Designing a 10-star experience? Ft. Brian Chesky
If you use Airbnb and give 5 stars, it usually just means nothing bad happened
So, Brian and his team at Airbnb asked themselves, “How would a 6-star experience look like?”
For 6 stars, there’s a bottle of wine waiting for you, some fruit, and a handwritten note to you as you check in
What about a 7-star experience? They get a limo to pick you up at the airport. They figured out you like surfing, so there’s a surfboard waiting for you!
8-star? You get to the airport, and there’s an elephant waiting for you and a parade in your honour. The 9-star experience is the “Beatles check in”… you land: 5,000 teenagers cheering your name. 10-star is you show up, and Elon Musk says, “We’re going to space”.
While an 8, 9 or 10-star experience is out of reach, the exercise helps us imagine what perfect looks like. From there, we can work backwards and ask, "How might we create a 7-star experience? How do we do this at scale?”
Do this, and people will love the experience. They'll preach to friends and colleagues about you.
This is how DirectEd Development becomes the MIT of Africa and how Tison.io becomes the next Infosys.