Latest news with #Blecharczyk
The Star
18-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
Airbnb now wants to sell you haircuts, museum visits and massages
Airbnb, the start-up that began as a platform offering cash-strapped travellers cheap sleeping arrangements in private homes, is now trying to expand into a massive new market: selling services and experiences like cooking classes, horse riding and museum trips. — Photo: Jens Kalaene/dpa LOS ANGELES: Airbnb is expanding its business beyond accommodation to include experiences like museum visits, horse-riding and cooking classes, as well as services from people like masseurs, hair stylists and professional chefs. "Hotels do have one thing that we don't have and those are services," Airbnb chief executive Brian Chesky said. The offering aimed at closing this gap will initially launch in 260 cities with 10 categories, including services from fitness trainers and photographers. Over time, the range of services is expected to expand. An app for more than just travel This could mark a radical shift for an app typically used only once or a few times a year. Chesky and co-founder Nate Blecharczyk emphasized that the services and experiences are not tied to travel. Their vision is that people could use the app whenever they want to book a photographer, a massage or haircut. Could Airbnb eventually become a platform for booking local tradespeople? Blecharczyk pointed out that Airbnb hosts already require services from cleaners or plumbers. Industry analyst Carolina Milanesi believes the move could change how the stock market views Airbnb. While the company has so far been evaluated using traditional travel industry metrics, such as the number of overnight stays, the stock market might now see it more as a tech platform. At the same time, Airbnb is entering areas where specialised apps have already carved out niches. This will also make it harder to ensure consistent quality across offerings, and there will be more regulations to comply with. Airbnb has faced criticism in various cities, with accusations that the service contributes to housing shortages by renting out more apartments in prime locations to tourists at high prices. But Blecharczyk argued that the expansion into the services business would not be affected by this debate. Bigger business than accommodation? The first 10 service categories were selected based on user surveys. Providers of services and experiences must apply, and Airbnb selects them based on factors such as experience and reviews in their field, Blecharczyk said. Blecharczyk is convinced that even during travel, services could potentially become a bigger business than accommodation. He explained that typically, for every US$1 (RM4.30) spent on accommodation, an additional US$3 (RM12.89) is spent on food, shopping, and excursions. Airbnb might even be surprised by how large this business could become. Airbnb says it will charge providers a fee of 20% for experiences and 15% for services. This revenue is used to cover costs such as payment transaction fees, customer service and insurance. Service and experience providers are not exclusively tied to the platform. Chesky said the idea behind the experiences is to explore a city with the people who know it best. Unwanted interactions can be reported with the push of a button, as is already the case with communication between accommodation providers and their customers. Airbnb also uses machine learning to detect problems. Airbnb Originals is set to be the space where users can find experiences hosted "by the world's most interesting people," Chesky said. The Airbnb app has been redesigned to accommodate the new offerings beyond accommodation. For example, after booking a stay, the app will suggest nearby services and experiences. – dpa
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Business Standard
14-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Airbnb targets India's Gen Z, millennials to drive growth: Co-founder
Online accommodation hosting platform Airbnb is tapping into the huge population of millennials and Gen Z in India to drive its growth, according to its Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Nathan Blecharczyk. The company, which has introduced Airbnb Services and Airbnb Experiences along with an all-new app, is bullish that its experiences feature, which allows travellers to explore a city with local guides, will offer good growth opportunities in the Indian market, Blecharczyk told PTI. "India is an incredibly important market for state the obvious, the largest (population-wise) country in the world, and largest population of young people, specifically millennials and Gen Z, that's the target audience for Airbnb," he said when asked how it is looking at the Indian market. These young people, who want to experience the world, have a spirit of adventure and love the opportunity to stay in a home and have a unique experience, and to be able to bring friends with them, Blecharczyk added. "So that's our target audience, and we've seen great success with India. We've seen a 40 per cent increase in the number of millennials and Gen Z booking on Airbnb year over year. If you look at Q4 of 2024 relative to Q4 of 2023, we've seen a 40 per cent increase in those young people using Airbnb. That is a great growth trajectory," he asserted. He further said, "We see that 90 per cent of our first-time guests from India are these young people. They are the ones adopting Airbnb. This is really a great sign for us that we're tapping into this huge population. It is our target audience, and we're seeing great traction with them." Stating that 90 per cent of Indian travellers on Airbnb choose "their destination, having a certain idea in their mind of what they want to experience", he said, "...they want to go to the top spots, the top destinations that are trending right now for summer international travel. It's London, it's Amsterdam, it's Paris, it's the places that they see the (Bollywood) stars going to." He further said, "Getting to meet a local person, getting to meet other travellers over, making pasta or pastries with a Michelin star chef or someone who's a real expert, I think that's going to be an exciting experience for young Indian travellers." Under Airbnb Services, the company launched 10 categories of services which travellers can book, such as fully customisable in-home meals from professional chefs, personalised photo sessions from experienced photographers; massage by certified therapists and training such as Yoga, strength training and more with personal trainers, including renowned fitness professionals and world champion athletes. Commenting on the Indian domestic market, he said it is "certainly very large in India and growing very quickly. We see great growth there as well, and we think that's an opportunity for sure, especially even with experiences". Elaborating, Blecharczyk said, "When we did surveys, Indian travellers told us that 50 per cent of them would be interested in doing these experiences on their own in their own city. We talked about it as a travel use case, but actually, people are looking to have interesting things to do and meet people in authentic ways." Asked about the impact of India-Pakistan military conflict, he did not offer a specific comment while wishing a "swift and peaceful resolution", but said "around the world, disruptions happen, and what we see is that there's still a strong interest to travel". There might be a change in the travel pattern. The people decide they are not going to go to one place but to another, but they still travel, he added. "We saw this during Covid, and we've seen this with other conflicts. From the Airbnb perspective, we have homes in over 190 countries, and wherever you might want to go, we have something to offer you," Blecharczyk. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
