Airbnb no longer wants to be (alone) the place you go to search and book the house where you will spend your next vacation. That, He assured Tuesday His co -founder and CEO, Brian Chesky, has fallen short. With the tourism market upthe recent memory of pandemic and regulatory challenge every time More presentAirbnb has decided to undergo one of the biggest changes he has lived in its 18 years of history. Its objective: to be a comprehensive tourist platform.
And that happens to facilitate the search for accommodation, but also offer Hairdressers, chefs, masseuses, or even a plan to learn flamenco in Madrid or riding a horse in Cuzco. Everything you need for your trip.
“Much more than Airbnb”. The phrase is from Chesky and although it could perfectly go through a commercial slogan, it captures well the essence of the change that the company wanted to apply to the summer doors of 2025. After 18 years of travel, Millions of active ads And more than 2,000 million registered stays, Airbnb has decided to undergo an image change and expand its scope. His idea is very simple: he no longer wants to limit himself to accommodation management.
Now the app will also allow to hire services and experiences. Do you want a personal coach? You have it. Do you want to resort to the services of a chef, a masseuse or an original experience, such as a gastronomic route, a horse ride or shopping with a stylist? You have it too. Airbnb’s goal is to make the leap to services and complete the experience of tourists.
Why’s that? The company assures who wants to stand up to his main competitor: the hotels. “Often people decide Explain.
The truth is that its new business turn arrives in a stage marked by other factors, not only the competition that accommodations can exercise.
Challenges on the horizon. After almost 20 years of accelerated expansion and add millions of offers in much of the planet (in 2024 Statista spoke Of almost eight million advertisements in 100,000 cities), Airbnb has seen how its regulatory scenario has been complicated. In New York They have put limitsin Norway it applies A ratein cities like Madrid or Florence Its expansion has been stopped by Moratory and restrictions on the opening of new tourist floors and in Barcelona directly wants to end With them.
And that to quote just some examples of territories that have moved to paliar tab The impact of the sector in its residential market. The company has also suffered A fall In the stock market Regarding 2024 before business and BBC precise That, despite the strength of his latest profits, Airbnb has warned that the increase in reserves could slow down this quarter.
Two ideas: services and experiences. Airbnb has decided to articulate its new offer around those two groups: services and experiences. The first has in turn divided it into 10 categories among which are chefs that prepare food at home, photographers, masseuses, coaches, hairdressers or catering. Airbnb says that it has “evaluated the knowledge and reputation” of all its “hosts” and guarantees that they have an average of ten years of experience, have contributed the necessary permits and also verified their identity.
“Best of all, it is not necessary assures. Regarding prices, options are included for less than 50 euros. Airbnb presumes in addition to having recognized professionals (chefs with Michelin stars) and offers that can only be hired through the platform itself.
Go out of route or go shops. The other leg of the new Airbnb offer are the “experiences”, available a priori in several hundred cities. As an example the company quotes A route For the Parisian heritage with an architect who has documented the reconstruction of Notre-Dame, Kitchen classes With a Japanese chef, excursions on horseback by Inca sacred places with an anthropologist or a Fight class in a Mexican ring with a professional fighter. Again, Airbnb presumes that part of those experiences are “Airbnb Originals”.
And how do you intend to do it? Airbnb Clarify That the services will start in 260 cities with a dozen different categories, “although new types of offers and additional locations will appear in the app every so often,” he says. As for the experiences, they will be launched in more than 650 cities in the world. The country Precise that services and experiences will be available in destinations such as Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga or Seville. For example, flamenco classes are included, a visit to the meadow, wines and oils or tapas routes.
To articulate the new Airbnb offer, it has also decided to “totally renew” its app to facilitate that it becomes a comprehensive travel platform: a tool with which to reserve stay, services and plans. “When users reserve accommodation, the application will suggest services and experiences depending on where they are going to stay and who will accompany them,” Clarify.
The change comes more than two years later that Chesky proposed to transform the company and an investment that would be around 250 million dollars.
Images | Zed Mendez (UNSPLASH) and Airbnb
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