Nest to offer 30 pct discount to Airbnb 'Superhosts'

Home-automation product company Nest will now offer a 30 percent discount to 'Superhosts' on online hospitality service provider Airbnb, co-founder Brian Chesky, said at an event.

"Over the last few years, some of the biggest companies and the biggest brands pumped us. They said we want to offer discounts to your best hosts, we want to offer discounts on your products, we want to offer unique services and we thought we already have a group of best hosts. So, what if we create a host store with our very best products and discounts that we want to offer them, and so today we are starting our partnership with Nest. Nest has offered 30 percent off select Nest connected home products," Chesky said while unveiling a range of other benefits to 'Superhosts'.

Nest is the first of what the platform envisions as a wider store for discounted smart home devices for 'Superhosts'. Nest will offer a 30 percent discount on Nest thermostats and Nest Protect devices.

The platform which boasts of approximately 400,000 'Superhosts' who go above and beyond for every guest, also announced measures for more visibility and exposure of hosts.

"Airbnb is still not for everyone until today. Today we will show you our roadmap, so that Airbnb is for everyone. It starts with investing in our hosts. We have a partnership with our hosts and it is really about building a strong community and recognising our best numbers. And so the first thing that I want to share with you today is an update to Superhost. Superhost recognises our best hosts. These are hosts that are highly rated but most importantly these are our most iconic hosts. It is super important that we invest in our superhosts," Chesky said.

"We give them a few benefits but we want to invest so much more in them. So today we are offering 14 more benefits that we will roll out over the course of 2018, to bring us to 19 total benefits," he added

The new and updated benefits range from a dedicated search filter which enables guests to narrow their search to Superhosts, to early access to pilot new programs and test products before they are launched to the broader host community.

'Superhosts' will also be one of the first to be considered for Airbnb Plus, a new selection of homes verified for quality and comfort.

Further, they will get featured across Airbnb, from the guest homepage and emails to a 'Superhost' callout on the listing page.

Other benefits, which will be rolled-out in the course of 2018, include search optimisation, custom URL, and a yearly bonus.