Imagine taking part in a tour or activity that isn’t focused on a particular area and isn’t a traditional guided tour. How does that sound? a trip that enables you to thoroughly immerse yourself in the tour operator’s genuine love for their hometown neighbourhood.
This may be goat yoga, cooking courses, expert-led hikes, or even a trip to a well-known tourist destination like the Louvre with a comedian who also happens to be an art historian.
What services are provided by Airbnb Experiences?
Airbnb Experiences are excursions that are planned by tour guides or local hosts all around the world. There are hosts and tour guides like them all throughout the world.
You may have been aware of Airbnb’s main offering, which is a platform that links local homeowners with travellers travelling to that particular location. On the other hand, they are now directing travellers toward activities as well as places to stay.
But what precisely is an Airbnb Experience?
Airbnb Experiences helps travellers interested in booking unique experiences that aren’t offered anywhere else connect with local tour and activity operators.
The demand for vacations and experiences that are more authentic to their origins is rising. According to a Booking.com study that polled 20,500 travellers globally, 62% of visitors want to learn about other cultures, 52% want to sample local cuisine, and 33% want to enjoy meeting new people.
By offering these specific items, Airbnb has met the demand expressed by individuals for one-of-a-kind vacations and experiences. Travellers have the chance to engage in hobbies and interests of their own through Airbnb Experiences, which runs under the slogan “live like a local,” but in a location and surroundings that are completely unfamiliar to them.
The best thing about it is that visitors don’t need to stay in an Airbnb house to participate in an Airbnb Experience, and tour guides and activity providers don’t need to host properties on the website. For both parties, a barrier to admission is removed in this way. Participation in Airbnb Experiences is open to everybody.
Airbnb Experiences List
An A-B-C list of Airbnb experiences is as follows:
It offers services to all visitors who are staying in a certain area, as well as to domestic visitors who want an alternative way to see their own community.
The tours and other experiences offered by traditional tour operators and activity providers are incomparable to those offered by the experiences that are led by the locals.
Anyone in the region is welcome to register on the Airbnb Experiences platform to share their interest.
The market for Airbnb Experiences is diverse; they have appeal for a variety of clients. While some travellers use the website to meet new people, others hunt for chances to partake in unique activities that are only offered in their location.
Both individuals travelling alone and in groups will find it handy.
Airbnb hosting is distinct from taking part in an Airbnb Experience. To take part in the experience, hosts are not required to accommodate overnight visitors unless the activity expressly calls for it.
The number of times an Airbnb Experiences host may offer a particular experience is not capped, so they are free to host whenever their schedule permits.
How does Airbnb Experiences compare to other aggregators and suppliers of online activities?
Let’s take a minute to talk about the tour and activity industry’s competitive environment.
The environment of the rivals.
There are a number of other significant companies that provide comparable services to Airbnb.
A website called Airbnb Experiences offers unique and exclusive opportunities to travellers who wish to “live like a local.” The firm wants to draw visitors who don’t want to be called “tourists.” However, that specific market segment’s size is on the smaller side.
According to Phocus Wright, the global revenue from tours and other activities is a staggering $135 billion. Even still, just 4% of total money was taken by online retailers like Victor and GetYourGuide. The research shows that individuals have not fully embraced internet resellers for tour reservations. Why?
Because tour operators have not yet fully realised the possibilities of the digital market, travellers are slow to adapt to sudden changes. For instance, because they are used to doing so and the Internet travel industry is well-established, most travellers feel comfortable making reservations for lodgings (on the other side of the world) online.
Bookings for excursions and activities there are normally made by visitors once they have arrived. This is so that it will be more practical for them. In addition to the hotel they are staying at, they are also asking the locals and other travellers they meet for advice. Phocuswright’s study indicates that most tourists visiting a tourist site are unaware of the tour companies that operate there.
Why is Airbnb attempting to compete in such a specialised market when there are so many other formidable rivals?
Sincere to goodness, Airbnb Experiences does not want to displace traditional travel businesses. They target a certain type of traveller who wants to have a genuine, local travel experience. Their niche market is tiny and alternative. Additionally, there is a limit of 10 participants per Airbnb Experience, indicating that the firm does not want to compete with traditional tour operators and activity providers. Certainly not right now.
On the other hand, its rival GetYourGuide is optimistic that it will capture a greater share of the market as tourists get used to booking tours and activities in advance. They also banked on the previously observed trend that most people still like visiting well-known sights and locations. As a result, they place a strong emphasis on choosing traditional activities that are offered by knowledgeable and experienced tour operators. There is no question the model is easily scaled.
On the other hand, Airbnb has chosen to pursue a strategy that is entirely unique to them. This strategy has drawn criticism for being highly specialised and challenging to scale.
It’s likely that Airbnb is placing a wager on gaining more visitor trust in order to encourage them to make ahead travel arrangements. They might be able to rely on having an aggregating platform where beginning and experienced tour providers can coexist in order to compete with the big boys (Viator, GetYourGuide, and Klook). So far, it appears to be working.
Should you provide your visitors with an Airbnb Experience?
The main benefit of hosting an experience on the platform is that Airbnb is currently one of the biggest online travel resellers, serving the requirements of millions of users. Simply said, it’s a great opportunity to introduce potential new customers to your tours and other products.
Even if such exposure is appealing, keep in mind the sort of tourists that Airbnb Experiences hopes to draw. These are tourists who desire to take part in wholly distinctive local excursions and experience local life. Conventional or “cookie-cutter” high-volume trips and activities are not appealing to them. People look for unique, personalised experiences that are hard to get elsewhere.
Are you prepared, eager, and willing to give it to me? The platform may not be the best fit for you in that instance if it is for Airbnb Experiences.
The following material will provide you the knowledge you need to begin working as an Airbnb Experience host, however, if you feel ready to dive in and get started.
What are the steps involved in becoming an Airbnb Experiences host?
Build a unique profile
You need to differentiate yourself from the start if you want to compete with Airbnb, which is dedicated to giving its consumers one-of-a-kind cultural opportunities.
In order to differentiate yourself from the other businesses in your industry, you need to devise a one-of-a-kind way to describe the tours and activities that you provide for your customers. (If you want to capture your passengers and separate yourself from other businesses in your industry, try employing visuals such as videos.)
Specialise
If you are confused as to whether or not your company would be a suitable fit for Airbnb Experiences, you may want to think about the possibility of delivering a bespoke tour that is not offered by any of your other businesses’ rivals. In point of fact, you want to make the most of this occasion to test out either one of your tours that is not as well-liked as the others or one of your most recent offerings.
Investigate the guidelines and operating processes that are associated with Airbnb Experiences.
Before you join up for the Airbnb Experiences service, you need to get familiar with the requirements that are outlined in the Airbnb Experiences Standards. After becoming familiar with the prerequisites, you will simply be able to apply using the online application platform that is given. Following the completion of the approval process, you will be allowed to begin hosting.
Acquaint yourself with the commission rates that are applicable to Airbnb Experiences.
The Airbnb lodgings firm and the Airbnb experience service couldn’t be more different from one another in terms of commissions and costs. They charge a commission fee of 3% for the lodging service (and visitors are responsible for additional expenditures), while the commission price for their Experiences service is 20% per booking.
When determining the prices for your goods or services, you must ensure that you account for the 20% commission charge that will be removed from the total amount paid to you (the commission fee will be withdrawn before you get your payments).
A Schedule of Excursions Offered by Airbnb
Airbnb gives you access to a calendar that you can use to better organise your bookings through its website and app. On the other hand, because they lack the technology necessary to do so, they are unable to connect their calendar to the reservation system that you use. Either you will need to find a means to manually keep track of your reservations, or you will need to find a way to incorporate Airbnb bookings into your existing reservation system.
If you are employing Regiondo as your booking platform, you have the ability to manually import any reservations that were made through Airbnb. You don’t have an account with us, do you? Start right now with your risk-free trial of the product or service.
The Fees, Which Also Include Insurance
The money will be provided to you during the next twenty-four hours after your Airbnb activity or tour has been hosted. The transfer of the funds will take place in accordance with the method of payment that you choose, which may be different depending on the nation. You are the one who is responsible for getting local insurance and licensing coverage; Airbnb does not provide free coverage against liability claims that are larger than one million dollars.
Consider the minimum and maximum numbers of visitors that are expected.
There is no minimum criteria for the number of visitors that are required for Airbnb Experiences. This implies that you are expected to carry out the tour or activity even if there is only one person planned for it, even if there is only one participant scheduled for it. The cancellation of reservations is often not possible in the event of an emergency; notwithstanding this generalisation, there are a few notable exceptions to this rule. If you have a history of routinely cancelling bookings, Airbnb has the right to remove your listing from its website.
After going over all of those requirements, you will be able to come to an informed decision about whether or not Airbnb Experiences is a suitable fit for the tour and activity company that you run.
Wrapping up
The data doesn’t lie. These days, vacationers are looking for unique experiences on their travels. Airbnb is catering to that need while simultaneously putting itself in a position to take a substantial share of that market. On the other hand, it is possible that it will be some time before they fully control that market.
The market is already quite competitive; nevertheless, the fact that travellers have not completely adopted online tour and activity resellers makes the situation far more challenging. However, Airbnb is taking a risk with its business, and we should probably do the same.
