Creating an app like Airbnb has become a buzzword today. Airbnb is one of the most popular traveling mobile apps which has dramatically transformed the tourism industry.
It was started in 2008 by the two roommates, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, who wanted to help travelers find a rental property for their holiday tours, family vacations, corporate meetings, and more. This app provides amazing features for travelers for searching and booking accommodation facilities, finding favorite travel destinations, and rental properties across the world.
The problem-solving business model and high-quality features have made Airbnb gain over 150 million active monthly.
This success of Airbnb has created a trend of developing an app like Airbnb in the market. Today, entrepreneurs and startups are looking for creating an app like Airbnb to help them find rental properties for their different traveling purposes. There are many challenges in creating an app like Airbnb that most businesses are not aware of.
You need to focus on various essential things to make the app fully successful. And here in this complete guide, I will tell you how to develop an app like Airbnb successfully.
How does Airbnb work?
Airbnb is primarily a peer-to-peer online marketplace and is meant for two kinds of users- travelers and hosts. It works like a common platform where rental properties are listed and booked by travelers as per their choice. It mainly connects the two types of users-
Guests: These users could be travelers, tourists, couples, families, business travelers, or the corporate person who looks for staying and accommodation facilities or properties. Airbnb allows users to find their favorite property using multiple search filters for their target destinations and give them all the essential information.
Hosts: These users are property owners or individual room owners who want to rent their space for earning some profits. Hosts can communicate with prospective guests within the app and securely receive the payment.
How does Airbnb Make Money?
Airbnb offers services for searching for destinations and rental properties across 160 cities in the world. Airbnb gives a rating and review system for hosts and guests and its prices are set automatically by ML-based algorithms. Startups or business ventures who want to create an app like Airbnb may consider these methods this app uses to make money.
Service fees: Airbnb charges guests (travelers) a certain percentage as their booking fees for availing of the services depending on various factors.
Host commission: Host are charged a defined service fee for every booking and they receive the amount through the platform.
Transaction fees: Airbnb also takes some percentage on every confirmed accommodation reservation to cover the payments processing.
Taxes: It covers the amount for taxes.
Listing fees: Hosts pay a certain amount for listing their property on the app.
Currency exchange: If travelers need to pay using a different currency, they can use Airbnb’s currency converter payment system.
Promoted listings: Hosts pay an extra fee for getting more visibility on the listing.
How To Develop An App Like Airbnb
Step 1: Start With App Ideation Process
The first step of the mobile app development process begins with ideation. You need to think about everything-what services you will offer to customers? What features you will create? How your app will generate profit?
Start researching the market to know what currently users are looking for. Analyze how are your competitors working in the industry and gaining the attention of users.
Step 2: Build UI/UX Design
UI/UX design is a highly important part of mobile app development. This app has complex functionality that enables various services seamlessly. The most challenging task is to provide an engaging user experience. You need to make sure users can access all the services without any hassle and get a seamless experience using your app. Therefore, you should try to hire dedication mobile app development company that can help you in designing compelling app design.
Step 3: Create the Features That Airbnb Has
Airbnb has good features that allow users to use services without any hassle and extra effort. Based on its services, it has two types of users- guests and hosts.
Features for Guests
- Profile registration
- Profile management
- Search functionality
- Search filters
- Listings
- Favorites
- Maps and geolocation
- Recommendations
- Chat
- Booking
- Notifications
- Payment system
- Currency converter
- Users’ reviews and ratings.
- Customer support
- Booking history
- Social media integration
Features for Hosts
- Profile sign up and log in
- Profile management
- Listing creation
- Requests
- Bookings
- Chat
- Ratings and reviews
- Payment system
Features for Admin (App Owner)
- Admin Panel & Dashboard
- Assign Requests Manually
- Fare Project Management
- Listings management
- Bookings management
- Feedback and complaints
- App Analytics
Step 4: Choose the Technology Stack
Airbnb has a complex level of functionality that execute many operations like mobile payments, searching destinations through geolocation and maps, property listing, and adding HD pictures. You need to choose the right tech stack to build all the required features and functions. Here is the most common tech stack which can be used for developing an app like Airbnb.
Programming languages: JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3, TypeScript
Frameworks: React.js, Angular, Vue, Node.js,
Cross-platform mobile app: Flutter, React.js + React Native
Cloud storage: Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage
Cloud hosting: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Azure
Database: PostgreSQL, MySQL
Native mobile app: Kotlin or Swift
Global payment s: Braintree, Stripe, PayPal
Step 5: Conduct Test and Deploy the App
Create the MVP version of your app and test how it performs across all the mobile platforms. Conduct multiple rounds of tests to detect if there is any bug hidden in the app and ensure it is free from any potential errors. After conducting the tests, let the QA team ensure the app perfectly meets all parameters.
The Bottom Line
Airbnb is a high-class mobile application. It has many powerful features that allow users to perform different actions easily and quickly. If you want to ensure your app performs best and meets users’ requirements successfully, collaborate with a professional mobile app development company that can help you build a high-performing app like Airbnb.
About the Author
Erma Winter is an Android app developer at MobileCoderz- a reliable mobile app development company that creates custom mobile applications for startups, tech entrepreneurs, and business ventures. She works with different technology experts and developers to develop the app for Android devices. She has very good skills in Android Studio.
