Sharing Economy: Airbnb Programmers Want to Build a 'Digital Interior Designer'

Monday, January 5, 2015, by Spencer Peterson

Photo via Princess and the Geek

Airbnb is very invested in its listings looking nice. Since 2008, the company has offered free professional photography to rooms that meet a certain level of tastefulness, because good-looking, professionally photographed interiors are rented more often, which means more service fees for Airbnb. Now, Bloomberg reports that Airbnb is taking that idea a step further, using "the same magic that Google has"machine learning with big sets of user datato not only pair users with rooms they might like, but to find and push the most "attractive" listings. One day, they might even have a "digital interior designer" to help you spruce up that guest room.

Via Bloomberg:

Eventually, Airbnb may offer a digital interior designer that predicts ways to enhance listings and spruce up homes to increase bookings. "Maybe you should improve your images; maybe you should provide these amenities that are popular," Charkov says. "We want to bring the insights back to the host."

Any day now, future Nate Berkus will arrive in the present, sent back through time by the human resistance to prevent this machine-driven homogenization of taste.

Big Data Knows When You're Going to Quit Your Job Before You Do [Bloomberg via Architizer]

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Sharing Economy: Airbnb Programmers Want to Build a 'Digital Interior Designer'