Lodging Experience with HomeAway

Our HomeAway property in the Castro Neighborhood

The beautiful view from the patio.

On the second night of our San Francisco experience, the lodging group stayed at a one bedroom, one bathroom property in the Castro neighborhood. During the search or exploration stage of our customer journey with HomeAway we were frustrated. It was very difficult to find a property to rent for one night only. The majority of two bedroom properties within San Francisco area had two night minimums and there was no way to filter those properties out of the search results. Furthermore, we found that many of the HomeAway property listings we were interested in, contained out of date calendars that showed the properties as available even though they weren’t. Finally, we found the pricing of the HomeAway units to be a bit deceiving. For example, in the first photo below, the two bedroom listed in the search results, states the price is $275 per night, however once we clicked the ‘request to book button’, the price increases to $496 per night due to hidden fees and service charges (as shown in the second photo below). Overall, the search stage of our HomeAway customer experience was a low point in the journey and allowed us to recognize several key insights regarding improvements to the HomeAway search criteria.

Initial Price of Property shows $275/night

After clicking "Request to Book" the price increased to $496/night for the same property.

Once we were able to find a reserve an available property, for one night only, within our price range, our customer journey only improved. The high point of our HomeAway emotional journey was during the arrival stage. Romanus, the property owner, was out of town during our stay but was still able to provide exceptional hospitality. He allowed us to store our luggage early in the morning, so that we did not have to take them with us to the Airbnb and Uber office visits. He also left us a personalized welcome note that reiterated key information (see photo C). Throughout, our stay he checked in via text message and also provided us with a guest book (photo D) filled with recommendations for places to eat, things to do, and simple answers to common FAQs. Finally, after we checked out, he thanked us for staying at his property and invited us to return anytime. Although, Romanus was out of town for our stay, his exceptional level of hospitality elevated our HomeAway customer experience, which we recognized as a key insight in our analysis of the company.

Welcome Note from our host, Romanus

Guest Book provided by our host, Romanus