When it comes to Airbnb, we can always expect disruption of some kind. First, it changed the way we stay while traveling, now it's changing the way we experience our vacations. Move over "sightseeing," it's time for innovative "experiences."
When you stay at an Airbnb home, you also have the option to book activities with locals that go deeper than regular sightseeing with the company's new Experiences program. Reviews show guests especially raving over the "social impact" experiences.
The dynamic brand, however, is going a step further to deliver a world-class experience for guests in New York. Airbnb has now partnered with the queen of modern fashion, Sarah Jessica Parker, to launch local tours in NYC.
SJP, as her fans call her, is a New York icon, and this has been a brilliant move for Airbnb. Anyone can go to New York and sightsee, but a tour with SJP is in a class by itself. Her perspective of her beloved New York promises to be an eye-opening experience.
New York is the 40th market Airbnb has entered for "experiences," and they celebrated this with style. The tour, available for four people only, is priced at $400 per person. Called "Sole of the City with SJP," this will be an afternoon with Parker, who will offer a walking tour of her beloved Manhattan. It starts at Bloomingdale's, which SJP described as an "an iconic destination," in midtown Manhattan — and this includes shoe shopping, of course!
Participants will get a pair of shoes each from her SJP Collection that is showcased at Bloomingdale's. Next, they will stop for frozen yogurt at the famous Forty Carrots cafe within the department store. The money will go to the New York City Ballet where the guests would end their tour with a once-in-a-lifetime cultural experience of the ballet.
Travelers can opt for other New York tours by celebrities for charity as well. What's more, they don't even have book a vacation rental with Airbnb to be a part of these tours. They can simply go ahead and book the tours directly.
The home-sharing website has redefined the concept of affordable stay, and now its social impact experience is redefining how we explore each place. Tour prices in other markets generally range from $10 to $100, depending on the tour details and the location. Hosts get 80 percent of the fee, Airbnb the rest for regular tours. For the social impact experiences, however, Airbnb waives its fees, and 100 percent goes to charity.
These "immersive" travel experiences are focused on bringing people together. They offer more than sightseeing or a guided tour as these are designed to serve as a window into the soul of each city. The hosts are passionate about their cities, and that reflects in the tours. One can choose from any area of interest, spanning across food, fashion, music, sports and history to experience unique local travel experiences.
Airbnb has faced opposition and criticism from the hospitality industry by offering a drastically cheaper and simple solution like home-sharing for travelers. Hotel giants and chains have been frantically redesigning their offers to match the Airbnb offers. Now, they have to come up with new ideas to beat these brilliant Airbnb experiences, which are wooing more guests and travelers into their fold.
