Fix the worst post-booking failures for Airbnb guests

How would you fix the worst post-booking failure points for Airbnb guests, such as last-minute host cancellations or missing keys?

Context

Most stays go well, but failures after booking (cancellations, check-in problems, listing not as described) hurt trust far more than any search improvement helps.

Clarifying questions to ask first

Which failures are most frequent vs most severe?
Who pays for fixes?
Any markets in focus?

How to approach it

Clarify the business goal and tie the product to the company's mission before touching solutions
Segment users by behaviour or need (not just age), cover the whole ecosystem, and pick one segment with explicit criteria
Walk the end-to-end journey and separate real pain points from feature requests
Brainstorm a range of solutions (quick fix, data/ML, moonshot) and prioritise with impact vs effort
Define a North Star, funnel metrics and guardrails, then call out risks, edge cases and mitigations

Framework: Goal & mission -> Ecosystem & segment choice -> Journey & pain points -> Solutions & prioritisation -> Metrics & guardrails -> Risks & edge cases

Sample answer

Guests by trip type: families, business, late-night arrivals
Hosts by type: professional vs casual
Severity is highest when the guest is already travelling

Journey: booked > pre-arrival > travel > check-in > stay > checkout
Solutions: cancellation risk prediction, automatic rebooking with credit, check-in readiness checklist, 24/7 rapid response
Metrics: North Star = stays without a serious incident; guardrails = rebooking cost, host cancellation rate

Predict risky bookings early and automatically rebook guests at Airbnb's cost when it fails. Measure incident-free stays, guarded by rebooking cost.

What interviewers look for

Journey mapping after booking
Prioritising by severity and frequency
Operational fallback design
Host vs guest incentives