Airbnb, a well-known short-term accommodation rental service, has expanded its range of services to that of a full-scale travel agency. The newly-named Airbnb Trips is now offering its customers with trip packages that include tourist activities for several destinations.
The San Fransisco-based website has previously been known for allowing homeowners list down their homes and vacant rooms to travelers seeking board and lodging. The site has moved to cover various travel and tourism industries through the inclusion of class, tour, and activity planning and reservations.
Airbnb CEO told The Verge that the goal of the website expansion is to allow locals to share their interests and hobbies with travelers from around the world. The website is seeking to offer new experiences rather than limit itself to accommodation.
The new platform offers a variety of package options that are categorized according to the duration of the activity. Activities may range from anywhere between a few hours to several days, known as single experiences and immersions respectively.
Airbnb Trip has also given users the chance to filter activities by categories such as food, sports, and local favorites. Users will also be given top-recommended activities based on the users' indicated preferences.
As stated in a report by TIME, 12 cities have been included in the website extension's initial launch. Major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Tokyo have been included. The company hopes to extend to more than fifty metro areas by next year.
The company has also made Airbnb Trip compatible with the website's application, available on Android and Apple products. The extension has been added as an extra timeline marked under the application's "Trips" tab.
Looking forward into the future, it is predicted that the site's users may begin offering locally-fueled transportation means going to accommodations or activities. This possibility may make the site and its mobile app a top competitor for ride apps such as Uber and Grab.
However, recently passed bills may jeopardize the operation of Airbnb as states such as California and New York have begun implementing time limits to empty room rental postings. New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, has expressed that short-term rentals may lead to the opening and operation of illegal hotels within the state.
