Have You Thought About Being An Airbnb Experience Host?
Share your passion, earn extra money, and meet people from around the world
A month after I joined Airbnb, I found myself in Los Angeles as our CEO, Brian Chesky, announced the company was launching a new business — Airbnb Experiences. When we launched three years ago, we had about 500 experiences in a dozen cities. Fast forward to today, and we have tens of thousands of Experiences in hundreds of cities around the globe.
What are Airbnb Experiences? Experiences are unique activities hosted by local experts. They range from classes and workshops, to photography, to arts, concerts, entertainment, and food. For guests taking an Experience, it lets you meet and interact with locals and other travelers, do or learn something you’re passionate about, and gain local insider access.
For hosts, whether you’re an entrepreneur, a small business, or a non-profit, it allows you to earn some extra money, plug into the 300 million+ Airbnb community, and build a business. You also get to meet and interact with amazing people from the city you live in and around the world. Airbnb takes care of the platform, provides customer support, and access customers — all things scarce and expensive if you try to do them on your own.
When Airbnb first launched Experiences, I immediately reached out to a few of my friends who are fantastic at what they do, and who are great with people. My friend Julie was one of the first people to launch an Airbnb Experience, and it’s helped her grow her yoga business.
Although I’d recommended a few friends look into being an Experience host, I hadn’t considered doing it myself. What skills could I offer?
Fast forward to this past August and my wife and I launched an Experience of our own. We did this to learn more about the product (I work at Airbnb full-time), but mostly because we love meeting and interacting with people. Rachelle and I both enjoy hiking and know some of the best trails in the area. And combined, we’ve lived in San Francisco for over 10 years and know the area really well.
One of our favorite things to do is to hike and watch the sunrise from the highest spot in the Bay Area. So we turned this into an Experience. We launched our Experience in August, and over a 3-month period, we took about 60 people on a hike to the top of Mount Tamalpais to watch the sunrise.
Through our hike, we met amazing travelers from all over the world, places like India, Argentina, Brazil, France, Australia, and Mexico. We had more than a few guests tell us to stay with them if we are ever in their country visiting. It was truly an amazing way to connect with people and share something we’re passionate about.
Do you have a passion you’d like to share with others? We’d love for you to become an Experience host and share it with the community. Whatever your reason for hosting, whether it’s earning some extra money, building a small business, or meeting new people — it’s guaranteed to be a worthwhile undertaking.
Head to https://www.airbnb.com/s/experiences to host today!
