Andrea La Mesa, Airbnb
His curiosity and passion for risks brought him to San Francisco.
Andrea La Mesa, 35, is the former General Manager, North America at Airbnb and now Director of Operations of Airbnb Trips.
I met him in Rome in 2006, when we had some friends in common and both shared a strong passion for digital media. I rarely interview friends, but Andrea had such an amazing career with one of the most disruptive startups that I decided to make an exception.
One of the best (and least known) Airbnb growth hack: in 2011 Airbnb began offering hosts free professional photography services. This had a huge impact on growth. What was the following milestone and what growth hack did you use to reach it?
“A careful selection of images has been a decisive factor to enhance the unique quality of homes available on Airbnb. And enticing new guests to try us.
More recently, we focused on our community of hosts, inviting the most experienced to accept instant bookings. So, when a guest sends a request for available dates, this is automatically accepted without the need for the host to respond.
Instant bookings are growing rapidly and are currently available on 60% of listings.
It goes without saying that instant bookings are indispensable for business travelers, which are in fact rewarding our ever-growing number of business listings.
Other features are the ability to do self check-ins, wi-fi connection and the availability of a workstation.”
Airbnb Experiences
More on Airbnb Experiences: do you think there is a way to exploit them for businesses too? For example, offering training courses or services for business travelers? What advice would you give to those who want to use them especially in this first period?
“At the moment Experiences focus on leisure, but they are constantly evolving. Business travel is growing fast.
The number of business travelers on Airbnb in the second quarter of 2017 grew by 33% compared to the previous year.
To date, over 250,000 companies have chosen Airbnb for their employees' travels.
Airbnb Experiences
Executives, moreover, are tired of staying in new cities and to spend all their time in a meeting room. The new trend is to extend the stay over the weekend.
Many Experiences focus on a sense of rediscovery and highlight the beauty of a territory. My advice is to start by choosing something that is deeply tied to the traditions of the place you are visiting and to “get your hands dirty”: art lessons and cooking classes, unusual trekking trips, moments of socialization with local communities.
I would say that our daily routines already offer us enough 'passive' experiences.”
What's next? What do you think will be the next future challenge for Airbnb, according to consumers' behaviour?
“We believe that mass tourism has hopelessly entered into a crisis.
Our goal, our aspiration, is to provide an all-round, simple and accessible, unforgettable and authentic travel experience, creating a world where everyone can feel at home.
Experiences have been a natural addition.
Our dream is to revolutionize the journey in every aspect: not just where you sleep, but in the company of who you are and what you do.
We will continue to work to expand the travel experience by introducing flights and new services.”
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Andrea D’Ottavio
About me
I am an experienced tech entrepreneur. I founded Webing Academy, a pop up training academy on a mission to help creative people develop the business they love.
I am also the founder of Webing, the first ever 100% location-independent digital media agency.