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Wednesday 4 June 2014

Highlights For Hosts: New Flat Pages

Enhancements To Your Flat Listing

As you can see we've done a spring refresh on flat postings: better navigation, more information, and auto-populated details about your flat. Here's more info about the specific enhancements:

1. New Layout & Improved Navigation

We’re using a more intuitive layout where the most important information is highlighted. Gone are the tabs - now everything is scrollable on one page and internally linked through 4 icons - Pictures, Flat & Host, Location & Transport, and Reviews. The new cover photo will help hosts share more about their property & get guests excited - we think it is a great place to highlight a particularly attractive area of your flat, or what you see when you look outside your window.

2. Improved Descriptions

We’ve highlighted some key points on your flat posting, and automated them into your flat description. Guests are frequently curious to know if there is an en-suite, wi-fi available, and whether or not a room is private or shared. So, we’ve taken the information you’ve already given on your posting and made it easier for your guests to find. Another query guests often have is about the area around the property; we’ve created neighborhood guides to better explain the different boroughs of London, and we’ll be rolling out more cities as time goes on. That all means less questions for you.

3. Calendar Tab Updates

We've adjusted the way we calculate available/not available on the calendar to account for check-in and check-out dates. Now, when a guest is checking into a flat, that is counted as a 'half day not available', rather than the entire day not being available. This means more freedom & accuracy for checking in and out.

4. Map Updates

We've made some huge updates to the map, which will make it easier for guests to answer their own questions about your flat. Transportation & amenities near flats will be overlaid on the map via Yelp API. Transportation is a hot topic among guests so hosts field a lot of questions regarding it - we're pleased that we now can show the three nearest public transit options from the flat and give guest’s an estimated commute time, right on your flat’s page.

5. More Info on Hosts

Now more prominently displayed on the flat posting is information about the host. Most importantly, your response speed & latest calendar update are displayed, so being a proactive and responsive host pays off even more! Since we’ve made the host’s information more visible on the page, we also suggest adding a personalized description & profile photo if you have not yet done so.

We're really proud of all the extras & improvements we've made to flat postings - is there anything else that you’d like to see?

 Let us know on Twitter & Facebook!