The New York Times
By Shivani Vora
09.25.2017
Airbnb Offers Tours With New Yorkers (No Vacation Rental Required)
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/travel/airbnb-tours-hosts-new-york.html?_r=0
In the grand debate over whether New Yorkers are inherently charming or churlish, Airbnb seems to be placing its bets on the former.
The company is bringing Experiences, its service for travelers to book activities with Airbnb hosts, to New York. The city is the company’s 40th destination where travelers can book local tours.
Experiences is meant to give travelers a way to delve into authentic culture. There are 150 options on New York’s list, ranging from Bronx street dancing to a culinary tour of Greek spots in Astoria to a session on craft whiskey.
The service has plenty of competition. Several tours offer a brush with locals, some at a low price point. Big Apple Greeters, for example, volunteer to give free tours to visitors. And NYC & Company, the city’s official tourism organization, has a “See Your City” campaign which encourages self-exploration of off-the-beaten path and residential neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs. TripAdvisor also offers tours, at a price. Most of its 600 tours in New York involve interaction with locals, according to a spokesman.
Experiences has a track record, albeit brief. Airbnb’s chief executive officer, Brian Chesky, introduced the service last November at the company’s annual conference for its hosts in Los Angeles. It initially offered Experiences in 12 cities including Paris, Havana and San Francisco, and most of those destinations had 30 to 40 different experiences. There are currently 3,000 Experiences on Airbnb across the 40 cities, the company said, and the Airbnb hosts who sell them have earned more than $5 million through their gigs.
Mr. Chesky said that though the company is in the business of providing housing, travel has a broader purpose.
“We don’t travel to stay in homes. We travel to have experiences,” he said. “With our Experiences category, we are aiming to give people a one-of-a kind way to connect with the communities they’re visiting because that’s more magical than getting on a bus and seeing the same sights that everyone does.”
Experiences are subject to a stringent review process before they’re approved. The host must have some expertise related to the attractions that they will explore with visitors. So the person who is host of a culinary tour in Astoria, for example, has a background as a culinary guide and writer in Istanbul. “The Experiences have guardrails and are not a free forum,” said Mr. Chesky.
The expansion of Airbnb’s Experiences platform is timely because travelers today value activities that immerse them more than ever before, said Luke Bujarski, the research director for the travel industry research firm Skift Research. “Travelers used want to hit a destination’s biggest sites, but now they want more meaningful experiences which ultimately give them an authentic sense of culture and place,” he said.
And Airbnb’s Experiences aren’t just attracting tourists — the company has discovered that they’re also popular with locals. In San Francisco, for example, 40 percent of bookings have been by locals.
Mr. Chesky said that although he hadn’t yet tried a New York Experience himself, he plans to during his trip to the city this week. “I’m most interested in the horseback tour in Queens, where you visit one of the last working stables in the city,” he said. “I’m not into horseback riding, but to do it in Queens isn’t your usual ride.”