“Seoul is one of the most booked cities on Airbnb last year and a place of great interest for travelers worldwide. It is a strategically very important market for us and a special city that personally inspires me deeply.”
Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, held a media briefing on the 4th at the Hanwha General Insurance Hanam building in Yongsan, Seoul, where he made this statement. He said, “I stayed in a hanok last night and it was such a wonderful experience. I want to come back later and stay for about a week.”
This event was organized to introduce Airbnb's new experiential business model, Airbnb Services·Experience. This model aims to provide a variety of experiences specialized to the area where Airbnb guests stay, alongside hotel-level room service.
Previously, CEO Chesky announced this plan for the first time in Los Angeles last month and then traveled to major global cities like Paris, Berlin, Milan, and Tokyo before arriving in Seoul.
The history of Airbnb dates back to 2007. At that time, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, who resided together in an apartment in San Francisco and worked as designers, realized that all hotels in the city were booked during a major design conference, leaving attendees without a place to stay.
They then conceived the ‘Air Bed & Breakfast’ service by laying an air mattress in their apartment's living room and offering breakfast. They quickly created a simple website to promote it to conference attendees and successfully hosted their first guests, welcoming three people.
Afterward, Nathan Blecharczyk, a developer from Harvard, joined, and the three launched a home-sharing service under the name ‘Airbedandbreakfast’ in 2008. A year later, the platform was renamed Airbnb and has since achieved global success, surpassing 2 billion cumulative bookings.
However, Airbnb has been consistently compared to hotels that provide various 'room services' in the aspect that it does not provide additional services beyond simple accommodation reservations. While some hosts had been offering similar services individually, these were conducted outside the platform, leading to issues of payment inconvenience and trust.
The ‘Airbnb Services·Experience’ launched by Airbnb this time reflects these criticisms and aims to directly provide unique experiences that guests can enjoy in the city and region where they are staying through the platform. The service categories include ten options such as chef, photography, massage, spa treatment, personal training, hair, makeup, nails, ready meals, and catering.
For example, the chef service allows a professional cook to visit and prepare a menu of the guest's choice at their accommodation, while personal training involves a fitness expert or athlete guiding and assisting with yoga or strength training. Particularly, in Seoul, services for K-beauty concepts in makeup and hanbok photo shoots at historical palaces are available. Various experiential content related to K-pop is also being prepared.
Airbnb will first showcase this service in 260 cities worldwide. They plan to connect service providers (hosts) who have an average of 10 years of experience and have undergone an identity verification process, submitting relevant licenses and qualifications. The services will be offered at various price points, with most services including cost-effective options under $50 (about 69,000 won) for easy access.
This aligns with the travel trend that emphasizes 'experiences'. According to a recent survey conducted by Airbnb, 70% of Korean users responded that they often book various experiential programs during their travels. Additionally, about 65% reported having selected a travel destination based on experiences or activities.
CEO Chesky noted, “Recently, travelers have a tendency to seek unique experiences that can only be enjoyed locally. The Airbnb service reflects this, preparing for platform users to engage in various experiences with local experts who know the area best,” and added, “Now, Airbnb will evolve beyond a simple accommodation reservation platform to a new travel platform.”