Airbnb expands beyond homes, offers ‘full-service’ platform with new ‘Trips’ option

With its launch last week of ‘Trips’ – a new platform designed to “make travel both easy and magical” – online company Airbnb shows that it no longer wants to compete only with hotels.

With new features – Experiences, Places and Homes (and with a plan to add Flights and Services options in the future) – and using the same “people-focused approach” that it did with its bookable homes concept, the company now aims to extend its influence to all aspects of its users' journeys. It is calling 'Trips' the “most significant development in its eight year history.”

Trips, which provides users with more immersive experiences in destination with local experts offering their knowledge and experience for a cost, has launched with around 500 Experiences in 12 cities globally, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Detroit, Havana, London, Paris, Florence, Nairobi, Cape Town, Tokyo and Seoul.

Airbnb has seen significant growth in the past few years and is now a major supplier in the accommodation sector with the largest amount of content of any hotel provider, second now only to the newly-merged Starwood and Marriott brands. Along with Uber, it is one of the leaders in the “sharing economy” but its growth has come with numerous controversies – for one, the start-up has been accused of illegally competing with tourism professionals.