Airbnb Unveils Revamped Mobile and Web Interface Alongside New Logo

Airbnb, announcing a major rebranding effort, unveiled a new logo and an overhauled website design on Wednesday. The announcement was made by Founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia from the apartment where Airbnb (Airbedandbreakfast) was formed in 2007.

The redesign includes a new symbol called 'Belo' that is supposed to represent belonging, and a revamped Web and mobile interface that according to the founders better reflects "the people who make up this community."

The new design features "immersive, cinematic photography", brand new typeface and colour schemes, and other changes to better highlight the cities as well as bed and breakfast properties.

Also new, is an improved Discover section, and a revamped booking process. Airbnb's new Discover section now shows nearby listings and destinations based on the user's location, replacing the city and neighbourhood information from the previous design, and bringing it into lodging's listing page.

The listing pages have also been completely redesigned, with large images, ratings, and other details about the type of lodging, from amenities provided to total occupancy size. As TechCrunch notes, the bookings widget on each listing page remains visible even as users scroll through other information.

"We have redesigned every single page of the user experience across the web and mobile to bring our new identity to life," said Chesky on the company's blog post on Wednesday.

Created in partnership with a UK-based design studio, the new Belo logo represents Airbnb's ambitions as a global hospitality brand. The company has also released a video explaining the new symbol.

Airbnb is a service for people to rent-out their homes and other properties as lodging, connecting lodgers with home and 'bed and breakfast' property owners. Founded in August 2008 with the name Airbedandbreakfast.com, it was shortened to Airbnb.com in March 2009. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company is privately owned and operated by Airbnb Inc.

Since 2008, the rental service company has grown dramatically as it announced 1 million booking milestone in Febrary 2011. The company has over 500,000 listings in 33,000 cities and 192 countries. As of April, the total valuation of the company was $10 billion.

"We were growing so fast, it became one of those things where you say you'll figure it out later, but then you never end up doing it because you're too busy," added Chesky.