Airbnb wants to help you avoid those awkward money-related conversations with your friends.
In a model similar to Uber’s fare split, the home-sharing giant is testing a feature that would allow customers to split the cost with multiple people.
Here’s how it would work: Let’s say you’re booking an Airbnb for a group of friends. Instead of charging the full amount on your credit card and then tracking down each individual for their payment, you’d be able to split the cost 16 ways.
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Airbnb told tech news site the Next Web that “this is a small, initial pilot,” so it’s unclear when it’ll be available to the public.
The company announced another update several weeks ago in effort to improve the user experience. Airbnb took steps to streamline its check-in process by allowing hosts to easily create an in-app guide with photos and text instructions for guests.
Founded in 2008 as an air mattress bed and breakfast rental platform, Airbnb has grown into a sharing economy behemoth valued at $31 billion. It recently expanded its revenue channels, adding capabilities such as restaurant reservations, events, and meet-ups. It projects annual revenues of up to $3.5 billion by 2020.
