Not Content With Rentals, Airbnb Wants to Be the Airbnb of Everything

Airbnb has managed to bash its 1 thing—short-term rentals—quite well. Despite the damaging ripples it has had successful the lodging market and the annoyance of steep and once-hidden cleaning fees, the institution has managed to drawback clasp of nearly fractional of the planetary booking market. Instead of conscionable continuing to specialize successful the happening it was made to do, Airbnb’s CEO Brian Chesky wants to crook the level into an Airbnb for everything, allowing users to publication services and experiences similar chefs, beauticians, and tours, and more.

Chesky went connected a spot of a media circuit to denote the change, talking to the Wall Street Journal and Wired successful the astir self-aggrandizing code imaginable to hype up the displacement successful vision—but we’ll get to the CEO. First, the caller Airbnb. Per WSJ, the updated app volition present see 3 icons that volition correspond homes, experiences, and services. The institution has reportedly partnered with implicit 10,000 vendors operating successful 260 cities successful 30 countries, according to Wired. They tin beryllium booked straight done the app.

The institution is besides adding experiences, which is really a way that it’s been down earlier but rapidly abandoned. The archetypal iteration was called Airbnb Adventures and launched successful 2019, offering “bucket database worthy” experiences hosted by section experts earlier pausing the feature successful 2023 to focus connected its halfway offerings. Apparently, it’s done with that absorption and is backmost into the concern of sprawling offerings. According to Wired, the institution has secured 22,000 experiences successful 650 cities this time, including immoderate celebrity-led ones similar a promised enactment to publication a spot adjacent to Conan O’Brien successful his podcast studio.

To assistance usher radical done each of these options, the institution besides reportedly plans to motorboat an AI-powered concierge that tin assistance radical program a travel that ropes successful unsocial experiences and services on the way.

All of this feels precise 2010s Silicon Valley, backmost erstwhile being the “Uber for anything” was each the rage. That includes the rotation retired of this announcement, which is centered astir Chesky himself, and helium has not been shy astir leaning into the favored model of the genius laminitis who has a singular imaginativeness that nary 1 other tin capture. Never caput the information that fractional of this makeover is simply a happening Airbnb tried before, and the different fractional is conscionable the revelation that radical sometimes publication things different than rental properties.

In Wired, Chesky describes sitting down successful precocious 2023 and penning a manifesto for what his institution could be: “I was fundamentally going from country to country conscionable pouring retired this stream-of-consciousness manifesto, similar Jack Kerouac penning On the Road.” Which, definite man, you tin comparison your concern program to the defining enactment of the counterculture movement. That’s a prime you tin make.

Over astatine WSJ, Chesky went connected astir “founder mode“—a acceptable of principles that are expected to usher Silicon Valley executives but mostly magnitude to encouraging tinkerers and tyrants. He besides seems to beryllium going against respective of his “founder mode” principles, including: “Stay small. Stay flat. Stay functional. Have arsenic fewer radical and arsenic fewer layers arsenic imaginable for arsenic agelong arsenic possible.” Hard to ideate going immoderate bigger and broader than being an “everything” app.

Back to Wired, Chesky declares that he’s the spiritual successor to Steve Jobs, a idiosyncratic helium ne'er erstwhile met: “I consciousness similar I cognize him deeply, professionally, successful a mode that fewer radical ever did, successful a mode that you lone perchance could by starting a tech institution arsenic a originative idiosyncratic and going connected a rocket ship.” But don’t worry, helium doesn’t spot himself astatine that level yet. He told the Journal, “I’m much similar a disciple. I’m much similar a creator who studies Michelangelo. I’m not ever saying I’m going to beryllium Michelangelo, but I judge successful that schoolhouse of thought.”

You whitethorn person forgotten for a 2nd that this is not an artist, but alternatively a affluent feline who deed it large connected 1 thought and is present trying to parlay that into adjacent much wealthiness done a comparatively evident (albeit astir apt unnecessary) pivot positioned arsenic a revolution. Might beryllium worthy booking a therapist to enactment connected your ego, my guy.