Airbnb rolls out new features to encourage more owners to list properties

The company is also deploying a new anti-party screening tool, which uses machine learning to predict listings that may be a location for unauthorized gatherings. — AFP

Airbnb Inc. is rolling out new guest verification tools and offering extra support to beginner hosts in an effort to encourage more owners to list their properties on the home-rental platform.

The San Francisco-based company expects more people to become hosts to bring in a second source of income as the economy slows. To help them feel safer with the prospect of renting their homes to strangers, Airbnb is expanding its identity verification process to the 35 most popular countries. The company says that will help build trust between its 4 million hosts and their guests, who will need to identify themselves with a government ID and other information, along with a selfie. Airbnb will corroborate the information through a third-party database.