Strategy question

What should Airbnb's strategy be during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Practice this question out loud. An AI interviewer asks it, follows up like a real interviewer would, and scores your answer. Type or speak.

What this question tests

Crisis strategy: reprioritizing a roadmap and business model when core demand collapses overnight.

State the immediate reality: travel demand cratered, hosts lost income, and guests canceled bookings en masse in 2020.
Segment the response: protect the host side (income, cancellation policy fairness) and the guest side (refunds, trust) separately.
Identify a near term opportunity: shift marketing and product toward local and long term stays, since cross border travel stopped.
Propose product changes: flexible cancellation policies, filters for month plus stays, and outdoor or remote listings.
Address the cost side: pause discretionary spend and headcount growth to preserve runway during the demand collapse.
Plan for recovery: keep the marketplace liquid (both sides active) so it can snap back once travel resumes.

Splits the response into host trust, guest trust, and cash runway, which mirrors what Airbnb actually had to manage.
Identifies the specific pivot to local and extended stays as the real opportunity in a no travel world.
Names the tension directly: fair cancellation refunds for guests versus protecting host income, and proposes a policy that balances both.
Gives an illustrative metric, e.g. assumes tracking active listings and booking rate for stays over 100 miles from home.

Treating this as a generic 'cut costs' answer without addressing the two sided marketplace trust problem.
Ignoring the host side entirely and focusing only on guest experience.
No mention of preserving marketplace liquidity for the eventual recovery.

Chapters of the AI PM course that teach what this question tests.