EXPERIENCES How to Best Partner with Airbnbs A No-Nonsense Guide to Help Tour & Activity Operators Assess Whether Airbnb Is Right for Them ...
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AUGUST 2018
WORKING
AIRBNB
WITH AIRBNBS
EXPERIENCES
How to Best Partner with Airbnbs
A No-Nonsense Guide to Help
for a Win-Win Scenario
Tour & Activity Operators Assess
HOLLIS THOMASES
Whether Airbnb Is Right for Them
CATHY WALSH
SEPTEMBER 2018
+1 720.410.9395
+1 720.410.9395
www.arival.travel
www.arival.travel
Boulder, CO
Boulder, CO
insights@arival.travel
insights@arival.travel
ABOUT ARIVAL Arival advances the business of creating awesome in-destination experiences through events, insights and community for Tour, Activity & Attraction providers. Our mission: establish the Best Part of Travel as the major sector of the global travel, tourism and hospitality industry that it deserves to be.
WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS You may know Airbnb as a home and apartment rental marketplace for travelers, but the website can also help you sell tours and activities online. With the launch of Experiences, Airbnb has expanded beyond accommodations to help travelers and locals alike discover interesting things to do, and they are making a very big push. Just visit their homepage or mobile app. If you operate a tour or activity, you should pay attention. Airbnb has become one of the largest online travel sellers in the world. Hundreds of millions of travelers book accommodation through the site. Although it’s only been in the tours and activities business (oh, sorry, we meant to write “Experiences”) for a couple of years, it has had a big impact. It seems just about everyone who used to sell tours and activities now offers “experiences.” Our smart-alec-ness aside, Airbnb could be an important new channel to add to your overall distribution strategy. However, it doesn’t mean you should just jump right in. Airbnb operates differently from other OTAs (online travel agencies). This Arival Guide explains what types of activities the company is looking for and helps you decide if it’s a good fit for your business. You’ll also learn how to apply and what results you can expect. If you decide you’re interested in working with Airbnb, you’ll have the information you need to get started. Page 3 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travel
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction to Airbnb 5
What's an Airbnb Experience 6
(and What Are They Looking for)?
Should You Apply? 5M 10
How to Works 12
How to Apply 16
Best Practices and Success Factors 19
Hitlist of Reasons For and Against 22
8M
Apply to Host an Airbnb Experience
37 M
Terms & Definitions 24
References & Links 25
Page 4 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travel
INTRODUCTION TO AIRBNB
The Basics
Airbnb is an online marketplace that made its name enabling
individuals to offer short-term accommodations – including
houses, apartments, rooms and spaces – directly to travelers.
Founded in 2008, the company now has nearly 5 million private
accommodation listings in over 191 countries worldwide. In5M
late 2016, Airbnb introduced Experiences, an activities and
tours marketplace that allows local hosts to offer unique
experiences to travelers and locals.
What You Need to Know
Airbnb has built a strong brand
The company has a devoted following and has become
synonymous with promoting unique travel experiences and the
idea that travelers can “live like a local” and “belong anywhere.” 8M
37 M
The platform provides access to a large audience
In June 2018, Airbnb was the second most-popular website in
the accommodations and hotels category, according to
SimilarWeb, and is the fourth-largest online travel seller
globally, according to research firm Phocuswright.
Airbnb is growing its activities and tours marketplace
Airbnb’s Experiences business is small compared to its private
accommodations marketplace, but the company is focused on
growth. Airbnb recently increased its investment in
Experiences, with plans to expand to more than 1,000
destinations by the end of 2018. At the time of publication,
Airbnb has 15,000 Experiences available in roughly 180 cities.
Page 5 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travel
WHAT'S AN AIRBNB
EXPERIENCE?
Airbnb describes Experiences as “an antidote to mass-
produced tourism.” The company promotes Experiences as an
alternative to tours and activities that are popular on other
travel sites. Airbnb focuses on one-of-a-kind activities.
5M
Examples include pasta making in Italy with a local chef, a tour
to a secret swimming hole in the North Carolina mountains, a
behind-the-scenes look at the comedy scene of New York City,
or seeing how an artist or photographer conducts their craft.
Examples of Popular Experiences on Airbnb
37 M
Page 6 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travelQuick
What Take: is
Airbnb
Looking For
Is Airbnb Experiences Right for You?
For your tour or activity (whoops – Experience) to qualify,
applicants must meet Airbnb’s quality standards. According to
Airbnb, this means a strong focus on hospitality, relevant skills
or expertise and the ability to give guests exclusive access to
experiences that take them off-the-beaten path. Now, how
5M
exactly these qualities are measured is unclear. So that’s where
this Arival Guide comes in, to provide you with some clarity.
8M
Airbnb has quality 37 M
standards for
Experiences. This
Guide will walk you
through how it
works, and help you
decide if Experiences
is right for your
business.
Page 7 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travelWhat Airbnb is
Looking For
What You Need to Know
Airbnb encourages everyone interested to apply, but it’s
important to review the quality standards before making
a decision.
Airbnb is looking for hosts that provide: 5M
Unique activities and tours: Airbnb emphasizes having
unique content that is different from what you can find on
other websites. For example, in addition to mainstream private
accommodation choices like houses and apartments, Airbnb
also lists castles, treehouses and boats. The same push for
differentiated inventory also applies to Experiences: your
activity is more likely to be approved if it features a specialized
skill or expertise, or offers an experience that is not easily
replicated. 8M
37 M
Insider access: Experiences should give travelers exclusive
access to a place or community, a look behind the scenes or
the chance to participate in a novel activity.
Opportunities to connect with others: Experiences hosts
should be welcoming to guests and create a social atmosphere
that helps guests connect and feel comfortable. (While this is a
quality every tour and activity operator should strive to
include, Airbnb places special emphasis on hospitality. See
their blog post discussing these qualities.)
Airbnb is not interested in large group tours, services like
ground transportation, events without a clear host or activities
that travelers could easily discover on their own.
Page 8 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travelWhat Airbnb is
Looking For
Exclusivity: While unique activities are more likely to be
approved, your activity can be listed on other websites.
However, when you list an experience for a certain day and
time on Airbnb, the particular instance of the activity must be
exclusive to Airbnb: only guests who book through Airbnb can
attend at that time. However, it’s unclear how aggressively
5M
Airbnb is monitoring this. In a recent Experience that an Arival
founder took, the tour also included travelers who booked on
TripAdvisor.
Group size: Because Experiences focuses on offering intimacy
and access to the host, group size tends to be smaller. For
most activities, the maximum group size is 10 people. For some
activities, such as yoga or concerts, capacity can be higher.
8M
Page 9 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travelSHOULD YOU APPLY TO BE
AN EXPERIENCES HOST?
Airbnb says
“Experiences hosts are chefs, artists and other in-the-know
locals who give their guests access to activities and places
they can’t typically find on their own. They make everyone
feel welcome, and help people in a group connect with
one another.”
Arival Says:
Just as Airbnb’s accommodations marketplace
made it possible for the average person to offer
their apartment for rent, the company conceived
Experiences with entrepreneurial local experts in
mind, including individuals who may never have
hosted a tour before. But there is a potential8 M
opportunity for operators of all sizes who can offer
a unique product and 37 M guest experience.
intimate
Page 10 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travelShould You
Apply?
Some things to consider:
High-volume, “best of” and “highlights” tours are probably
not a fit. If you operate a tour or activity that is comparable to
that of many other operators in your destination, it is more
likely not to be accepted. If you compete more on price and
cannot truly demonstrate a differentiated experience or insider
5M
access, Airbnb is probably not for you, or at least not yet.
A channel for your less popular tours: many tour operators
have a few top selling tours, plus other more specialized or
topical tours that don’t sell as well on other travel sites. While
most OTAs want the most popular tours, Airbnb is looking for
something different. It could be a means to help you find an
audience for that special, overlooked product.
A potential test bed for new experiences. Do you have an
idea for a new tour or experience? Airbnb could be a means to 8M
introduce it to a select audience.
Don’t just copy and paste. Airbnb is not like other travel sites.
They have a uniquely strong connection with their customers,
and strive to offer a differentiated experience. What works well
on other travel websites may not work on Airbnb. Don’t simply
copy and paste your tour descriptions. It needs to be personal
and create the expectation of a unique and stylized experience.
Read on in this Arival Guide to get familiar with the set-up
process and do’s and don’t’s of becoming a successful
Experience host.
Page 11 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travelHOW IT WORKS
Signing Up
1. First, you should review Airbnb’s guidelines for prospective
Experiences hosts. See reference to the document on page 25.
5M
2. Then you’ll fill out an online application (see page 25).
In addition to answering some basic questions about your
activity, you’ll create the page prospective guests will see,
including photos, videos and descriptions. When everything looks
right, you can submit the application to Airbnb for review. If your
application is approved, you’ll add your availability via an online
calendar and be ready to start hosting. To get paid, you’ll set up
a preferred payment method (see p.25) on your Airbnb profile.
8M
37 M
Page 12 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travelHow It Works:
What you need
to know
What You Need to Know
Pricing: You’ll set your own price based on what the
experience includes, how long it lasts and any other upfront
costs you need to account for. Be sure to consider how much
you want to make after Airbnb deducts its commission. 5M
Commission: Airbnb charges hosts a 20% commission for
each booking, based on the price of the Experience. Guests
are not charged a fee for booking. (This setup differs from
Airbnb’s accommodation commission structure, which
charges hosts 3% and charges guests an additional fee.)
Airbnb deducts the commission fee automatically from the
host’s payout.
Managing availability and bookings: You’ll manage 8M
availability via an online calendar. Currently, Airbnb doesn’t
37 M
allow you to connect their calendar to your own reservation
system or other backend technology, so you’ll need to keep
track of your Airbnb bookings separately. You will also need
to figure out how to import the booking data from Airbnb
into your reservation system.
Page 13 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travelPayments
& Legal:
What you need
to know
Payments: Instead of paying hosts monthly, Airbnb initiates
payment within 24 hours of when you host your Experience.
Depending on the payment method you choose, it could take
anywhere from one day to one week to receive an
individual payment.
5M
Available payment methods vary by country. In the U.S.,
payment methods include:
Bank Transfer: No fees; get paid in 5-7 business days.
Paypal: May include fees; get paid in 3-4 hours.
Payoneer Prepaid Debit MasterCard: May include fees,
get paid in 3-4 hours.
8M
Once you’ve hosted an experience, Airbnb will release your
37 M
share of the booking revenue the following day. However, how
quickly you receive the funds will depend on which payment
method(s) you select.
Liability, waivers, damages, and all that legal stuff: In a
nutshell, it’s on you. Airbnb expects its host to satisfy any and
all local requirements regarding insurance and licensing.
Airbnb does offer free Experience Protection Insurance
against liability claims up to $1 million. The insurance has a
number of exclusions (e.g., injury/damage related to aircraft
or cars, liquor liability, communicable disease, etc. You can
review their policy detail here (see page 25). And we suggest
you have a look at their Responsible Hosting document (see
page 25) before signing on the dotted line.
Page 14 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travelTs & Cs:
What you need
to know
Terms, Conditions & Earnings
No guest minimums: Hosts are required to honor all
bookings, with a few exceptions (see page 25) for
cancellations due to emergencies or unavoidable situations.
Guest minimums are not allowed, so even if you only have
5M
one guest attending, you will still have to go ahead with the
activity or tour. Airbnb will deactivate a host’s listing if they
repeatedly cancel Experiences.
Guest cancellation & refund policy: Experience guests are
allowed to cancel within 24 hours of booking or up to 30
days prior to the scheduled experience and receive a full
refund. Guests also have the option of rescheduling the
experience up to 72 hours in advance. Guests can also
cancel in the event of an extenuating circumstance.
8M
How much you'll earn. Airbnb claims that, in the U.S.,
37 M
average earnings for someone who host Experiences four
times per month is $6,000 per year. Of course, this is gross
earnings, and you will have to net out your activity costs. The
real question is how many bookings will Airbnb deliver. A
tour and activity operator must view Airbnb as another
distribution channel and apply the same financial criteria
you use to evaluate any reseller.
Page 15 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travelHOW TO APPLY
The Basics
If you’re interested in selling an activity or tour on Airbnb,
you’ll apply to host an Experience and create your profile on
the site. First you’ll need to know the basics, like which town
you’ll be hosting in and what category your Experience
fits into. 5M
8M
37 M
Airbnb will also ask you to answer a couple of simple questions,
such as your view of hospitality and what you’d plan to do in the
first 10 minutes of your Experience. Then, you’ll create the page
that guests will actually see when shopping for an activity.
Page 17 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travelIt's Easy to
Create an
Experience
Page
Easy to Use
Set-up for
Experience
& Design
5M
8M
37 M
Finally, you’ll describe guest requirements, set your group
size, price and advance booking requirements (i.e., how far
in advance guests need to book). Hosts can set a cutoff
time for receiving bookings as far as one week in advance
of the Experience up to one hour before start time. Once
you’ve created your listing and specified your booking
details, you’re ready to submit!
Page 18 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travelHow to Apply:
What you need
to know
What You Need to Know
The application process is easy: Airbnb guides you
through the application process step by step. If you know
the details of your activity, the simple series of questions
makes it easy to input the information.
5M
But getting accepted may not be: simply copying and
pasting your activity descriptions from another website to
Airbnb will not cut it. Make sure what you offer stands out
from other Airbnb Experiences in your destination, as well
as from listings you may have on other travel websites.
Airbnb provides tips for success: Tips and examples are
provided throughout the online application, including how
to choose a good title, photo tips and how to create a
winning description of your activity. 8M
37 M
What happens next: Once you submit your application,
you’ll typically get a response within a few weeks and be
notified by a local Airbnb representative.
Page 19 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travelBEST PRACTICES AND
SUCCESS FACTORS
The Basics
Airbnb’s Experiences marketplace is highly curated: the
company has received almost 100,000 experiences submissions
so far, and there are roughly 15,000 available to book. That
means to be approved, you’ll need to be sure you’re offering a
5M
unique experience that matches what they’re looking for. Then,
to attract bookings in the marketplace, you’ll need to craft an
appealing page for your tour or activity.
You can do that by focusing on great merchandizing that shows
off what makes you and your Experience special and inspires
guests to book.
Snappy title Beautiful,
uses hip images
alliteration match
to create a
playful tone
37 M Airbnb’s
aesthetic
The host
provides
personal
A detailed
details that
description
establish
insider status
of what
guests will
do
Page 20 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travelBest Practices:
What you need
to know
What You Need to Know
Choose an eye-catching title: The name of your experience is
one of the first things prospective guests will see when they are
5M
browsing Airbnb Experiences. It’s worth spending the extra time
to be sure your title makes your activity seem interesting, so
prospects will click through to read more.
Use only high-quality images: Airbnb has built a brand on
beautiful design, and compelling images are essential to
standing out on their website. Take a close look at successful
experience listings to get a sense of the style that is most likely
to appeal to guests. Hire a photographer to create
high-quality images.
8M
A personal touch – play up the host: Whether you are a small
37 M
supplier or a larger one, when you post your tour or activity,
you’ll need to provide personal details about the host or hosts.
This mini-bio should show off what makes the person special,
and what makes them especially qualified to host
the experience.
Offer and describe a unique experience: A great experience
description makes it clear what guests will do, but also
highlights what makes the experience special. Highlight any
exclusive/special access you’ll provide, local color or
opportunities to interact with you and other guests, or things
that just make this experience so unique.
Page 21 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travelBe Honest
about whether
you're a good
fit for Airbnb
Deliver on your promises: Make sure the activity or tour you
deliver matches what you’ve described. Guest reviews are one
of the most important parts of the experience profile, so you’ll
want your customers to leave happy.
Airbnb says
“Be genuine and honest!”
5M
Arival says
That’s good advice. Be honest about whether your
tours and activities are right for Airbnb, and if Airbnb
is a good fit your business. Airbnb is not just another
travel website. It’s become a cultural phenomenon.
It’s not for everybody, and it’s not for every tour and
activity operator. Each business owner needs8 to M
decide if this is a platform that makes sense for their
products, and should37 alsoM
honestly consider whether
their tours are a fit for Airbnb.
Page 22 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travelSIX REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD
(OR SHOULDN'T) APPLY TO HOST
AN AIRBNB EXPERIENCE
APPLY BECAUSE:
Airbnb has lots and lots of customers.
Airbnb has become a major online travel
marketplace, now in the top five online
travel sites in the world. That means a lot
of potential customers to get your
products in front of, and they are making a
huge push on Experiences. Just visit their
homepage or mobile app.
You have a unique product to offer. A
specialized tour or activity experience that
might get overlooked in larger online
travel sites just might shine on Airbnb.
Airbnb is a trendsetter. Their entry into
Experiences is a big deal. Participating in
their marketplace could give you valuable
insights into traveler trends and
expectations. Even if you decide not to
apply, keep close tabs on what they do.
Page 23 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travelDON'T APPLY BECAUSE
(or at least bear these points in mind)
You don’t have a good product fit.
X Be honest with yourself. There are lots of
great, mainstream tours and activities that
may not be a good fit. If your experiences
include large groups, if you have a lot of
competition with similar tours in your
market, and if you complete heavily on price,
chances are your product will not be a great
fit for Airbnb – at least right now. Be honest
about what you do, and don’t waste your
time if it’s not a fit.
You can’t just copy and paste. The tried and
X true marketing copy and photos you’ve used
on other websites (or your own) may not cut
it on Airbnb. Be prepared to create and
maintain customized listings.
No APIs – yet. Airbnb does not support APIs,
X or application programming interfaces, to
connect to any tour and activity software.
You will have to manage all of your listings
and bookings on the Airbnb host website and
manually import that data to any reservation
system you use.
Page 24 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travelKEY TERMS & DEFINTIONS T:
What you need
to know
Some terms and acronyms we used in writing this Arival Guide:
API: Application program interface, in the context of OTAs, is
the technological means to pass inventory and booking data
back and forth between the OTA platform and the supplier’s
reservation system. Most modern reservation systems today
for tour and activity operators have APIs to major OTAs.
Experiences: This is what Airbnb calls its marketplace for
activities and tours. Airbnb refers to individual activities as
experiences.
Host: Airbnb’s term for an individual who is offering an
accommodation (i.e., accommodation host) or activity
(experience host) within Airbnb’s marketplace.
8M
OTA: Online travel agency, or website that sells travel and
37 M
tours, activities and attractions, such as TripAdvisor, Expedia,
GetYourGuide, and increasingly Airbnb.
Operator / Supplier: If you operate a tour, activity or
attraction, that’s you. You “supply” an experience. Airbnb uses
the term “host.”
Reservation system: software that enables operators to
manage inventory and bookings; also referred to as
reservations technology.
Page 25 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travelREFERENCES & LINKS T:
What you need
to know
Here are links to Airbnb articles and documents to help you
understand what is involved with being an Experience Host and
how to get started
Quality Standards
www.airbnb.com/help/article/1451/what-are-the-standards-for-
experiences
The Three Pillars of an Airbnb Experience
blog.atairbnb.com/the-3-pillars-of-a-quality-experience
Application to Become an Experience
Host www.airbnb.com/host/experiences
Responsible Hosting
www.airbnb.com/help/topic/896/responsible-hosting 8M
Payment Options 37 M
www.airbnb.com/help/topic/1053/getting-paid
Airbnb Insurance
www.airbnb.com/experience-protection-insurance
Insurance Policy Detail
www.airbnb.com/users/epi_program_summary_pdf
Host Cancellation Policy and Exceptions
www.airbnb.com/help/article/1320/what-if-i-need-to-cancel-
because-of-an-emergency-or-unavoidable-circumstance
Page 25 Copyright 2018 Arival LLC All Rights Reserved www.arival.travelA Final Thought Regardless of what you do, keep tabs on Airbnb Experiences. It is still very early for their business and there is lots of change to come for them and for our marketplace. A not-so-good fit today could be a great fit tomorrow. And tell us what you think. Do you host an Experience on Airbnb? Get in touch and tell us how it’s going. We’d love to hear from you, and we might tell your story – if you like. Email us at insights@arival.travel
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