Airbnb is investing $5 million to expand Experiences in the US
From 50 US cities to 200.
While Airbnb's focus will always likely be home rentals, it has big plans to grow Experiences this year. It's investing $5 million into expanding Experiences to 200 cities (from 50) across the US in an effort to entice more people to get up and travel. In its announcement, the company shared some growth figures related to the feature: It said global weekly guest booking are up over 2,000 percent since last year and that the number of Experiences are up by 500 percent. It now has 4,000 Experiences on offer around the world and 1,000 across 50 cities in the US.
Whether that number would quadruple when Airbnb starts offering Experiences in 200 US cities remains to be seen. If it does, then it would be great source of income for the company, which takes a 20 percent cut from the activities listed on its website -- especially since a lot of them aren't cheap! As FastCompany notes, Airbnb is likely hoping that an Experience can persuade people living, say, a couple of towns away, to go on a weekend trip they'd spend at home otherwise. The expansion could get users to travel more frequently, since there's something to see nearby, and could also create new customers in those who'd rather not wander too far from home.
