By 2011, Airbnb was already in 89 countries and had more than 1 million bookings. The same year, some of the valleys most prominent venture capital firms invested $112 million in Airbnb, which was valued at more than $1 billion. But soon after, the company faced criticism when guests started trashing their hosts places. In 2012, the company implemented a host guarantee, which provides hosts with up to $1 million to cover any property damage they experience as a result of guests.

The company also faced problems resulting from hosts getting evicted or fined for renting their places out. This caused major regulation headaches for the company. In 2014, the company introduced its new logo called the Belo, a symbol of belonging. But despite focusing on belonging, cities started to reject Airbnb. New York threatened to ban Airbnb and fire every host in 2014. Many laws were implemented to make it more difficult for hosts to rent out their apartments. Even San Francisco wasnt happy.

The company spent almost $8 million to fight a citizen-led ballot aiming to limit Airbnb rentals. The company tried to focus on its Belonging anywhere promise. It started collecting hotel taxes from hosts and giving it to municipalities and gave cities some of their data as community compact. In July 2016, Senator Elizabeth Warren urged the Federal Trade Commission to focus on websites like Airbnb that were making housing shortages worse. Two other senators signed the letter.

Since 2016, the company has launched many new services and made many acquisitions. They include Airbnb experiences, Luxury retreats, Niido, Airbnb plus, HotelTonight, and so on. In September 2019, Airbnb announced it was going public in 2020.The company is now valued at $31 billion and does business in 191 countries. Originally Airbnb had no budget to spend on marketing, so it had to be creative.

Question

Identify marketing challenges faced by Airbnb and suggest FIVE (5) recommendations for Airbnb to improve its current marketing practices. Your FIVE (5) recommendations must include (1) a product strategy, (2) a pricing strategy, (3) a distribution strategy and (4) a marketing communications strategy, and (5) a global marketing strategy. Each recommendation should be clearly justified. Please use relevant marketing theories and concepts you have learnt from this course.