Further, making another stride in the Southeast Asian region, home rental space provider Airbnb has today launched its complete travel booking experience ‘Trips‘ for the Indian masses. This launch follows pursuit to the said service’s Singapore debut last week. Airbnb is currently enabling users to discover the country’s local culture and art through a set of 15 experiences, starting with Delhi.
For those aloof, Airbnb decided to push the envelope beyond accommodations with the provision of booking local travel experiences directly from their updated application. Called Airbnb Trips, this new feature now enables you to book different tours, events, as well as other activities offered by hosts and locals in a particular city.
Talking about the launch of this feature in Delhi, CEO Brain Chesky said,
We are expanding beyond accommodation, but taking the same people-focused approach to the entire trip. I’m excited to launch India Trips today as we have handpicked unique experiences, designed and led by locals, to reflect the diversity and variety of the city.
Airbnb Trips will offer locals and visitors alike the chance to immerse themselves in the people, places, and experiences that make the city unique.
Airbnb is now adding Delhi to its list of cities providing visitors (or travelers) access to packaged traditional or local experiences. This expansion is part of the company’s plan to extend the Trips platform to over 50 cities globally by the end of this year. These bookings, which can be booked from the Experience tab in the updated app, has currently been launched in the capital with just 15 experience in tow.
These include ‘Coffee Culture,’ which will provide you detailed information on the culture of drinking coffee in India. This ₹2,125 per person experience will be hosted by Krittivas and last two hours. Also, you can choose a jazz session, where a jazz-classical duo Shadow and Light (Anindo Bose and Pavitra Chari) will, as mentioned in the listing, “host a three-hour session of songwriting and music production for their guests. Sharing their own experience of writing original songs, guests can get inspired by the enchanting blend of Classical Indian and Western music” at ₹2,975 for three hours.
In addition to Experiences, you also have the option to explore recommendations for stuff do in the capital city (probably like the Red Fort, Jama Masjid, and India Gate, among others) via the Place tab. Don’t forget to book your homestay, which is now available under the Home tab in the new app. Airbnb is now planning to add even more experiences for travelers to the capital of the nation, as Delhi is one of the most preferred destinations, says Chesky via a series of tweets. He also says that the company aims to create over 50,000 hosts in India over the next two years.
8.9 million people visited India in 2015. We would like to help India double this number.
— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) March 20, 2017
Our goal is to create 50,000 host entrepreneurs in India over the next 2 years.
— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) March 20, 2017
The addition of Delhi’s experiences takes the total number to a significant 800. He even met with Prime Minister, if that fact holds any importance to you.
India is transformative. I look forward to working with @narendramodi to share India’s magic with our community around the world. pic.twitter.com/76QKKzD46n
— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) March 20, 2017
