United States – Following its implementation of a temporary ban on parties across registered listings globally in August 2020, vacation rental company Airbnb has permanently codified its party ban globally.

According to the company in its official blog, the temporary ban implementation had proved to be effective, as they have seen a 44% year-over-year drop in the rate of party reports. They have also reported that in 2021, over 6,600 guests were suspended from Airbnb for attempting to violate their party ban.

“We know that the overwhelming majority of our Hosts share their homes responsibly, just as the overwhelming majority of guests are responsible and treat their listings and neighbourhoods as if they were their own. In turn, we focus on trying to deter the very rare cases of Hosts who do not operate responsibly, or guests who try to throw unauthorised parties,” Airbnb explained.

The party ban also includes disruptive parties and events that will continue to be prohibited, including open-invite gatherings. So-called ‘party house’ properties will continue to be strictly prohibited as well.

During its temporary ban, Airbnb introduced a 16-person occupancy cap — which was prompted primarily by COVID-19 concerns around large gatherings prior to the introduction of vaccines. As part of the updated policy, and based on feedback from a number of hosts who have listings that can house above 16 people comfortably, they will remove this cap.

“Finally, strong policies must be complemented by strong enforcement. We’ve introduced a number of anti-party measures in recent years to enforce our policy and try, to the best of our ability, to stop both unauthorised parties and chronic party houses,” Airbnb added.

Sydney, Australia – Leading accommodations platform within the sharing economy, y Airbnb, has appointed independent public relations agency, Thrive PR, as its sole PR agency for the ANZ region.

The appointment will see Thrive supporting Airbnb’s consumer and corporate public relations work, and initiating a number of major projects throughout the year. Led out of Sydney, Thrive will be boosting Airbnb’s strategy and creative duties, with specialist support across key locations including Melbourne, Brisbane, and Gold Coast, as well as Perth, and Auckland.

Leilani Abels, Thrive’s founder and managing director, believes that both companies share the same entrepreneurial spirit and passion for community and creating memorable experiences. 

“I’m excited for our consultants to have the opportunity to work with Airbnb’s first-class team, on an incredible brand and with a world leader in its category. We have begun our journey to deliver great value, innovative thinking, and business impact to Airbnb,” said Abels.

In August this year, Thrive has announced the appointment of two new senior hires, namely Natanael Bloch, the new group account director for Melbourne, and Taryn Silver, the new account manager for Sydney, to lead its specialist business team called Business, Purpose, and Brand Reputation.

Singapore – Renowned Singaporean filmmaker Lincoln Lin, known for multiple awards in Mumbai International Film Festival and Singapore World International Film Festival, has launched a global platform Filmplace, which provides filmmakers booking options for filming locations.

Filmplace is the Singaporean filmmaker’s first foray into business where the platform also aims to help the local community in earning revenue for their home spaces.

Through the platform, filmmakers can source for film locations within minutes rather than spending days with a fixer or location manager. Users are able to source locations from anywhere in the world.

“With Filmplace, the production companies can book venues for a few hours or even minutes within their fingertips and there is transparent pricing that is negotiable. In addition to that, there are fresh locations daily that these companies can choose from,” the company said in a press statement.

Filmplace has already been rolled out in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, and South Korea with a supporting office in India. 

“Currently, production companies need to hire a location manager which costs $300-$500 per day to nail down a couple of locations. The companies will then need to receive the locations, so it is very labor-intensive and manual,” Lin commented.

According to Lin, homeowners can monetize their home spaces in the platform where hosts can earn $500 -$2000 for a month, or around $800 per 10 hours, a contrast to earnings from the booking platform Airbnb, where homeowners earn $50-80 per night.

Singapore filmmaker Lincoln Lin, who is also the CEO of Filmplace

In order to get someone’s space enlisted on the Filmplace platform, users must sign up and provide needed information such as pictures of the location that’s going to be listed and the pricing for the company to verify. 

Having reached more than 1600 users, the company said they are beginning to roll out more incentives and convenience for registered hosts.

From 1 January to 28 February 2021, venue owners and homeowners can enjoy reduced service fees from Filmplace for every booking. Regular hosts will be charged a 5% service fee instead of 12% and Pro Hosts will be charged a 3% service fee down from 9%.

With the Pro Host program, space and homeowners can enjoy getting their location featured more prominently on Filmplace. A tier-based rewards system will be introduced sometime mid-2021 so the more bookings that a host gets, the more discount they can enjoy on service fees from Filmplace.

Filmplace will also roll out a mobile app version of its platform this year .

Singapore ﹘The Singapore Tourism Board (STB)  has partnered with Airbnb to co-promote and grow a range of unique and authentic Airbnb experiences on the Airbnb Experiences platform.

Experiences are a feature within Airbnb’s platform that facilitates activities such as workshops and treks, enabling bookers to immerse themselves in the host’s environment. 

The partnership will have three pillars: the development of Singapore Experiences in the new tourism landscape, the co-marketing of destination Singapore, and the facilitating of data and knowledge exchange to enable effective tourism recovery.

For the Singapore Experiences, the two organizations have developed and launched Singapore Virtual Trips, a collection of online experiences hosted by Singapore tourism industry partners and featured on a dedicated landing page on the Airbnb platform. This first-of-kind destination page will also provide compelling Singapore destination content, offering international travelers an opportunity to explore the country virtually during this challenging period. 

Singapore Virtual Trips features a wide array of online experiences, including a sustainability-themed tour at Gardens by the Bay’s Cloud Forest, a virtual visit to Peranakan home museum ‘The Intan’ with owner Alvin Yapp, an interactive bingo tour of the one-north tech precinct by Monster Day Tours, and a behind-the-scenes peek into the rich history of the Old Kallang Airport with Jerome Lim, founder of heritage website The Long and Winding Road. STB said that more tourism industry partners are expected to join this initiative following the first wave.   

In a statement, STB said, “This partnership will encourage Singapore tourism businesses to take their products online and pivot towards innovative hybrid business models, as the industry reimagines the future of tourism.”

Deputy Director of the Cloud Forest at Gardens by the Bay Chad Davis, who will be hosting the ‘A Mountain Under Glass – Cloud Forest’ online experience, commented, “This is an exciting new way for Gardens by the Bay to continue to delight people, enabling us to connect with friends and fans around the world. I look forward to sharing my passion for our Cloud Forest and helping virtual visitors rediscover the region’s most extraordinary cooled conservatory through this unique virtual format.”  

Beyond Online Experiences, both parties will also collaborate in the future to onboard unique and authentic in-person Airbnb Experiences across various categories, including dining, nature, wellness, and the arts. Aimed at the long-term development of the Singapore Experiences sector, both parties will work with local tourism industry partners to continuously offer differentiated and fresh experiences to travelers. 

In terms of the co-marketing initiative, STB and Airbnb will jointly produce a lineup of co-branded content featuring destination Singapore and Airbnb Experiences, to be served across their respective platforms and channels. They also plan to make such content available to travel industry partners via STB’s Tourism Information and Services Hub (TIH).  

In addition, both parties will work towards extending destination information, tools, and benefits to Airbnb Experiences guests  – such as exclusive offers unlocked through sign-ups for the VisitSingapore app.

With data exchanges, on the other hand, Airbnb Experiences and STB will mutually share insights and best practices to grow experience offerings in Singapore and aid in strategic tourism development and recovery. To kick start this, Airbnb Experiences has invited STB to access their City Portal, a first-of-its-kind data-sharing platform built exclusively for governments and tourism organizations to equip them with travel insights and other relevant resources. 

STB said, “Data and knowledge exchange will help both parties onboard more targeted Singapore Experiences, refining tourism products, and services in this new environment through a deeper understanding of the evolving traveler profile.”

Meanwhile, Senior Vice President for Policy and Communications at Airbnb Chris Lehane said that healthy travel meant to travel that keeps the economics local and is authentic to the culture of the destination. 

“In the context of seeking to support such healthy travel, we are excited to be partnering with the Singapore Tourism Board to promote experiential travel in one of the world’s most vibrant and dynamic communities. I have personally enjoyed Airbnb’s Singaporean cooking Experiences and know that such Experiences unlock new ways to discover Singapore through its greatest natural resource – its people. And it is through using the Airbnb platform to showcase the incredible people of Singapore to the world that, working in partnership with the Singapore Tourism Board, we can help support the recovery of international tourism,” said Lehane. 

STB Chief Executive Keith Tan also commented, “STB’s partnership with Airbnb Experiences is a timely one. As travel gradually resumes, we want to focus on strengthening Singapore’s brand image in the minds of audiences around the world, and ensure that our destination remains top-of-mind. This partnership will also give passionate Singapore hosts a world-leading platform to reach out to quality travelers globally, while helping them innovate and explore new business models. We are excited about working with Airbnb, and look forward to breaking new ground together.”