Choosing a North-Star Metric and Guardrails for Airbnb's Local Activities Marketplace

Airbnb Experiences lets guests book activities led by local hosts, such as tours, classes and workshops, through the Airbnb app. What would success look like for Experiences, and how would you measure it? ```hint Decide what Experiences is for Experiences can be judged as a business in its own right or by how much more valuable it makes Airbnb to people booking stays. Settle which role matters most before choosing a headline metric, because the two roles point to different numbers. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Is Experiences judged mainly as its own revenue line, or by what it adds to the core stays business, such as more trips or more loyal guests? - Which stage is the product in: still building host supply and awareness, or mature and expected to earn a profit? - Are people who book an activity without a stay, such as locals, part of the target audience? - Is this the long-term success measure leadership tracks each quarter, or the measure for one specific launch? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - The product's purpose for guests, for hosts and for Airbnb, stated before any metric - One north-star metric that reflects value delivered to both sides of the marketplace, with an exact definition and a reason it beats alternatives such as gross bookings - Supporting metrics across the guest funnel and the host side: discovery, conversion, supply and availability, quality, and repeat use - Guardrails, including effects on the core stays business and on trust and safety - How the metrics would be read: by segment and city, with seasonality, and with cause separated from correlation ### Follow-up Questions - Experiences bookings rise, but stay bookings among guests who book an experience are flat. Is that success, and how would you tell? - Your north-star metric jumped after Airbnb began showing experiences more prominently in the app. How would you check whether that growth is new value or attention moved from elsewhere? - How would your definition change if Airbnb wanted Experiences mainly to attract people who are not traveling?