Airbnb Chief Business Officer Dave Stephenson spoke to FOX Business about the platform’s new travel services including airport rides, grocery delivery, luggage storage, boutique hotels. exclusive experiences.
Airbnb is pushing far beyond home rentals, rolling out airport pickups, grocery delivery, luggage storage, car rentals, boutique hotels. exclusive travel experiences as it expands deeper into travel services.
Thecompany announcedWednesday that travelers can now book grocery delivery through Instacart in more than 25 U.S. cities, airport rides through Welcome Pickups in over 160 cities worldwide. luggage storage through Bounce at more than 15,000 locations globally.
Airbnb also plans to launch in-app car rentals later this summer.
"We want to bring a little bit of magic toevery tripyou're on," Airbnb Chief Business Officer Dave Stephenson told FOX Business.
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Travelers arrive at an airport pickup area. Airbnb is rolling out new ride services through Welcome Pickups in more than 160 cities worldwide.(iStock / iStock)
At the same time, Airbnb is adding boutique. independent hotels in major cities includingNew York, Paris, London, Rome and Singapore, alongside new AI-powered features like review summaries, listing comparisons and smarter customer support tools.
The expansion builds on Airbnb’s broader push into travel services and experiences beyond traditional home stays.
"[When COVID-19] hit, we had to retrench. focus on the core, and then we did that for a number of years and really worked on and perfected the kind of core business," Stephenson said. "But then a couple of years ago. part of me coming into this new role was to get us ready to expand into services [and] experiences, which we did May of last year."
Airbnb now offers more than 3,000 curated experiencesworldwide, including tours tied to landmarks such as the Tower of London, Tokyo Skytree. the Taj Mahal.
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Screenshots from the Airbnb app show a new airport pickup feature. allows travelers to book private car service rides to their Airbnb stays.
Airbnb Chief Business Officer Dave Stephenson of Airbnb is pictured on May 28. 2024, in Seoul, South Korea.(Han Myung-Gu/WireImage / Getty Images)
The company is also leaning intoFIFA World Cup 2026travel with exclusive fan events and athlete-led experiences.
Stephenson said Airbnb expects World Cup demand to outpace the surge it saw during the Paris Olympics. when more than 700,000 guests stayed in Airbnb properties.
"The average homeowner is going to earn about $3,000 from sharing their place," he said.
Airbnb is also adding new social and group-planning tools. A revamped Trips tab will show reservations alongside nearby restaurants, attractions. experiences, letting users save spots and build shared itineraries.
Later this summer, Airbnb will launch a new travel map. "connections" feature, allowing users to see where friends have stayed, browse their reviews and bookings, and message them directly for travel tips.
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The Airbnb logo is displayed on a smartphone in front of home listings.(Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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"These group itineraries — I think it's going to be a really cool new feature that people will find really valuable, because when you travel in Airbnb, you tend to travel with family. friends," Stephenson said.
The new services. hotel offerings are available now in select markets, while car rentals and additional app features are expected to roll out later this summer.
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