Skift Take
Doubters may still question Airbnb’s foray into tours and experiences, but say what you will: The growth of the business has been anything but insignificant. The real success, however, will be in making it a quality-driven endeavor.
When Airbnb first launched Experiences — then known as Airbnb Trips — in 2016, it was a huge gamble. It marked the company’s first major product outside of its core business, Homes, and it was an endeavor years in the making.
And while the business has grown significantly since then, it hasn't been without its challenges. There were reports of the division not turning a profit, and not growing quickly enough. Never mind the fact that the tours and activities business is an incredibly fragmented and, in some ways, one of the least sophisticated sectors in all of travel, making it that much more of a challenge to break into and to succeed.
But three years later, under the guidance of Joe “Joebot” Zadeh, one of the company’s longest-tenured employees who took over as VP of Experiences in June 2017 after serving as the company’s VP of Product, Airbnb Experiences seems to be thriving.
Skift spoke to Zadeh about how the business continues to evolve, and where he sees Experiences within the larger vision of Airbnb's goal of being the ultimate end-to-end travel platform.
Skift Editor’s Note: This article has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Skift: It’s been nearly three years since Airbnb launched Experiences and in that time, it’s grown significantly. How has growing this business differed from how you and the team grew homesharing?
Zadeh: Since launching in November 2016, Airbnb Experiences has seen incredible growth. We now have more than 30,000 Experience listings available in over 1,000
