Airbnb seems keen on pushing the boundaries it had once set for itself. Known as the ‘uber’ for travelers, it wanted to play a bigger role in our vacation, and hence, came up with the ‘Trips’ feature in November last year.
The company came up with a revamped version of its app with the new feature letting the users plan their entire trip. It lets users find and book local tours and activities during a holiday. Airbnb recently announced the launching of ‘Trips’ in two cities of Asia – Singapore, and Bangkok.
The company says Singapore is the first Southeast Asian city to welcome the feature, which expands its travel booking services to three main elements- Homes, Experiences, and Places.
Earlier last month, Singapore had passed a law making renting out entire apartments and rooms for less than six months illegal. This is what Airbnb’s service revolves around, however, the company has gone ahead with the unveiling of the feature. Airbnb co-founder and chief product officer Joe Gebbia, who came down to Singapore for the announcement, said,
We want to make travel magical again by immersing curious visitors in local cities and neighborhoods, offering yet another way for the Airbnb community to help you feel like an insider in Singapore.
The company says that currently around 800 ‘Experiences’ are available in 14 cities across the world including Paris, London, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Nairobi, Seoul, San Francisco and others.
Users will be able to book “Experiences’ in the island-nation soon that includes pottery-making at Thow Kwang Pottery and kueh-making led by One Kueh at a Time at Jalan Besar’s Berseh Food Centre.
Airbnb aims to have over 50 cities going live in Trips by the end of this year. This suggests all the prominent cities around the globe would be included in the list.
