Airbnb said Thursday that it is expanding beyond its core short-term rental business, which faces pushback from local governments around the world, to become a fuller service travel agency. In a step toward that, the company launched a service called Trips, which will provide tours, tailored activities and other experiences.
Trips is starting with 500 experiences that can last a few hours or span days. They are created and provided by locals in the 12 cities where the service is initially being offered.
Trips helps travelers “immerse in a local community,” Brian Chesky, the chief executive and co-founder of Airbnb, said at the company’s annual conference for hosts and the press.
The new service helps Airbnb create an additional revenue source as it faces some challenges with its main business of matching travelers with hosts who want to rent out their homes for short stays. While the eight-year-old company lists nearly 3 million short-term rentals in more than 34,000 cities around the world, short-term rentals are illegal in some cities and have run into regulatory gray areas in others.
With Trips, Airbnb is pushing deeper into the travel market and allowing people to make extra money in a way that might be less controversial than the short-term rental market. Airbnb began thinking about creating Trips in 2012. It has been in a private testing phase for several months.
J.C. Rodriguez, an artist in Miami who offers a two-day experience called Behind the Art, helps visitors meet with local artists in their studios and create their own pieces. He currently keeps the $150 fee he charges per person, which covers a meal and art supplies, but Airbnb will soon take a 20 percent cut of that income.
In addition to Trips and restaurant reservations, users will be able to rent cars through Airbnb, book flights and add perks such as grocery delivery to their short-term rentals.
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| Brian Chesky, chief executive of Airbnb, speaking on Thursday in Los Angeles about Trips. Mike Windle/Getty Images for Airbnb |
Article edited from The New York Times
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