For 17 years, Airbnb has taken on the hotel industry, and now, two billion guests later, the company is upping the competition. In an announcement today, Brian Chesky, Airbnb’s chief executive, said the company will offer the kinds of services typically found at hotels, including room service, spa treatments and personal training, all bookable on Airbnb’s redesigned app. Other services could include meals prepared by professional chefs, and salon treatments like hair, nails and makeup.
The company is also reimagining Airbnb Experiences, its service that offers tours and events hosted by experts, to emphasize authentic cultural, culinary, sports and wellness activities run by locals. Initial offerings are available in 100 cities, including a tour of the recently restored Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris with Axelle Ponsonnet, one of the architects who restored the cathedral after it partially burned down in 2019. A ramen-making master class in Tokyo with the chef Saburo Ishigoka and a lucha libre training experience with a professional wrestler in Mexico City are among other new experiences.
“Airbnb is currently used as a noun and a verb, and it means a place to stay,” Mr. Chesky said in a recent interview. “The question we then asked was what if you could Airbnb more than an Airbnb and essentially monetize the biggest asset in your life, which is probably not your home but your time, passion and skill set.”
The company tested the idea when it launched Airbnb Experiences in 2016, but faced issues over quality and reliability.
Mitch Bach, the chief executive and co-founder of Trip School, an independent organization that trains tour guides, said the main issue with the original rollout was that the experience providers, though deeply embedded in their local culture, lacked the professionalism of trained tour guides.
Airbnb “purposefully eschewed tourist attractions, which is the bread and butter of a marketplace like Get Your Own Guide or Viator,” Mr. Bach said. “I think their bet was that around that brand and the genius of Airbnb’s position in the market, they could organically scale this, but they found very clearly that they couldn’t.”
In the reboot, Airbnb said it is focusing on quality and professionalism, with rigorous, ongoing vetting of tour providers’ “expertise, reputation and authenticity.”
Mr. Chesky said that the new product is still uniquely “Airbnb.” “We are finding the most interesting people in the world and designing new experiences,” he said, citing the Notre-Dame tour as an example of using an expert outside of the travel industry to offer a unique lens.
In some cities, Airbnb is launching a line of experiences that it calls “originals,” designed specifically for the company. These include pastry-making with the French Bastards Bakery chef Raphaelle Elbaz in Paris, or playing beach volleyball at Rio de Janeiro’s Leblon Beach with the Olympian Carol Solberg. The company is also teaming up with celebrities like Megan Thee Stallion and Sabrina Carpenter to host dancing and glamour sessions.
Airbnb said that many users found the company’s earlier experiences too expensive. At an average price of $65 per person, the new experiences are more affordable, Airbnb said, and are easier to organize. With the new app, users will be able to book homes, experiences and services in one place. Once the bookings are confirmed, a new “trip mode” allows guests to view and edit their itineraries. There is also a social component that allows people to see and interact with people booked on the same experience.
“I’ve always believed that Airbnb was destined to do more than just provide a place to stay,” Mr. Chesky said.
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