.
- It is best to choose one platform Android or iOS when designing a new app. Developing cross-platform apps increases your development costs and complicates the app creation process. It is therefore better to understand the benefits and drawbacks of both platforms and choose the one that best suits your business goals.
This well-elaborated article on the native vs cross platform vs hybrid can help you choose the suitable app development platform.
- When you decide what platform you will develop your app for, the next step is to design the look of the app before developing the code. Using the prototype, the user can interact with features of the app, such as clicking on objects. Additionally, by creating wireframes, mockups, and prototypes, you can learn and refine several aspects of the application before the development team starts to code.
- The steps outlined above should have led you to this point, where you can launch your app to the market.
Cost to Build Airbnb Clone App
Creating a vacation rental app like Airbnb, which is interactive and has a dynamic user interface, can cost you a lot. For your application to provide the best service, you'll need a team of professionals like Project Managers, Business Analysts, UI/UX Designers, Android/iOS Developers, Backend and Frontend Developers, QA Testers, etc.
The cost range will start from 45,000 USD on average when you consider these factors like team size, location, app design, app platforms, and app features for the host panel, guest panel, and tech stack.
If you really want to know about the cost to make an app like Airbnb, this app cost calculator is here to help you.
Conclusion
Travel apps are a trending niche, and the competition is tight. Therefore you need to add unique features to your app in order to make it stand out from the crowd. To get your company off to a successful start, implement these steps to make an app like Airbnb.
Do you want to discuss your vacation rental app idea? We are one of the leading mobile app development companies in Dubai. Get a free consultation now.
