Airbnb Launches Services, Experiences and an All-new app
We were invited to the LA announcement and got hands on in an experience with artist Shantell Martin Airbnb launched in 2008 and forever changed travel for millions of people, created easier …
We were invited to the LA announcement and got hands on in an experience with artist Shantell Martin
Airbnb Launches Services, Experiences and an All-new app
We were invited to the LA announcement and got hands on in an experience with artist Shantell Martin
Airbnb launched in 2008 and forever changed travel for millions of people, created easier rental income for property owners and has had a major impact on housing and investment homes. While this created all kinds of benefits and opportunities, it lacked part of what travelers often seek when traveling—restaurant recommendations, where to find a local expert, or help planning a special event. Airbnb introduced its Experiences in 2016, which extended the brand’s offerings to anyone living in or visiting a location, and today debuted a substantially improved Experiences (along with a subset of curated, celebrity-focused Airbnb Originals), Airbnb Services and a completely new app designed to better integrate these new offerings, further creating more ways to engage with Airbnb.
Airbnb Services include caterers, private chefs, personal trainers, spa, hair, nails and makeup, photography and massage—tapping into vetted local talent and their access (most have an average of ten years experience). Get your photos taken at NYC’s Metropolitan Museum of Art with Brittany; have chef Clair create a hyper-local foraged meal for you and yours in SF; learn Bugaku with Koshiro outside of Tokyo; or let Josephine lead a private yoga session, aromatherpy facial or energy healing session in London. There are hundreds of resources now available in many cities around the world, with more being added consistently. If you have a service to offer, you can apply here.
In addition to the range of Airbnb Experiences that you may be used to seeing—having local experts guide you around a city, its arts and culture, monuments and food scene, you can now up your game with the newly added Originals series, featuring experts and celebrities hosting programs and limited experiences designed exclusively for Airbnb, including a multi-sensory experience with Chance the Rapper in LA, dancing with with principal ballerina Francesca Hayward of the Royal Academy in London, learn how to bind books with Guido in Rome, have a Sunday Funday with Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City or spend a few hours in a mindful creative workshop with artist Shantell Martin in LA, collaborating, drawing, and enjoying a tea ceremony, as we had the opportunity to do.
We visited a downtown L.A. greenhouse where the multi-talented artist Shantell Martin led an immersive workshop that coaxes participants to say, “I can draw.” Exercises begin by focusing on allowing the flow of breath to lead the pen. In a collaborative drawing the group shares details of their lives, while harnessing the power of movement by circling the room before each pass to add details to the story. All the while, Martin shares her deep well of knowledge and profound kindness. For one lesson Martin gathers the group around an easel and talks through the DNA of how she approaches her drawings, while swooping a massive Krink marker across the blank canvas. By the end while the group relaxes and drinks tea, friendships are formed through the discovery of new layers to each person in the room.
All of this new content provided the brand with the opportunity to redesign their app, which now better integrates all of these opportunities and lets you book them as easily as you’ve booked an Airbnb stay. Features include a new homepage design, a Trips tab which creates a detailed itinerary with all of the elements you’ve booked, a new Messages platform, and a redesigned Profile.
Services and experiences are a natural addition to an Airbnb stay, and they can also be fun and useful when you’re at home, too. We’re looking forward to seeing how this offering grows and evolves as more experts join the platform.
