Ambitious Airbnb adds local tours and activities

In October, New York City passed law that imposed up to 00 fines for advertising apartment rentals for 30 days or less and San Francisco has approved an ordinance that bans hosts from having paying guests for more than 60 days a year.

Amol Surve was Airbnb’s first guest in 2007.

Since the company launched in 2008, when the co-founders invited travelers to sleep on an air mattress in their San Francisco loft, Airbnb has grown to be one of the world’s most valuable private startups by collecting fees when private hosts rent out accommodations listed on the site.

What is an Airbnb “Experience”?

While traditionally competing with hotel companies like Marriott, Airbnb can move beyond just being a booking and stay service into something more. Basically, Airbnb wants to be a travel agent. “We realized we needed to create a holistic experience”.

In addition to choosing from an inventory of three million homes to reserve, users will also have the chance to pick from Experiences and Places. But that growth has come with challenges. The state says these short-term rentals open the door for landlords to operate illegal hotels, a violation of NY law since 2010. You won’t have to stress over not knowing where to dine, party, or go sightseeing anymore as there will be someone there to make sure you get to experience the most popular attractions on your vacation. “We want to change that”, Chesky said. But Airbnb hopes travelers will find it easier to use the new services within its own mobile app or website.

Places and experiences will now be searchable and bookable in the same way rooms and homes are. This could a be class or lesson in an obscure subject like ramen making in Tokyo, or a day trip to a secret surfing location in Malibu. Half of the trips will be priced below $200, Chesky said.

Airbnb is also offering meetups with strangers and audio tours of cities. Those cities include Detroit, London, Paris, Nairobi, La Habana, San Francisco, Cape Town, Florence, Miami, Seoul, Tokyo and Los Angeles.

“‘Experiences’ are our handcrafted experiences that allow you to immerse in the local community”, Chesky said. Meet ups within Places will let local businesses host one-off or regular events for Airbnb guests and locals to connect with each other.

As well as suggesting an epic lookout or the best gelato, you’ll also be able to book a table at a restaurant directly through the app. And all restaurant, tour and home bookings will be saved to an itinerary on the site.

He also hinted that the Airbnb app will eventually let guests also book airline reservations, auto rentals and food delivery services. But like so much of Airbnb’s regulatory situation, it’s likely the answer will be decided by local authorities on a city-by-city basis. “For this to be viable, it must be scalable”.

While the vast majority of Airbnb rentals are incident-free, there is always some risk involved when you allow strangers into your home.

Any money generated through rentals must be reported as income to Canada Revenue Agency says Caroline Battista, a senior tax analyst at H&R Block.