Convenience is everything.
Airbnb is only eight years old, but it’s already become the first port of call for many holidaymakers on the lookout for accommodation, both at home and abroad.
Pretty soon, Airbnb users will not only be able to use it to book a room, a house or an apartment, but to plan out their entire holiday.
On Thursday, Airbnb launched a new feature Trips, focussing on three key areas: Experiences, Places and Homes. They also revealed plans to introduce flights and services in the near future.
Trips has been rolled out in 12 cities around the world - Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Detroit, Havana, London, Paris, Florence, Nairobi, Cape Town, Tokyo and Seoul – with 500 ‘experiences’, described by Airbnb as "handcrafted activities designed and led by local experts".
While Airbnb users will be able to explore said experiences in the 12 cities above, it works both ways as budding hosts can request to list their ‘experience’, increasing exposure and the potential to make money in the process.
Hosts in a further 39 cities, including Dublin, as well as the aforementioned 12 cities, can request to list their experience from today onwards.
Airbnb have also sought to enhance user experience by introducing Insider Guidebooks, in which they have called on cultural experts and neighbourhood insiders to recommend the hidden gems within their city.
Trip Itinerary, meanwhile, is another new feature that brings together everything a traveller needs to know into one simple timeline, with the ability to easily book and add Experiences or things to do.
All of Airbnb’s new features can be examined in greater detail
here, including a new identity authentication process requiring an official government ID (for example a passport, or driving license) and a selfie in an attempt to increase authenticity, reliability, and security for Airbnb users.
