There’s too much guesswork in renting an Airbnb. The short-term rental giant is trying to fix that

By DAVID KOENIG
AP Business Writer

Airbnb says the biggest reason it loses some bookings to hotels is that people never know exactly what their Airbnb rental will look like until they check in. So the company is trying to change that, by creating a new category of listings with very high ratings from guests. Airbnb said Wednesday it will roll out this and other changes this week. CEO Brian Chesky says there will be 2 million “Guest Favorites” out of Airbnb’s 7 million listings. He expects that Guest Favorites will charge more but they will be more predictable, like a hotel room.