Meet for Airbnb
-
Meet New People in New Places
The Challenge
This project was for a D&AD New Blood brief. The brief was to "Explore how Airbnb can creatively empower their existing community to grow this idea of ‘belonging’ out to a new audience; translate this into a campaign."
My Approach
I wanted to explore meeting new people in new places. I had recently moved to a new city for work and didn't have my old friends around. I wanted to explore ways meeting new people could be made easier. This brief seemed a perfect way to do this. I focused my target audience on solo travellers who are seeking belonging in a new community.
The Outcome
I designed Meet, which is a conceptual feature for the Airbnb app. Meet lets you spontaneously approach and meet up with nearby Airbnb members. The idea is simple four step process. It is quick and accessible to user allowing them to set up meetings on the go.
Client: D&AD New Blood
My Role: Creator
The Issue
Travelling solo has risen +59%* in the past 10 years. Being alone in a new place can be lonely.How do you get into the feeling and spirit of a new location? Where do you start?
* AIG Travel Guard-Solo Travel Trends
The Idea
Meet lets you spontaneously approach and meet up with nearby Airbnb members. Explore new places together. Breaking down the barriers in meeting new people so you never feel alone.
4 Simple Steps
The process is simple and only takes four steps. The idea had to be quick and accessible to user so users can spontaneously set up meetings on the go.
Step 1 - Initiate
The user initiates a meet up by selecting an activity they fancy doing now.
Step 2 - Ask
Requests are sent to nearby members of the Airbnb community, up to 20km away. Requests last up to an 1hour, making them disposable reduces users expectations and keeps them spontaneous.
Step 3 - Response
User gets notified if anyone wants to join them, next steps is for all parties to arrange a time and place to meet.
Step 4 - Meet
The final step is to meet up and have fun with new people in new places. Afterwards users can award badges to the companions they enjoyed meeting. They will sit proudly on their profile celebrating their personality for others to see.
See the Making of Meet
Conclusion
My entry didn’t make the New Blood shortlist but I still see it as a successful project as it allowed me to explore ways to meet new people in a new places. This is something I was struggling with at the time being new to my new location. I would have liked to have spent more time testing the solution to see if it actually worked in practice.