Airbnb has always been a one-stop solution for booking holiday accommodation, but that could all be about to change.
It appears that the company is now looking to branch out into holiday curation.
Instead of simply booking you into a room, apartment, or house, Airbnb will soon help organise meals, transportation and even activities.
It’s part of a new service called Journeys, which looks to help Airbnb take an even bigger bite out of travel agents’ market share, as revealed by TheNextWeb.
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It continues: “During the first two weeks of December, we’re piloting a new Airbnb experience: handcrafted trips. We’re extending a limited number of invitations to friends of friends and travellers who are excited to explore the city of San Francisco in an entirely new way – with the locals who live here.”
Everyone who received the beta invite has been offered a three- or five-day “handcrafted trip”.
One three-day trip to San Francisco involved a long weekend “exploring the city’s hippest neighbourhoods”, 3 nights of accommodation in a hand-selected Airbnb home, transport to the accommodation from the airport, and one meal a day.
All this came at a price of $750, which translates to around £490.
The terms of service for the Journeys beta says experiences can include outdoor activities such as hiking or kayaking, dinner parties, visits to cocktail bars, catered picnics, yoga and meditation.
The only aspect of your holiday not covered by Airbnb is transportation to the given city – you’ll have to arrange your own flights.
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Unfortunately, Airbnb hasn’t publicly outed the service just yet, and supplied TNW with the following statement:
“We are always experimenting with new ways to create meaningful experiences on Airbnb. We don’t have anything specific to share at this time.”
Would you like to plan an entire trip with Airbnb? Let us know in the comments.
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